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South Africa’s policy challenges continue: the mining sector and a new strategy for state-owned enterprises
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 15 Jun 2020 · 1 response

The mining sector made up 9% of the South African economy during Q4 2019 and 2.6% of the country’s employment share of the economy during the same period. Despite making a relatively smaller share of the economy compared to sectors such as finance, which makes up 20% of the economy (Q4 2019), or ...

South Africa’s debt dynamics, Covid-19 and the way forward
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 04 Jun 2020

South Africa’s debt had already reached worrying levels long before the Covid-19 pandemic reached the country’s shores. The debt-to-GDP ratio increased from 26.5% in 2008 to 62% in 2019 - exceeding the IMF’s suggested 55% debt-to-GDP ratio. The high and rising debt levels have meant that increasi...

South Africa’s economy moves down to lockdown Level 3
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 29 May 2020

​It has been a long and challenging two months for most South African businesses and workers due to the country lockdown that followed shortly after a state of emergency was declared on account of the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, President Ramaphosa’s address on May 24 announcing that the countr...

South Africa webinar featuring Iraj Abedian: Socio-economic preconditions and the Covid-19 crisis
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 22 May 2020

Iraj Abedian examines South Africa’s ability to cope with the coronavirus crisis based on its current macro and fiscal situation.

50 bps – that’s the new interest rate cut by the South Africa Reserve Bank
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 21 May 2020

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has once again announced that it is cutting the benchmark interest rate following today’s conclusion of its Monetary Policy Committee’s scheduled May meeting. The repo rate is being cut by 50 basis points following the 200 bps cuts implemented from end-March ...

Can South Africa weather the COVID-19 storm?
SOUTH AFRICA · Forecast · 30 Apr 2020

Summary and Assumptions • Emerging Markets: As the COVID19-induced global economic chaos intensifies, there has been an even greater shift of capital from emerging markets to countries considered safer as investors are becoming more risk averse. This, together with the steep contraction in eco...

South Africa’s bold R500 billion Covid-19 relief package announced on Day 25 of the nationwide lockdown
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 22 Apr 2020

In a previous report we highlighted the fact that, although South African government coffers are in a precarious state, the government still had to find ways to mobilize funds for tackling the Covid-19 pandemic’s catastrophic health, social and economic impact. The government has found a way to d...

The South African Reserve Bank cuts interest rates by another 100 basis points in less than one month
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 14 Apr 2020

The South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has once again cut the repo rate by 100 basis points from 5.25% to 4.25% today and effective from tomorrow, meaning the prime lending rate will decline from 8.75% to 7.75%. This follows closely the 100-bps cut during the MPC’...

South Africa extends COVID-19 lockdown while the economy is feeling the effects of the pandemic
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 09 Apr 2020

Midnight today will mark the second week of South Africa’s COVID-19 lockdown, implemented by President Ramaphosa hoping to "flatten the infection curve" of the virus. The lockdown was scheduled to end on April 16. However, due to the nature of the virus, there had been speculation that the lockdo...

South Africa has limited firepower to mitigate significant economic fallout from COVID-19
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 02 Apr 2020

On top of the public health crisis that is likely to take place in South Africa from the growing COVID-19 threat, the economic fallout is going to be momentous. Even as he announced the 21-day country lockdown, President Ramaphosa acknowledged that the economy was going to suffer because of conta...

South African government’s efforts to cushion the economy from the effects of Covid-19
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 26 Mar 2020 · 1 response

The South African government has been announcing numerous measures aimed at mitigating the profound effects of Covid-19 the country is already experiencing. The South African Reserve Bank has become a major role player in these efforts. The bank began with a 100 basis point cut in interest rates ...

President Ramaphosa puts South Africa into a 21-Day lockdown to fight COVID19
SOUTH AFRICA · In Brief · 23 Mar 2020

In a move, largely expected, President Ramaphosa exercised his full constitutional authority to put the country under a 21-day nation-wide lockdown to avoid a "human catastrophe". South Africa has an estimated 10 million citizens with severely compromised immune system; either due to Aids and.or ...

The South African Reserve Bank cuts interest rates by 100 basis points amid the Covid-19 pandemic
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 19 Mar 2020

The South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has today announced that it is cutting the benchmark interest rate by 100 basis points from 6.25% to 5.25%, which means the prime lending rate also goes from 9.75% to 8.75%. This is an especially bold move from the normally c...

South Africa Declares Coronavirus (COVID'19) a National Disaster
SOUTH AFRICA · In Brief · 15 Mar 2020

President Ramaphosa a short while ago informed the nation of his Cabinet's decision to declare COVID"19 a national disaster, introducing a raft of immediate measures to contain the spread of the virus. At time of writing, South Africa has 61 reported cases of positively diagnosed corona virus pat...

The deficit on South Africa’s current account narrows in Q4 2019 and for 2019 as a whole
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 05 Mar 2020

Current account data released today by the South African Reserve Bank indicates that South Africa’s current account deficit narrowed by R120 billion during the fourth quarter of 2019, falling from R188 billion in the third quarter to R68 billion. As a ratio of GDP, the current account deficit fur...

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