SA’s inadequate labour market skills mix has been flagged by the IMF as out of step with the demands of the country’s economy, which the fund says will pick up moderately in 2018. The IMF published its updated World Economic Outlook on Monday in which it estimated SA’s growth at 0.8% in 2017 and 1.6% in 2018. The fund pegged 2016 growth at 0.3%. The projections are unchanged from the international lender’s October forecast, but reinforce lacklustre sentiment about SA’s economic growth. The Treasury expects growth to be 0.5% for 2016 and 1.3% in 2017. Sub-Saharan Africa’s growth is forecast to slow to 1.6% in 2016 and lift to 2.8% in 2017. Statistics SA confirmed on Monday that it would publish the 2016 fourth-quarter growth rate in March 2017.Oya Celasun, chief of the IMF’s world economic studies division, said on Monday from Washington DC that although SA’s growth was set to "improve" through to 2018, electricity supply remained problematic. This was despite recent strides in stemm...
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