Banks cut growth forecast for SA
Standard Bank and Nedbank join FNB in downward revisions as Reserve Bank maintains positive outlook
Nedbank and Standard Bank have joined FNB in cutting their growth forecasts for SA, citing rising concern that business confidence and investment will not pick up. FNB revised down its growth forecast for SA last week. Absa has not revised its forecast, with the bank still expecting the economy to grow 1% in 2017. The downward growth revisions come as the Reserve Bank, which released its composite leading business cycle indicator on Tuesday, maintained a positive growth outlook for 2017 at 1%. FNB revised its forecast from 1.1% to 0.7%. Standard Bank has marginally revised its forecasts from 1.2% to 1.1%, while Nedbank changed its projection from 0.7% to 1.1%. Standard Bank economist Thanda Sithole predicts that economic growth will drop to 0.5% in 2018 and warned that another downward growth revision might be on the cards from Standard Bank. The factors that boded well for South African growth in 2017 were the expected recovery in commodity prices and improved global growth. "The g...
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