World Bank slashes growth forecast for ‘fragile’ SA
SA's top five exports per technology type have changed little over the past seven years, and only 7% of exports are high tech
The World Bank has halved its growth outlook for SA and has flagged dwindling productivity as a major threat to growth. Speaking at the presentation of the World Bank's 10th edition of the SA Economic Update on Tuesday, Sebastien Dessus, the World Bank programme leader said the bank had revised growth down to 0.6% for 2017. In January, the World Bank forecast GDP growth of 1.1%. The downward projection follows the technical recession from which the economy has since emerged, and the credit rating downgrades earlier in 2017. The bank expected growth to improve to 1.1% in 2018, and 1.7% in 2019 on better commodity prices and stronger household spend. "However, this recovery prospect will remain fragile unless SA succeeds in bending the curve of productivity," Dessus said. At least for four years in a row GDP growth will be lower than population growth. Slow growth in 2016 and this year is likely to further prolong a trend of increasing poverty recorded between 2011 and 2015, the Worl...
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