The World Bank has urged SA to speed up economic reforms,  saying that while the country will emerge from the Covid-19 crisis weaker than before the pandemic it creates an opportunity for the government to implement growth-enhancing policy changes.  

The global development bank said in the 13th edition of its SA economic update, released on Monday, that it expects the domestic economy to expand 4% in 2021, up from the 3% forecast in its April 2021 Africa’s Pulse publication, but said the expansion will be hampered by long-standing structural constraints. These include weak investment, electricity shortages, high transport and logistical costs, and historically high unemployment that has been worsened by Covid-19 and subsequent lockdown restrictions...