PODCAST | SA households faring better than expected, says Altron FinTech index

The economic health of SA households is the focus of this edition of the Business Day Spotlight. 

Our host Mudiwa Gavaza is joined by Dr Roelof Botha, economic adviser to Optimum Investment Group. 

This week, Altron FinTech released its latest Household Resilience Index (Afhri), which covers the third quarter of 2022.

The index provides insight into “the financial state of households by assessing the state of micro-lending from the perspective of the ability of borrowers to repay loans”.

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After recording a record high in the fourth quarter of 2021, the index took a dip in the first and second quarters of 2022, but has bounced back to a level of 109.8, marginally lower than the value at the same time a year earlier. 

Botha says positive features from the latest results include “significant employment gains in the public and private sectors, and a meaningful increase in total household disposable income.” Of concern, however, is that household credit extension was lower during the third quarter of 2022 than 10 years ago.

Topics of discussion include: Afhri index components and research methodology; key findings from the index results; surprising findings; the importance of micro lending in SA; and an economic outlook for the year ahead.