NEVA MAKGETLA: Southern Africa on the short end again

SA’s economic wellbeing depends heavily on how well Southern Africa recovers from the pandemic. The region has been spared the worst of Covid-19, but in 2020 it saw a sharper economic decline than the rest of the world. Outside SA, the IMF forecasts it will grow 2% in 2021 — about a third as fast as the global economy.

That outcome arises from slow growth after the commodity boom ended a decade ago; the region’s weakness relative to international lenders, which cuts the scope for fiscal stimulus; and the incoherence of national and regional economic strategies. ..