MAMOKETE LIJANE: SA cannot blame global factors for its economic woes
The country is awash with plans and ideas for remedies but most of it is ignored
In my final column of 2022 (https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/columnists/2022-12-14-mamokete-lijane-whereto-from-runaway-inflation-and-the-great-monetary-policy-penance/) I made the point that 2023 could be a difficult year for global growth, that this is typically treacherous territory for economies to traverse, and that SA should avoid scoring own goals. This year started with the most intense rolling blackouts in our economy’s history. It seems own-goal scoring remains the national strategy for now.
Even without the load-shedding catastrophe, 2023 was going to be a difficult year. Tighter domestic monetary policy will most certainly be a drag on domestic demand. The Reserve Bank hiked rates 3.5 percentage points to 7% last year, and the effect of these hikes will continue to feed into the economy over the course of 2023...
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