LETTER: SA economy is on the decline despite optimism
Business confidence at its worst since 2017
I kept reading from the beginning of this year how well the SA economy would do in 2019 compared to 2018. But the same projections were made at the beginning of 2018, and we ended up with 0.8% GDP growth. The projection in January was 1.9% for 2019, but it has already dropped and the World Bank and our Reserve Bank project it at 1.3%. As far as I am concerned it’s all wishful thinking and we will be lucky if we grow at 0.8%, the same as 2018. The reasons are there for all to see. We have already lost four months in 2019 by sitting on our hands with all the economic indicators pointing south. Between the Easter holidays, and the elections we will lose the second quarter economically. Business confidence is the worst it has been since 2017, and our performance on a range of social, economic and governance measures is comparable to a country at war. How much lower can we go? I would really like to know what thumb-suck economic models financial analysts and global agencies have to u...
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