International credit ratings agency Moody's is watching the country's progress in addressing skills shortages and inflexible labour markets and whether political tensions ease before it can be convinced that South Africa is on a sustainable growth path, the agency said this week after the worst GDP figures since the recession were announced. On Tuesday, StatsSA announced weaker than expected GDP growth of 0.3% for last year — against an earlier forecast of 0.5% by the National Treasury — as mining and manufacturing disappointed. In 2015 the economy mustered 1.3%, still too low to create jobs and lift a significant number of people out of poverty. This year growth is expected to lift to about 1%, boosted by a recovery in commodity prices.Zuzana Brixiova, Moody's vice-president, senior analyst and lead sovereign analyst for South Africa, said last year's GDP figures were not a surprise given that the agency's forecast was for 0.2% real GDP expansion. "Hence, our projection of growth o...
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