South Africa at 30: An exercise in wasted potential
The country’s economic progress can be divided into two halves — before and after the global financial crisis. The rapid progress in the first half was wiped out in the second as it failed to get on top of its many structural constraints
25 April 2024 - 05:00
Few countries in transition have managed to get a grip on their public finances as well as South Africa did after the advent of democracy in 1994. The speed with which the young democracy achieved fiscal stability was rewarded initially with strong growth and an investment-grade credit rating.
But 30 years later South Africa, now a junk-rated delinquent, faces a seminal general election having squandered that strong start. In the past 15 years, the country has wiped out all the fiscal progress made in the first 15...
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