ECONOMY WATCH: Confidence essential if SA is to start growing
Sliding confidence has stoked fears that the economy has continued to underperform in the second quarter, following the shocking 2.2% quarterly contraction in the first quarter
Economists fear that SA’s economic performance has remained weak in the second quarter. Some think the contraction may even have deepened and a few are revising down their growth forecasts for the year. "Over the past month or two the narrative has changed considerably, from Ramaphoria to Ramafailure," says analyst JP Landman. "The sense is that [Cyril] Ramaphosa is stuck and, with him, SA. Weak business conditions and poor growth numbers obviously contribute to this narrative." Just how bad the second-quarter growth figure is likely to be will become clearer in August, when high-frequency data releases for June (mining, manufacturing, retail sales, the trade balance and private sector credit) are published. Sliding confidence has stoked fears that the economy has continued to underperform in the second quarter, following the shocking 2.2% quarterly contraction in the first quarter — SA’s largest quarterly decline since the global financial crisis. In June, the SA Chamber of Commerc...
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