South African economy - The African Mirror

Feb

2024

Jobs in South Africa: the labour market is recovering from COVID – but unskilled and less educated people are still being left behind

FOR more than three decades the South African economy has had very high rates of joblessness. The country’s economy has been unable to create enough jobs for its growing army of workers. This has partly been because of the stagnant economic growth rate of only 1.7% during the 2010s (it was even lower at 0.9% in 2015-2019). DEREK YU, Professor, Economics, University of the Western Cape Another factor that limited the economy’s capacity to create jobs at a rapid enough pace to absorb new job seekers and previously employed people was the impact of restrictions imposed during the coronavirus (COVID-19)…

Nov

2023

By The African Mirror

Tourists are returning to South Africa – but the sector will need to go green to deal with the country’s electricity crisis

ENVIRONMENT

FOR the past 16 years South Africans have dreaded rolling power cuts euphemistically dubbed “load-shedding”. These are caused by the ailing state power entity Eskom’s crumbling infrastructure and its over-reliance on ageing and poorly maintained coal-fired power stations. Load-shedding has worsened in 2023, with some areas experiencing power cuts for up to 10 hours a day. This crisis affects every aspect of the country’s economy, including its vibrant tourism sector. Tourism is a vital contributor to the South African economy. In 2019 the country welcomed over 10 million foreign visitors. The sector contributed up to 6.4% of the gross domestic…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

South African rand slips ahead of GDP

BUSINESS

SUSAN MATHEW FRAYED nerves ahead of U.S. inflation data later this week cast a shadow over emerging markets on Tuesday, with South Africa's rand leading losses ahead of domestic economic growth data. Against a stronger dollar, the rand fell 0.6%, pulling further away from 28-month highs. GDP numbers later in the morning are expected to show the South African economy slowed in the first quarter. But the rand is still by far the best performing EM currency this year, up more than 8%, helped in part by rising commodity prices. Turkey's lira – the year's worst performing EM currency so…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

South African economy plunged 51% in Q2 during strict lockdown

BUSINESS

MFUNEKO TOYANA SOUTH Africa's economic output shrank 51.0% in the second quarter, its fourth quarterly contraction in a row and largest on record, as a strict lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus shut down most activity, data has showed Africa's most industrialised nation has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, recording the seventh-largest number of cases worldwide, although it has seen fewer deaths than some other badly affected countries. Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted a 47.3% contraction because of the lockdown restrictions, which were among the harshest in the world. "This is the first time in…