Monday 30 October 2017

S.Africa economy in dire straits as political stakes rise.

South African Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba last 
week delivered a mid-term budget that laid bare 
South Africa's struggle with slow growth, 
tax income shortfalls, rising debt and high unemployment.
South Africa's finance minister received some faint praise last week -- not for the economy's performance, but for admitting the country is in a dire position that is set to get worse.

Malusi Gigaba delivered a mid-term budget that laid bare South Africa's struggle with slow growth, tax income shortfalls, rising debt and high unemployment.

The daunting challenges recently caused business confidence to dip to the lowest level since the apartheid era -- reflecting wider fears that the achievements of the new, democratic South Africa are turning to dust.

Gigaba's budget statement on Wednesday slashed the GDP growth forecast for 2017 from 1.3 percent to just 0.7 percent, and revealed that by 2020, 15 percent of government revenue would be eaten up by debt repayment.

Much of the criticism has been aimed at President Jacob Zuma, who is accused of enriching a new corrupt elite rather than helping the poverty-stricken black majority.




By AFP.

Full story at Daily Mail.

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