SOUTH AFRICA
Analyst
Iraj Abedian
Former Member, President’s Panel of Economic AdvisorsDatabanks
Recent Country Insights
South Africa’s business environment and corporate dividends in 2024
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 08 Oct 2024
While the overall performance of the South African economy in 2024 is expected to improve somewhat from the previous year, the lackluster economic activity from 2023 (in the post-Covid-19 era) has had a detrimental impact on business activity. Despite the marked improvement in electricity supply ...
The SA Reserve Bank cuts rates as inflation comes within target and the rand strengthens
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 20 Sep 2024
Bringing the benchmark interest rate down for the first time since embarking on a relatively aggressive monetary policy normalization that started in November 2021, the SA Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to cut interest rates by 25 basis points during their September 2024 mee...
Further improvement in South Africa’s terms of trade leads to the narrowing of the current account deficit
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 05 Sep 2024
A welcome economic metric for South Africa came out today as data released by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) indicates that the deficit on the country’s current account of the balance of payments narrowed markedly in the second quarter of 2024. The deficit on the current account declined f...
South Africa’s economy registers moderate growth in Q2-2024, while electricity supply is more solid with over 5 months of no load-shedding
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 03 Sep 2024
South Africa’s quarter-on-quarter real GDP expanded by 0.4% during the second quarter of 2024. This was following the first quarter’s no change in GDP (i.e. GDP growth rate of 0.0%, which was upwardly adjusted from -0.1%). On account of the weak quarterly growth rates, real GDP in the first half ...
The 2024 Elections: With the formation of the GNU, the left is realigning
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 20 Aug 2024
Last Thursday, August 15, Mr. Floyd Shivambu, the co-founder and Deputy Commander-in-Chief (The Party Leader) of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), resigned from the party and announced he would join the MKP (uMkhonto weSizwe Party). The announcement is yet another “aftershock” of the May 2024 ...
South Africa’s changing political landscape amid growth challenges
SOUTH AFRICA · Forecast · 16 Aug 2024
• South Africa’s growth: During H1-2024, the South African economy not only continued to languish under the strain of the usual domestic headwinds—inadequate electricity supply and logistical constraints—but it also suffered under heightened uncertainty due to the then-upcoming general elections....
SA Government of National Unity (GNU): Learning to work with opposing policies and ideologies
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 12 Aug 2024
During the first quarter of government, the South African political landscape and discourses on governance and policies have changed a great deal. Eleven political parties, with the ANC as the largest with 40.2% electoral support and the DA with 21.8% as the second largest, have formed a grand co...
Election Monitor VI: SA launches its 7th Administration; Ramaphosa’s second term is a new chapter in a rapidly shifting political structure
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 01 Jul 2024
After weeks of socio-political anxiety and following intense political horse trading, President Ramaphosa unveiled the composition of his 2nd Cabinet Ministers. Unlike his first term, his party could not secure sufficient voter support to govern alone. Instead, the ANC decided to invite a wide ra...
Election Monitor V: The national elections - The birth pangs and excitement of a “True Democratic Election” process
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 17 Jun 2024
On June 14, South Africa witnessed the excitement, the anxieties and the uncertainties inherent in a national election in which the results have no outright winner. For thirty years, the national elections were fair and transparent, yet the results were largely predictable, and the inauguration o...