SOUTH AFRICA
Analyst
Iraj Abedian
Former Member, President’s Panel of Economic AdvisorsDatabanks
Recent Country Insights
The South African Reserve Bank holds its ground as inflation reemerges
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 24 Jul 2026
The South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) announced that it is leaving the benchmark interest rate unchanged following the completion of this week’s meeting. This comes after it increased rates by 25 bps during the committee’s previous meeting in May 2026. As such, t...
South Africa's Financial Stability Review: External risks dominate while domestic resilience holds
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 06 Jul 2026
The latest (June 2026) Financial Stability Review by the South African Reserve Bank signals an important shift in South Africa's macro-financial environment. While it continues the SARB's comprehensive assessment of both domestic and international risks to financial stability, the balance of risk...
South Africa’s Q1-2026 current account: stronger external balances amid rising global uncertainty
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 12 Jun 2026
Data released by the South African Reserve Bank shows that, during the first quarter of 2026, the surplus on South Africa’s current account of the balance of payments widened markedly, to R190.7 billion, up from R50.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025. This makes it the largest surplus record...
South Africa records its sixth consecutive quarterly growth in Q1-2026
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 09 Jun 2026
Real quarterly GDP increased by 0.5% q/q in the first quarter of 2026, following an expansion of 0.4% q/q during the fourth quarter of 2025. This, meanwhile, represents the sixth consecutive positive quarterly growth rate. The latest GDP print indicates that the South African economy maintained i...
South Africa’s economic outlook: resilience amid rising global uncertainty
SOUTH AFRICA · Forecast · 01 Jun 2026
South African growth: South Africa’s economic growth in 2025 accelerated from 2024’s anemic growth. However, relative to forecasts at the start of 2025, GDP growth still surprised on the downside—once again. The South African National Treasury had forecast 2025 GDP to expand by 1.4% during Budget...
South African President tripped by the "Farmgate Saga",- with his back against the ropes , fighting for political survival
SOUTH AFRICA · In Brief · 12 May 2026
On May 8th the Constitutional Court, the highest court in the land, issued a rare verdict instructing the Parliament to commence an inquiry into the conduct of the President by establishing an Impeachment Committee based on the findings of the 2022 Phala Phala Report produced by Parliament's Inde...
South Africa’s investment in infrastructure and shift to sustainable growth
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 24 Apr 2026
South Africa’s infrastructure investment trajectory has steadily weakened over the past decade, both in absolute terms and relative to peers. From a relatively stable range of around 18–19% of GDP between 2010 and 2015, investment began to trend downward from 2016, falling to just 13.4% by 2025. ...
An expected pause in interest rate cuts by the SA Reserve Bank
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 26 Mar 2026
The South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) announced that it is leaving the benchmark interest rate unchanged following another halt in January 2026. As we have highlighted in recent reports, the likelihood of the Reserve Bank cutting rates has declined considerably, ...
The current account shows an improved external position in a volatile global environment
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 16 Mar 2026
Data released by the South African Reserve Bank indicates that the South African current account balance recorded a surplus for the first time since Q3-2023, as it switched from a deficit of R72 billion in the third quarter of 2025 to a surplus of R50.2 billion in the fourth quarter. As a ratio o...