Growth in South Africa remains problematic with the\u00a0World Bank lowering its estimates for 2017 to 0.6% and 1.1% growth in 2018.<\/p>\n
The bank’s projected estimates for SA are lower than those it put out in January – by 0.5 and 0.7 percentage points for 2017 and 2018 respectively.<\/p>\n
The bank cited a \u201cdeterioration of investor confidence in South Africa amid two recent sovereign rating downgrades to subinvestment grade\u201d as a reason for its latest projection cut.<\/p>\n
It also attributed political uncertainty ahead of key elections at the end of the year. “In South Africa, political uncertainty and low business confidence are weighing on investment,” it said.<\/p>\n
In early April, S&P Global Ratings and Fitch downgraded South Africa\u2019s sovereign credit rating to sub-investment status on account of heightened political uncertainty.<\/p>\n
The World Bank projects growth to reach 2% in 2019.<\/p>\n
StatsSA announced last week that South Africa’s unemployment rate had reached 27.7% in the first quarter of 2017\u00a0\u2013 the highest rate observed since September 2003.<\/p>\n
The expanded unemployment rate \u2013 including those who are unemployed and not actively seeking work, also hit a new high of 36.4%.<\/p>\n