{"id":663537,"date":"2023-02-11T13:00:04","date_gmt":"2023-02-11T11:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=663537"},"modified":"2023-02-10T16:12:07","modified_gmt":"2023-02-10T14:12:07","slug":"south-africans-are-looking-for-the-positives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/663537\/south-africans-are-looking-for-the-positives\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africans are looking for the positives"},"content":{"rendered":"
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South Africa is currently facing a dire financial situation, with the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) predicting a meagre 0.3%<\/a> growth for 2023. But South Africans still maintain a positive outlook.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

According to the Ford Motor Company 11th annual Trends report, an ‘every cloud has a silver lining’ sentiment remains among surveyors, despite national and global economic headwinds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

16,200 online interviews across six countries were part of Ford’s Trend report. The survey explores various themes, including facing fears, escapism, and taking a stand on certain issues. The survey analysed consumer preferences and behaviours in response to environmental changes.<\/p>\n

One insight suggests that \u201ct<\/span>he participants of the survey believe society will be stronger in five years. Consumers have not given up on the notion of a \u2018happily ever after\u2019\u00a0 but for now, they will gladly settle for some silver linings wherever they can find them,\u201d says Jen Brace,\u00a0Ford<\/span>\u2019s Global Trends and Futuring Team.<\/p>\n

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In the report, 65% of South Africans said that they had lost faith in political structures, and 57% were sceptical of the nation’s financial systems.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While 88% of consumers said that inflation and high prices were their biggest fears. Despite rising electricity costs and the ongoing load shedding<\/a>, 66% of South Africans remain hopeful that the current financial situation will improve throughout 2023.<\/p>\n

More South Africans are also trying to take a stand on societal issues.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

82% of South Africans believe that more is being done to cause division in South Africa instead of uniting it<\/p>\n

The report said that political protests have led to consumer boycotts, especially towards brands that are neutral on social and environmental problems.<\/p>\n

89% of South African respondents said that companies should take greater accountability for environmental and humanitarian issues.<\/p>\n

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Cautious optimism and the road to joy\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

81% of South Africans said that they believe they can make a positive impact on the world, while 86% believe that they can achieve the vision that they have for their lives.<\/p>\n

Millennials were the generation with the most positive self-belief. 90% of South African respondents also said that their parts mistakes did not define them but were rather opportunities for growth.<\/p>\n

In addition, 83% of South African respondents said that they try to look for joy in the mundane parts of their lives, whether it is simply listening to a song on the radio.<\/p>\n

South Africans are thus seeking positivity in their daily lives amid growing uncertainty.<\/p>\n

Although South Africans have cautious optimism, they can expect a tough 2023, with constant load shedding<\/a> and inflation expected to remain high.<\/p>\n

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Read: South Africans have realised that no one is coming to help: economist<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite expected economic headwinds, South Africans are adopting an ‘every cloud has a silver lining’ mentality. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":663565,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-663537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663537"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":663997,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663537\/revisions\/663997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}