{"id":757917,"date":"2024-03-06T14:10:22","date_gmt":"2024-03-06T12:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=757917"},"modified":"2024-03-06T14:12:59","modified_gmt":"2024-03-06T12:12:59","slug":"south-africa-is-going-nowhere-fast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/757917\/south-africa-is-going-nowhere-fast\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa is going nowhere, fast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The economic narrative surrounding South Africa remains unchanged, with the country not seeing any meaningful structural changes to drive growth and pull the economy out of its rut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BankservAfrica Economic Transactions Index (BETI) for February 2024 is at the same level as a year ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe BETI index level in February was 132.2, 0.8% down from January and a 1.2% improvement on the quarter ending November 2023,\u201d said Shergeran Naidoo, BankservAfrica\u2019s Head of Stakeholder Engagements. <\/p>\n\n\n

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The latest figures highlight the many challenges facing the country, including near-constant load shedding, devastating logistical challenges at local ports and rising fuel prices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stagnation is also reflected in the GDP numbers, where the country just scraped by with 0.1% growth in the fourth quarter of 2023 – narrowly escaping a technical recession – and managed to show 0.6% growth for the full year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expectations for growth in 2024 are just over 1%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis inability of the economy to break out of its current growth profile does not bode well for the country\u2019s unemployment crisis and socio-economic challenges,\u201d said Elize Kruger, Independent Economist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the recent 2024 Budget, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said that long-term growth requires improving capacity in energy, freight rails and ports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the government’s economic growth strategy – which includes macroeconomic stability and improvements in state capability – sounds good on paper, and the greater public-private interaction has supported some sectors, the government still needs to act urgently to drive structural reform to get the economy out of stagnation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inflation indicators grew higher in January and are likely to recur in February due to higher fuel prices, the weak rand exchange rate levels and a spike in medical aid premiums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here is the official petrol price for March<\/a><\/blockquote>