{"id":842932,"date":"2025-11-13T09:05:42","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T07:05:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=842932"},"modified":"2025-11-13T09:07:26","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T07:07:26","slug":"south-africas-economy-declined-from-28-to-15-of-that-of-africa-from-1994-to-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/842932\/south-africas-economy-declined-from-28-to-15-of-that-of-africa-from-1994-to-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa’s economy declined from 28% to 15% of that of Africa between 1994 and 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Award-winning economist Dawie Roodt said South Africa became a crumbling economy with crumbling infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He shared his views on South Africa\u2019s economy and the current trajectory in a discussion on the Truth Report podcast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roodt said in 1994, after its peaceful democratic transition, South Africa occupied the moral high ground on many fronts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to World Bank data, South Africa\u2019s gross domestic product (GDP) was 28% of the total African GDP in 1994.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, the country\u2019s GDP was $154 billion, significantly higher than Nigeria\u2019s $80 billion and Egypt\u2019s $52 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast forward thirty years, and the situation looks very different. South Africa\u2019s GDP of $400 billion is only slightly larger than Egypt\u2019s $389 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the last three decades, the size of South Africa\u2019s economy has increased by 261% in US Dollar terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In comparison, Egypt\u2019s economy grew by 750%, Algeria’s by 620%, Kenya’s by 1,742%, Ghana\u2019s by 1,521%, and Tanzania\u2019s by 1,203%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even Zimbabwe, which suffered a complete economic collapse during the 2000s, outperformed South Africa with economic growth of 641% over three decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To put South Africa\u2019s lackluster 261% economic growth since 1994 in perspective, the average growth of all countries in Africa over this period was over 1,000%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This slow growth means that South Africa\u2019s GDP dropped from 28% of total African GDP in 1994 to only 15% of total African GDP in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot only did we lose the moral high ground in South Africa, but we also lost the financial high ground. We are now a tiny economy,\u201d Roodt said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa needs to understand its place<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Efficient Group chief economist Dawie Roodt <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Referring to the negotiations with the United States, Roodt said that South Africa needs to know its place. \u201cWe are a minnow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa needs access to the United States market for growth, and it requires investments from the United States to support local economic development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said many people only focus on the tariffs which the Trump Administration imposed on South African exports. However, this is not the only thing he can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roodt explained that approximately 20% of South Africa\u2019s debt is funded by Europe and the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the Trump Administration imposes sanctions on U.S. pension funds that buy South African bonds, it could cause chaos in the local financial market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Roodt does not support President Donald Trump\u2019s tariff decision, he warns that there can be much more to come unless South Africa plays ball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he is sceptical that the government will do what is needed to resolve the problems by doing the right things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that this goes well beyond satisfying the United States\u2019 demands to reduce the current tariffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It includes protecting private property rights, encouraging free trade, ensuring the rand is a trusted currency, and creating a safe environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, while the ANC is in control of the government, it is unlikely that pro-growth policies will be implemented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat needs to be done is easy to understand. However, the ANC is not there and they will not do what is needed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Award-winning economist Dawie Roodt said South Africa became a crumbling economy with crumbling infrastructure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":840203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[1459,2720,4423],"class_list":["post-842932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-dawie-roodt","tag-gdp","tag-world-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842932","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\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=842932"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":843033,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842932\/revisions\/843033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=842932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=842932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=842932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}