{"id":878448,"date":"2026-10-08T13:03:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T11:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=878448"},"modified":"2026-10-08T13:03:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T11:03:26","slug":"south-africa-sinks-in-new-global-ranking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business-opinion\/878448\/south-africa-sinks-in-new-global-ranking\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa sinks in new global ranking"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africa has dropped in the Fraser Institute’s 2026 economic freedom rankings, now ranking 87th among 165 global economies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The institute’s Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) ranking assesses the extent to which people can make their own economic choices in a country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EFW index is scored across five categories, each related to an individual’s economic freedoms in a country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 2026 rankings, South Africa ranked 87th among the 165 assessed countries and territories\u2014a four-place drop from last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rankings score each country out of 10, with higher scores indicating greater economic freedom. South Africa scored an absolute score of 6.63 out of 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The categories are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Category<\/th>Measure<\/th>South Africa’s score out of 10
(Rank out of 165)<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Size of government<\/strong><\/td>The extent to which a country’s fiscal policies and government spending limit individual economic choice.<\/td>6.20 (105)<\/td><\/tr>
Legal system and property rights<\/strong><\/td>How effectively a jurisdiction’s legal system protects property rights, upholds the rule of law, and enforces contracts in an unbiased manner.<\/td>5.71 (61)<\/td><\/tr>
Sound Money<\/strong><\/td>Whether a country’s monetary policies provide access to currencies that maintain stable value over time.<\/td>7.84 (93)<\/td><\/tr>
Freedom to trade internationally<\/strong><\/td>The degree to which governments restrict international trade and exchange with citizens of other countries.<\/td>7.01 (95)<\/td><\/tr>
Regulation<\/strong><\/td>Regulatory restraints that restrict entry into markets or interfere with freedom of voluntary exchange.<\/td>6.37 (91)<\/td><\/tr>
Overall score and rank<\/strong><\/td><\/td>6.63 (87)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

According to the Free Market Foundation, South Africa’s position reflects a decline from last year, where it ranked 83rd, and shows a downward trend in the country’s economic freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The latest ranking signals an ongoing erosion of economic liberty,” the FMF said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The data confirms that South Africa\u2019s economic freedom has been on a slow, downwards trend since its peak in the year 2000, leaving the country less free today than it was at the turn of the century.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One area the Free Market Foundation flagged specifically is government spending, which is over one-third of the country’s GDP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The report highlights several major structural weaknesses holding South Africa back, including excessive general government spending,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also noted a high degree of government regulation, particularly in the labour market, as a negative signal for economic freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cumberland University professor of finance and economics and Free Market Foundation senior associate Richard Grant said economic freedom is imperative for creating prosperity in a country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Historical data show unambiguously that countries with greater economic freedom are also more prosperous, with higher average incomes and lower poverty rates,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Without widespread liberalisation, secure property rights, and a reduction in government overreach, South Africa will continue to suffer from anaemic growth.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A struggling economy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s economy has been stagnant in recent years, with GDP growth reaching 1.1% in 2025, below many of its emerging market peers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the second quarter of 2026, the country’s GDP contracted by 0.2%, breaking its six-quarter growth streak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Free Market Foundation flagged inflation and currency depreciation as two areas threatening South Africa’s economic outlook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Ongoing inflation pressures and currency depreciation continue to exacerbate broader economic challenges,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s inflation was 4.4% in August, slightly higher than it was in July. It reached its highest point in 2026 in June, at 5%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rate has consistently exceeded the South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB) 3% target, largely due to global geopolitical tensions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US-Iran war has had a heavy toll on global oil prices, due largely to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Strait is a vital shipping lane for the global oil trade, and its closure has led to high fuel prices in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has, in turn, led to higher business expenses and the cost of living in recent months, driving inflation higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the last month, the rand has also struggled to hold its value against the dollar, and is trading at 16.57 to the greenback at the time of writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rand has recently depreciated against the global benchmark, after trading below 16 to the dollar earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the EFW’s metrics, South Africa performed poorly on the “sound money” index, which assesses each country’s monetary policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The country performed well in the “legal system and property rights” metric, which “measures the degree to which each jurisdiction\u2019s legal system protects economic freedom,” the Free Market Foundation said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa ranks 87th globally for economic freedom, according to an index by the Free Market Foundation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":861056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2108151430498419007","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2230350057785393","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18081812756511646","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[26716,4336,3619],"class_list":["post-878448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-opinion","tag-economic-freedom-of-the-world","tag-free-market-foundation","tag-sarb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878448","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\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878448"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":878591,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878448\/revisions\/878591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}