Replica
JF-Expert Member
- Aug 28, 2017
- 1,681
- 8,887
Shinikizo linaongezeka kwa Rais wa Afrika Kusini, Cyril Ramaphosa kuongeza kasi ya mabadiliko kwenye sekta za nishati na mawasiliano kwenye nchi hiyo inayoongoza kwenye uchumi wa viwanda barani Afrika baada ya ugonjwa kufuta ukuaji wa zaidi ya muongo mmoja.
Madhara ya Covid kwenye uchumi wa Afrika Kusini yameonekana wazi wiki iliyopita baada ya GDP kwenye robo ya pili, kiwango cha uzuizi(lockdown), kuanguka karibu mara tano, pigo kubwa mpaka kufikia kiwango cha GDP ya mwaka 2007.
"Imeturudisha miaka 13 iliyopita" alisema Thabi Leoka, mchumi anayejitegemea.
=======
South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa is facing increased pressure to accelerate reforms of the power and telecoms sectors in the continent’s most industrialised economy after the pandemic erased more than a decade of fragile growth.
The damaging impact of coronavirus on South Africa’s economy was made clear last week after gross domestic product in the second quarter, the height of the lockdown, fell almost a fifth year on year, a plunge so large that the level of real GDP fell to 2007 levels.
“It takes us back 13 years,” said Thabi Leoka, an independent economist. “The post-financial crisis growth has been wiped out. That is 13 years we have to go back, and try to recover.”
The reversal underlines the challenge facing Mr Ramaphosa and his ruling African National Congress as they face renewed calls to undertake reform of an economy where growth rates were stagnating and power blackouts common even before coronavirus struck.
“The contraction was at the worst end of everybody’s expectations . . . it does focus everybody’s minds on the need to implement fundamental structural reforms,” said Martin Kingston, an executive of Business for South Africa, an industry group.
With the pace of recorded infections in the country’s epidemic subsiding at under 1,000 new cases a day, out of just under 650,000 confirmed cases to date, more and more businesses are reopening.
But the scale of the lockdown collapse in GDP meant “now is the time to act quickly and boldly to place South Africa on a rapid growth trajectory . . . we will use this moment of crisis to build a new economy, and unleash South Africa’s true potential,” said Mr Ramaphosa.
Added to the president’s woes is the fact that the hole for South Africa’s public finances is even deeper than in 2007, when the country had a fiscal surplus and investment grade ratings at all three major agencies.
This year the country’s sovereign debt completed its fall into junk status, Moody’s downgraded it in March, and the budget deficit is likely to hit double digits as a percentage of a GDP.
Rampant graft under Jacob Zuma, the former president, had already contributed to what analysts said was a lost decade for investment and jobs. Since Mr Ramaphosa took over the presidency two years ago, he has been trying to turn things round. But even before the pandemic, the South African president had lost credibility after delays to reforms needed to clear blockages in the economy and kickstart investment.
SOURCE: Financial Times
Madhara ya Covid kwenye uchumi wa Afrika Kusini yameonekana wazi wiki iliyopita baada ya GDP kwenye robo ya pili, kiwango cha uzuizi(lockdown), kuanguka karibu mara tano, pigo kubwa mpaka kufikia kiwango cha GDP ya mwaka 2007.
"Imeturudisha miaka 13 iliyopita" alisema Thabi Leoka, mchumi anayejitegemea.
=======
South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa is facing increased pressure to accelerate reforms of the power and telecoms sectors in the continent’s most industrialised economy after the pandemic erased more than a decade of fragile growth.
The damaging impact of coronavirus on South Africa’s economy was made clear last week after gross domestic product in the second quarter, the height of the lockdown, fell almost a fifth year on year, a plunge so large that the level of real GDP fell to 2007 levels.
“It takes us back 13 years,” said Thabi Leoka, an independent economist. “The post-financial crisis growth has been wiped out. That is 13 years we have to go back, and try to recover.”
The reversal underlines the challenge facing Mr Ramaphosa and his ruling African National Congress as they face renewed calls to undertake reform of an economy where growth rates were stagnating and power blackouts common even before coronavirus struck.
“The contraction was at the worst end of everybody’s expectations . . . it does focus everybody’s minds on the need to implement fundamental structural reforms,” said Martin Kingston, an executive of Business for South Africa, an industry group.
With the pace of recorded infections in the country’s epidemic subsiding at under 1,000 new cases a day, out of just under 650,000 confirmed cases to date, more and more businesses are reopening.
But the scale of the lockdown collapse in GDP meant “now is the time to act quickly and boldly to place South Africa on a rapid growth trajectory . . . we will use this moment of crisis to build a new economy, and unleash South Africa’s true potential,” said Mr Ramaphosa.
Added to the president’s woes is the fact that the hole for South Africa’s public finances is even deeper than in 2007, when the country had a fiscal surplus and investment grade ratings at all three major agencies.
This year the country’s sovereign debt completed its fall into junk status, Moody’s downgraded it in March, and the budget deficit is likely to hit double digits as a percentage of a GDP.
Rampant graft under Jacob Zuma, the former president, had already contributed to what analysts said was a lost decade for investment and jobs. Since Mr Ramaphosa took over the presidency two years ago, he has been trying to turn things round. But even before the pandemic, the South African president had lost credibility after delays to reforms needed to clear blockages in the economy and kickstart investment.
SOURCE: Financial Times