by AKANI CHAUKE
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – AN analyst projects further waves of the coronavirus (COVID-19) to impact on South Africa’s economic growth prospects.
Bobby Madhav, FNB Head of Trade and Structured Trade and Commodity Finance, said the size of the recovery was therefore more statistical in nature, than real underlying economic growth.
“Further waves of the pandemic could also hamper the fairly optimistic outlook,” he stated.
Following the record trade surplus’ recorded during most of 2020, South Africa’s trade surplus narrowed in January to R11,8 billion compared to a market expectation of R15,2 billion.
The smaller than expected trade surplus, came on the back of a 13,6 percent decline in exports for the month and an increase of 4,2 percent in imports month-on-month.
The positive economic growth expected by government for this year is 3,3 percent (and an average of 1,9 percent for the next two years).
The global economic growth is 5,5 percent.
“However, the positive growth rate for the country must be seen against an economy that already was in recession pre-COVID-19, and further declined by a massive 7,2 percent in 2020,” Madhav said.
– CAJ News