In a cautiously optimistic analysis, an economist has said South Africa may have reached a turning point. This comes against a backdrop of fractional growth in the second quarter of the year.
Speaking in an interview with Newzroom Afrika, Pan-African Investments and Research chief economist Dr Iraj Abedian said there was an optimistic outlook among the investment community.
“Locally [and] internationally, the investment community’s confidence is much more positive and favourable than before. We have inflation coming down, globally and in South Africa. We see prices of petrol coming down.
“The latest numbers show that there is a positive movement in the economy across the board. Seven out of ten sectors show positive – although not impressive – growth from the last quarter,” he said, commenting on the latest numbers.
SA recorded 0.4% economic growth in Q2. However, he cautioned that tangible improvements in living standards will only come about when the economy grows by an average of 2% per year.
“It may be – and I’m very cautious – a turning point from a very, very low base. These numbers are, in that context, promising, but we have a long hill to climb,” he added.
“It is definitely positive,” said Nedbank CIB’s research analyst Reezwana Sumad in an interview with Salaamedia, “because it does indicate that the economy is growing as opposed to remaining stagnant, but the growth rate is still too low.”
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[Picture: IOL]
