Hawks’ actions will bring positive growth figures to nought

6 September 2016 

The release of South Africa’s economic growth figures today must be seen against a background of a looming recession and a possible downgrade later this year or early next year by three international rating agencies,Standard & Poor's (S&P), Fitch and Rating and Investment (R&I).

In spite of the background, we expected the announcement to be positive, with manufacturing and finance and transport showing positive growth, and mining faring better.

The country’s GDP did not disappoint, the exchange rate looks good at around R13/US$ and R18/BP, and even the inflation outlook may surprise us during the rest of the year.

Unfortunately we expect al this otherwise good news to be neutralised by the Hawks’ targeting of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.

All the items mentioned above, which are those the rating agencies deem important and that Pravin and his team worked hard to improve, will be made to nought due to the foolish actions of a few.

This sad state of affairs must be turned around with the utmost urgency so that South Africa can progress unhindered to the benefit of all its citizens.

Issued by Andre Venter, Media spokesperson , UASA, 6 September 2016