SA prospects bleak despite G7 hype

IT WAS laughable to read the positive report by Trudi Makhaya, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s economic adviser, that “major economies were very enthusiastic about SA during the G7 meeting”.

This comes during the week that we had so many negatives from a 2.2% contraction of GDP for the first quarter, which was the largest since 2009; agriculture dropping a whopping 24.2%, the worst since 2006; mining contracting by 9.9%; our exports dropping 16.5%; our currency on the ropes and the business confidence receiving a further blow and dropping from 45 in the first quarter to 39, and then more analytical results of manufacturing dropping from 37 to 27. New vehicle dealer confidence dropped from 52 to 35.

I won’t mention all our other ills of corruption, unemployment, crime, strikes, etc.

But what do you expect with the VAT rate increase, the fuel price going up every month, which will affect inflation, the mining charter that devastated the industry and a land expropriation bill that will turn our economy on its head and the latest warnings of the IMF about a policy that the rating agencies have repeated so many times already.

What worries me even more is that the world economy is showing signs of slowing down. So let’s forget about the 2% growth for the year. My thumbsuck prediction is we will be lucky to get 1%. So much for “Ramaphoria” and excitement when he took over. Bryanston, Sandton