News agency Bloomberg reports that the World Bank ‘is the first key institution to cut its economic growth forecast for South Africa to below 1% for 2020 due to electricity supply concerns’.
The report said the bank expected the South African economy to ‘expand by 0.9% this year’.
This was well below government forecasts.
The report said the World Bank’s ‘outlook for Africa’s most-industrialized economy is “markedly weaker” because it sees electricity supply and infrastructure constraints inhibiting domestic growth with weaker global economic conditions weighing on export demand’.
It said: ‘The World Bank sees GDP growth averaging 1.4% in 2021-22 if President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration is able to ramp up structural reforms and address policy uncertainty, and if there’s a recovery in public and private sector investment.’
[Picture: Victorgrigas, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20655431]