Articles for December 2021
The good news in 2021 is in the agricultural sector
The year 2021 has ended positively for South Africa's agricultural sector. Farmers experienced a unique season characterized by bumper yields, and higher agricultural commodity prices, particularly in the grains and oilseeds industries. Improved farmers' incomes have boosted spending on agricultural equipment. On the downside, the unrest and looting in July were disruptive, but the cooperation amongst agricultural and logistics role-players ensured a continuous flow of agricultural exports. The primary agriculture sector could show positive growth in 2021,building from an excellent year of 13,4% year-on-year growth in 2020. Going into 2022, the early indicators about the agricultural growth prospects are positive.
The MTBPS makes a start: now we need the policies for growth
South Africa’s national budget is one of the most redistributive in the emerging markets, but our rising debt to GDP ratio threatens future economic growth and thus the country’s capacity to both create new jobs and to maintain the social wage. National Treasury will have to continue to provide support in the short term to the vulnerable, whose position has been greatly exacerbated by the pandemic. But without implementing the necessary reforms to put the country on a path of sustainable growth, this will not only simply be papering over the cracks but may significantly increase the debt burden.