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economic recoverylatest news & developments
Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero. (Lubabalo Lesolle/Gallo Images)

Joburg Crisis Alliance questions ‘quick wins’ focus of presidential working group

Civil society says officials should break the cycle of grand promises and weak follow-through if Johannesburg is to be rebuilt into a world-class city

Both Durban and Cape Town are enjoying some respite from high levels of E.Coli in beach water

KZN and Western Cape water woes under control, for now, ahead of  festive season

Both Durban and Cape Town are enjoying some respite from high levels of E.Coli in beach water

South Africa’s economy expanded by a marginal 0.1% in the first quarter of 2025

South Africa’s economy shrinks by 0.3% in the third quarter

Economists incorrectly predicted a slight uptick in GDP

eThekwini metro mayor Cyril Xaba announced at the city’s 2024-25 summer season campaign on Wednesday that work on repairing wastewater treatment plants was nearing completion.

Cyril Xaba tipped for eThekwini mayor, but ANC in the city opposes appointment

It is not clear whether the ANC will vote with its government of national unity partners

Market stall selling clothing and accessories in the town center of Darling in the Western Cape region of South Africa. (Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

SMMEs call for inclusion in reviving the post-Covid tourism sector

In 2019 SMMEs provided employment to about 47% of the workforce, with their total economic output accounting for about 20% of GDP

Palestinian employees at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) wearing protective masks and gloves, prepare food aid rations to be henceforth delivered to refugee family homes rather than distributed at a UN a center, in Gaza City, on March 31, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS / AFP)

New strategies are required to control food-price inflation

Food-price inflation has a direct effect on people’s lives — and it hits the poor the hardest

Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Klaus Schwab is seen at the opening of the WEF Davos Agenda virtual sessions at the WEF’s headquarters in Cologny near Geneva on January 17, 2022. – Chinese President Xi Jinping warned that confrontation between major powers could have “catastrophic consequences” in a speech to world leaders at an all-virtual Davos forum. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP) (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)

World Economic Forum: ‘2022 will be like navigating an obstacle course’

Central banks massively underestimated inflation risks as economies bounced back from the pandemic-induced slump

Funeral pyres: We were just starting to hope for a post-pandemic future at the beginning of 2021, says the author, when the highly transmissible Delta variant of Covid-19 was discovered and news images of public cremations in India shocked the world. Photo: Jewel Samad/AFP

2022 must be a year of action

The government’s most urgent to-do list: vaccinate, stimulate the economy, and return the rule of law

Making plans: China launched its 14th Five-Year Plan 2021-2025 in which supporting food, energy and financial security are priorities, as is strengthening the national security system. (Nicolas Asfouri/AFP)

Resilience is forged in the crucible of crisis

Some countries are placing the state at the centre to battle the problems caused by Covid-19 rather than relying solely on the markets

Statistics South Africa has overhauled its GDP data, which now show that the economy was 11% larger in 2020 than previously estimated. (David Harrison/M&G)

New GDP data and missing mining figures sow uncertainty among forecasters

Statistics South Africa has overhauled its GDP data, which now show that the economy was 11% larger in 2020 than previously estimated

Social security net: Senior citizens queuing for their social grants outside Jabulani Mall in Soweto.

The basic income grant is surely on the horizon

It is becoming clear SA needs a BIG, as many ANC cabinet members, opposition parties and experts agree. But there is still dissent from some quarters

Consumer inflation is expected to remain close to the central bank’s 6% ceiling, amid war-induced oil price rally (Dean Hutton/ Bloomberg/ Getty Images)

Riots cause Reserve Bank to revise growth expectations

Last week’s violence will likely slow South Africa’s economic growth, the central bank’s monetary policy committee said on Thursday afternoon

South Africa is widely recognised as the most unequal society in the world, with a startling 71% of the country’s wealth concentrated in the hands of a mere 10% elite

Civil society coalition condemns South Africa’s report to the UN on inequality

Critics argue that South Africa’s latest submission to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is a unilateral and fraught exercise

Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images

SAB takes the fizz out of AB InBev as Covid bans increase pressure

The global brewer paid billions to gain a foothold in South Africa, but the deal wasn’t all it was cracked up to be

Struggles: Many South Africans sought relief from the Unemployment Insurance Fund at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Jobs are now increasing but not fast enough. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Economy’s signs of life mean little for the poor

GDP growth may be encouraging but it doesn’t mean much for SA’s millions of unemployed

Entrepreneurial: Kamo ‘Skanju’ Mogajane and Thabang ‘Mafufa’ Molebatsi, from Katlehong, started their own business when they failed to find jobs. They own a clothing brand called Izinja. (Andy Mkosi)

GDP, recession, JSE, rallying rand … these terms mean very little to unemployed South Africans. This is the real picture of our economy

The economy is not producing work, with many young adults working outside their fields of study or considering leaving the country as a result

(Paul Botes/M&G)

Climate change will hit G7 economies harder than Covid, research finds

Countries with the biggest industrialised economies could see an average loss of 8.5% of economic value by 2050, according to an Oxfam analysis

Repositioned: Lesetja Kganyago, the governor of the South African Reserve Bank, says transformation is about more than demographics; it’s about culture and strategy. Photo: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Kganyago: Monetary policy entails trade-offs

The South African Reserve Bank governor believes the state has to spur growth, restore the country’s public finances and arrest debt to escape the economic slump

United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader Bantu Holomisa. (Photo by Tebogo Letsie/Foto24/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

Scopa to investigate claims of mismanagement at DBSA

This decision is despite the finance minister and the bank’s chief executive dismissing the UDM leader’s allegations as unfounded

Reserve Bank stands at the ready to act if the rise in inflation threatens to become permanent

Repo rate unchanged even as inflation risks grow

Reserve Bank stands at the ready to act if the rise in inflation threatens to become permanent