All these kinds of economic jargon’s boils down to one thing: recession is back and the rich will be more richer and the poorer (like yours truly) will be affected.
This means unemployment rate will reach the ceiling and those who intended to ask for raise as a result of inflation, will not get it.
South Africa is facing ‘technical recession’ following a dismal performance in the first quarter‚ when the GDP shrank by a revised 2.6%.
These were attributed by negative contributors to growth in GDP namely agriculture, transport and trade, according to Stats SA.
Yet our Government has gone on record to state ‘don’t panic’, according to finance minister Nhlanhla Nene, speaking from China at the Forum on China Africa co-operation, attended by President Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa, whose on a mission to sign deals with the Chinese counter parts.
“I don’t think people should panic. Of course, it’s okay for people to be concerned, which is a good sign but I think it’s also going to call on all of us to work together to lift the country out of this.”
“The investment conference that’s coming, there’s the jobs summit that’s coming. We’re building up to the medium-term budget policy statement, the real reform package that comes out of the Cabinet process is also in the pipeline.”
Nene reportedly told news agencies as Government they’re working on a plan to get out of recession.
But Economists are having none of it.
Economist Azar Jammine explained that recession means: “Officially, recessions are defined as situations where the GDP contracts for two consecutive quarters, it’s an attempt at trying to describe a situation where things are actually deteriorating.”
Another Economist Nicky Weimar said: “It’s not really that surprising, we had the monthly numbers that indicated to us that underlying activity remained exceptionally weak in the second quarter. The big question really was around some factors that we didn’t have or don’t have regular monetary statistics on.”
“Because of the weighting of agriculture in the economy that had a very significant impact on crops But it’s not the only area that we need to be concerned about,” says Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel.
The minister says the GDP figures underline the importance of taking steps that can boost economic growth.
Fuel has also increased but the Government has promised a temporary reprieve, till when you may ask?
Political parties blame the Ramaphosa led-Government for implementing policies that seemed confusing to themselves.
Isn’t time Government invested heavily and tangibly in SMMEs that play a huge role in the economy?
But for a person who sells fat-cakes and achaar in the streets of any township throughout SA, this does not augur well; and for a small factory that has just begun operating in a backyard this could mean closure, and for unreliable public transport this means another fare increase.
This will result in the rise of crime yet again.
