B2B Central

GDP

03 Apr 2018

SARS collects R1 216.6 billion in the financial year 2017/18

By Janice Roberts

The South African Revenue Service collected an amount of R1 216.6 billion in the financial year 2017/18. This was announced today at a press conference by the Minister of Finance, Nhlanhla Nene. “It should be noted that these are preliminary results, which will be subject to final audit. The preliminary result is very close within 0.06%...
27 Mar 2018

S&P Global Ratings Raises GDP Forecast For South Africa, Says Report

By Janice Roberts

S&P Global Ratings has raised its GDP growth forecast for South Africa to 2% for 2018, from 1% previously, and 2.1% for 2019, from 1.7%. This is partly due to strengthening domestic and foreign investor sentiment following a change in the country’s leadership and ensuing policy announcements. An ongoing global upturn is also boosting demand for both commodities...
24 Mar 2018

Moody's decision 'good news' for SA economy

By Janice Roberts

Moody’s decision on SA’s investment rating is good news for the economy and the country must use the breathing space wisely.  This is the view of NWU School of Business and Governance Economist, Professor Raymond Parsons. ‘The widely-expected but critical decision by Moody’s to retain South Africa’s existing investment rating and also to raise the...
12 Mar 2018

Keys to boost investment and competitiveness in the pharmaceutical sector

By Staff Writer

At the recent Pharmaceutical sector-specific forum convened by Proudly SA, Aspen senior executive for strategic trade development, Stavros Nicolaou, identified a number of key levers to grow the local pharmaceutical industry.

06 Mar 2018

Relief at Q4 2017 GDP figures: Citadel

By Janice Roberts

Better than expected GDP figures for 2017 released today brought sighs of relief all round after an unquestionably tough year economically for South Africa.
06 Mar 2018

Revised GDP data erases recent recession

By Janice Roberts

Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) reported on 6 March that the South African economy expanded by 3.1% quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) during the fourth quarter of 2017. This was stronger than the preceding quarter’s growth reading of 2.3% q-o-q, which was previously reported as 2% q-o-q.
06 Mar 2018

2017 GDP surprises to the upside

By Janice Roberts

By Jason Muscat, FNB Senior Economic Analyst 2017 GDP surprised to the upside, beating even our bullish expectations and printing at 1.3% y/y. The 2016 GDP figure was also upwardly revised from 0.3% y/y to 0.6%. Growth for the fourth quarter came in at 3.1% q/q and 1.5% y/y. More than half of the growth...
14 Feb 2018

Robust retail sales to lift GDP

By Janice Roberts

By Jason Muscat, FNB Senior Economic Analyst. December retail trade sales far exceeded our expectations, rising 5.3% y/y, but down -2.6% m/m on a seasonally adjusted basis. General dealers, clothing and “other retailers each added 1.4 pps (4.2 pps cumulatively), jumping 3.3% y/y, 5.9% and 14.7% respectively. In what may be tentative signs of a...
05 Dec 2017

GDP surprises with 2% expansion

By Janice Roberts

By Jason Muscat, FNB Senior Economic Analyst. 3Q17 GDP expanded by a robust 2% q/q, ahead of consensus forecasts, but below our bullish call. 2Q17 GDP was upwardly revised to 2.8% q/q from 2.5. Growth was almost entirely driven by the agriculture, mining and manufacturing sectors, which expanded by 44.2% q/q, 6.6% and 4.3% respectively,...
19 Sep 2017

SA’s growth engines feeling the weight of economic strain

By Janice Roberts

Business confidence indicators plummeted further in the second quarter of this year as the South African macroeconomic environment remained dire, resulting in increased pressure on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and their ability to deliver as one of South Africa’s leading growth engines.
05 Sep 2017

SA economy rebounds from technical recession

By Janice Roberts

By Mamello Matikinca, FNB Senior Economist. South Africa bounced back from a technical recession with GDP expanding 2.5% q/q in 2Q17, slightly above our expectations of 2.1%.
03 Aug 2017

Index shows there’s no escaping the economic gloom

By Janice Roberts

The Momentum / Unisa Household Financial Wellness Index (2016 data) makes for alarming reading, suggesting that a million more people could be unemployed by the end of 2018.