2014 could be year SA catches up to African growth
2014 could be year SA catches up to African growth
There was good reason to expect that South Africa could, in 2014, catch up with the rest of the African continent in terms of growth, Standard Bank joint CE Sim Tshabalala said on Wednesday.Speaking at Frontier Advisory’s Africa Frontiers Forum, in Sandton, Tshabalala stated that, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Africa’s growth would accelerate during the course of the year to about 6%, adding that similar predictions indicated that South Africa would, during 2014, possibly regain a growth level of 3%.“Standard Bank’s view is that the country may very well perform far better, certainly in the medium term,” he said.Tshabalala added that, according to the banking group’s economists, if the regulatory environment was right, South Africa’s offshore gas endowment could potentially add another 1.4% a year to the country’s growth over the next five years.Further, South African government policy was also beginning to cohere around the National Development Plan (NDP), with Standard Bank expecting greater policy certainty over the coming months, despite it being an election year, he said.“The ANC’s [recently] released election manifesto is a clear sign that there will be more reinforcement of the NDP in the coming State of the Nation and Budget speeches,” Tshabalala added, stating that this should support a more stable regulatory environment that would make it easier to do business in South Africa.“Five per cent growth is not in the realms of the impossible by 2015 if we make substantial progress in the implementation of the NDP,” he added.Source: www.engineeringnews.co.za