This was according to Colin Coleman, managing director of Goldman Sachs in South Africa, who was speaking at the PMA Fresh Connections Southern Africa Conference in Cape Town recently.
“The probability of South Africa getting into a sudden stop crisis, where all foreign capital inflows seized, is only 10%, compared with Turkey where the chance is 20%,” said Coleman.
South Africa’s government debt situation was also healthy; however Goldman Sachs forecast slow GDP growth for the country.
The economy was set to expand by just over 2% per year in 2015 and 2016, while the outlook for sub-Sahara Africa predicted growth of between 4,5% and 5,1% over this period.
According to Statistics SA, GDP growth slowed to 1,3% in the first quarter of 2015.
“Without urgent action South Africa might be caught in a low growth trap,” said Coleman.
Strong economic management, leadership and policy co-ordination were required to put SA on a sustainable path, he said.
To ensure stronger economic growth, government needed to urgently address a number of key priorities including; solving the energy crisis, stabilising labour relations, lifting public sector output and clamping down on underperformance, corruption and political meddling, said Coleman.
In case you missed the conference, here are some tweets:
Colin Coleman @GoldmanSachs: To avoid low growth trap SA must fix labour, energy and weak public sector output #FreshConnections
— Denene Erasmus (@agri_erasmus) August 13, 2015
Shoprite is largest retail business in Africa and creates 10000 to15000 new jobs each year – Christo Wiese #freshconnections
— Agbiz (@AgriChamber) August 13, 2015
#freshconnections @alanwinde : water, skills and broadband are key enablers in creating the right environment for growth.
— Nan Smith (@nansmth9) August 13, 2015
A recent study indicated more than 80% of consumers need more transparency to be confident in the origin of food products #freshconnections
— Syngenta SouthAfrica (@SyngentaSA) August 13, 2015
