JOHANNESBURG – With the economy shrinking, unemployment at an all-time high, and yet another downgrade almost certainly waiting for us in January from ratings agency, Moody’s, there is very little to feel cheerful about this festive season.
The fact that millions of debt-stressed consumers saw fit to splurge millions on Black Friday and Cyber Monday shows clearly that the message that the South African economy is in crisis has not yet sunk in, economist Dawie Roodt, chief economist of the Efficient Group said. “I am fearful that we are heading towards a full-blown recession and in fact may already be in one in the fourth quarter.
“Given the devastation wrought by load shedding and the government’s rapidly growing debt burden, I cannot help but to think that things are going to get a lot worse before they get better,” Roodt said. He said his biggest fear was the all-time high fiscal deficit which was going to make it increasingly difficult for the government to borrow money abroad to keep the economy going.