Within the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, South Africa is being looked at in a more favourable light as a location for private business. According to PwC’s latest EMEA Private Business Attractiveness Index, South Africa ranks 23rd out of 33 countries. This is an improvement from 2021 and 2022 when the country ranked 31st and 25th, respectively.
Duncan Adriaans, PwC Africa private leader, says: “The two-year improvement reflects positively on South Africa’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP) which, as part of structural reforms aimed at helping the economy recover from Covid-19, pledged in 2020 to make it easier for private businesses to operate in the country. “We can see this in, for example, the regulatory reforms and incentives implemented that allow businesses to invest in renewable energy installations. As a result, rooftop solar capacity in the country increased from less than 1 000 MW in 2021 to 5 200 MW at present, as reforms and incentives allowed businesses and households to invest in their energy securit