Few would have predicted an eventful year like we have had. Across the world, lives have been changed forever, often devastatingly. In South Africa, the Covid-19 lockdown exposed the economic weakness caused by years of misguided government policies and state capture.
Government’s seeming inability to address rising debt formed part of the country’s credit rating downgrade to “junk” status earlier this year. It is clear that, financially, government cannot accommodate this wage bill. So expect trade unions to exert even more pressure on it next year – to the detriment of the country’s financial situation.
People living in countries with higher levels of economic freedom on average enjoy greater prosperity, more political and civil liberties, and they live longer.Indeed, countries in the top quartile had an average per capita GDP of R670 000 in 2018, compared with R87 000 for countries in the bottom quartile.
It appears the world will soon have Covid-19 vaccines available and, hopefully, the widespread distribution of these will put paid to any possible government plans for more lockdowns.