Economists have warned that the country’s growth prospects will remain constrained.
A group of economists attending ABSA’s first-quarter discussion says Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is expected at 2.1% this year, and 1.7% in 2023.
They expect household income growth to be limited, while inflation is expected to continue to move upwards.
Economist at the bank Miyelani Maluleke says recovery from the pandemic is very uneven.
“Nearly two years into this pandemic and the stringent restrictions and what we have seen is a recovery that has been very uneven across most sectors and we are still to return to levels of economic activity that we have enjoyed prior to the pandemic. The damage of the Omicron wave on economic activity in Q4 does seem to be far less than previous waves that we have seen. We are forecasting a rebound of just 1%, which leaves a full year 2021 forecast of 4.7%.”
