The threat of an International Monetary Fund bailout, may force the South African government to push through reforms needed to rescue the economy.
In a statement seen by APA on Wednesday, Dr Hippolyte Fofack, Chief Economist at the African Import/Export Bank (Afreximbank), warned that South Africa’s unemployment rates which are already in excess of 26 percent rose again to 27.6 percent, an all-time high in the first quarter of 2019, hence the need for labor-intensive employment in the manufacturing sector.
The former World Bank official said as the most complex and diversified economy on the continent, South Africa is less exposed to commodity cycles and its impressive intra-regional trade intensity has also acted as efficient absorber to global shocks.
“Tackling the supply-side constraints to boost industrial production and manufacturing output is key to addressing Great-Depression era unemployment rates and set the country back on a path of robust economic growth while lifting business confidence” Dr Fofack said.
The economist described the African Continental Free Trade area as a great catalyst for the country “which is already the champion of intra-African trade and stands to benefit the most from the mega-trade integration reform.”
WN/as/APA