South Africa’s low growth projection for 2019 and 2020 has led the World Bank to cut the country’s growth outlook for the period, APA learnt on Thursday.
According to the World Bank, the South African economy is expected to grow by 0.8 percent in 2019, down from the bank’s earlier forecast of 1.3 percent made in April this year.
The bank also forecasts one percent growth of the South African economy in 2020 against a projection of 1.7 percent made in April.
The South African government has however put the 2019 economic growth at 1.3 percent and much lower in 2020 at 1.2 percent.
The World Bank attributed its downgrading of South Africa’s economic performance to a sharp slowdown in the country’s gross domestic product growth.
Low investor sentiment and policy uncertainty were also considerations, the bank said in its latest Africa Pulse Report, adding that the overall growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to decrease as well.
The current US-China trade war as well as slower global growth “are weighing in on economic activity across the region (Africa)” – apart from increased drought and the higher cost of public borrowing which are also slowing growth on the continent, the Africa Pulse Report added.
NM/jn/APA