SA among economies destined to record biggest shortfall in GDP

JOHANNESBURG – NKC Africa Economics has identified South Africa as among emerging economies expected to record the biggest shortfall in gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021.

The research agency said in its global economic outlook yesterday that South Africa and other weak economies would experience a slight delay after imposing some of the strictest lockdown restrictions.

NKC economist Ben May said the economies that were expected to record the biggest GDP shortfall in 2021 relative to 2019 generally suffered from one or more of four broad problems.

May said the economies reliant on hard-hit sectors such as tourism or energy were vulnerable to contraction.

“First, they suffered an especially sharp GDP contraction in the first half of 2020 in part due to long or strict lockdowns. The UK and South Africa are two such examples,” May said.