What are South Africa’s stimulus options, if any?

JOHANNESBURG – It’s been quite an eventful first three months to the year for the South African economy and, in the minds of many, a bit too interesting.

The earnings season came and went with a slew of negative report cards reflecting the growing struggles of some of our leading blue-chip companies under the weight of an economy that hasn’t managed to breach the 2 percent growth mark in more than half a decade.

The stock market has underperformed, and, in turn, business confidence is still languishing somewhere near mid-eighties levels.

Corporate South Africa is also struggling with the spectre of load shedding that by all accounts is our reality for another two years, if we are lucky.

Outside of our commercial sector, the public sector remains in its fiscally constrained position.