South Africa Economy

Useful information for visitors to South Africa

Landlocked, small in size, and highly urbanised, Gauteng lacks the natural assets and scenic beauty to vie with the country’s flagship leisure destinations of Cape Town, Durban and the wildlife safaris of the Kruger National Park. Nonetheless, tourism is viewed as a key enabler towards job creation and also plays a role in exposing the province...

Accounting for 40.6% of South Africa’s manufacturing base, the performance and challenges facing manufacturers in Gauteng reflect those of the country as a whole. The industrial sector is feeling the strain of several factors impeding its growth prospects, including reduced demand due to the global slowdown; squeezed margins due to rising...

Despite having the smallest land area of South Africa’s nine provinces at 16,548 sq km, Gauteng is the largest contributor to the national economy, making up onethird of total GDP, at R700bn ($85.33bn) – double the contribution of Kwazulu-Natal (16%) and the Western Cape (14%), the next two largest provinces by GDP.

The second half of 2012 witnessed some of the most damaging tensions between organised labour, employers and government in over a decade. With political overtones and tragic loss of life, the success of wildcat (unauthorised) strikes at key mines in 2012 secured well-above-inflation wage increases, spurring protests in other sectors such as...

The endorsement of the National Development Plan (NDP) by the ruling African National Congress’s (ANC) Mangaung policy conference in December 2012 was an encouraging sign for South Africa’s private sector. Further, the election of one of the NDP’s chief architects, billionaire businessman Cyril Ramaphosa, as deputy president of the ANC reflected...