Cape Town – South Africa is one of the top 10 risks to the world in 2017, a report in Time magazine revealed on Tuesday.
Time magazine gave South Africa a special mention as the 10th risk to the world, with the tag line “Struggling South Africa”.
“The deeply unpopular President Jacob Zuma, beset by corruption allegations, is afraid to pass power to someone he doesn’t trust,” American political scientist Ian Bremmer explained in his report.
“The resulting infighting over succession stalls any momentum toward crucial economic reform in the country and limits South Africa’s ability to offer leadership needed to stabilise conflicts inside neighbouring countries.”
The country’s gross domestic product showed a worrying 0.5% growth in 2016, far below the 5% growth required by the National Development Plan to create 11 million jobs by 2030. Nomura economist Peter Montalto forecast SA growing by only 1% in 2017 and 1.6% in 2018.
A lack of growth will not help the increasing unemployment figures, causing social instability and further increasing inequality. Unemployment figures hit a 13-year high in November 2016, with 27.1% job seekers unemployed in the third quarter of 2016.
What won’t help matters is if South Africa is downgraded to junk status. It avoided being plunged into non-investment grade status in 2016, but analysts warned that 2017 could see rating agencies Standard & Poors, Moody’s and Fitch move to downgrade the country, warning of political noise.
The noise focuses on Zuma, who has yet to face 783 fraud, racketeering and corruption charges. The Constitutional Court in October 2016 refused to hear the National Prosecuting Authority’s appeal on the North Gauteng High Court judgment, which reinstated the charges.
Zuma survived a call by ministers at a National Executive Committee meeting in November to step down as his relationship with the Gupta family comes increasingly into focus. His term as ANC president ends at the end of 2017 and as state president in 2019.
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Univisa Relaunched for Zimbabwe and Zambia
The KAZA Univisa for Zambia and Zimbabwe was relaunched at an event at the David Livingstone Safari Lodge on December 21, 2016. The visa aims to promote tourism and facilitate free, easy movement of tourists across the countries’ borders.
The Univisa was first launched in a pilot programme between November 2014 and December 2015 with more than 47 000 visitors benefiting from the arrangement during the period.
Citizens of 40 countries (those who are eligible to receive visas on arrival in both Zambia and Zimbabwe) are eligible.
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Uganda Sets Up Online Visa Application Portal
According to statistics from the directorate, over 60,000 applications for visas and permits have been completed and approved online since the software that functions through computers connected to internet was installed.
Uganda has declared its new online visa application and approval system an efficient digital (visa) and permits management infrastructure following the end of a six-month period allowed by the service provider to determine its efficacy.
The online visa portal was set up by Gamalto, a Netherlands’ technology firm, on July 1 last year at the Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control in the internal affairs ministry in Kampala.
Higher Oil Prices by End Of 2017 Could Lift Nigeria’s Economy
Nigeria, the second biggest oil producer in Africa, is likely to enjoy increased earnings from its exports by the end of 2017, when global prices are expected rise to $60 per barrel, an increase that will boost the nation’s struggling economy.
Global oil prices fell from a peak of $115 per barrel in June 2014 to below $35 in February last year before recovering to $ 50 per barrel in December.
“I am hoping that we are heading towards $60 per barrel and I don’t see higher than that,” Gulf News quoted Emmanuel Kachikwu, the country’s Oil minister, as saying.
Kachikwu added that the West African nation production rose from a daily production of 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd) in early 2016 to the current 1.6 million and expects the output to hit 2.1 million by end of January.
The current production is the lowest since June 2007.
The nation’s output fell close to a 22-year low in May, following attacks by militants in the oil-rich region of Niger Delta, who damaged gas and oil pipelines and forced Chevron to shut its facility in Okan.
The government is negotiating with the militants.
Kachikwu said increased security by government forces in the region and the engagements with the militants who are demanding greater share of the oil-revenue will stabilize production this year, Gulf News reported.
In November, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) exempted the nation from a production cut of about 2.1 bpd due to the damage on its oil and gas infrastructure, Vanguard News reported.
Nigeria’s economy, which earns about 80 percent of its foreign revenue from crude oil exports, is facing its worst crisis in 25 years.
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Time: SA One of the Top 10 Risks to The World in 2017
Cape Town – South Africa is one of the top 10 risks to the world in 2017, a report in Time magazine revealed on Tuesday.
Time magazine gave South Africa a special mention as the 10th risk to the world, with the tag line “Struggling South Africa”.
“The deeply unpopular President Jacob Zuma, beset by corruption allegations, is afraid to pass power to someone he doesn’t trust,” American political scientist Ian Bremmer explained in his report.
“The resulting infighting over succession stalls any momentum toward crucial economic reform in the country and limits South Africa’s ability to offer leadership needed to stabilise conflicts inside neighbouring countries.”
The country’s gross domestic product showed a worrying 0.5% growth in 2016, far below the 5% growth required by the National Development Plan to create 11 million jobs by 2030. Nomura economist Peter Montalto forecast SA growing by only 1% in 2017 and 1.6% in 2018.
A lack of growth will not help the increasing unemployment figures, causing social instability and further increasing inequality. Unemployment figures hit a 13-year high in November 2016, with 27.1% job seekers unemployed in the third quarter of 2016.
What won’t help matters is if South Africa is downgraded to junk status. It avoided being plunged into non-investment grade status in 2016, but analysts warned that 2017 could see rating agencies Standard & Poors, Moody’s and Fitch move to downgrade the country, warning of political noise.
The noise focuses on Zuma, who has yet to face 783 fraud, racketeering and corruption charges. The Constitutional Court in October 2016 refused to hear the National Prosecuting Authority’s appeal on the North Gauteng High Court judgment, which reinstated the charges.
Zuma survived a call by ministers at a National Executive Committee meeting in November to step down as his relationship with the Gupta family comes increasingly into focus. His term as ANC president ends at the end of 2017 and as state president in 2019.
Source