IMF Staff Country Report-South Africa: Selected Issues
January 30, 2020--THE GROWTH-INFLATION TRADEOFF OF MONETARY POLICY IN SOUTH AFRICA1
The combination of low growth and stubbornly high inflation expectations for a protracted period has
complicated monetary policy decisions. Staff analysis contributes to the ongoing growth-inflation
tradeoff discussion in South Africa, concluding that there is limited growth tradeoff of monetary policy
efforts to anchor inflation expectations at a lower level at present.
A. Introduction
Growth and Inflation
1. Economic growth declined in South Africa and started to undershoot its peers in the past decade, highlighting the role of unaddressed structural constraints. As discussed in Annex I, South Africa's macroeconomic performance appears to have witnessed an important inflection point between the 2000s and the 2010s, which broadly coincides with the global financial crisis in 2008-09. Real GDP growth (year on year) halved after the Global Financial Crisis, from 4.3 percent during 2000-07 to 2 percent during 2010-17 and eked out just 0.8 percent in 2018. Monetary and
fiscal policies have lent significant growth support, but structural rigidities have kept business
confidence low, depressing private investment and growth. Demand for credit has weakened, while
banks have refrained from expanding loans, in the low growth environment.
view the IMF Staff Country Report-South Africa: Selected Issues
Source: IMF
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