Economic Overview

The year 2016 will go down as one with numerous black swan events. These are events that are rare, have an extreme impact, and are explainable and predictable - but only in hindsight.

Britain’s vote to leave the European Union and Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election had extreme impacts on markets. The sterling fell by more than 10% as it became clear that the UK had voted for exit, while the dollar swung wildly in the hours following Trump’s win.

Ratings agencies Fitch and S&P have South Africa only one notch above sub-investment grade and both have a negative outlook suggesting that the next ratings move may be down. Accelerated growth is required to avoid a downgrade.