State of the South African Economy 2024

Okay, listen up—here is the state of the South African economy in 60 seconds.

It’s been a rough decade. Since 2015, real GDP growth has averaged just

0.8%, which is way less than the population growth. That means people

are actually getting poorer on average. The big problem? It’s not just bad luck.

It’s structural. We’re talking persistent electricity shortages (Load Shedding) and logistics bottlenecks

at ports and rails that are choking the economy. Unemployment is the scariest number—it's

sitting around 33.5% as of 2024. For the youth? It's over 60%. That is a crisis.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. Inflation has actually cooled down massively, dropping below 3%