South Africa’s economy grew by 1.1 percent during the first quarter of 2021, according to data released by Stats SA. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the economy grew 4.6 percent.
Earlier, the South African Reserve Bank forecasted GDP to grow by 2.7 percent year-on-year during the first quarter of 2021. Interestingly, the central bank revised its earlier forecast of 0.2 percent.
Despite this being the third consecutive quarter of positive growth, the South African economy is still 2.7 percent smaller than it was in the first quarter of 2020.
Recently, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced an amendment to the Electricity Regulation Act as a part of his economic recovery plan. The amendment will see the exemption threshold being raised from 1 megawatt to 100 megawatts. This comes at a time when the country is suffering a power crisis.
Ramaphosa told the media, “We are a country that is blessed with tremendous resources and resourcefulness. We have a bright future ahead of us. Today’s announcement takes us one significant step further towards that future.
“Generation projects will still need to obtain permits, a grid connection permit, to ensure that they meet all the requirements for grid compliance. This will ensure that we are able to bring online as much new capacity as possible without compromising the integrity and stability of our energy system.
“This reform is expected to unlock significant investment in new generation capacity in the short and medium term, enabling companies to build their own generation facilities to supply their energy needs,” he added.