BUDGET 2003
SA poised for 3.3% growth
Mantshele wa ga Tau
26 February 2003
South Africa's economy has beaten all odds and is now poised to grow by 3.3% during 2003, rising to 4% in 2005, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said in Cape Town on Wednesday.
The country has been experiencing positive growth since 1993.
Delivering his Budget speech in Parliament, Manuel said investment grew by 6.3% in 2002 and is expected to continue to grow at around 6% a year over the medium term.
Manuel pointed out that South Africa had, in just nine years since achieving democracy, worked hard to alleviate poverty and rebuild a tattered economy.
"The resilience of our economy in this global context is testimony to the success of the reforms that we have implemented. Gross domestic product grew by 3% last year," Manuel said.
"We have steered clear of the illusion that is populism. We have sought to build rather than postulate. We have chosen decision over vacillation. We have chosen progress over stagnation. We have
chosen inclusion over exclusion. We have chosen stability over chaos. We have chosen predictability over irrationality," Manuel said.
Meanwhile, the international rating evaluator Moody's Investors Service announced on Wednesday that it had changed South Africa's Baa2 country ceilings for foreign currency debt and bank deposits from stable to positive.
The rating agency cited declining government debt ratios, improved external liquidity and careful macro-economic management that compared favourably to South Africa's peers as the reasons for the upgrade.
Source: BuaNews
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