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Indicators of economy in South Africa

The essential economic performance of a country is reflected by the gross domestic product. So the total of all goods and services sold. Worldwide gross domestic product in 2020 was at about 10.915 US Dollar per capita. In contrast, the GDP in South Africa reached 5.656 US dollars per inhabitant, or 335.44 bn US Dollar in the whole country. South Africa is therefore currently ranked 38 of the major economies. If this is calculated per inhabitant taking into account the purchasing power parity, then South Africa is in the list of the world's richest countries in place 92.

Inflation in South Africa was in 2021 at around 4.61%. Within the EU, the average in the same year was 2.62%. In the United States, it was most recently 4.70%.

Compared with the USA, prices for daily consumer goods are around 52.9% lower.
The Corruption Perceptions Index for the public sector counts 44 and is compared to other countries bad.


Back to overview: South Africa

Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020

The consequences of the Covid pandemic in 2020 were considerable in South Africa. Overall, gross domestic product in 2020 fell from 387.93 billion US Dollar auf 335.44 billion US Dollar. With a large drop of 13.53 percent, the economy in South Africa has struggled significantly more than other countries. The tourism sector alone slumped by around 70 percent. The unemployment rate rose from 28.5 to 29.2 percent. The inflation rate has fallen from 4.1 percent previously to 3.2 percent by the end of 2020.

Unemployment rates in percent 1991 - 2021

Economic performance 2020

 South Africa
Total		South Africa
per capita		EU
Total		EU
per capita
GDP335.44 bn USD5,655.87 USD15,291.93 tn USD29,692.11 USD
Gross national product356.59 bn USD6,012.38 USD15,330.84 tn USD29,767.66 USD


South Africa ranked 47th in the Bloomberg Innovation Index in 2021. The index is calculated annually and most recently included 60 countries. The front-runner was South Korea. 15 of the 2000 largest listed companies in the world originate from South Africa. This is determined annually in the Forbes Global 2000 list. The 10 largest companies in the country were in 2021:

Rank 504: Naspers (Cape Town)
Rank 534: FirstRand (Johannesburg)
Rank 561: Standard Bank Group (Johannesburg)
Rank 802: MTN Group (Roodepoort)
Rank 955: Sibanye Stillwater (Weltevreden Park)
Rank 1021: Impala Platinum Holdings (Northlands)
Rank 1109: Absa Group (Johannesburg)
Rank 1316: Old Mutual (Cape Town)
Rank 1340: Sasol (Johannesburg)
Rank 1395: Sanlam (Bellville)

Development of the Gross domestic product in billion US Dollar 1960 - 2020


› Debt budget development
› Development of inflation
› Corruption in South Africa
› Cost of living in a global comparison

Im- and Exports 2020

 South Africa
Total		South Africa
per capita		EU
Total		EU
per capita
Imports79.01 bn USD1,332.24 USD7,340.01 bn USD14,251.98 USD
Exports94.12 bn USD1,586.89 USD7,939.04 bn USD15,415.11 USD


Development of imports and exports in billion US dollars 1970 - 2020

Exports
Imports



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