‘We are heading for a serious financial crisis’ – Dawie Roodt
The cost of
living in South Africa seems to be climbing at an unprecedented pace, with
interest rates regularly rising, and the price of petrol doing the same. So,
what can we expect in the coming months?
In this episode of The Carol Ofori Podcast, Carol has an in-depth conversation with seasoned economist Dawie Roodt about the current state of the South African economy.
Apart from the rising cost of living, you add loadshedding to the mix and it becomes almost unmanageable for the average South African. It seems there is no light at the end of the tunnel, or is there?
To get the answer to this question, Carol speaks to Dawie Roodt, Chief Economist of the Efficient Group. He’s a well-known economist with approximately 30 years’ experience and he specialises in monetary and fiscal policy.
Dawie paints a not-so-rosy picture for South Africa for at least the next few years.
“We are heading for a serious financial crisis, I believe, and this is going to happen in less than five years’ time,” he says.
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Dawie attributes a large part of the problem to the incredibly high levels of state debt.
“The state debt levels are the highest they’ve ever been, and it is going up at an alarming rate, and that state debt is being funded by somebody, and that somebody is the private sector.”
Dawie also says state spending is not likely to go down as we head towards the 2024 South African General Election.
“The Minister of Finance talking to his colleagues and telling them that we are heading for some serious troubles in South Africa and we need to cut back on state spending, and his colleague said we can’t do that because there is an election around the corner and we’ll lose votes.”
Dawie also pulls no punches when explaining what he feels are the reasons for the current state of the South African economy.
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“Most of the reasons are basically own goals, things we are doing to ourselves, and if I want to point out somebody who is responsible for most of our woes, it must be the ANC government.”
But, Dawie insists that the solution is not to leave South Africa but rather to stay and build something that contributes to the economy.
“If you love South Africa and the people in this part of the world, the best thing you can do is build a successful career or build a successful company, because by becoming wealthy you actually contribute to the wealth of this country, and if you create a successful business you are a job creator, you are a tax payer and you are part of the solution.”
Listen to Carol’s conversation with Dawie Roodt at the top of this page, or directly below.
Meanwhile, in an earlier episode of The Carol Ofori Podcast, Carol had a candid conversation with Tony Forbes, the father of late hip hop star, Kiernan Jarryd Forbes, or AKA, who was murdered in Durban in February this year.
If you’d like to suggest a topic for The Carol Ofori Podcast, please email Carol’s producer, Rory, at [email protected].
Listen to more episodes from The Carol Ofori Podcast below:
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