This year was a tough year for South Africa and the global economy – let’s hope it’s less of a rocky ride in 2023. Optimism that Covid was pretty much over marked the start of 2022, but little did we know that Russia would invade Ukraine.

With the war came additional global supply chain disruptions and energy issues in Europe that saw a worldwide spike in food and oil prices. It also became the main contributor to spiralling inflation, forcing central banks around the world to hike interest rates sharply.

SA’s repo rate is now above pre-Covid levels, after 325bp hikes this year. Our own energy issues, with the worsening electricity supply crisis at Eskom, just exacerbated SA’s economic woes. 2022 will go down as the worst year yet in terms of load shedding levels in the country.

The worst floods in decades hit KwaZulu-Natal in April and the escalated load shedding nationally saw the economy contract in Q2.

However, on a positive note, the SA economy managed to escape a recession in Q3. There have also been some major reforms on the renewable energy and broadband spectrum fronts – finally.

But, we are ending off the year somewhat on an uncertain note, with Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter’s resignation in mid-December and power generation plummeting to new lows in the middle of the lower-demand holiday season!

With President Cyril Ramaphosa securing a stronger leadership mandate at the recent ANC elective conference, there are calls for him to be more decisive in dealing with SA’s most pressing challenge – the Eskom crisis.

South Africa can’t afford to have Eskom’s imminent leadership vacuum, with several senior executives departing over the next few months, result in even more load shedding next year and a greater power crisis.

Yes, we may have escaped a technical recession this year. But another year of pedestrian GDP growth next year is not what we should just get accustomed to. Let’s make 2023 count and be a turning point for SA and the economy.

Moneyweb would like to take this time to thank all of our readers and subscribers for your support this year.

We will be taking a short break as of 24 December 2022. Our website will continue as usual, but all our newsletters, as well as the MoneywebNOW morning livestream, SAFM Market Update radio show and podcasts, will resume on 9 January next year.

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We wish you a safe and happy festive break. Here’s to a prosperous 2023!

Regards, Suren Naidoo Debuty Editor, Moneyweb

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