Economic recovery
Bloomberg|
07 September 2009 08:04
Loosening in lending criteria by the local banks is not "inappropriate".
There is "cautious hope" for South Africa's economic outlook, even as the country must continue with the stimulus package it's implemented, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said.
"We've got to continue with the work that we've been doing in terms of our own stimulus package," Gordhan said yesterday after returning from London, where he attended a meeting of central bank governors and finance ministers from the Group of 20 countries. "It's going to be a long, hard road ahead of us, but one that if we manage, as we have managed our fiscal and monetary situation well, we will ensure that South Africa ends up in a better place than it currently finds itself."
Gordhan said on July 1 that economic growth probably won't rise above 3,5% for "several years". That is lower than the 6% growth that the government estimates it needs to meet a goal of cutting the unemployment rate to 14% by 2014. Banks, businesses and government have to play their part in ensuring that "it's not the workers once again that suffer the worst as a result of this recession", he said yesterday.
Loosening in lending criteria by the local banks is not "inappropriate," Gordhan said. Standard Bank said September 1 that it will loosen lending criteria for mortgages and credit cards following an improvement in bad-loan ratios. - Bloomberg
