By Monique Vanek.
South African central bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago said the country needs to effectively implement microeconomic reforms before it will see faster growth.
Reforms such as those targeted by Operation Vulindlela “need to be put in place, executed effectively, so that you can actually get the economy growing,” and create jobs, Kganyago said in an interview with Johannesburg-based PowerFM on Sunday.
Operation Vulindlela, a unit in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office, was formed in 2020 to tackle constraints in areas such as logistics, transmission, collapsing water infrastructure and municipal governance.
The move followed years of underinvestment and graft, which left growth averaging less than 1% annually for more than a decade.
“The thing about structural change is that the effects of structural change get felt a year, two, sometimes even three or five years down the line,” Kganyago said. “But you’ve got to make those difficult decisions now. If you don’t, you are postponing the problem, and it catches up with you.”