{"id":93176,"date":"2025-11-19T18:55:29","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T18:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/top-bankers-bet-south-africa-has-turned-the-corner"},"modified":"2025-11-19T19:00:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T19:00:23","slug":"top-bankers-bet-south-africa-has-turned-the-corner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/top-bankers-bet-south-africa-has-turned-the-corner","title":{"rendered":"Top bankers bet South Africa has turned the corner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Top South African bankers are the most optimistic they\u2019ve been about the nation\u2019s economic prospects in decades following a spate of good news.<\/p>\n<p>Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana last week delivered a-better-than-expected budget update, with revenue overshooting previous projections and the National Treasury recommitting to its fiscal-consolidation plans.<\/p>\n<p>The minister also announced that the central bank would target 3% inflation, rather than a band of 3% to 6%.<\/p>\n<p>S&amp;P Global Ratings responded by upgrading South Africa\u2019s credit assessment for the first time since 2005 and maintaining a positive outlook on its debt, less than a month after the Financial Action Task Force removed the country from its dirty-money watchlist.<\/p>\n<p>Power cuts have virtually ceased since early last year and the nation\u2019s coalition government has moved to tackle logistical constraints that have hamstrung exports.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll of that really for me points towards a permanent inflection point and that we\u2019ve reached a positive trajectory,\u201d Emrie Brown, Rand Merchant Bank\u2019s chief executive officer, said in an interview on the sidelines of the inaugural Bloomberg Africa Business Summit in Johannesburg on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI definitely think the sentiment is the most positive I have seen in two decades. It\u2019s really big.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The confidence is evident in financial markets. The rand has gained almost 10% against the dollar this year, briefly strengthening past 17 to the greenback last week for the first time since February 2023, and traded at 17.17 at 6:45 p.m. in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n<p>The main stock index has surged 44% in dollar terms, while yields on the nation\u2019s benchmark bonds have fallen sharply.<\/p>\n<p>The turnaround follows years of negativity over electricity shortages, state corruption, political uncertainty and surging living costs \u2014 all of which have deterred investment and curbed economic growth. Gross domestic product expanded by an average of less than 1% a year over the past decade.<\/p>\n<p>While the National Treasury expects the average growth rate to accelerate to 1.8% over the next three years, Brown cautions that an investment surge may be contingent on an improved outlook materializing.<\/p>\n<p>Absa CEO Kenny Fihla told the conference the government had demonstrated its commitment to deregulation and focus on removing the obstacles that were stalling and preventing much faster economic growth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat commitment and clear signaling was last seen during the era\u201d of President Thabo Mbeki, which ended in 2008, he said at the summit.<\/p>\n<p>Godongwana is adamant the positive sentiment will hold and the country is on the right course.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018If you ask me, I\u2019m quite positive,\u201d he said. \u201cThe decisions we\u2019ve taken, whether it\u2019s on the structural reform side, whether it\u2019s on the fiscal metrics side,\u201d have political backing and will be difficult for anybody to change, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Leila Fourie, the JSE CEO, which manages the country\u2019s stock exchange, said that the market rally has been concentrated in the resources sector, with room for others to catch-up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve added R5 trillion to our market cap,\u201d she said. \u201cThat money has to find its way into investment and potential capital expenditure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Risks remain, including one of the world\u2019s highest unemployment rates, rampant crime and corruption, a deepening water crisis, and persistent problems at the nation\u2019s ports and railways.<\/p>\n<p>The government has also been at odds with US President Donald Trump\u2019s administration, which has imposed a 30% import tariff on some of its exports.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has falsely claimed that White Afrikaner farmers are being subjected to a genocide in South Africa and the government is seizing their land \u2014 claims that Godongwana said is making some investors nervous.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are very good policy initiatives. To translate those into real results, that\u2019s a different question,\u201d said Stanlib Asset Management CEO Derrick Msibi.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow long is that going to take? Can we finally solve the issue of the infrastructure backlog? That\u2019s not going to happen overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">South-Africa<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. Top South African bankers are the most optimistic they\u2019ve been about the nation\u2019s economic prospects in decades following a spate of good news. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana last week delivered a-better-than-expected budget update, with revenue overshooting previous projections and the National Treasury recommitting to its fiscal-consolidation plans. The minister also announced that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":93175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-93176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Top bankers bet South Africa has turned the corner - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Top South African bankers are the most optimistic they\u2019ve been about the nation\u2019s economic prospects in decades followin ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/top-bankers-bet-south-africa-has-turned-the-corner\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Top bankers bet South Africa has turned the corner\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Top South African bankers are the most optimistic they\u2019ve been about the nation\u2019s economic prospects in decades followin ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/top-bankers-bet-south-africa-has-turned-the-corner\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-19T18:55:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-19T19:00:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/11\/sm_1763566182.128721.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/top-bankers-bet-south-africa-has-turned-the-corner#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/top-bankers-bet-south-africa-has-turned-the-corner\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Top bankers bet South Africa has turned the corner\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-19T18:55:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-19T19:00:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/top-bankers-bet-south-africa-has-turned-the-corner\"},\"wordCount\":656,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/top-bankers-bet-south-africa-has-turned-the-corner#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/11\/sm_1763566182.128721.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/top-bankers-bet-south-africa-has-turned-the-corner#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/top-bankers-bet-south-africa-has-turned-the-corner\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/top-bankers-bet-south-africa-has-turned-the-corner\",\"name\":\"Top bankers bet South Africa has turned the corner - 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