Economy ———-
Economic overview: Many of the white one-seventh of the South African population enjoy incomes, material comforts, and health and educational standards equal to those of Western Europe. In contrast, most of the remaining population suffers from the poverty patterns of the Third World, including unemployment and lack of job skills. The main strength of the economy lies in its rich mineral resources, which provide two-thirds of exports. Economic developments for the remainder of the 1990s will be driven largely by the new government's attempts to improve black living conditions, to set the country on a steady export-led growth path, and to cut back the enormous numbers of unemployed. The economy in recent years has absorbed less than 5% of the more than 300,000 workers entering the labor force annually. Local economists estimate that the economy must grow between 5% and 6% in real terms annually to absorb all of the new entrants, much less reduce the accumulated total.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $215 billion (1995 est.)
GDP real growth rate: 3.3% (1995 est.)
GDP per capita: $4,800 (1995 est.)
GDP composition by sector: agriculture: NA% industry: NA% services: NA%
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 8.7% (1995)
Labor force: 14.2 million economically active (1996) by occupation: services 35%, agriculture 30%, industry 20%, mining 9%, other 6%
Unemployment rate: 32.6% (1996 est.); an additional 11%
underemployment
Budget:
revenues: $30.5 billion
expenditures: $38 billion, including capital expenditures of $2.6
billion (FY94/95 est.)