Festive season decorations are going up, carols are being played and the elections are upon us. Let’s see where the final vote goes and how (if) the local and national elections change our lives??
What I have seen over the years is that for investment in our country to take place., the business world wants certainty that they can plan for and currently SA has no certainty. The moving of the goal posts creates uncertainty and with that companies move to countries that offer stability.
It's not rocket science! SA needs investor friendly incentives to attract investment, not more regulations to harass companies from investing in our country. Not BEE Laws that chase investors away!
We have all seen first-hand what the last years of increased legislation have done (coupled with Covid) India (which was ravished by covid) is set to be the fastest-growing economy in the world in 2021 & 2022: IMF projection. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has retained its forecast of India's economic growth at 9.5 per cent in 2021 and 8.5 per cent in 2022. Why? The economic growth has been driven by the expansion of the services that have been growing consistently faster than other sectors. India will be the fastest-growing major economy in the world, ahead of China, which is projected to grow at 5.8 per cent, a slowdown from 8.2 per cent in 2021.
Who are the next 4 fastest growing economies currently- Spain – 6.4%, China – 5.6%, USA – 5.2%, U.K. – 5.0%, Canada – 4.9%, Germany – 4.6%?
South Africa’s projected growth rate in 2022? Hold onto your seats – 1%. In 2020 we had a decline of 6.96% 2021 of + 3.1%.
How does our ruling party expect the country to recover? It does not seem to have a clue.
It is estimated that at least R 1.5 trillion was stolen prior to 2019, the Guptas took more than R 40 billion, R 500 billion was lost during the Zuma years, 90 billion was lost in tax revenue collections, R 67 billion in servicing debt the list just goes on and on.
“We are losing a huge amount of our highly skilled labour force in South Africa. We’re losing doctors, engineers, our finance industry, our lawyers – it’s all the higher-earners or higher taxpayers from South Africa’s point of view.” This is reducing our tax base.
So why are so many still staying and investing? Simply put – there is nowhere else for the majority to go. Many love the country and want to stay, many still want to make it work.
What has to change is governments accountability with consequences for those caught with their hand in the cookie jar. There needs to be a change to create an investor friendly country. We should all be down on a bent knee begging companies to invest instead of creating counterproductive legislative laws that cause disinvestment.
Let’s see what the election brings and the changes with it. Hopefully sanity prevails.
Sincerely
Hilton Johnson
CEO – Compliance Hub