Following the country’s recent presidential election, the economy of South Africa has returned to positive growth. ICR looks at the impact this has had on its highly-competitive cement industry and how other factors such as overcapacity mean that it remains a challenging environment for producers.
The election of Cyril Ramaphosa as the South African president following the resignation of Jacob Zuma has signalled a positive resurgence in the country’s economic status. Therefore, after several years of a declining GDP, 2017 saw an increase of 1.3 per cent, according to the IMF. This is expected to continue with 1.5 per cent and 1.7 per cent growth forecast for 2018 and 2019, respectively.
