The second-strongest economy in Africa behind Nigeria, South Africa is the world's top producer of platinum and a leading supplier of gold, diamonds and other minerals.
JOHANNESBURG – South Africa may still have relatively few confirmed coronavirus cases but the flailing economy's two major foreign exchange-earners -- mining and tourism -- are bracing to take a hit.
"Iron ore, manganese, and chrome account for two-thirds of South Africa's total exports to China by value," a recent report by Strategy&, a subsidiary of Price Waterhouse Cooper, found. On average, China imports "approximately 8.5 billion to nine billion rand million monthly", according to South Africa's Minerals Council economist Tafadzwa Chibanguza.It slipped into recession in the final three months of 2019, the second contraction to hit the economy in as many years. That contraction was largely blamed on erratic electricity supplies.
Growth in South Africa for all of 2019 was just 0.2%, its lowest since the global financial crisis in 2009. China is ranked the seventh largest origin of foreign visitors to South Africa with 97,000 tourists holidaying at the country's game reserves and other sites in 2018.
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