Stöttningsplan ska rädda Sydafrikas sockerindustri

The economy of South Africa is the second largest in Africa. As a manufacturing hub, it is the most industrialized, technologically advanced, and diversified economy on the African continent. South Africa is an upper-middle-income economy, one of only eight such countries in Africa. Since 1996, at the end of over twelve years of international sanctions, South Africa's Gross Domestic Product almost tripled to peak at $400 billion in 2011, but has since declined to roughly $385 billion in 2019. In the same period, foreign exchange reserves increased from $3 billion to nearly $50 billion creating a diversified economy with a growing and sizable middle class, within two decades of ending apartheid. South African state owned enterprises play a significant role in the country's economy with the government owning a share in around 700 SOEs involved in a wide array of important industries. In 2016 the top five challenges to doing business in the country were inefficient government bureaucracy, restrictive labour regulations, a shortage of skilled workers for some high tech industries, political instability, and corruption, whilst the country's strong banking sector was rated as a strongly positive feature of the economy. The nation is among the G20, and is the only African member of the group.