The strain that the South African economy is under continues to show in the KwaZulu-Natal economy. Prolonged labour strife, rising inflation and higher interest rates hamper business and consumer confidence. The latest KwaZulu-Natal barometer, as compiled by Mike Schüssler of Economists.co.za, decreased 3% year-on-year, the third consecutive month of year-on-year decline, and fell 1.9% month-on-month. The growth index was up only 0.2% from a year ago and economic stress increased substantially.
Unemployment driving stress
The economic stress index, which measures factors like interest rates, inflation and unemployment, increased 3.2% year-on-year, the fourth month of growing stress. The index also increased on a month-on-month and quarter-on-quarter basis and was 5.5% higher than three years ago. Aside from inflation and interest rates, which are up from a year ago, the main driver of economic stress in KwaZulu-Natal was that the province's unemployment rate climbed to 23.7%. While this is still lower than the national unemployment rate of 25.5%, joblessness in KwaZulu-Natal is now at its highest since February 2008.
Click below link to view business Barometer for June 2014: