| Official Name |
Republic of South Africa |
| Form of state |
A federal state, consisting of a
national government and nine
provincial governments |
| Legal system |
Based on Roman-Dutch law and the
1996 constitution, in force since
February 4 1997 |
| National legislature |
Bicameral parliament elected every
five years, comprising the 400-seat
National Assembly and the 90-seat National Council of Provinces |
| Electoral system |
List-system of proportional
representation based on universal
adult suffrage |
| National elections |
April 14 2004, the next election is
to be held in 2009 |
| Head of state |
President, elected by the National
Assembly; currently Thabo Mbeki |
| National government |
Coalition government of the African
National Congress and the New
National party |
| Main political parties |
The African National Congress (ANC)
is the majority party in the coalition
government. Other parties include the
Democratic Alliance (DA), the Inkatha
Freedom Party (Inkatha or IFP), the
Independent Democrats (ID) United
Democratic Movement (UDM), the
Freedom Front Plus (FF+) the Pan
Africanist Congress (PAC) and the
South African Communist Party (SACP) |
 |
- Since 1994, South Africa has enjoyed a stable democracy.
- The predominant language of business, regulatory authorities and medicine is English.
- South Africa has a sophisticated financial, banking and legal structure.
- IT standards are world-class allowing ease of communication and rapid data transfer.
|
| Economic summary |
2005
(estimate) |
2006
(forecast) |
| Total GDP (rand bn) |
1,471 |
1,579 |
| Total GDP ($bn) |
237.3 |
228.9 |
| Real GDP growth (annual % change) |
4 |
4 |
| GDP per head ($) |
5,070 |
4,830 |
| Inflation (annual % change in CPI) |
4.3 |
4.6 |
| Agricultural output (real annual % change) |
5 |
4.5 |
| Industrial production (real annual % change) |
3.5 |
4 |
| Money supply, M2 (annual % change) |
9.6 |
7.6 |
| Foreign exchange reserves ($bn) |
14.1 |
14.4 |
| Government expenditure (% of GDP) |
30 |
32.3 |
| Budget balance (% of GDP) |
-3.1 |
-3 |
| Total foreign debt (% of GDP) |
11.8 |
12.6 |
| Current account balance ($bn) |
-7.4 |
-6.7 |
| Merchandise exports ($bn) |
48.9 |
49.5 |
| Merchandise imports ($bn) |
-48.2 |
-48.8 |
| Trade balance ($bn) |
0.62 |
0.75 |
|
 |
|
SOUTH AFRICA STATISTICS
| Area: |
1,221,038 sq km |
| Languages: |
Afrikaans, English,
IsiNdebele, Northern Sotho
(Sepedi), Sesotho, siSwati,
Xitsonga, Setswana, Tshivenda,
IsiXhosa, and IsiZulu |
| Currency: |
Rand |
| Exchange rate: |
2005 latest $1=rand 6.3575
2004 average $1=rand 6.4417 |
| Total population: |
44.8m
(October 2001 census) |
| Main towns and population: |
Metropolitan areas (’000)
Pretoria 1,080
Cape Peninsula 2,185
Johannesburg/Randburg 1,916
Durban/Pinetown 1,137 |
MAIN TRADING PARTNERS
(share of total trade to world, 2003)
|
 |
SOVEREIGN CREDIT RATING
| Moody’s |
Baa1 |
| Standard and Poor’s |
BBB |
| Fitch IBCA |
BBB |
|
| Sources: EIU; Thomson Datastream |
 |
|
