The South African economy has not been insulated from these global developments.

We have revised our economic growth estimate for 2021 to 4.8 per cent, from 5.1 per cent at the time of the MTBPS.

This revision reflects a combination of the impact of changes in the global environment, along with our own unique challenges.

Commodity prices, which have supported our economic recovery, slowed in the second half of 2021.

Also, violent unrest in July, and restrictions imposed to manage the third wave of COVID-19 further eroded the gains we made in the first half of the year.

Industrial action in the manufacturing sector, and the re-emergence of loadshedding, also slowed the pace of the recovery.

Real GDP growth of 2.1 percent is projected for 2022. Over the next three years, GDP growth is expected to average 1.8 percent.