South Africa cut its growth forecasts and predicted a wider budget deficit on Thursday, citing fallout from the worst mining strikes since apartheid, but Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan promised to cap spending to assuage bond investors’ concerns.
He also dismissed talk of a crisis in Africa’s biggest economy, where 100,000 workers have downed tools in the last three months, saying the country was on a firmer financial footing than most developed countries.
Financial Year
South Africa’s gold mines agreed to a wage deal with unions on Thursday as the bulk of the gold sector’s striking miners returned to work under threat of dismissal.
Budget Deficit
The returns marked success of a sort for a new tough approach by mining firms, but at least 12,000 gold and 20,000 platinum miners were still pursuing a wave of illegal strikes that have cost Africa’s largest economy over 10-billion rand ($1.14-billion U.S.) this year, according to the National Treasury.
The Treasury cut its 2012 growth forecast to 2.5 per cent from the 2.7 per cent of earlier in the year, reflecting infrastructure bottlenecks and the impact of nearly three months of strikes in the platinum and gold mines.
Read More: theglobeandmail.com
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