Recession: 'We can recover, after JZ goes'

While economists agree that it will not be easy to bounce back from the recession, they say the situation can be turned around.

"We can recover," said Jannie Rossouw, head of the school of economics and business studies at Wits University.

"But we will not get investor confidence as long as Jacob Zuma is still president. We just need to start planning on what to do after his term comes to an end. We need to survive the Zuma presidency and then things can turn around."

But what is this technical recession?

• Is the end of Zuma in sight?

"It's simple," said Econometrix chief econo-mist Azar Jammine. "A technical recession means the country has experienced negative growth for two consecutive terms.

"It means the economy is shrinking yet the population is growing."

Stats SA reported on Tuesday that South Africa's GDP, which measures the value of goods and services produced, contracted by 0.7% in the first quarter of 2017 compared with the previous quarter. The fourth quarter of 2016 contracted by 0.3%.

• Capture is recipe for recession

Johann Kirsten, director of the Bureau for Economic Research at Stellenbosch University, said based on the global picture, South Africa's economy should be growing. "Most countries are seeing an uptick in growth," he said.

"The question we ask is: why are we not growing with the rest of the world?"

He said political uncertainty was most likely the driving force.

Several factors could have contributed to the recession, including the recent cabinet reshuffle, strike activity and a loss of investor confidence in the country, Jammine said.

• The effect of State Capture on the man in the street

Rossouw agreed that the country was in a far worse state than was initially thought.

The government had far less revenue, taxpayers were likely to have to pay more, businesses were bound to suffer because consumers had less to spend and job losses and unemployment could spike, he said.

What may be the silver lining of sorts, said Nedbank's chief economist, Dennis Dykes, is that South Africans are unlikely to see major changes in prices because the country has been in recession-like conditions for two years.