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Johannesburg - The World Cup soccer tournament had a distinctly positive impact on the South African economy.
In June the provincial barometers of three of the four provinces focused upon by the Sake24 and BoE Private Clients monthly barometers were up.
The Free State was the only one of the four provinces whose barometer did not improve.
Although the province’s growth index was 4.5% up year on year, the sharp 6.7% year-on-year (y/y) rise in the stress index caused the barometer to fall.
One can generally be fairly happy with the provinces’ performance, said Economists.co.za economist Mike Schüssler, who compiles the barometers.
One Tuesday, Econometrix chief economist Dr Azar Jammine said that with the 300 000 to 400 000 tourists who visited the country during the tournament, the additional revenue generated would be between R10bn and R12bn, or 0.4% to 0.5% of the gross national product (GDP).
Schüssler said that of all the provinces, Gauteng had certainly benefited the most from the soccer spectacle.
The number of passengers arriving at OR Tambo Airport was 8.8% higher y/y, and the province’s transport and communication index 3.4% up.
This was the strongest passenger growth for two years, said Schüssler.
Many of the visitors flew to Gauteng and stayed there, because Ellis Park, Soccer City and Loftus are all in that province. Spectators could also easily drive from Gauteng to Rustenburg or take a bus to Bloemfontein or fly to Polokwane or Nelspruit.
According to Airports Company South Africa, in June 85 272 people arrived at its airports on unscheduled flights. Last June the number was only 6 607.
These were the small aircraft carrying the John Travoltas and Paris Hiltons as well as FIFA officials – thus mostly fairly wealthy people.
The number does not include arrivals at small airports like Rand Airport and Grand Central.
The number of international passengers at Cape Town Airport was 6.3% up year on year.
The Eastern Cape, where the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth often had several empty seats during soccer matches, received only 2.9% more passengers.
Free State passenger numbers rose by a mere 2.4%, far less than May's growth of 6.8%.
In June economic stress – which measures negative factors like unemployment, interest rates and inflation – was problematic, not only in the Free State.
Stress is increasing in three of the provinces, both y/y and month-on-month.
The Eastern Cape stress index is the only one falling year on year. But on a three-month basis, economic stress in this province was 1.7% up
Stress is rising everywhere because South Africa is not creating jobs, said Schüssler.
The temporary construction jobs before the tournament also no longer exist.
Furthermore, the y/y decline in the prime lending rate is no longer as dramatic as at the end of last year, which aggravates the impact of defective job creation.
For the individual provincial barometers, click here.
- Sake24.com
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