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Johannesburg - The fiscal developments and economic growth uncertainties of the eurozone, which is South Africa's largest trading partner, are worrying, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Wednesday.
Several eurozone countries have had to implement austerity measures and cut spending, weighing on the region's growth outlook.
"There's absolutely no doubt that what is happening in the eurozone is certainly an issue of concern," Gordhan told parliament.
"There's no environment where you can say you can sleep in peace for longer than three days, because as soon as you think one set of problems seem(s) to be resolved, another set of problems arise(s)," he said.
More than a third of South Africa's exports go to the eurozone, and officials have worried that a slowdown in that region would hurt the continent's biggest economy.
The Treasury expects the economy to grow by 3% in 2010, rising to 3.5% in 2012.
Gordhan said the global environment remains uncertain.
"Every couple of days there's something new that's happening - new fault lines, if you like, are being exposed, new imbalances come into play," Gordhan said.
"From a South African point of view, we've got to watch out for all these developments and keep asking ourselves... what proactive or defensive measures (and) actions (to take to) ensure we are doing the right things and not allowing these things to impact in a negative way," he said, without giving details.
Gordhan reiterated that fiscal or monetary policies "on their own" would not solve the country's problems, which include unemployment of more than a quarter of the labour force.
