Free State on the way to recovery

Bloemfontein - Business activities in the Free State increased in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Although the province’s economy was well on the way to recovery, there was still no question of the highs recorded before the recession.

Sake24 and BoE Private Clients’ Free State Barometer for December was 3.1% up on a year ago.

The outstanding sector was the financial, property and business services index, which rose 16.5% year-on-year (y/y), while the construction sector recorded the biggest drop, 3.4%.

The Free State economy was still feeling the pressure of unemployment and high indebtedness, but economists.co.za economist Mike Schüssler, the compiler of the Free State barometer, was optimistic that the backlog was slowly but surely being cleared.

Transport plays a large role in the economy of this central province and the transport index rose 69% y/y to 168 index points.

In the holiday month, petrol sales were 8% up on the previous year and the number of air passengers moving through the Bloemfontein airport rose by 4.8%. Road transport improved 7% – the biggest rise among the five provinces measured by the Sake24 barometers.

In December the Free State’s manufacturing index, which largely consists of petrochemical activities at Sasol, performed only 1.4% better than a year ago.

- Sake24

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