South Africa

South Africa, which became a republic in 1961 and transitioned to a constitutional democracy in 1994, is a middle-income, emerging market with an abundant supply of natural resources, such as gold, platinum, and diamonds. It has well-developed financial, legal, communications, energy, and transport sectors. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange is the 16th largest in the world and the largest in Africa by market capitalisation. South Africa's currency is the rand (ZAR). South Africa has 12 official languages, including English, and three capitals: Pretoria (administrative), Bloemfontein (judicial), and Cape Town (legislative).

Following a substantial slowdown in economic growth resulting from the global financial crisis of 2007/08 (South Africa experienced negative growth of nearly 2% in 2009), the South African economy experienced a muted recovery, with gross domestic product (GDP) growth peaking at 2.2% in 2013. From 2014 to 2019 GDP growth ranged between 0.2% and 1.5%. In 2020, GDP shrank by 6.4% in real terms due to the COVID-19 pandemic. GDP growth for 2021 and 2022 was 4.9% and 2%, respectively, while the economy grew at 0.6% in 2023. The 2024 growth forecast remains at 1.1%.

The Monetary Policy Committee of the SARB has a targeted inflation band of 3% to 6%. The average inflation rate for 2023 was 6.0%. Headline inflation dipped in 2024 to 2.8% (October 2024) and is projected to stay below 4% until mid-2025.

PwC South Africa provides in-depth industry experience in a wide spectrum of market sectors, including the following:

• Automotive.
• Banking and capital markets.
• Chemicals.
• Energy, utilities, and mining.
• Engineering and construction.
• Entertainment and media.
• Financial services.
• Forest, paper, and packaging.
• Government and public services.
• Healthcare.
• Hospitality and leisure.
• Industrial manufacturing.
• Insurance.
• Metals.
• Mining.
• Pharmaceuticals.
• Retail and consumer.
• Technology.
• Telecommunications.
• Transportation and logistics.

PwC South Africa's experienced team of advisers can assist with managing tax risk and controlling and minimising the tax burden by providing innovative and practical tax and business solutions in the areas of corporate, international, and indirect taxes; mergers and acquisitions; compliance; transfer pricing; and human resource services.

In addition, PwC South Africa has an Africa Coordination Centre, which, amongst other services, provides the following assistance:

• The provision of quick responses to preliminary and generic questions that companies would like answered when considering investment in Africa.
• The facilitation of investments and business operations by providing access to the right contacts for tax (and legal) advisory services to investors in Africa.
• Coordination between companies investing into Africa and respective PwC offices in other countries.