With economist opinion increasingly gloomy over South Africa’s inflation and growth prospects, there is some positive news o­n the horizon: the country is unlikely to experience a recession, says Old Mutual chief economist Rian le Roux.

Bolstered by still-strong investment spending by the government and the private sector, as well as fast-growing consumption spending by the public sector, Le Roux says South Africa is unlikely to experience to a full blown recession.

Jean Temkin, author of More Charting for Profit, says the wave of negativity sweeping through South Africa may well have blinded us from the JSE’s record performance last week. 

"The list of negatives disturbing economic stability, locally and globally, grows longer. But we are so busy complaining about the effect on our lives that few noticed that the JSE overall index broke through its previous high last week,” writes Temkin in Business Day.

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) collected R571.8 billion during the 2007/8 fiscal year, R15.2 billion above the February 2007 estimate, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel announced on Tuesday.

South African economic growth will probably rebound to 4.8 percent next year on spending for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

The EIU has dismissed concerns of a prolonged slowdown in the South African economy, forecasting that growth would ease to 4.1 percent this year before picking up to 4.8% in 2009.