South Africa has been teetering on the edge of a recession, narrowly avoiding a technical one with a GDP growth of 0.1% in the final quarter of 2023.
Despite this, the nation remains in what economists call a "per capita recession." This unique economic phase reflects the fact that while the population is growing at around 1.5% to 1.6% per year, the GDP growth lags, indicating a stagnating economy where individual wealth is shrinking. For business owners and investors alike, the outlook for business valuations in such an environment is critical to understand, particularly as a full-blown recession looms on the horizon.