South Africa’s economy is in dire straits. Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) reported a 2019 Q4 unemployment rate (narrowly defined) of 29.1%. Including discouraged workers, unemployment rises to just over 38.7%. This reflects the fact that the South African economy is in a technical recession following two consecutive quarters of GDP contraction (-0.8% in Q3 of 2019, and -1.4% in Q4 of 2019).