Consumer Looking Better But Big Challenges Remain

Consumer confidence in South Africa has definitely improved over the past year. Retail is coming back nicely and people are generally spending more freely, well reflected by the fact that South African's largest retailers have generally outperformed the FTSE/JSE All-Share index from December 2009 to date. While a lot of the retail sector was hammered (mostly barring Shoprite) during the worst of the global downturn, the strength shown by premium players such as Woolworths over past year and a half certainly reflects the fact that things have gotten better. Still-low interest rates and real wage growth have been prime drivers

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