In many instances financing seems not to be the binding constraint, but skills - in particular project management and other real-sector implementation capacity issues. Fortunately the public sector’s debt ratio is favourably low. Insofar as capital formation will be import intensive, the country’s level of international indebtedness is also quite low, at around 71 per cent of one year’s export proceeds.
This provides latitude on the balance of payments front, alongside the fact that South Africa has a flexible exchange rate which can adjust to changing circumstances. Training, education and productive employment of all the people wishing to work is probably the most crucial factor on which sustained long-term growth depends. The challenges in this area are enormous.