For example, continued growth in the bank deposits of the corporate sector – 8,6 per cent year on year as of April – suggests that, despite its eroded profitability, the South African corporate sector is not facing the kind of liquidity pressure that typically preceded past recessions.
In fact, bank lending to corporations is also rising at a fairly dynamic pace, pointing to some expansion in niche sectors such as renewable energy and commercial property. Households, for their part, have managed to achieve some deleveraging over the prolonged period of low interest rates.