Introduction

The financial crisis, in fact, affects the global world since 2008. There is high inflation, increasing unemployment rate, low export, decreasing GDP and so on. In every country as well as in South Africa that also faces the macroeconomic problems, representing by the falling of the output, high inflation, and the microeconomic problems also affect to the economic market.

Therefore, the objective of this report is to analyze and focus on the macroeconomic environment and formulate a strategy in responding to the Economic crisis in South Africa. The reason to know and analyze the macroeconomic in a country is, because the microeconomic, institutional changes are unlikely to be implemented if the economy is in a state of macroeconomic chaos-plummeting widespread unemployment and hyperinflation. Macroeconomic stabilization must and can precede the more fundamental microeconomic, institutional transformation.

Macroeconomics in terms of business is dealing with the performance, structure and the behavior of national or regional economy as a whole. It is also a study about GDP, unemployment rates, national income, output, inflation, savings, investment, international trade and economic growth.

Macroeconomic Background

South Africa

Located in base of the continent of Africa, South Africa is a diverse nation with an appealing mix of people, culture, faith and languages. Despite the people, South Africa’s physical state also has its own distinctive features. It has its own unique geological formations that aids in producing the mountains, plains and coasts. South Africa also has large amount of fertile land. Furthermore, a more extraordinary feature about South Africa is that it is home to the rarest species of wildlife and plant life.

The nation has a total area of 1, 127 200 square kilometers and it is divided in four provinces, which are the Cape Province, the Transvaal, the Orange Free State and Natal.

Being located in a subtropical area, South African generally enjoys warm weather all year round. Naturally, being located in Southern Hemisphere, winter is experienced during June and summer is experienced in December.

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Demographic

South Africa has a population of 49 billion people (2009). It has particular demographic due to the heterogeneity in population base, apartheid, ethnic groups and emigration

Table: Population % (Wikipedia, 2010)

Basically the black people they’re the ethnic group like Zulu, Xhosa as well as immigrant form the other parts of Africa (mostly from Nigeria and Zimbabwe). The whites they’re the descendants of French, British or German settlers whom arrived to Cape Town from the late of 17th century. Some of them are from immigrants from Europe and Portuguese colonies left over. Coloureds are the descendants of earliest settlers, their slaves and indigenous people. The last part of racial population can be counted as Indian or Asian (Chinese)

Table: Age structure % (Wikipedia, 2010)

The average total fertility rate from 2001s to 2009s is 2.41 children born per woman. So that’s why each family in South Africa usually has more than 2 children

In the country they have around 11 official languages, the most spoken language of black people is 30.1% speak Zulu, 22.3% speak Xhosa while most the white residents speak Afrikaans at home (59.1%), 39.3 speak English… (Wikipedia, Demographics of South Africa, 2010)