Secondary sanctions would impact all SA industries, warns economist
Chief economist at Econometrix Azar Jammine says any possible secondary sanctions imposed on South Africa would pose a severe threat to the country’s economy.
Jammine’s warning comes after the Reserve Bank sounded the alarm on the economic consequences to SA should it face censure due to its stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
South Africa has adopted a ‘non-aligned’ stance toward the Russia/Ukraine war.
But the country’s neutrality was questioned earlier this month when US Ambassador Rueben Brigety claimed that South Africa supplied arms to Russia.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has, amid strong denials by the government that it supplied any arms to Russia, appointed an independent panel to investigate the claims.
“Secondary sanctions would make it difficult for South Africa to conduct business with overseas countries,” says Jammine.
“Theoretically, it would affect all industries but it would be felt mostly in financial transactions and the banking sector would be right at the heart of the problem”.
“Secondary sanctions would have a very negative impact on the South African economy because we have a very open economy that depends on its trade and depends on investments from abroad.”
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