Top economist positive about Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address

Award-winning economist Dawie Roodt said he was positive about President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address.

Roodt described it as the best State of the Nation Address from Ramaphosa since he took office in 2018.

Ramaphosa delivered his latest State of the Nation Address to a Joint Sitting of the two Houses of Parliament on Thursday, 12 February 2026.

The State of the Nation Address is an annual overview delivered by the President to mobilise all sectors of society to secure ongoing development in the country.

It provides the President with an opportunity to reflect on progress made, highlight key achievements, flag challenges, and outline the government’s policy direction.

It is also a platform to outline interventions for the coming financial year and to deliberate on South Africa’s domestic priorities.

The State of the Nation Address is an important national milestone that reinforces the strength and resilience of South Africa’s constitutional democratic system.

There was a strong focus on economic reforms and growth. “Our economy is growing again, and this growth is gathering pace,” he said.

“While we have experienced four consecutive quarters of GDP growth, we know that it has to grow much faster to meet our social and economic challenges,” he said.

He added that South Africa has achieved two consecutive primary budget surpluses and that the rand has strengthened against the US dollar.

“Our credit rating has improved, interest rates are coming down, and inflation is at its lowest level in twenty years,” Ramaphosa said.

“The Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the largest stock exchange on the African continent, has performed exceptionally well over the past year.”

This growth, he said, reflects broader economic recovery, investor confidence, and increasing interest in South African equities.

Economist Dawie Roodt shares his views

Efficient Group chief economist Dawie Roodt said this was the best State of the Nation Address from Ramaphosa that he has seen.

“Rightfully, there are a few things that we should be quite positive about. The emphasis is certainly on two things as far as I’m concerned,” he said.

• The first is economic growth, and the importance of getting the economy to grow.

• The second is what should be done, what can be done, and what will be done, about crime and organized crime.

He said Ramaphosa started by highlighting some good things that have been happening in South Africa in terms of the financial markets and economic growth.

“He is broadly correct. For example, the economy has been growing for the last four quarters, albeit at very, very low levels,” he said.

“There seems to be a bit of an acceleration in terms of economic growth. We’re currently running a fiscal primary surplus, which is true.”

Roodt added that South Africa’s credit rating has been upgraded and that further upgrades are likely.

There were other positives. The rand is stronger, the JSE is much stronger, load shedding has been reduced, and the ports and railroads are running much better.

“So broadly speaking, the South African economy is doing much better than it did before,” Roodt said.

However, moving beyond the economic situation and financial markets, Roodt highlighted that the country faces many challenges.

The biggest challenge is not highlighting what should be done, like fighting crime and corruption. Instead, it is execution.

Here, Roodt is more skeptical. “The track record of Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC is just horrible,” he said.