Oil price batters SA economy.

While it appeared that the worst of the oil crisis was over, South Africa will limp into 2001 after taking a R1.2bn battering to its economy caused by high oil prices, based on average usage figures of 1999.

According to Raymond Goldblatt, CEO of Gensec Asset Management in Cape Town, South Africa paid a heavy cost in growth and economic terms, primarily because of the negative sentiment it had sparked in the financial markets.