Assessing Development Strategies to Achieve the MDGs in The Republic of South Africa

In conformity with the brief provided by UN-DESA, this Country Background Report includes an overview of the main reforms, macroeconomic policy, economic performance and vulnerabilities, social policy and MDG achievement in South Africa. The report is divided into nine sections. The first section provides a brief introduction. The second section offers details of economic reforms and policy during the period 1994 to 2008, as well as an overview of the performance of the economy during the same period. The third section discusses the economic constraints and vulnerabilities within the South African economy. The fourth section provides a brief summary of the status of achieving the MDGs in South Africa, attempts to identify gaps in achieving the MDGs as well as policies that may assist South Africa to achieve the MDGs. The next section, section five, provides a brief description of the methodology used and section six discusses the data used and data problems experienced. Section seven is the main section of the report and provides the results of the General Equilibrium Analysis the analysis of which attempts to answer the questions listed above. Section eight discusses the results relating to the poverty reduction goal. The last section, section five provides a brief conclusion and policy recommendations.