South Africa: Zuma Expresses Optimism as first Recession in 8 Years Lingers

South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma, says he is confident that the country will emerge sooner than expected from its first recession for eight years.

South Africa’s economy has undergone sluggish growth in recent years and in April it lost its investment grade credit rating.

The downgrades came shortly after Zuma’s dramatic ministerial shake-up in which he sacked respected finance minister Pravin Gordhan.

Despite the recession, Zuma has said his government would forge ahead with a costly deal to build new nuclear infrastructure.