Madam Speaker, my second reason for hope stems from a much improved economic outlook.

Global economic growth is expected to rebound to 5.5 per cent in 2021 before moderating slightly to 4.2 per cent in 2022, spurred on by the expected rollout of Covid‐19 vaccines and other additional policy measures.

China is expected to grow at 8.1 per cent in 2021, while India will achieve a growth rate of 11.5 per cent in 2021.

Sub‐Saharan Africa is forecast to grow by 3.2 per cent.

In this context, the South African economy is expected to rebound by 3.3 per cent this year, following a 7.2 per cent contraction in 2020, and average 1.9 per cent in the outer two years.