Economists are concerned about how the economy is doing in this second half of the year. We know that the economy grew in the first quarter and contracted in the second. Data on the third and fourth quarters are slowly becoming available and in it, one sees the impact of slower growth of the world economy, high inflation and interest rates, and also load shedding. New figures for ABSA's purchasing managers' index, Naamsa's new vehicle sales data and private sector credit extension show how difficult it is to gauge how things are going.

* The Economics Minute is supported by the NWU Business School.