Volume 10 Issue 1

India is currently the fifth country in the world in terms of GDP, after the USA, China, Japan and Germany, and on track to become the world's third-largest economy by 2030, according to S&P Global. The key investments that the country has made in technology and energy together with the global offshoring after the COVID-19 pandemic, made the country one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. In this article, I want to present the stages that India went through to develop and become the world's 5th largest economy, and answer the question: Is India ‘the next China'? Can India, in the near future, reach and even surpass the economic performance recorded by China and become a more attractive country for foreign investors?

The purpose of this study is firstly to assess the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the South African economy and secondly, to explore the recovery prospects in the aftermath of the pandemic. The key macroeconomic variables include GDP, debt-to-GDP ratio and budget deficit/surplus. Publicly available secondary data with a time span from 2000 to 2022 are utilised. The study adopted a descriptive research design and conducted quantitative analyses. The results show that the biggest gap between government revenue and expenditure was recorded in 2020, as evidenced by the 10% of the budget deficit. The results also indicate that the debt-to-GDP ratio is way above the 60% threshold with a steeper positive slope, coupled with less encouraging economic growth, as evidenced by low GDP projections. Fiscal sustainability requires keeping the debt-to-GDP ratio in check over the medium term by limiting government expenditures and stimulating investment.