South African Central Bank Sounds Alarm Over Poor Infrastructure

South Africa’s central bank warned the country’s crumbling infrastructure, including its water systems and transport networks, pose a significant threat to the financial system.

“The sustained deterioration in critical infrastructure poses direct operational risks that could disrupt the functioning of the financial system,” the Reserve Bank said Thursday in its biannual Financial Stability Review. “While electricity availability appears to be gradually returning to historical trends, other critical infrastructure such as the supply and quality of water as well as transport infrastructure – especially rail, port and road networks – continues to degrade.”