The SA Economic Update, released on Tuesday, found that SA’s fiscal policies are cutting the rates of poverty and inequality, and that tax and social benefits are effectively redistributing income from rich to poor.

“We find that fiscal policy is very progressive in South Africa — it benefits the poor more than the rich,” World Bank economist Catriona Purfield told reporters in Pretoria.

“We find that because of fiscal policy, large reductions are made in poverty and inequality — in fact they are the largest reductions due to fiscal policies in our sample of 12 countries.”

The other 11 middle-income sample countries were Armenia, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay.

Available: http://www.bdlive.co.za/economy/2014/11/04/south-african-policies-help-reduce-poverty-says-world-bank-report