EXPLANATION:

The economy of South Africa is the second LARGEST in Africa.[22] As a manufacturing hub, it is the most industrialized, technologically advanced, and diversified economy on the African continent.[23] South Africa is an upper-middle-income economy – one of only eight such countries in Africa.[24] Since 1996, at the end of over twelve years of international sanctions, South Africa's Gross Domestic Product almost tripled to peak at $400 billion in 2011, but has since declined to roughly $385 billion in 2019. In the same period, foreign exchange reserves increased from $3 billion to NEARLY $50 billion creating a diversified economy with a growing and sizable middle class, within two decades of ending apartheid.[25][26]:chapter 1 South African state owned enterprises play a significant role in the country's economy with the government owning a share in around 700 SOEs involved in a wide array of important industries. In 2016 the top five challenges to doing business in the country were inefficient government bureaucracy, restrictive labour regulations, a shortage of skilled workers for some high tech industries, political INSTABILITY, and corruption, whilst the country's strong banking sector was rated as a strongly POSITIVE feature of the economy.[27][28] The nation is among the G20, and is the only African member of the group.[29]