The Bureau of Market Research (Pty) Ltd (BMR) and the University of South Africa (Unisa) have been hosting the Economist of the Year Competition since 2022. The winner and two runners-up of the 2023 BMR/Unisa Economist of the Year competition were announced at an awards ceremony held in Pretoria on 20 June 2024.
The winner of the 2023 competition is Ms Elize Kruger, an independent economist. Ms Kruger has nearly three decades of experience in both macro and microeconomic analyses and forecasts. She has worked in the financial, health, transport and energy sectors.
As an independent economist, she provides consulting services to a wide variety of clients, compiling forecasts of key macroeconomic indicators and publishing in-depth reports, while also delivering frequent media commentary and research briefs on important economic events. Although Ms Kruger has participated in the competition for several years, this is the first time she has won after she was a runner-up in the 2022 competition. The two runners-up of the 2023 competition are Dawie Klopper, a financial advisor and investment economist at PSG Wealth, and Jee-A van der Linde, a senior economist at Oxford Economics Africa.
Overall, the three top economists provided the most accurate and consistent forecasts for eight economic variables during 2023. More than 30 of South Africa’s top economists participated in the competition.
Runners up
