The distribution of income in South Africa is one of the most unequal in the world:South Africa encompasses displays of affluence the equal of any in the developed world and levels of poverty associated with developing countries. South Africa, best known for its precious metals, fruit and wine, has in fact moved from an economy historically dominated by mining and agriculture to one where manufacturing and financial services contributes the larger share of GDP. Mining, nevertheless,remains an important foreign-exchange earner: gold accounts for over one-third pf exports. The main mined products include manganese, chrome, platinum,gold,coal and diamonds. Agriculture,together with mining, continues to be an important provider of both direct and indirect employment. The most important crop is maize, but export production is being nurtured in niche markets such as wine,high-value fruit and ostrich meat. Manufacturing accounts for around one-fish of total GDP, but has faced significant challenges sine the opening up of the economy to global sector. Services is the most important contributor to GDP, ranging from an advanced financial sector to a developing tourism sector, which has significant employment potential,and an active retail sector. Economic activity is concentrated in Gauteng province, which produces over one-third of total GDP, followed by the Western Cape, which produces about 15% of GDP, Unemployment is a worrying structural feature of the economy. With the official unemployment rate 29.4%, creating sufficient jobs for the estimated 4.7m currently without jobs remains the most critical economic challenge in South Africa. The high unemployment rate has contributed to South Africa's ranking as one of the most unequal countries in the world judged by distribution of income (amongst those countries having reliable labour force data). The Ministry of Finance is the centre of economic policymaking, with support from relevant ministries, since coming to power in 1994, the Africa National Congress (ANC) has embraced investor - friendly economic policies. As far as fiscal policy is concerned, the government's medium-tern expenditure framework seeks to make fiscal policy more credible and predictable by mapping out the government's spending plans on a rolling multi - year basis. The government has set up an advisory panel on investment and economic policy, composed of top international businessmen. One of the most important economic policy changes under ANC government has been the introduction of progressive labour legislation that, among other things, development programmes. However, the legislation ha been criticised by the private sector for being restrictive and a disincentive to investment.

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