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S.Africa's black middle class fuel
sales boom | |
South Africa's formerly all-white neighborhoods
are becoming darker in complexion
and more expensive.
Analysts say that soaring house prices and booming
car sales are being fueled by an upwardly mobile black middle class
emerging from the ashes of apartheid
.
Blacks, who make up about 75 percent of South
Africa's 46.6 million people, are moving from the periphery
of the economy into the mainstream
thanks to policies aimed at redressing decades of injustice.
Statistics compiled by the independent Human Sciences Research Council
(HSRC) show that the black middle class has swelled to 7.8 percent of the
total population in 2000 from 3.3 percent in 1994.
"The development of a black middle class was
deliberately stunted under segregation
and apartheid," said the HSRC's Roger Southall.
Although official figures are not available, analysts say the black
middle class is behind the retail sales boom and strong house price
growth.
Before 1994, blacks were precluded by legislation from owning
properties in suburbs exclusively reserved for whites and had limited
access to bank credit.
But the face of the former white suburbs has changed as blacks
increasingly move from the townships in search of security and better
municipal services. Living in posh suburbs is seen by many as a status
symbol.
"The black middle class is contributing strongly to the growth of the
property market and other sectors of the economy," says Jacques du Toit,
an economist at banking group Absa.
House prices rose by an average
of 30.3 percent in real terms in 2004, the highest
since 1967, and business is also booming for auto traders, with a growing
number of sales attributed to black buyers.
(Agencies) |
南非原來的白人居住區逐漸出現了一個個黑面孔，房價也更加昂貴。
分析師們表示，在種族隔離政策宣告結束后涌現出大量黑人中產階層，而且他們的數量呈增加趨勢，黑人中產階層對房價飚升及汽車銷量的激增起到很大的推動作用。
南非現有人口4660萬，其中黑人占75％左右，他們正從外圍地帶走出并成為經濟發展的中流砥柱，而這一切要歸功于10年來積極推行的種族和解政策。
獨立機構人類科學研究理事會（HSRC）的統計數據顯示，2000年黑人中產階層占人口總數的比例由1994年的3.3%增長至7.8%。
人類科學研究理事會的羅杰·索夏爾稱，“南非種族隔離政策阻礙了黑人中產階層的發展。”
盡管沒有官方數字，分析師們仍表示，黑人中產階層是零售激增及房價高漲背后的推動力量。
1994年以前，法律規定黑人不能在郊區購買白人居住區的房產，而且銀行信貸對黑人也有所限制。
不過，隨著黑人逐漸離開有色人種居住區，去尋找更安全、更好的市政服務，原有的白人居住區也出現了許多新面孔。很多人將居住在高級社區看作是身份地位的象征。
南非Absa銀行的經濟學家雅克·納塔利表示：“黑人中產階層對房地產市場及其他行業的發展做出了很大貢獻。”
2004年房價的實際增長為30.3%，是1967年以來的最高水平，汽車銷售數量也大幅增加，買主中不乏黑人。
（中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2005-06-20 09:39