JOHANNESBURG, Jan 25 (Reuters) - South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel is confident the country will this year be able to avoid a recession that has hit major world economies, a local newspaper reported on Sunday.
Manuel said he believed Africa's biggest economy would continue to grow during the global economic slowdown that has sent many developed countries into recession, stung partly by a credit squeeze.
"Can we avoid a recession? I am still pretty confident we can," Manuel told the Sunday Times newspaper.
But he said it was difficult to forecast beyond 2009 because of the rate at which the world economy was deteriorating.
"I say this year, because normally we would have a lot more assurance about a slightly longer term. But the rate of information change is phenomenal," Manuel said.
In November, Manuel told parliament that South Africa was not facing a recession but said the global slowdown and falling commodity prices would cut exports and hurt the economy.
Growth is already slowing in emerging countries as commodity prices drop and capital inflows decrease.
Manuel will meet with other global leaders to discuss the worldwide economic downturn and financial crisis at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday. (Reporting by Serena Chaudhry, editing by Will Waterman)