Renowned South African economist Mike Schüssler has died.

Gavin Kelly, the CEO of the Road Freight Association, where Schüssler worked as an economist, said on Tuesday morning that he learnt about the death from Schüssler's family.

Kelly said in a statement that Schüssler was battling with his health. Schüssler said 10 days ago, in a tweet of an inflation graph, that he was "doing this as a service today as still sick but getting back now - beating cancer." 

"Our sincere condolences go to Greta and his family. We will miss you Mike," Kelly said. 

"A great stalwart of the industry has fallen."

Schüssler founded Economists.co.za in 2005. According to its site, Schüssler has been South African Economist of the Year twice since 2005 and came fourth in 2010 in the Reuters economic competition. 

Schüssler and Economists.co.za produced the BankservAfrica Economic Transactions Index and the Bankserv Disposable Salary Index (BDSI). They also developed the ABSA bank/Barclays Africa SME index, and produced the South African Employment Report for trade union UASA.