Preparing to leave Beijing last week after a splendid fortnight’s rail tour of the two neighbouring (and confusingly named) provinces of Shaanxi and Shanxi, I was startled to find evidence of a very different China to the one that is often portrayed in mainstream English-language media – “never mind the quality, feel the growth!” What’s […]
economy
Posted inNews/Politics
Investment flows back into Africa
Over the past 10 years, foreign direct investment (FDI) has helped boost sustainable economic growth in many African countries. In theory, FDI can assist to accentuate productive capacity, employment and exports. When properly managed, it can also bring secondary benefits in the form of transfers of technology, management expertise and marketing skills. With continued liberalisation […]
Posted inBusiness, General, News/Politics
South Africa on the brink
Two weeks into the truckers’ strike and South Africa stands on the precipice of serious societal breakdown. The Marikana massacre was undoubtedly a tragic event in its own right, although it may prove to have merely been the spark that lit the fuse. The powder keg waiting to explode is the imminent shortage in liquid […]
Posted inBusiness, General, News/Politics
Dear Fossil Fuel, I want a divorce!
Dear Fossil Fuel, There is no easy way to do this, so I’ll just say it: I want a divorce! Writing this letter is very painful for me, but the contents will not come as a great surprise to you. Our relationship has been wondrous at times, with ups and downs like every marriage. But […]
Posted inGeneral
The ‘crystals’ of time
It seems to me undeniable that the human sciences – short for the social sciences and the humanities – are facing a crisis of perceived irrelevance in a world suffused in unreflective technophilia and, concomitantly, indifference to the potential value of the humanistic knowledge represented by, and archived in these sciences. Among the many ways […]
Posted inGeneral
The African Renaissance for Dummies
I’m probably going to make a fool of myself publishing this column, as it is about the economy, and I know very little about the economy. Until very recently, for instance, I was still under the impression that the Eurozone was a trance state one reaches during deep meditation. Apparently, it’s not that at all, […]
Posted inBusiness
The non-payment threat of the working class
By Themba Mbatha We have all accepted that the state’s economic preoccupation in the coming years should be the pursuit of a developmental state. To that end, President Jacob Zuma announced in the State of the Nation address an unprecedented public infrastructure spending programme to achieve the objectives of a developmental state. The estimated R800-billion […]
Posted inBusiness, General
Eurozone crisis: Where things stand
On Tuesday, President Jacob Zuma’s office announced that South Africa will contribute $2-billion (R16.3-billion) to an international fund created to bail out Europe’s debt-stricken nations. The government’s pledge is part of a $75-billion commitment from the Brics nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – to help bolster a $456-billion rescue fund administered […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Macroeconomic convergence within the SADC region
Since its evolution from the Southern Africa Development Co-ordination Conference (SADCC) into the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), the Southern African regional formation has targeted gradually deepening its integration, starting with the creation of a free trade area in the coming decade. In addition to this free trade area, further goals such as the achievement […]
Posted inBusiness, General
Euro crisis: What are they on about?
Europe’s debt crisis is looming large over the global economy. Reports are everywhere you turn, but they are often confusing. They tend to be heavy with jargon and light on background. The following quote from a story published by Reuters recently is fairly typical. “German debt prices rose and Spanish bond yields briefly jumped on […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Tracking economic growth and poverty reduction in Africa
Africa is currently experiencing its most dynamic growth period in recent times. Our continent has achieved an overall growth rate above 6 percent for most of the last ten years. This makes Africa one of the fastest growing regions in the world today, with notable progress in nearly all dimensions of development. Between 2000 and […]
Posted inBusiness, General
The economic week in review: More troubling signs
Europe’s woes continued to weigh heavily on global markets this week. A summit of European leaders on Wednesday failed to reassure economists and investors that politicians can contain the growing risks of Greek exit from the euro and continental banking crisis. Here at home, data showed that the rate of price rises facing consumers rose […]