Tag Archives | SA economy

2012 is a challenging year

Local economic update: April 2012 By Tendani Mantshimuli, consumer economist, Liberty Life South Africa’s economy grew by 3% last year and is expected to grow by 2.8% this year. South Africa being a small and quite open economy is prone to the fortunes of the global economy. For now the turmoil in the global market [...]

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Are we done yet?

Cannon Asset Managers assesses the investment environment With a global economic environment that has been in turmoil for a large part of the 21st century, many analysts are wondering when the financial and economic pain in the advanced world will come to an end. Sadly, our assessment is that the end of tough times in [...]

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The trillion rand Budget

Local economic update: March 2012 By Tendani Mantshimuli, consumer economist, Liberty Life Government will spend more than R1 trillion over the next year. Our budget deficit has been cut as revenue collection is stronger than expected. The minister of finance, Pravin Gordhan, tabled his third budget in parliament on 22 February 2012. As with the [...]

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Flat business confidence better than it seems

After falling from 55 index points in the first quarter of the year to 39 in the third quarter, the RMB/BER Business Confidence Index (BCI) eased by one point to 38 in the fourth quarter. Sentiment improved notably in the retail and wholesale trade sectors, deteriorated further in new motor trade and remained largely unchanged [...]

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How can SA avoid the mistakes of the global economic crisis?

The economic crisis in the western economy holds some important lessons for South Africa’s attitude to debt and the culture of easy money that breeds it. In short, “failing to deal with the culture, system and incentive structures that create excessive debt and leverage, and then simply kicking the can down the road has prolonged [...]

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A flagging economy

By Tendani Mantshimuli, consumer economist, Liberty Life  Our economy is far weaker than expected as we are dragged down by global economic turmoil. Exports are limited and consumer spending remains subdued. Interest rates will remain on hold for longer.   The upheaval in the global markets has revived talk of a double-dip recession as the [...]

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Above-inflation wage increases create a double whammy for workers

By Kevin Phillips, MD, idu Software Unemployment is perhaps the single biggest challenge facing South Africa: Without jobs, people slip into a vicious cycle of poverty and dependency that is very hard to break. So businesses are under constant political and social pressure to “create jobs”.   But there’s no magic wand that will create [...]

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SA recovery on track despite global shocks

South African consumers can find some reassurance in the fact that, despite the serious shocks seen around the globe in the first quarter of the year, the economic recovery underway in South Africa is still o­n track and growth prospects remain positive, according to Johann Els (pictured), senior economist at Old Mutual Investment Group SA [...]

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