Posted inBusinessNews/Politics

Avoiding the resource curse in Africa

Over the last four decades, resource abundant countries in the developing world have consistently under-performed resource poor countries when it comes to economic growth, income inequality and good governance. It has been well established that the more intense a country’s reliance on mineral exports (measured as a percentage of GDP), the more slowly its economy […]

Posted inBusinessNews/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 inBusinessNews/Politics

South Africa’s development paradigm

Development policy in post-apartheid South Africa has traditionally focused on the debate over the superiority of either state-controlled or market systems. Like many other developing world countries before it, South Africa expected that globalisation and the replacement of traditional industries by modern sectors would become a panacea for economic development in our country. Based on […]

Posted inBusinessGeneral

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 […]

Posted inBusinessGeneral

Scramble for Africa 2.0

By Marc van Olst An auspicious meeting took place at the Berlin residence of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck about 130 years ago. Foreign ministers of 14 European powers and the United States established ground rules for the future exploitation of the “dark continent”. It must have been a lively and tense meeting as the superpowers […]

Posted inBusinessGeneral

The economic week in review: Unsettling

The week began with elections in France and Greece that cast fresh doubts on Europe’s ability to contain its ongoing debt and economic crises. The week drew to a close with a slew of disappointing data in China. In between, the United States sent out mixed signals and South Africa reported a rise in unemployment. […]

Posted inBusiness

How to use economic indicators

Last week’s post introduced the concept of economic indicators and why you should pay attention to them. This week’s post explains how to actually use them. As a general rule, with most indicators, you must look for four things: movement, magnitude, trends and context. Each of these tells you something interesting, but you only get […]