MTBPS: the deficit is deafening

Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) – just reading it out loud is more of a mouthful than Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s finest roast chickens on Twitter. This is different to the annual budget speech which presents the country’s finances for the next financial year. The MTBPS gives context to the budget speech for the forthcoming year, giving the market details …

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The -51% GDP headline is misleading

Whoever writes the Stats SA GDP report wasn’t messing around this week. Reminiscent of Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s rather colourful Twitter feed, the report opened with the following line: “The punch in the gut was severe.” When a governmental statistics agency writes with such emotive language, you know things are rough. The report immediately goes on to note that “perhaps …

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The -51% GDP headline is misleading

Whoever writes the Stats SA GDP report wasn’t messing around this week. Reminiscent of Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s rather colourful Twitter feed, the report opened with the following line: “The punch in the gut was severe.” When a governmental statistics agency writes with such emotive language, you know things are rough. The report immediately goes on to note that “perhaps …

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GDP: Let’s get real

You’ve probably heard the term “GDP” many times before, but do you actually know what it is and why it is so important? ???????????????? ???????? ????????????? This isn’t the simplest concept in the world, so let’s start with the basics. GDP stands for Gross Domestic Product, which (despite the name) has nothing to do with your baby’s nappy. Instead, it …

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