Is there a more emotive topic for the South African middle class than emigration? We are staring down the barrel of the toughest economic times this country has faced since democracy. It makes the 2009 Global Financial Crisis look tame (the numbers don’t lie: real GDP fell -1.5% in 2009 and we are expecting worse than -7% in 2020). When …
View PostClose your eyes. Take yourself back a few months. The date is March 26th 2020. The country watches with bated breath as President Ramaphosa announces a landmark step: the country will shut down for three weeks. Just three weeks. That’s all that would be needed to flatten the curve, save lives and fight this together. R2bn in support is announced, …
View PostThere’s a term in investment banking called “deal fatigue” – from experience, it happens around 6 months into a deal process. That’s usually halfway. Despite numerous late nights and ruined weekends, the parties to the transaction just can’t seem to agree. The whole deal might fall over, taking your bonus with it. You spend every waking hour tweaking the financial …
View PostThe word “stimulus” has been on everyone’s lips. Simply put, economic stimulus is an attempt by a government to kick-start growth during a recession. There are various ways and means to do this, using monetary or fiscal policy or a combination of the two: Examples of monetary policy: Lowering interest rates Quantitative easing (central banks buying longer-term securities in the …
View PostThe poor old ZAR has had a rough time of it in the past decade. Everyone watched with horror this month as the Rand took another nosedive, breaching never-before-seen levels. At one point in intraday trading, R19/US$ became a reality. The Rand managed to pull back below R19 , but the reality is that the seal has been broken. the_ad …
View PostYou’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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