Freedom House has released a survey of internet freedom around the world. Freedom House is, according to themselves. Freedom House is an independent watchdog organization that supports the expansion of freedom around the world. South Africa does well, perhaps not unexpectedly, in the rankings coming in at 7th from a long list of countries. Up…
So BRICS have agreed to use local currencies rather than the US Dollar for issuing credits or grants to one another. This is a step towards trying to limit the use of the USD (and probably Sterling, Yen as lesser reserve currencies over time) for international transactions. I wonder whether those involved are aware of…
I argued a few months ago, amid speculation that South Africa would be joining Brazil, Russia, India and China to turn the BRIC group into BRICS, that South Africa did not fit the mould of large economies with large populations, growing rapidly. Well it turned out that I was wrong. Well, wrong that we wouldn’t…
BusinessLive (I’m sure they’re not alone this morning) has a story about the non-implementation of the new Companies Act on the scheduled 1 April 2011 date. Some key snippets: Manoko said that, while the new Companies Act was meant to be implemented tomorrow (Friday, April 1), he was “uncertain when it will go through”, based…
Paul Krugman compares Egypt’s economic performance prior to its political crisis to that of Indonesia and the Philippines. He makes a compelling point that the comparison fails. Egypt’s economic performance has been stable and much better than, say, South Africa’s for example. Â Krugman suggests: Egypt had decent growth — but the gains weren’t trickling down,…
The economist magazine compares Big Mac inflation to officially reported country inflation over the last ten years. The aim of their article is to suggest that perhaps China and Argentina have been fudging their inflation figures. However, my attention was drawn to South Africa right near the top of the chart. This suggests that our…
Different size, different growth prospects, different issues and decidedly different league. South Africa, in its current state with current policies and current trajectory is in no danger of making BRIC become BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). This recent article shows some relevant and credible people agree. Goldman Sachs Asset Management chairperson Jim…
The Freedom Charter was adopted in 1955. It reflects the rejection of much of the status quo in South Africa and is the aggregate and synthesis of thousands of “freedom demands” from the population at that time. It is an inspirational document and reflects how bad things were for most South Africans at that time.…
