Forecasts are crucial for all economic and business activity. But looking into the future involves uncertainty and risk. Forecasts may be inaccurate, which creates a serious dilemma for policy makers
Like any commodity, the value of the rand is determined by the market forces of supply and demand. Its weakening is also affected by a myriad of structural problems facing the South African economy.
South Africa’s transition into democracy involved compromises that left white privilege intact and black poverty undiminished. Here are a dozen of Mandela’s economic deals that need to be undone.
Inflation-targeting central bankers need to focus on stabilising inflation and not be sidetracked into correcting all other macroeconomic and financial problems.
The continued ownership of shares in central banks by private investors may be a superfluous relic but it enhances governance and adds to the transparency and accountability of central banks.
The misguided belief that banks create money out of nothing has generated public anger with organisations and individuals calling for an overhaul of the system and an end to money creation by banks.
The South African Reserve Bank is a fine example of clear communication of the decision whether to hold, increase, or decrease interest rates. It also gives clear signals of future decisions.
Mario Draghi did get round to announcing a much-anticipated new round of quantitative easing (QE) in the end, but never have nine minutes felt so long. The world tuned into the European Central Bank press…
Currency wars have been predicted for years. Outright monetary battles were last seen during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when governments competed to devalue their currencies to gain market advantage…
China’s central bank surprised most observers last month when it announced its first interest rate cut in more than two years. The move is intended to bolster growth in the world’s second-largest economy…
The subprime crisis and the subsequent failure of Lehman Brothers came as such a shock – and the repercussions were so severe that when the time came to mount a response, policy makers were as surprised…
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen has her work cut out for her if she hopes to change the culture at the world’s most important central bank. Media reports abound with evidence that the financial industry…
As the US economy emerges from recession, the prospect of the US Federal Reserve raising interest rates grabs the attention of the financial markets more and more. US rates have been close to zero for…
Distinguished Professor and Derek Schrier and Cecily Cameron Chair in Development Economics, School of Economics and Business Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand