Standard Bank & China

Posted by Grant Brewer on 25 Oct 2007 |

The Business Day is carrying an article about the news "that China’s biggest bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, has agreed to buy a stake in Standard Bank, in a deal reported to be worth $5,5bn." That is very interesting news for South Africa and perhaps an indicator of what we might expect in the future as the economic centre of gravity shifts from the US (and western Europe) to the East.

Something that struck me when working Sri Lanka was that young people there were very entrepreneurial, but that they focus was almost entirely on the market opportunities in China and India rather than on the west. There is something there that South African's could learn from: don't forget to look toward the east!

china (4) | globalisation (3) | standard bank (1) | sri lanka (1) | competitiveness (1)

1000 days before 2010 World Cup

Posted by Grant Brewer on 23 Oct 2007 |

With a successful rugby World Cup campaign behind us, I caught sight of [this article][] on [Accelerate Cape Town][] highlighting that there are 1,000 days to go before the FIFA World Cup 2010 kicks off in South Africa -- that leaves very little time for preparations, although it seems from what I hear and read that things are on track.

The article's author, Linton Rensburg has a few interesting comments.

south africa (5) | world cup (3) | 2010 (2) | economics (1)

Brazil unveils strategy on crime

Posted by Grant Brewer on 21 Aug 2007 |

So Brazil has announced a strategy to reduce crime -- and what is South Africa doing? Nothing it seems -- believing that the current approach is doing just fine. It is worth understanding what exactly the Brazilian strategy is. Time to go and dig out an English summary of the plan.

south africa (5) | brazil (2) | crime (1)

China’s Trade in Africa Carries a Price Tag

Posted by Grant Brewer on 21 Aug 2007 |

The New York Times carries an interesting article on the affect of low cost Chinese imports on local manufacturing in Africa; and the conclusion is that factories in Africa have suffered. On so many levels Africa suffers at the hands of globalisation. In some senses, it is a penalty for not having sorted itself out earlier in the last century. The only upside is the investments that China is making in Africa, although these seems to be largely related to commodities. Trying to fix some of the issues in Africa is double hard today because of the open-ness of the global economy. As the article points out, it makes establishing a healthy, diverse economy difficult.

(Via The New York Times - New Power in Africa.)

south africa (5) | china (4) | globalisation (3) | imperialism (1) | trade (1) | africa (1)