China’s Trade in Africa Carries a Price Tag
Posted by Grant Brewer
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.)
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Standard Bank & China
Posted by Grant Brewer
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!
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china (4) | globalisation (3) | standard bank (1) | sri lanka (1) | competitiveness (1)
SA Blook, Chapter 3 — What the world thinks of South Africa
Posted by Grant Brewer
Understanding South Africa is a challenge. It is a country full of paradoxes and extremes. As the setting of one of the most remarkable political transformations in modern history, it is also home to widespread poverty and mind–numbing violent crime. We remain trapped by past beliefs in our strengths — such as the idea that South Africa is a rich country because of its mineral wealth, or that our extraordinary political transition owes us opportunities in a global economy — and we're struggling to define what exactly we contribute to and how we relate to the world around us. How do all these things come together to forge a nation that can define its own meaning for the twenty first century, and in doing so create an emerging land of opportunity.
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