Related Articles
Top Stories
May 27 2012 11:21
There's a price war raging between South Africa's cellphone networks after Cell C lowered the rates of its prepaid calls by more than 34%.
May 27 2012 11:49
The country's 200 000-odd Tupperware agents are angry about the counterfeit products being sold as the real McCoy.
May 27 2012 13:09
The oversupply of golf estates has claimed another victim.
Cape Town - Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan has told rating agencies they need to ask themselves if they are leading the world in the right direction.
Gordhan was taking part in a debate at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on how Africa should respond to the global economic crisis.
Rating agencies have been castigated during several WEF debates for their failure to predict the economic crisis, and for using double standards when assessing developing countries.
Gordhan agreed with fellow panelist Lonrho CEO Geoffrey White, who said rating agencies were five years behind the curve in terms of reflecting a real investment situation.
Gordhan said the key challenge for Africa was changing people's mindsets as well as the science on which investment decisions are based. He said the economic crisis presented a good opportunity to do so, because it demonstrated how rating agencies have failed the world.
Zimbabwean Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara said most rating agencies are ignorant about Africa. "That is their downfall," he said.
- Fin24.com