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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 13:09
The oversupply of golf estates has claimed another victim.
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.
Johannesburg - Chief economist of Econometrix, Dr Azar Jammine, said during a briefing on Wednesday that he does not believe
SA is going to slip into an economic recession and that it is
certainly not a 'doom and gloom' scenario.
"We have got huge challenges, but also a lot of opportunities," he explained.
Jammine noted that while load shedding was hitting certain sectors, it was also creating opportunities in others.
"What people forget is that as damaging as the electricity crisis is in some sectors, it is creating a lot of opportunity in other sectors that weren't there previously," he said.
He pointed out that opportunities were arising for businessmen who could provide energy-saving products.
Power crisis
"Another anecdote that provides a bit of comfort is - yes, the economy has been hit by load shedding - but not all of it. For example, agriculture has been benefiting from the good rains we have had, and tractor sales are up over 50% to March," he said.
"There will also be huge increases in transport and communication in the run up to the Fifa 2010 soccer World Cup and there are spin-offs there too," he added. "So let's not be too gloomy," said Jammine.
However, he admitted there has been a dramatic change in sentiment in the SA economy. He highlighted the causes of this as the growing negative impact of higher interest rates, Zuma's election as ANC president, the global financial crisis, electricity and Zimbabwe.
Jammine pins SA's GDP growth at 3% this year from 5% in 2007.
"But 3% a decade ago would have been considered quite a good growth rate," he notes.
Jammine says if you look at electricity consumption figures, they show the sector has "fallen, but not out of bed" at around 2% in February.
"It has declined, but not totally and shows the economy hasn't collapsed in its entirety as a result of load shedding."
He notes the manufacturing sector has come down to 2% or 3% "but hasn't collapsed entirely".
"Don't forget the shock-absorber effect of the rand, where you see an improved increase in the competitiveness of SA exports and it provides a lifeline to the manufacturing sector of the economy," says Jammine.
He says that the mining sector has taken the brunt of the impact as a result of the load shedding. "But non-gold has done quite well," he adds.
"Let's not get too depressed about economic prospects," concludes Jammine.
- I-Net Bridge