The year could still be a mean one - Mr Grinch
A South African optimist is someone who looks both ways when crossing a one-way street
It's the way we are wired. When things go wrong, we expect the worst. When they go well, we overestimate the upside. This time last year, the country was enveloped in a pall of despair. The currency was in free fall and its calamitous slide would only be arrested on January 18, by which time there were forecasts that a dollar would cost R19 by year-end. Team South Africa arrived at the World Economic Forum in Davos last year punch-drunk with no one to talk to as the good news stories shifted to the political changes in places such as Iran and Argentina. This week, however, the delegation should have more bounce in its step. Things are looking up - if only a bit. Expect economists to start raising their growth forecasts and investment analysts to make more positive assumptions about future company profits. But, just like the forecasts of calamity were wide of the mark for 2016, be careful of being caught out as politicians begin to crow about a broad economic recovery. The country re...
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