ROB DAVIES: Navigating a new deal for SA’s economic recovery
In his new book, former trade & industry minister debunks the mythical allure of neoliberal austerity and proposes a fresh way forward
On April 2, US President Joe Biden tabled a proposal to spend more than $2-trillion on an infrastructure build and maintenance programme. This is part of his administration’s efforts to lift the US economy out of the Covid-19-induced great lockdown recession. A month earlier, Biden signed into law a $1.9-trillion stimulus package aimed at boosting household incomes and providing additional funding to support small businesses.
Even before the latest announcement, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was reporting that, while the developed world has been able to mobilise a huge arsenal of monetary and fiscal measures to prop up their economies, estimated at 20%-25% of their GDP, the poorest developing countries have been able to mobilise just 1% of their much smaller output to mitigate the damage from a vicious cycle of capital flight, declining trade and investment flows and collapsing output and tax revenues...
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