BRIAN KANTOR: Balance sheets and income statements tell very different tale in foreign investment
Any appreciation of the SA balance of payments and the mix of SA foreign assets and liabilities must have full regard to the role played by Naspers
The good news is that the market value of assets held abroad by South Africans as direct investments and in portfolios offshore (R5.65-trillion at 2017 year-end) now closely matches the value of South African assets owned by foreigners. South African foreign assets and liabilities. (R millions) Source: South African Reserve Bank database (reference numbers indicated) and Investec Wealth and Investment. That our foreign assets are as valuable as our foreign liabilities, is especially pleasing given that South Africans have had to give up so much of their patrimony over recent years to fund the excess of their spending over their incomes. Such financing opportunities provided by foreign savers have come with a cost to South Africans. It has meant giving up a share of the companies they own and incurring more debt to foreigners. Yet despite the extra debt South African taxpayers have incurred over the years since 2002 and the assets sold to foreign investors, (a cumulative R5.7-trillio...
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