BRIAN KANTOR: Too much stimulus in the US, too little in SA
With demand surging in the US, inflation is on the horizon, while SA could do with some help from the government
January retail sales in the US were an extraordinary 7.4% up on sales a year before. US retailers had been ringing up stronger sales than before Covid-19 since June. They are now bounding ahead. Retail sales in SA have also been recovering strongly, having caught up with sales volumes a year before.
The demand for goods and services in the US economy has been greatly stimulated by government spending on income relief for households and businesses, and on medical services. Much more than the case in SA, where proportionately far less extra has been spent. The scale of the extra spending by the US government is truly extraordinary...
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