EDITORIAL: The statistic that matters most
Stats SA confirms we are not making progress on unemployment rates
If ever a wake-up call was needed, Statistics SA delivered it on Tuesday. Understandably, the country has been in a celebratory mood after avoiding an extension of the Zuma era’s slide towards a full-blown kleptocracy. The relief of investors is shown by the performance of the rand, which, despite some losses since the last Reserve Bank rates decision, has largely maintained its gains from December. Since President Cyril Ramaphosa defeated Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma by a wafer-thin majority at the ANC’s December conference, the rand is up almost 2% against the dollar. South African assets have generally performed well relative to their peers in emerging markets and some of the rich countries. That is even after we have seen US 10-year bond yields surge past 3% on expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at a faster pace, while SA’s Reserve Bank actually cut them the last time. The Middle East is in flames again and, not surprisingly, the oil price is rising, with ...
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