GM’s exit should set alarm bells ringing
We just don't cut it any more as an attractive destination for international companies and probably haven't done so for longer than we realise
We just don't cut it any more as an attractive destination for international companies and probably haven't done so for longer than we realise. So it wasn't really such a surprise when General Motors announced this week that it was quitting South Africa. Can you blame them, with a political climate that almost every week delivers another episode of You Could Not Make This Stuff Up? The electorate is furious, as well as highly indebted or unemployed, or both - none of which lends itself to people who want to or can spend on cars, or pretty much anything else. We believe the IMF's economic growth forecast of 1% for this year is actual growth. If it materialises, granted it will be better than the 0.3% contraction in the last quarter of 2016. But let's face it, at best we are standing very still. More likely, we are sinking in quicksand perhaps too slowly for us to fully comprehend. Then, of course, there are the downgrades by two credit-rating agencies. A third downgrade is expected a...
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