The North-West University (NWU) Business School recently presented a Think Tank on the topic South Africa 2024 – a scenario perspective.

Dr Frans Cronje, CEO of the Institute of Race Relations, and Dr Oscar van Heerden, Director Operations at the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflections, made presentations.

This particular Think Tank focused on political, economic, social and technological variables and the impact this will have on South Africa’s future towards 2024.

The latest decisions by both Fitch and Moody’s to cut South Africa’s investment grade rating further into junk status are not good news for the South Africa economy.

Prof Raymond Parsons, economist at the North-West University (NWU) Business School, says it again highlights the urgent need for South Africa to change its economic narrative.

Prof Raymond Parsons, economist at the North-West University (NWU) Business School, says the latest decision by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to again leave interest rates unchanged was widely expected, given the economic model on which the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is operating.

“The election of Joe Biden as United States (US) president-elect could eventually create an opportunity for South Africa to buttress its economic narrative with the US from both a trade and an investment point of view.”

According to Prof Raymond Parsons, economist at the North-West University (NWU) Business School, the difficulties and dilemmas facing Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni in the latest MTBPS must be acknowledged, and the credibility of the latest fiscal framework will now largely rest on the extent to which the growth plan and other structural reforms are actively implemented and deliver a better economic performance.

The North-West University is on the shortlist for two global awards and another one focusing on Africa in this year’s Excellence Awards of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

The Trade and Development (TRADE) research entity at the North-West University (NWU) and the TRADE Research Advisory, a spin-off company of the university, hosted the eighth TRADE-Decision Support Model User Group webinar, drawing more than eighty international attendees.

The impact of the Covid-19 epidemic on our mental health cannot be understated. From a South African perspective, months of a hard lockdown has changed the way we live, the way we work and the very way we operate. Mentally we have not escape unscarred.

While there are positive features to the latest economic reconstruction and recovery plan, it needed to say much more about implementation processes and timelines, says North-West University (NWU) Business School economist, Prof Raymond Parsons.