miguelcruise

According to the National Treasury, the current account deficit is expected to widen to 4.3% in 2012 from an earlier estimate of 3.3% in 2011. Exports are likely to remain subdued as the debt crisis in Europe, a region that purchases over 30% of South Africa’s manufactured goods, continues to dampen demand.

South Africa ended the year 2011 on a rather encouraging note as the nation’s fourth quarter GDP growth beat analysts’ forecast. According to Stats SA, the sub-Saharan country’s GDP accelerated to 3.2% (quarter-on-quarter) in the final quarter of 2011, exceeding the growth estimate of 3.1% polled by Reuters economists. While weaker global demand continued to weigh on the primary sector’s lackluster performance, economic growth was enhanced by improved performances in the manufacturing and tertiary sectors, in particular.

Meanwhile, in the equities market, South Africa’s stock exchange (Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) turned out to be one of the better performers, as noted by Moneyweb, South Africa’s leading online source of investment information. In Moneyweb’s early January report, the JSE’s benchmark index returns of -0.59% in 2011 compared with investors’ losses of -52.9% on the Athens stock exchange and -18.3% on the Eurostox 50. Nicky Newton-King, the new CEO of the Johannesburg Exchange, commented that the JSE is looking to provide increased access to African companies and other products as a springboard to new investm...

This is Epsilon Capital Management’s 2 Part Series on the Emerging Asia Pacific Economies for the first quarter of 2012.

In the first part of our report we will look across the region as a whole and more specifically at China and India.

Emerging Asia Pacific: Economic Review 1st Quarter 2012

Emerging Asia Pacific witnesses a modest rebound despite oil spike Emerging Asia Pacific economies, which reported dismal economic numbers during the fourth quarter of 2011, recovered some lost ground during the first quarter of 2012. Export-led growth in many Asian countries such as Taiwan, Malaysia, South Korea, and China, which had come under pressure during the last months of 2011, witnessed slight improvements in 2012 thanks to receding fears about a sovereign debt crisis in the European Union and a stronger-than-expected recovery in the U.S. China, the region’s largest economy, however, signaled that it will accept a slightly lower growth rate of around 7.5% over the coming years. The Chinese economy grew at a pace of nearly 10% for over two decades.

Inflationary pressures in the region also remained subdued in many of these economies in the face of slowing growth. However, there were significant signs that inflation could haunt emerging Asia Pacific economies sooner than later. A spike in oil prices during the first quarter of 2012 stirred inflation in many economies although the pace of inflation was not as high as witnesse...