Tag Archives: south-africa
UAE makes steady progress on all global indices
UAE makes steady progress on all global indices Issac John / 5 September 2013 The UAE is making steady progress in terms of all global development indices issued by prestigious international corporations, His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said on Wednesday. Commenting on the UAE’s enhanced ranking on in the Global Competitiveness Report issued by the World Economic Forum for 2013-2014, Shaikh Mohammed said the nation is making steady progress under the leadership of the President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. In the latest WEF report, the UAE has advanced five positions in the total competitiveness of its economy in one year, from 25 th last year to the rank of 19 th this year out of 148 countries. Shaikh Mohammed said the UAE government is continually following up these indices issued by prestigious international corporations, “because retreat is not an option in our government.” “Thanks to the federal and local teams who are jointly working in line with a vision the term of which extends to the year 2021, as well as with agendas and plans that are continuously being revised and assessed as per our growing ambitions in all sectors,” Shaikh Mohammed added. “Our economy is continuously developing, and the indices for security and stability are the best globally. The welfare of our citizens is at the top of our priorities,” he said. On some key sub-indexes the UAE is among the top countries in the world. The WEF report lists 12 pillars of competitiveness as the driving factors explaining an economy’s growth potential and the UAE scores very high here. The ‘Basic Requirements’ rank of the UAE is five, with only Singapore, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Finland ahead on that scale. In ‘Infrastructure’ the UAE takes the 8 th spot and for ‘Macro-economic’ environment the Emirates is 12 th in the world. On the ‘Innovation and Sophistication’ scale the UAE is ranked 25 th in the world. For the fifth time in a row, Switzerland was named as the world’s most competitive economy, the only point of criticism being that the nation ought to improve university enrolment to become even more innovative. Singapore and Finland defended their positions at number two and three among the 148 countries analysed by the World Economic Forum, a Swiss non-profit foundation that aims to bring together business leaders and policy makers. Germany took fourth position in the WEF’s annual ranking of the world’s most competitive economies, just ahead of the US. US — the world’s largest economy — in fifth place for overall competitiveness, up from seventh last year. Among the biggest risers this year was Indonesia, which was able to climb 12 ranks to number 38. The WEF said the rapid progress was due to spending on infrastructure, a more efficient government and gains in the technology sector. India now ranks 60 th , continuing its downward trend that began in 2009. Moreover, the country has fared badly with respect to its Brics peers. Once ahead of Brazil and South Africa, it now trails them by several places and is behind China by a margin of 31 positions, while Russia (64 th ) has almost closed the gap. Some Middle East countries emerged as the biggest losers. Politically troubled Egypt, for instance, dropped 11 placed to 118, while Iran tumbled 16 ranks to come in at number 82 on the back of political instability and lack of financing in the sanctions-hit nation. issacjohn@khaleejtiems.com Continue reading
Africa To Establish Free Trade Area By 2015: Zuma
JOHANNESBURG, (Xinhua) — African countries are expected to establish a free trade area by 2015, combining the markets of 26 countries with a population of nearly 600 million people and a combined GDP of 1 trillion U.S. dollars, South African President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday. “Importantly, this will form the basis for an Africa-wide Free Trade Area, which could create a single market of 2.6 trillion U.S. dollars,” Zuma told delegates attending the first meeting of the BRICS Business Council in Johannesburg. This will enable African countries to further promote intra- African trade, Zuma said, adding that under the auspices of the African Union, African countries are launching an ambitious Tripartite free trade area, bringing together countries of Eastern and Southern Africa. “Africa is becoming a remarkable success story which augurs well for the BRICS partnership,” Zuma said. BRICS is an acronym for the powerful grouping of the world’s leading emerging markets, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. At the 5 th BRICS Durban summit in March, special focus was put on BRICS’ cooperation with Africa. The BRICS-Africa engagement and dialogue signals a new departure and a new avenue to take forward the continent’s development agenda. The ongoing meeting of the BRICS Business Council, which was set up at the Durban summit, will address three key issues—investment opportunities, value-added trade and the BRICS Development Bank. Zuma devoted much of his speech to the potentials of Africa. Africa’s output, he said, is expected to expand by 50 percent by 2015, resulting in a 30 percent rise in the continent’s spending power. “It is becoming well-known as well that the rate of return on foreign investment in Africa is higher than in any other region in the world. This is not surprising given the competitive edge of the continent,” Zuma noted. Africa’s advantages include its extraordinary mineral wealth and agricultural potential. South Africa’s own mineral wealth is estimated at 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars. In addition, the continent has a young working population and a growing middle class with considerable and growing purchasing power. In moves to promote intra-African trade, South Africa will play its own part to promoting investments within the continent, Zuma said. Over the last few years, the South African Reserve Bank approved nearly 1,000 large investments into 36 African countries. These mutually beneficial investments generate tax revenue, dividends and jobs between countries. “While we appreciate that our intra-African trade is still marginal, real barriers are not tariffs, but include other factors such as under-developed production structures and inadequate infrastructure,” Zuma said. He said Africa is poised to make further progress given the focus on improving systems and policies. JOHANNESBURG, (Xinhua) — African countries are expected to establish a free trade area by 2015, combining the markets of 26 countries with a population of nearly 600 million people and a combined GDP of 1 trillion U.S. dollars, South African President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday. “Importantly, this will form the basis for an Africa-wide Free Trade Area, which could create a single market of 2.6 trillion U.S. dollars,” Zuma told delegates attending the first meeting of the BRICS Business Council in Johannesburg. This will enable African countries to further promote intra- African trade, Zuma said, adding that under the auspices of the African Union, African countries are launching an ambitious Tripartite free trade area, bringing together countries of Eastern and Southern Africa. “Africa is becoming a remarkable success story which augurs well for the BRICS partnership,” Zuma said. BRICS is an acronym for the powerful grouping of the world’s leading emerging markets, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. At the 5 th BRICS Durban summit in March, special focus was put on BRICS’ cooperation with Africa. The BRICS-Africa engagement and dialogue signals a new departure and a new avenue to take forward the continent’s development agenda. The ongoing meeting of the BRICS Business Council, which was set up at the Durban summit, will address three key issues—investment opportunities, value-added trade and the BRICS Development Bank. Zuma devoted much of his speech to the potentials of Africa. Africa’s output, he said, is expected to expand by 50 percent by 2015, resulting in a 30 percent rise in the continent’s spending power. “It is becoming well-known as well that the rate of return on foreign investment in Africa is higher than in any other region in the world. This is not surprising given the competitive edge of the continent,” Zuma noted. Africa’s advantages include its extraordinary mineral wealth and agricultural potential. South Africa’s own mineral wealth is estimated at 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars. In addition, the continent has a young working population and a growing middle class with considerable and growing purchasing power. In moves to promote intra-African trade, South Africa will play its own part to promoting investments within the continent, Zuma said. Over the last few years, the South African Reserve Bank approved nearly 1,000 large investments into 36 African countries. These mutually beneficial investments generate tax revenue, dividends and jobs between countries. “While we appreciate that our intra-African trade is still marginal, real barriers are not tariffs, but include other factors such as under-developed production structures and inadequate infrastructure,” Zuma said. He said Africa is poised to make further progress given the focus on improving systems and policies. Continue reading
SA’s Farmland ‘Outperforms Stocks, Bonds’
BY SHANNON SHERRY, AUGUST 29 2013 Picture: THINKSTOCK Although seen as a “new asset class”, investing in farmland ” is as old as humankind”, says Duncan Vink, head of asset manager the United Farmers Fund, which partners Futuregrowth. The company has employed the model in three projects since starting the Agri-Fund in December 2010 — a citrus farm in Marble Hall, Limpopo; table grape farms in the Northern Cape; and a deciduous and stone fruit farm in Piketberg, the Western Cape. Futuregrowth Agri-Fund manager Smital Rambhai says its investment in farmland on behalf of clients through its Agri-Fund forms part of its social responsibility suite that seeks to make “sustainable and responsible” investments. The Agri-Fund has a target size of R1bn and aims for returns of 10% plus inflation. The minimum investment is R50m, mainly from pension and provident funds. “We own the land, the farming implements and infrastructure and the trees and plants. The operator owns the produce and has to pay the lease and the costs, including labour,” says Mr Rambhai. Mr Vink says the buy-and-lease model means that the farmer’s biggest capital outlay — land — is circumvented while for investors it is easy to structure, takes less time to monitor and there is no exposure to volatile crop prices. “Food prices are rising and as long as people eat, productive farmland will have value,” Mr Vink says. “Investing in farming has two different possibilities — investing in the property or in the farming. Historically, the property entity has outperformed the farming business,” he says. The social spin-offs of the investments include job creation, provision of basic healthcare and education for workers, improving their housing and personal development, such as identifying employees for management training. GM of Standard Bank primary sector agribusiness MC Loock says from a farmer’s point or view the term of a contract would be most important when considering whether to lease. He believes farmers leasing land under the Futuregrowth model would be free of risk of land claims. “Younger farmers often look to lease land rather than buy, much like a young couple renting a home rather than buying, as a means of leveraging their balance sheets. But as soon as they can they want to get into the property market rather than pay off someone else’s bond.” Continue reading
