Econ dialogue 2025

News and views about

the National Dialogue 2025

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  • Is inclusive growth the middle way?

    From my The Economics Minute podcast today: Johan Fourie wrote an interesting blog post yesterday, in which he outlined the opposing ideas about the economy and the role of government. On the one hand, there is the view that the… more ›

  • About those wage increases

    A recent spat between Business Leadership SA and labour unions over the 6% wage increase that Transnet workers are getting is a nice case study of how far apart we are in terms of the trade-offs that have to be… more ›

  • Initial results from our survey

    Part of this blog initiative is a short survey. We ask what people think are the top-5 challenges facing South Africa and what they believe the National dialogue will achieve. We have received 49 responses thus far and want to… more ›

  • R700m could buy a lot of dialogue

    Since the President’s recent announcement of the National Dialogue and group of eminent persons to lead it there has been a lot of media coverage. The R700 million rand price tag is one of the big discussion points. It turns… more ›

  • News about the National Dialogue

    Over the weekend President Ramaphosa shared some news about the upcoming National Dialogue. It will kick off with a National Convention on 15 August. Everyone is invited. Not literally, but the Presidency says: It will be a representative gathering bringing… more ›

  • How do we choose between jobs and consumers?

    The goodyear factory in Kariega, Nelson Mandela Bay has announced that it will close. The Daily Maverick reports: The factory, in Kariega (formerly Uitenhage), was opened in 1947. About 900 employees will lose their jobs, but fears are that this… more ›

  • How do you get out of a low-growth trap?

    Economists and commentators are wringing their hands at the poor first quarter performance of the economy: Q4 of 2024 has been revised down to 0.4% growth and only 0.1% growth in Q1 of this year. This affects everyone who were… more ›

  • Dawie Roodt is a leftist liberal

    Or at least that is what one guy recently called him in a YouTube comment! When people debate economic policy—whether in Parliament, on social media, or around the braai—we often hear labels like left, right, liberal, socialist, or pro-market. But… more ›

  • What should we give up?

    Recently Business Day reported on ANC Communications chief, Nkenke Kekana’s views on the policy for satellite broadband. It is a story of procedures and channels followed (or not), but also of the trade-offs that come with policy changes. At the… more ›

  • Opportunity cost

    In Budget 3.0 the Minister of Finance withdrew the proposal for a VAT rate increase, but that means he has also not expanded the list of zero-rated food items. Last week the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa called on… more ›