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This economic and trade-focused column is prepared by Riaan de Lange – riaan@tariffandtrade.co.za. The views expressed in this column are the author's personal views
Variable outlook with persistent challenges
We live in a world where words have been deprived of their original meaning. So accustomed have we become to seeing and hearing some words that they have lost their impact. We have become numb to...
SOEs the worst they have ever been
The above headline is part of a sentence in a report released by the Auditor General on November 20, which reads: “The overall audit outcomes of State-owned enterprises (SOEs) are the worst they...
It’s time to set South African Airways free
You might have one schoolteacher or more who made an enduring impression on you. It might be something that they said or that they attuned you too. Although their name might have faded in memory,...
Moulting, molting, sloughing or ecdysis
There is one word missing from the title that, in biology, refers to the process where many invertebrates and animals routinely cast off a part of there body, which, in many instances – but not...
Hitting SA’s economic challenges head-on
I write this column at a time of celebration. 32-12. Need I say no more? Capturing the English psyche on the day, the advertised prime-time programme is about that ‘unsinkable ship’ – the RMS...
The bobbin industry’s contribution to English
You may be familiar with or have used or still use the phrases ‘knock off’, ‘fast and loose’ and ‘happy hour’. What you might not know is what the three phrases have in common. A hint: they all...
The real cost of graft in South Africa
Speaking at the Financial Times Africa Summit, in London, on October 13, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the cost of this predecessor’s decade-long rule “runs way beyond, in my view, more than...
Economic recovery and transformation strategy
A mounting challenge facing all South Africans is not what you might might think of. The challenge facing us is that we are confronted with words and phrases that simply do not mean what we might...
The Presidential Economic Advisory Council
US satirist and mathematician Tom Lehrer is credited with saying: “The ‘new’ approach, as you know, the important thing is to understand what you are doing rather than to get to the right answer.”...
SA’s Brexit approach: Roll over and play dead
I concluded the August 30 instalment of this column, which was titled ‘Brexit – we’re not gonna take it’, with this sentence: “It is time for South Africa to step up and take the game to Britain.”...
The route to perpetual inequality
This week I continue my trip down memory lane. I focus on that formation – economic or political, depending on your preference – that was in 2001 referenced as BRIC by then chairperson of Goldman...
Brexit – We’re not gonna take it
October 31 is only 76 days away – well, at the time of writing. It should be close to 62 days away as you read this piece. Although Brexit – that is, Britain exiting the European Union (EU) – is...
SA’s perpetual Zeigarnik effect
“Round and round the circle / Completing the charm / So, the knot be unknotted / the cross be uncrossed / the crooked be made straight / And the curse be ended” wrote TS Eliot in his poem, Family...
Is it seasons out of time for the SA pie?
It might well be a case of mixing metaphors, for which Mrs Weston, my much-revered English high school teacher of many years past, would, without a shadow of a doubt, have my guts for garters. So,...
SOEs are growth-negative contributors to SA economy
Is the South African economy down on its luck, down on its knees, face down, downtrodden, or simply down and out? What is without question is that the South African economy is letting South...
Let’s try this again, shall we?
The words in the headline were uttered by Agent H with an appropriate pause and desperate sigh. Agent H is the lead in Men in Black – International, the latest and fourth instalment of the MIB...
What SA needs to attain economic growth
“We cannot turn our fortunes around without a relentless focus on economic growth. Price stability is a necessary but not sufficient condition for economic growth. Our Constitution also requires...
Sona – so, how you gonna do it?
When I read President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Nation on June 20, all 6 741 words of it, the chorus of rock group Nickelback’s song Rockstar – "So how you gonna do it?” – kept reverberating...
Let’s face it: economic disaster is looming in SA
“What is the cost of lies? It is not that we will mistake them for the truth. The real danger is that if we hear enough lies, then we no longer recognise the truth at all. What can we do then? What...
Time for Itac spring-clean and reform
President Cyril Ramaphosa's appointment of former Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel the Minister in charge of the new Department of Trade and Industry , which was merged with the...
SA’s ‘very old’ trade remedies
In 2003, the International Trade Centre (ITC) published a 290-page book on trade remedies, titled Business Guide to Trade Remedies in South Africa and the Southern African Customs Union –...
Exporting to the UK post Brexit
Without a shadow of a doubt, the most overused portmanteau in the world today is ‘Brexit’, derived from ‘British’ and ‘exit’. Its use evokes a range of emotions. Brexit’s origin is attributable to...
Marrakesh Agreement: 25 years on
April 15, a day steeped in history. Well, you can argue that this is true of every day. What possibly makes April 15 a bit unique is that all the major events that happened on this day are general...
The WCO’s fellowship programme
The World Customs Organisation (WCO), known as the Customs Cooperation Council until 1994, is not as well known as the World Trade Organisation (WTO). This is odd, since the WCO was founded on...
International trade in fake goods surges
You might be well acquainted with ‘fake news’. The buzzword that is. Yes, the two are considered one. It was the 2017 word of the year, no less. But, as to whether we possess the ability to...
Insights into a Post Clearance Audit
The Revised Kyoto Convention, which is more popularly known by its acronym, RKC, and is the main trade facilitation customs convention, defines postclearance audits (PCA), or audit-based controls,...
Customs and excise proposals in the Budget
It is just before 14:00 on the afternoon of February 20 as I wait for the National Budget Review 2019 to be published in its electronic form. While doing so, I am reminded of a time, not so long...
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