Tag: consumer spending

In a world that's becoming increasingly interconnected, investing beyond the borders of your home country is not just an option, it’s a valuable and prudent strategy for anyone seeking to enhance their wealth. Thanks to advancements in technology, international investments are now more accessible than ever, allowing individuals to build and manage global portfolios from anywhere in the world.

After a long, hard year, many of us look forward to charging full steam into the festive season; spending and spoiling ourselves and our loved ones with abandon. And when it comes time to deal with the consequences of our financial decisions…well, isn’t that what January is for?

Receiving a bonus is an exciting event and a time for celebration to recognise the hard work you put in throughout the year. Bonuses also provide us with an opportunity to achieve our financial goals. When we think about spending the money, we need to do so responsibly.

Online product research and discovery influences R293.8 billion in physical sales, accounting for 25% of South Africa’s retail trade, according to the recently released 2022 South African Digital Customer Experience (CX) Report.

As countries realise that inflation is linked to the shortfalls of globalisation, the world may see more 'slowbalisation' and 'sticky inflation'. Slowbalisation occurs when countries start diversifying their supply from single to multiple trading partners, and local manufacturers.

People are worrying about a global recession and with good reason. But what if the factors driving rising prices are beyond the limits of policymakers’ control? I discuss what central bankers’ next move might be, what markets are pricing in and what the probability of a recession is.

The prolonged Russia-Ukraine war is ushering in a new era of volatility and possible recession for South Africa and the world. When Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana delivered his maiden budget speech in February 2022, little did he know that Russia would invade Ukraine the very next day, immediately changing both the world and South Africa’s economic outlook for 2022 and beyond.

The bigger the military operation, the more sophisticated the financial machinery required to fund it. The Bank of England, today still the UK’s central bank, was created in 1694 as the government’s bank, largely to finance its ongoing wars with France.

A few weeks into 2022, an underlying investment theme started to emerge, that of a continued, broad-based recovery with strong economic performance across the globe. Evidence of this recovery was noted in the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) January 2022 statement.

By 2030, Bloomberg expects artificial intelligence (AI) will account for as much as $15.7 trillion of the world economy. Of that figure, an estimated $6.6 trillion will come from businesses’ ability to be more efficient via automation and freeing their workforces to work on other tasks.