Tag: economic growth

In September 2022, the Copyright Amendment Bill was passed by the National Assembly – giving South African artists, creators and entrepreneurs more benefits and rights, including receiving adequate remuneration.

Amidst the rising cost of living, interest rate and fuel price hikes, and load shedding, the elephant in the room remains persistently high rates of unemployment. Much fanfare tends to surround any announcement of a small decline in the quarterly unemployment rate as it did at the end of November 2022 when Statistics South Africa revealed that the official unemployment figure had decreased by one percentage point between the second and third quarters of 2022 from 33.9% to 32.9%.

No new business can prosper without access to start-up capital, and the regulatory environment must not stand in the way of this process. In other words, South Africa’s economic future is not served by do-gooder statutory restrictions on financing. As such, significant amendments should be made to the National Credit Act, as well as the Banks Act, to ease pressure on small businesses that seek to finance their growth. 

South Africa’s energy shortage is having a profound impact on its cities. Economic growth and jobs continue to be affected at a time when cities urgently need to recover from the COVID-19 crisis to retain their competitiveness and attractiveness.

As recently as September, scientists were highlighting the imminent risk that, even at the current 1˚C level of global warming, at least five environmental ‘tipping points’ are likely to be passed – from the collapse of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets to a massive die-off of tropical coral reefs.

From 1995 to 2015, informal settlements increased by 650% and the current housing backlog has risen to 2.6 million houses. President Cyril Ramaphosa claims that the Expropriation Bill allows the government to 'expropriate land for public use, for use of our people'.

Much like entrepreneurs, exhibitions are economic enablers. There is no doubt that entrepreneurship, collectively, is an essential driver of societal health, wealth creation, and a formidable engine of economic growth.

While COVID-19 put the brakes on the economy, the post-pandemic recovery has almost been stymied by the ongoing Russian war on Ukraine and the impending fears of a US recession, contributing negatively to economies around the world. Through the most challenging hurdles, however, the franchise sector in South Africa has remained steadfast in its goals to grow the economy and create jobs.

Women entrepreneurs are on the rise globally, with this wave sweeping over the African and Middle Eastern region. Historically, Africa has led the world in terms of numbers of women business owners, with countries like Uganda and Ghana – leading the way.

All taxes are wealth taxes. All taxes imply the transfer of wealth from the individual owner to a government agency. The only difference between taxes is the tax base or event upon which the tax is levied, and the difference between the total burden borne by the taxpayers and the amount of revenue actually received by the government.