Tag: financial crisis

With inflationary pressures moderating and economic challenges persisting, monetary authorities will prioritise gradual rate cuts in 2025. This deliberate pace reflects a balance between stimulating economic growth and avoiding financial instability. For example, the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank may follow similar trajectories.

The real estate industry has undergone a profound transformation over the past two decades and, as a result, the landscape that real estate professionals navigate today bears little resemblance to the one of even a decade ago.

We are living in a time of economic uncertainty. Inflation is skyrocketing, Eskom is loadshedding, and food prices are the highest they’ve been in 14 years.  These conditions are putting a lot of strain on business owners, and some tough decisions regarding the future may need to be made.

You have just lived through an exceptional part of history. No, I am not talking about the COVID-19 pandemic, although it does play an important role in what we think about as the Great Unwind. Rather, I am talking about the extraordinary period of low inflation we have seen over the past few decades.

Nearly three quarters (73%) of CEOs believe global economic growth will decline over the next 12 months, according to our 26th Annual Global CEO Survey, which polled 4,410 CEOs in 105 countries and territories in October and November 2022.

Which are the main factors driving the possibility that a company and its board of directors may be sued by investors or other stakeholder groups in 2023? A poor financial performance or even insolvency amid economic uncertainty and the prospect of a global recession, a lack of robust cyber security and governance processes, or an inadequate or non-compliant response to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues are among the key risk trends in the Directors and Officers (D&O) insurance space

Should you believe in the Santa Rally theory, which suggests that stocks rise in the last days of the year? What does data from the last 94 years tell us? Investors found their festive spirits in 2020 despite a raging pandemic.

When South Africa entered into a hard and extended national lockdown on 27 March 2020, banks responded rapidly and empathetically to their account holders' financial crisis. According to the Banking Association of South Africa (BASA), as at 24 October 2020, banks had provided over R50 billion in financial relief – R33,61 billion in payment breaks on credit agreements and R16,71 billion under the loan guarantee scheme – to South African businesses and individuals.

Fear-fuelled stockpiling offers astute investors valuable insights into human nature. In August 2020, South Africans formed long queues outside liquor stores across the country, hoping to stock up on alcohol before a rumoured ban came into effect. But, as it turns out, the ban was fake news, spread on WhatsApp and social media.

The COVID-19 crisis is having a profound impact on South Africa’s economy with the GDP forecast to contract by as much as 7.1% in 2020, to an all-time low of roughly -8.5%. A wide range of industries came to an abrupt halt during the national lockdown, with businesses across the board struggling to stay afloat – mass job cuts, and for many others, pay cuts, loom.