Tag: Free Market Foundation

On February 24th Vladimir Putin launched an unprovoked attack on Ukraine. Even as I write his troops are still bombing civilian targets and killing women, children and the elderly.

According to the Global Peace Index for 2020 by the Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP), violence costs South Africa about 13% of its gross domestic product (GDP) per year. South Africa ranks as the 26th most costly in the world, totalling $97.4 billion, or $1,971 per capita (in PPP terms).

South African legislators are seeking to regulate e-cigarette and vaping products through the draft Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill, as well as new taxation laws. The National Department of Health has started to amend current tobacco legislation through the draft Bill, while taxation will be levied on nicotine and non-nicotine solutions with a 40% incidence guideline.

The permanent institution of a central bank came to the United States in 1913. Three unsuccessful attempts had been made before then. This institution was, and is, a banking cartel, which goes by the deceptive moniker, Federal Reserve.

On January 24th Minister Stella Ndabeni Abraham proudly told the public, “We have a responsibility to enforce regulatory compliance in the SMME (Small Micro Medium Enterprises) sector and close businesses that are trading illegally.”

A generally weakening Rand and mounting inflationary pressures have meant that the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has once again raised interest rates - to the distinct detriment of the weakest members of our society.

The Competition Commission has recently referred WesBank, the car finance division of First Rand Bank, and Toyota Financial Services South Africa (TSA) to the Competition Tribunal, to be fined 10% of their turnover for the alleged violation of the Competition Act.

The 1975 Expropriation Act authorises the Minister of Public Works to expropriate property for public purposes, and provides for the payment of compensation to the dispossessed owner, not exceeding the property’s market price, determined either by agreement between government and the owner, or by a court.

The trouble with forex controls is that they are far more effective at keeping money 'out' than at keeping it 'in'. Almost every historical case shows that forex controls were conceived in shamed and weakened circumstances. In every case they have ultimately proven to be unalloyed failures.

South Africa’s headline unemployment rate hit a record high of 34.4% in the second quarter of 2021, up from 32.6% in the first three months of the year as businesses shed staff resulting from the devastating economic impact of the COVID-19 lockdown.