Talk:Economy of South Africa
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This article was externally reviewed on November 7, 2005 by Mail & Guardian. It was rated 6/10. |
[edit] Needs Cleanup
This entry contains a lot of information about the current state of the South African economy and economic policy, but provides little context and is poorly organised. It would be difficult for a reader unfamiliar with South Africa to get a clear sense of the economy's past or future.
There is no explanation of the economic damage caused by apartheid. The policy discussion focuses solely on macroeconomic, trade and industrial policies, with no discussion of social and labour policies and their problems since 1994. Foreign direct investment is not mentioned, yet a whole paragraph is devoted to rather obscure official United States schemes to support capital inflows.
The statistical data provided is rather erratic; for example, production, consumption and trade data for five years is provided for electricity, but value of aggregate trade is given for only one year, with no data as to the composition of trade. The annual average rand:dollar exchange rate is given for the past 15 years, but there is almost no historical data on GDP [gross domestic product] growth, and nothing on other important macroeconomic variables such as investment, international capital flows etc.
Very little data on socio-economic indicators is provided. Overall, the entry reads far more like a brochure aimed at potential investors than a source of understanding for students and the general public.
-- Stephen Gelb, economist and executive director of The Edge Institute in Johannesburg, Mail & Guardian online: Can you trust Wikipedia?, Elvira van Noort, Johannesburg, South Africa, 07 November 2005 09:13.
Apropos:
- Households using electricity for lighting: 69.7% in 2001, 57.6% in 1996
- People with access to electricity: 70% in 2003, 32% in 1994
What's the data source? I understand that there is significant electricity theft that would make the 'official customer' and 'actual user' numbers quite different. A footnote might help.
nice article, but I wish there was a source for all the data. It's useless for me to have just numbers quoted without reference. You could be anyone, posting anything he likes... Emmanuel
_______ A. Nonymous:
Hi, may I suggest instead of "formal economy," something more along the lines of "first documented." Europeans didn't bring an economy, they just documented theirs.
[edit] Structure
Page needs slightly better structure. Trade and investment section overlaps with "financial policy", which should probably be "economic policy". I will have a look at other country's pages and compare.
