Post Tagged with: "Africa"
Economic Facts of Life about Global Energy
Oil spills, coal mining disasters, concerns over Middle East revolutions and now nuclear meltdowns. What do all these events have in common? As I have written earlier, they are energy-related. They all have to do with desperate efforts to find energy fuels to supply the world’s ever-growing demands. Where is the concern over the horrific civil war now commencing in the Ivory Coast? After all, its population is more than three times larger than Libya’s. Forget it, no oil
Africa’s declining energy exports
This note from UBS’ Andy Lees this morning points to peak oil/peak resources as a consideration in the ongoing troubles in the Middle East. Andy writes: Just a few quick figures on African oil production. Libyan production, according to the BP world statistics peaked in recent years (subsequent to its 1970′s peak) at 1.82m bpd
Rand bounces back
The following is a post by Marc Chandler, head of Brown Brother Harriman’s Currency Strategy Team. For more of BBH’s currency views, visit the website here. The South African rand is benefitting from two forces. The first is the generalized recovery in risk appetites, illustrated by rising equity and commodity prices. The second force is
Libertarian paradise in Somalia
This is pretty funny. Hat tip Linda. By the way, Linda, this is not my Libertarian ideal! It’s called anarchy
Gulf states agreement to enter currency union seen as dollar threat
The last I had heard about a prospective Gulf currency union came yesterday morning in a note by Marc Chandler who is the Chief Strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman’s FX group. He indicated that he was more optimistic about a Gulf currency union on the than a Latin American one on the eve of a
South Africa: Nationalising mines?
This comes via Brown Bothers Harriman’s Win Thin (no link available): South Africa’s ruling ANC said that it was open to discussing demands by its labor union allies to nationalize its mines. This is an astounding admission, and confirms our worst political fears with regards to the new Zuma administration. First, they get rid of
South Africa: recession and he said, she said
For those of you who care at all about what’s going on in the world outside of your own country, there are a lot of countries in the throes of economic havoc. So, don’t feel alone; you have plenty of company – South Africa included. Housing is slowing, unions are on strike and recession is
Add South Africa to housing victims list
When the Economist warned in 2005 that residential property prices were in bubble territory in many national markets, South Africa led the list by far with an eight-year price appreciation of 244%. Now it seems that bubble has popped too. The South African website Fin24 says that data from South African banks shows that the