Two key departments take shape

Nine months after they were first announced by President Jacob Zuma, two new but key government departments in the highly contested economic policy sphere are finally starting to take shape. But both Trevor Manuel’s National Planning Commission and Ebrahim Patel’s Economic Development departments are still a long way from delivering the promised goods.

Read more: Economic policy

Keep the belt tight for now

The question still begs whether the world is out of the financial crisis or not, but I do not think South Africa is – and I do not find signs of recovery convincing yet. At the start of the crisis, South Africans were sussed into a false financial euphoria instead of grabbing the opportunity to prepare for the “lean years”, as Joseph warned the Pharaoh many years ago, writes Heinrich Kruger.

Read more: Post-crisis or in crisis – what to do?

Risk management was often ignored.

During the boom time, risk management was in many instances ignored. Now we know that this oversight has cost the world economy dearly. It can be argued that we would have been far better off today if we had paid more attention to this crucial business principle. Literally trillions of dollars have been written off by governments and institutions over the last two years. Due to a number of factors, including the National Credit Act, South Africa has managed to escape the global financial crisis relatively unscathed, writes Jurie van der Merwe.

Read more: The Root of the Crisis

South Africa’s domestic recession is not as bad as the global norm, and policy responses in different countries will differ according to own circumstances. The macro-economic and regulatory landscapes, however, will never be the same again, writes Elna Moolman.

Read more: Recession Labyrinth and Escape Routes