WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2004-03-02 Posted By: Jan
From the News Archives of: WWW.AfricanCrisis.Org
Date & Time Posted: 3/2/2004 2:11:24 PM
S.Africa: The Rand Keeps Factories in Doldrums
THE strong rand is preventing the local manufacturing sector from benefiting fully from the global economic recovery, with a leading business activity index pointing to sluggish growth in manufacturing last month.
The leading Investec purchasing managers index, which measures business activity at the manufacturing level, dropped slightly to 52,6 points last month, as manufacturers struggle to boost production while the rand remains at uncompetitive levels.
Andre Roux, Investec Asset Management’s head of fixed income, said that while last month’s index reading was above the critical 50 level, which signalled an expansion in manufacturing activity, the risk was rising that the broad-based global economic recovery might bypass SA because of the rand’s persistent strength.
“The expansion is clearly less than robust,” Roux said.
The strong rand was restraining purchasing managers from buying into the current improvement in the manufacturing sector, with both purchasing commitments and inventories continuing to decline last month. The latter reached their lowest level since the inception of the survey in September 1999.
The recession in the manufacturing sector deepened in the fourth quarter of last year, according to recent gross domestic product figures from Statistics SA, despite economic growth in leading economies, such as the US, UK and China, gathering pace.
The strong rand has eroded export growth and depressed production in import-competing industries, resulting in overall manufacturing production contracting 2,3% last year, compared with the previous year’s robust growth of 5,2%, according to Stats SA’s figures.
According to the Investec survey, purchasing managers’ short-term expectations declined last month as the rand recovered to R6,50 to the dollar from its weaker levels at the beginning of the year.
The currency was trading at R6,5968 to the dollar yesterday, firmer than its previous close of R6,6175. The rand was also stronger against the euro at R8,2125 (R8,2599) at sterling at R12,3245 (R12,3470).
However, some good news from the survey came from the employment subindex, which jumped to 50,6 points last month from 44,7, indicating a deceleration in the rate of retrenchments in the sector, Roux said.
The price index increased nine points last month, indicating a strong reversal of the deflationary tendency in producer inflation.
“Higher producer price inflation can be expected in the coming months,” Roux said.
Source: AllAfrica.com
URL: http://allafrica.com/stories/200403020100.htm…br>