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Media Articles by Mthente Research and Consulting Services
Up one levelNewspaper and magazine articles written by Mthente directors and staff members, as well as external responses to these articles
"Expanded trade zone between African countries effectively upscales economies" - Neil Balchin
Cape Argus, 14 June 2011 - Neil Balchin discusses the implications of the launch in Johannesburg of trade talks to set in motion a process of creating a super free trade area (FTA) in Africa. To download the full article, click below.
"Guess which is the fastest growing economic region in the world today?" - Lwazi Sikiti
Cape Argus, 20 April 2011 - Lwazi Sikiti, a research assistant at Mthente, discusses the economic power of Africa's rising middle class and the emergence of Africa as the fastest growing economic region in the world. To download the full article, please click below.
"Regional wrangling mustn't hamper SA growth" - Mills Soko and Mzukisi Qobo
Mail & Guardian, 25-31 March 2011 - Associate Professor Mills Soko and Dr Mzukisi Qobo argue that South Africa must use this month's meeting of the heads of state of the Southern African Customs Union countries as an opportunity to initiate a frank discussion with its Sacu partners about recasting the organisation's purpose and reorganising its institutions. To download the full article, please click below.
"SA misses a trick as Saudi Arabian links fall into abeyance" - Mzukisi Qobo and Mills Soko
Business Report, 27 January 2011 - Associate Professor Mills Soko and Dr Mzukisi Qobo argue that South Africa should take Saudi Arabia seriously as a commercial partner due to Saudi Arabia's investment across Africa in the energy, telecoms, banking, hotels, infrastructure development and manufacturing sectors. To download the full article, please click below.
"Creating more walls than Brics" - Mills Soko and Mzukisi Qobo
Mail & Guardian, 7-13 January 2011 - Associate Professor Mills Soko and Mzukisi Qobo, Head of Emerging Power and Global Challenges at the South African Institute of International Affairs, discuss the complexities inherent in South Africa's invitation to join the "elite" grouping of Bric nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China). To download the full article, please click below.
"Alliances don't depend on political purity" - Dr Ayanda Ntsaluba
Mail & Guardian, 21-27 January 2011 - Dr Ayanda Ntsaluba, Director General of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation responds to the article by Dr Mills Soko and Mzukisi Qobo, "Creating more walls than Brics" (Mail & Guardian, 7-13 January 2011). To download the full article, click below.
“Benefiting SA - Making the FIFA World Cup Work for All” – Mills Soko
Opportunity Magazine, November 2009 - Associate Professor Mills Soko shares his take on the much debated and anticipated 2010 Soccer World Cup and the economic boom it is expected to bring. He initially warns of the possibility of costs outweighing the benefits as well as the unrealistic & unequal distribution of profits. He then focuses on the tourism sector as the key beneficiary of the tournament and also highlights that this sector will require strategic planning if it is to harness its potential and subsequently lead towards equal or fair distribution of profits even to the rural regions of SA. The article concludes by stating that a level of creativity and networking skills will be required on the part of the rural tourism operators. To download the full article, please click below.
"The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis in Africa" - Neil Balchin
Africagrowth Agenda, July/September 2009 - Neil Balchin writes that on the back of the fallout from the current global financial crisis, world growth in 2009 is expected to decline to its lowest rate in 60 years. In 2008, the collapse in demand stemming from the financial crisis, coupled with synchronised falls in manufacturing and industrial production, trade credit financing problems and low consumer confidence, triggered a fall in world trade growth to just 4 percent. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Trade and Development Report 2008, the global economy is teetering on the brink of recession. To download the full article, click below.
"SA women have key roles at all levels in international trade" - Mills Soko
Top Women in Business & Government 2008/09, 5th Edition - Mills Soko notes that women in most developing countries are still in the minority as business owners and managers and fewer still are involved in export and in high-level national trade development positions. However, Soko reflects on the important role women play in developing a vibrant economy even though there is still a long way to go to achieve gender parity.
"G20 needs to consider financial reform not just for this continent" - Neil Balchin
Business Day, 16 March 2009 - Neil Balchin, researcher and consultant for Mthente Research and Consulting Services, discusses South Africa's role in Group 20 (G20) talks aimed at shaping a response that helps the continent overcome the debilitating effects of the financial crisis. Neil reports on the proceedings of a recent workshop sponsored by the South African Insitute for International Affairs (SAIIA) which explored possible responses from world and African leaders. Click below to download the full article.
"Correcting market imperfections" - Mills Soko
New Agenda, Fourth Quarter 2008 - Mills Soko discusses two recently published papers that underscore the formidable challenges developing countries face as they attempt to overcome their structural limitations and marginal status in the global economy.
"Lessons of the global credit crisis: editorial opinion" - Mills Soko
New Agenda, Fourth Quarter 2008 - Mills Soko, deputy editor of New Agenda, reflects on the consequences of the catastrophic global financial meltdown, described by economists at the worst financial crisis to have rocked the world economy since the Great Depression.
"The rise of sovereign wealth funds: How South Africa should respond" - Mills Soko
New Agenda - South African Journal of Social and Economic Policy, Second Quarter 2008 - Are Arab, Asian and Russian governments using the vast financial resources at their disposal to pursue nefarious foreign policy objectives? This is a view shared by most policy makers in the United States and Europe. It is a view that reflects Western anxieties about the growing role of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) ... in the global economy. To download this article, click below.
"Pricing strategy remains crucial to export performance" - Mills Soko
Business Day, 06 October 2008 - New research from the University of Cape Town's (UCT's) Graduate School of Business has shown that export performance is enhanced by a clear export pricing strategy. The research, conducted by Corni Myburgh while participating in the school's MBA programme last year, investigated the export pricing strategies of 22 successful small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). To download this article, click below.
"SA can play vital role in economic recovery plan" - Mills Soko
Cape Times, 30 April 2008 - Zimbabwe's social and political troubles cannot be decoupled from the country's economic crisis: the economic crisis has bred social and political strife, and together they have propelled the downward spiral. To download this article, click below.
"Stalled Doha trade talks are symptomatic of a deeper crisis of multilateralism" - Mills Soko
Cape Times, 19 February 2008 - Amid the general pessimism about the prospects of the Doha round of global trade talks, it is tempting to dismiss the multilateral trading system as a failure. It is not, as the recently released report of the Warwick Commission attests. To download this article, click below.
"How to end the job crisis for the young" - Mills Soko
Cape Argus, 31 January 2008 - One of the most pressing challenges facing societies across the world today is the high unemployment among the youth. Even though the current generation of youth enjoy better educational opportunities, youth unemployment has reached alarming levels. To download this article, click below.
"The Global Context of Uncertainty: Risks and Opportunities for South Africa" - Mills Soko
Economic Transformation Audit 2008 [Publication], [date] - This article examines developments in the global political economy since the mid-1990s to the present period, and assesses the influence these developments are likely to have on South Africa's economic prospects in the coming years. To download this article, click below.
"It's time US understood that Africa means business" - Mills Soko
Business Report, 15 November 2007 - The sixth US-Africa business summit, which began in Cape Town yesterday, offers and opportunity to grow bilateral trade and investment between the world's largest economy and a region of fast-growing developing countries. To download the full article, click below.
"Africa urged to think like India" - Sivuyile Mangxamba
Cape Argus, 21 September 2007 - If Africa is to shake off its "failed-continent" image, it will have to follow the example of Asia's giant economies - China, India and South Korea - and produce something special for the global market. This is the view of Tanzanian Businessman Ali Mufuruki. To download the full article, click below
"Political stability key to trade" - Mills Soko
The Herald, 12 September 2007 - African countries need to aim for political stability before they can achieve economic growth. It is the first crucial step to encouraging foreign investment and to becoming major stakeholders in the world economy. To download this article, click below.
"Africa and India seek global power together" - Mills Soko
Business Day - SA Exporter, 03 September 2007 - Africa and India together make up half of the world's humanity. More notable than the numbers, however, is their emerging synergy, both bilateral and global. To download this article, click below.
"Barriers must go to keep up India trade boom" - Mills Soko
Business Report, 15 August 2007 - A notable development in international economic relations in recent years has been the growing engagement between Africa and India. India's policy towards Africa was originally enunciated by Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister. Summing up New Delhi's Africa policy he proclaimed that Africa's significance stemmed from the fact that though separated by the Indian Ocean, it is, in a sense, our next-door neighbour. To download this article, click below.
"India's stature as an economic force in Africa grows daily" - Mills Soko
Cape Argus, 10 August 2007 - One of the notable developments in international economic relations in recent years has been the growing economic engagement between Africa and India. India's policy towards Africa was originally enunciated by Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister. To download this article, click below.
"Hurdles in race for competitive edge" - Mills Soko
Cape Argus, 8 August 2007 - Beneath the veneer of success lurk vulnerabilities that threaten the city's quest to meet the challenges of globalisation. To download this article, click below.
"The lessons of China's rag trade revolution" - Mills Soko
Cape Argus, 1 February 2007 - South Africa can draw useful lessons from Chinas experience of managing the reform of its textile and clothing industries. Amid the furore over increasing Chinese imports into South Africa's market, it has been forgotten that China's textile and garment sectors also underwent a painful period of structural adjustment in the 1990s. To download this article, click below.
"SA can cut lessons from Chinese cloth" - Mills Soko
Business Day, 19 October 2006 - SA can draw useful lessons from China's experience of managing the reform of its textile and clothing industries. Amid the furore over increasing Chinese imports into SA's market, it has been forgotten that China's textile and garment sectors also underwent a painful period of structural adjustment in the 1990s. To download this article, click below.
"Doha needs a grand bargain" - Mills Soko
Financial Mail, 25 March 2006 - On invitation by Financial Mail, Mills Soko discusses the failure by trade ministers of the six economic powers - the European Union (EU), the US, Japan, Brazil, Australia and India - to produce a plan that will move global trade talks forward again highlights the crisis that besets the multilateral trade system.
"Exchange rates: avoiding a race to the bottom" - Mills Soko
Mail & Guardian, [date] - President Thabo Mbeki's statement in his State of the Nation address on the exchange rate and volatility of the rand brings to mind the dilemmas faced by policymakers in most developing countries under conditions of economic globalisation. To read this article, click below.
"A new envoy for a new era?" - Mills Soko
[Publication], [date] - The international furore sparked by the nominations by US President George Bush of John Bolton as US ambassador to the United Nations and of Paul Wolfowitz to head the World Bank, overshadowed the elevation of Republican congressman Rob Portman to the high-ranking position of US trade representative. To read this article, click below.
"Bush has chance to prove US commitment to Africa" - Mills Soko
[Publication], 3 July 2003 - Visit by US president will illustrate whether continent is on radar screen of superpower's policy priorities. Excitement builds up ahead of the visit to Africa by US President George Bush, it is worth asking if there is cause to be sanguine about his much-vaunted foreign policy foray into the continent. To download this article, click below.
"Help migrants wire home hope" - Mills Soko
[Publication], [date] - The Commission for Africa's report is oddly silent on the potential positive rule that money sent by migrants to their families, friends and other social networks could play in financing African development. This is surprising given the increasing attention given to this issue by academics, policy makers and development experts over the past few years. To download this article, click below.