South Africans will vote about a week before it will be officially be announced: We Are In A Recession

What I find surprising is why Finance Minister Trevor Manuel is dissembling on this topic. I guess he is hoping that spin will rescue the markets, spin will shake the consumer out of their financial stupor and send the zombies back to the shopping malls.

It's terrible that this approach basically reinforces the notion of previous investment, the way we did things previously 'ought to work' [such as stimulating consumption in order to stimulate 'growth' - even in now defunct industries such as automaking] in the future, when this is simply an incorrect and foolish assumption.

clipped from www.businessday.co.za RESERVE Bank Governor Tito Mboweni said today he “might not be surprised” to see another quarter of negative growth, which would send Africa’s biggest economy into recession. SA’s economy shrank by 1,8% in the fourth quarter of 2008 and weak manufacturing and mining output have indicated it heading for its first recession in 17 years, although the Treasury is still optimistic this will be avoided. “There might be a bit of a difference of opinion between me and the finance minister (Trevor Manuel),” Mboweni told members of the Johannesburg Country Club. “He’s confident we won’t see another quarter of negative growth. We are of the view that we might not be surprised to see another quarter of negative growth ... technically that’s a recession.” Mboweni said government’s infrastructure spending plan, the Reserve Bank’s inflation targeting policy and fiscal discipline had provided a buffer against the global economic crisis.