Tuesday January 18, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Shannon de Ryhove

Making headlines:

Despite foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to developing economies having risen by an estimated 10% in 2010, a new report estimates that FDI inflows into South Africa fell by a material 77,9% between 2009 and 2010.
The latest United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's ‘Global Investment Trends Monitor' calculates that FDI inflows into South Africa slumped from $5,7-billion in 2009, to $1,3-billion in 2010. The fall, which represented less than one-quarter of the country’s 2009 flows, also contributed to a large fall in the figures for the sub-Saharan region as a whole. Inflows into Africa are estimated to have dropped by 14% to $50-billion in 2010.

Moncef Marzouki, an exiled leader of a secular Tunisian opposition party, said that he was reconsidering running for election after the departure of, calling the newly formed government a "farce". Ousted President Ben Ali fled Tunisia on Friday after a month of violent street protests, leaving the country in the hands of a caretaker government. Tunisia's Prime Minister appointed opposition figures to a new coalition government on Monday, seeking to establish political stability, but street demonstrators are demanding that Ben Ali's ruling party relinquish power altogether. "The three opposition parties included have already functioned in the Ben Ali system and all the real forces that represent the country have been excluded," Marzouki told French news channel i-Tele.
He called the new government a "false" opening.

Nobel Memorial Prize-winning economist professor Joseph Stiglitz has once again encouraged South Africa to take a more interventionist stance to weaken its exchange rate, saying that commodity-rich countries are correct to actively respond to the threat posed by over valued currencies.
Stiglitz said at a lecture in Pretoria, that countries all over the world were becoming increasingly active in implementing programmes designed to weaken or stabilise their currencies. The mechanisms ranged from capital controls and taxes, to prudential regulations on the banks.
The South African unit was among the best-performing currencies in 2011, having rallied to its strongest level since December 2007 late last month. But it has weakened in the first few weeks of 2011.

Also making headlines:
According to Zimbabwean authorities, the country has received 58 100 applications for passports, of which 16 427 have been issued.
International observers gave south Sudan's referendum on secession the seal of approval in their first official judgment on the poll, moving the region a step closer to independence.
And, South Africa has saved 1 800 MW of electricity – enough to power a city the size of Durban – through retrofitting power-guzzling incandescent bulbs with energy savers, power utility Eskom said.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.