Daily podcast – October 2, 2013.

2nd October 2013

October 2, 2013.
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Schalk Burger.
Making headlines:
 

Reserve Bank governor Gill Marcus says globalisation has increased opportunities for countries to become richer.

Kenya tells Somalia to 'put its house in order' after the September mall terrorist attack.

And, the International Monetary Fund says South Africa is vulnerable to any reversal in emerging market capital flows.
 

South African Reserve Bank governor Gill Marcus said on Tuesday that globalisation has increased opportunities for all countries to become richer.

She said countries aren’t just able to exploit their present comparative advantages, but are also able to use technology and innovation to change their comparative advantages, to move up the value chain, thereby raising incomes and living standards of the poor.

Marcus said the net effect of greater global integration was that about a billion people had been lifted out of poverty in the past 20 years.  She added that the global financial system has also adapted to a world unimaginable a few decades ago. Capital is able to flow from savers to borrowers, seeking opportunities in every corner of the planet.

However, Marcus said globalisation had also increased risks and vulnerabilities for all countries, in particular for poorer countries.  It had also resulted in an increase in inequality in most major economies. Marcus noted that the rich had achieved more out of globalisation than the poor.
 

Kenya's president told Somalia's leaders on Tuesday to "put their house in order", in a sign of frustration at the festering instability in the neighbouring country after members of a Somali militant group attacked a Nairobi shopping mall.

The al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group said it raided the Westgate centre, killing at least 67 people, in revenge for Kenya's military campaign against its fighters inside Somalia. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said he wouldn’t be bullied into withdrawing his soldiers, who are part of an African peacekeeping force.

He also took aim at the Somali government, which a source close to the Kenyan presidency said had also recently called for Kenyan troops to leave before withdrawing the demand under pressure from regional leaders.
 

Any prolonged halt to capital inflows into South Africa has been highlighted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as the main threat facing the country. The IMF also warns that outflows could be triggered by either a global repricing of risk as unconventional monetary policies are unwound, or by any further escalation in labour market instability.

In a report arising from its Article IV Consultation with South Africa, which took place between May 22 and June 4, the IMF says a reversal in capital flows could force a disorderly adjustment of the country’s fiscal and current account deficits and even precipitate a recession. These twin deficits have hitherto been financed by global liquidity.

“South Africa’s current account deficit reflects competitiveness problems, which remain significant despite the recent depreciation [of the rand] and have contributed to a declining share of global exports,” the IMF states.


Also making headlines


Egypt's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi calls for a quick transition to elections in order to restore stability to the country.

Olympic and Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius hires a US forensics expert for help in his murder trial.

And, Guinea delays its election result, causing opposition leaders to warn that they won’t accept any attempt to rig the outcome.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.