by Wandile Sihlobo | Apr 30, 2020 | Africa Focus
This essay first appeared on Business Day, April 28, 2020 Global food and agricultural supply chains are taking strain from disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. This is the case whether one looks at meat or grain supply chains. First, the US, Brazil and...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Apr 24, 2020 | Africa Focus
The COVID-19 pandemic will exacerbate an already dire situation of food shortage in some African countries. Professor Mzukisi Qobo (Head of Wits School of Governance, University of Witwatersrand), Isaah Mhlanga (Chief Economist at Alexander Forbes) and I have an essay...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Apr 23, 2020 | Agricultural Trade
We have previously warned of the restrictions placed by countries on agricultural commodity exports, specifically rice and wheat. The concern was that restrictions in the world’s larger supplier markets would inevitably result in drastic price increases of the...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Apr 23, 2020 | General Comments
Since the beginning of the lockdown, the good folks at Statistics South Africa have been measuring price changes for essential goods that appear in the Consumer Price Index and temporarily publishing inflation data weekly for a smaller range of goods. Taking a closer...
by Wandile Sihlobo | Apr 21, 2020 | General Comments
The actual impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on South African businesses remains unknown until critical variables to measure it can be identified, including the duration of the pandemic and its intensity in terms of infection rates. So far, the pandemic has highlighted...
