Re: S. Africa’s flimsy economy
Patrick Bond wrote:
—– Original Message —– From: “Doug Henwood” dhenwood@panix.com
I’m pretty sure the constant rand figures are just what the SA government gives them.
Well, we know Pretoria tortures the data until they confess. There have been umpteen data revisions (largely to pick ‘informal sector’ activity), including the erasure of a recession in late 1998 - without correcting the historical data series. Caveat emptor.
They’re awful numbers in any case. Per capita GDP is barely higher than in 1990. If they’re torturing the numbers to get there, then it’s further proof that torture rarely yields useful information.
Doug