South Africa's Investment Landscape
South Africa's Investment Landscape

Author: Lesley Wentworth

Publisher:

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 38

ISBN-13:

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For an economy to attract productive, sustainable local and foreign investment, a stable investment climate along with a supportive investment policy framework is necessary. Government-owned or -mandated investment promotion agencies (IPAs) have an important role to play in marketing the country and its particular investment opportunities to potential investors. Furthermore, government can help remedy structural weaknesses in sectors or regions allocated for priority development through economic incentives programmes. Financial incentives such as grants and subsidies reduce the investor's initial capital outlay; while tax-relief incentives increase net income by lowering the tax bill. This paper considers the effects of the global economic crisis on the South African government's recent economic policy developments, especially those aimed at job creation. In addition, it considers the work in progress on creating an investment policy framework to support sustainable investment. The investment setting is examined by presenting the views of provincial IPAs, as well as government office-bearers at provincial and national level. Finally, a catalogue of economic incentives is presented which constitutes the government's economic support measures to encourage domestic and foreign firms' to invest in specific regions or sectors.

An Assessment of the Investment Climate in South Africa
An Assessment of the Investment Climate in South Africa

Author: Vijaya Ramachandran

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2007-05-10

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 0821368990

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Most aspects of South Africa's investment climate the location-specific factors that shape opportunities and incentives for firms to invest productively, create jobs, and grow are favorable. The majority of large, registered firms believe that the legal system is able to protect their property rights. Infrastructure is reliable. Tax rates are relatively low. The burden of regulation is comparable to other middle-income countrries. Few firms pay bribes. And most firms have adequate access to credit. In many dimensions, South Africa has a good investment climate. Consistent with this, large South African firms are very productive. Labor productivity is far higher than in the most productive low-income countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and compares favorably with other middle-income countries such as Brazil, Lithuania, Malaysia, and Poland. And although labor productivity in South Africa is slightly lower than in the most productive cities in China, it is over three times higher than in China as a whole. So, why hasn't South Africa been growing faster? As this title explores, while the investment climate is generally favorable, some problems remain. Firms appear to be particularly concerned about four areas: difficulty hiring skilled and educated workers, rigid labor regulations, exchange rate instability, and crime. Using rigorous statistical information on these and related topics, the book aims to assist policy makers and private sector stakeholders in developing reforms that will improve firm performance and growth.

The Landscape for Impact Investing in Southern Africa
The Landscape for Impact Investing in Southern Africa

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13:

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"The report includes findings from 12 countries, as well as a dedicated chapter exploring the role of development finance institutions (DFIs) across Southern Africa. The report analyzes a market comprising countries that vary substantially in their level of development but that present common challenges and opportunities for investments to drive social and environmental impact."--GIIN website.

The South African’s Guide to Global Investing
The South African’s Guide to Global Investing

Author: David A. Joshua

Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa

Published: 2019-08-13

Total Pages: 333

ISBN-13: 1776094654

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Most South Africans fail to reap the benefits of investing internationally. This book gives you the power to harness global growth, and provides the blueprint used by the world’s best investors to preserve and grow their wealth. Drawing from a career providing international investment solutions to global clients, David A. Joshua identifies common mistakes made by individual investors, and explains the key fundamentals that everyone can apply to take control of their financial destiny. This book provides the tools to understand: • Why South Africans make sub-optimal investment decisions, and how they can overcome their subjective biases. • The power – and necessity – of investing with a global mindset. • How to harness global growth to generate compounding, Einstein’s ‘eighth wonder of the world’. • How and when you should exchange your rands for hard currency. • How to align your life goals with a specific investment strategy. • Why emotions are the enemy of investors, and what strategies you can use to keep your decision-making rational. For anyone wanting a clear understanding of how to invest successfully in global markets, this book is essential reading.

Encouraging Sustainable Investment in South Africa
Encouraging Sustainable Investment in South Africa

Author: Natania Locke

Publisher:

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 21

ISBN-13:

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This chapter starts with an exposition of the context of shareholder stewardship in South Africa and the institutional investor landscape. This is followed by a discussion of the two main soft law initiatives that support shareholder stewardship in South Africa, namely the Code for Responsible Investing in South Africa ('CRISA') and the King IV Report on Governance for South Africa ('King IV'). These soft law initiatives are extensively supported by hard law provisions, especially for retirement funds and their service providers, but also for other institutional actors. Brief mention is made of the social and ethics committee of certain investee companies and the FTSE/JSE Responsible Investment Index. The chapter concludes with some recommendations for the improvement of the current system.

The Routledge Handbook of Responsible Investment
The Routledge Handbook of Responsible Investment

Author: Tessa Hebb

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-08-11

Total Pages: 764

ISBN-13: 1136249745

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The UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment initiative has led to around a third of the world’s financial assets being managed with a commitment to invest in a way that considers environmental, social or governance (ESG) criteria. The responsible investment trend has increased dramatically since the global financial crisis, yet understanding of this field remains at an early stage. This handbook provides an atlas of current practice in the field of responsible investment. With a large global team of expert contributors, the book explores the impact of responsible investment on key financial actors ranging from mainstream asset managers to religious organizations. Offering students and researchers a comprehensive introduction to current scholarship and international structures in the expanding discipline of responsible investment, this handbook is vital reading across the fields of finance, economics and accounting.

Factor Investing in South Africa
Factor Investing in South Africa

Author: Emlyn James Flint

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 28

ISBN-13:

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Risk factors and systematic factor strategies are fast becoming an integral part of the global asset management landscape. In this report, we provide an introduction to, and critique of, the factor investing paradigm in a South African setting. We initially discuss the general factor construction process at length and construct a comprehensive range of risk factors for the South African equity market according to international factor modelling standards. In this report, we focus on the size, value, momentum, profitability, investment, low volatility and low beta risk factors respectively. We critically examine the historical behaviour and robustness of these factors, paying particular attention to the issues of long-only versus long/short factors, the impact of size, the effect of rebalancing frequency and data, and the robustness of performance to alternative factor definitions.We also review how these factors can be used generally in risk management and portfolio management. In the risk management space, we firstly consider risk attribution to factors and introduce the Factor Efficiency Ratio as a means of quantifying a fund's desired versus undesired factor exposure. Secondly, we consider returns-based style analysis as a means of identifying a fund's factor style mix and also as a method for replicating existing indices with long-only risk factors. In the portfolio management space, we discuss several approaches for creating multi-factor portfolios. We start by considering the simplest case of portfolio mixing, which allocates to a set of predefined factor building blocks. We then review the integrated scoring approach, which accounts for multiple factors within the scoring process directly. Finally, we consider a mixed integer programming optimisation approach, which allows an investor to construct an optimal multi-factor portfolio that is as consistent with their return objectives and risk preferences as their constraint set will permit.

The Oxford Companion to the Economics of South Africa
The Oxford Companion to the Economics of South Africa

Author: Haroon Bhorat

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2014-11-27

Total Pages: 457

ISBN-13: 0191003417

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In 1994 South Africa saw the end of apartheid. The new era of political freedom was seen as the foundation for economic prosperity and inclusion. The last two decades have seen mixed results. Economic growth has been volatile. While inequalities in public services have been reduced, income inequality has increased, and poverty has remained stagnant. As the twentieth anniversary of the transition to democracy approaches in 2014, the economic policy debates in South Africa are in full flow. They combine a stocktake of the various programs of the last two decades with a forward looking discussion of strategy in the face of an ever open but volatile global economy. Underlying the discourse are basic and often unresolved differences on an appropriate strategy for an economy like South Africa, with a strong natural resource base but with deeply entrenched inherited inequalities, especially across race. This volume contributes to the policy and analytical debate by pulling together perspectives on a range of issues: micro, macro, sectoral, country wide and global, from leading economists working on South Africa. Other than the requirement that it be analytical and not polemical, the contributors were given freedom to put forward their particular perspective on their topic. The economists invited are from within South Africa and from outside; from academia and the policy world; from international and national level economic policy agencies. The contributors include recognized world leaders in South African economic analysis, as well as the very best of the younger crop of economists who are working on the study of South Africa, the next generation of leaders in thought and policy.