DEBT LEVELS
ISMAIL LAGARDIEN: Local banking crisis not out of the question
The idea that SA may experience "a classical banking crisis" is not beyond the realm of possibilities. This prospect was raised by Nedbank CEO Mike Brown last week. For some people, this may not be all bad. Discussions about SA politics are too narrowly defined between eternally right and eternally wrong. I have no desire to get involved. It suffices to say that SA is not immune to making the wrong political decisions that can set off such "a classical banking crisis". There is certainly sufficient evidence — across time and place — to demonstrate that behind every economic, banking, financial or currency crisis one may find a terrible political decision or misguided set of beliefs. This is as true a statement to understand the meltdown in Venezuela as it is to understand the global crisis of 2007-08, which was precipitated, in part, by former US Federal Reserve chair Alan Greenspan’s rigid and ideological beliefs in deregulation. Greenspan admitted as much. Venezuela President Nico...
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