The Singing Economist Debunks the Myth of South Africa’s Economic Strength

The annual conference of the Association of Insolvency Practitioners of South Africa in Cape Town last October was treated to a compelling presentation highlighting the legacy of the 2010 World Cup and the weaknesses in South Africa’s economy, now no longer the power house of sub-Saharan Africa, given by one the country’s leading economists, Dr. Azar Jammine. The scale of the challenges facing South Africa as it seeks to move on decisively from the post-Apartheid era is daunting and a lesson to all developing economies that successful commercial and financial environments depend as much on a good educational system and the development of relevant skills in a constantly changing business world as they do on their fiscal, financial and banking systems.

Uniquely among leading experts around the world, Dr Jammine must be the only economist who introduces his lectures to insolvency audiences with a haunting rendition of the opening verses of that 1930s depression song, “Buddy Can you Spare a Dime”.