News Update as @ 1530 hours, Friday 20 June 2014Feedback: bh24admin@zimpapers.co.zwEmail: bh24feedback@zimpapers.co.zw

By Tawanda Musarurwa

Observers say the current banking cri-sis necessitates high capital levels and stronger regulation to protect deposi-tors.

An analysis of banks' results for 2013 shows reduced profitability, indicating a weakening sector. The analysts con-tend that because the sector is per-forming so poorly, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe should maintain high capital thresholds and strengthen regulation to protect depositors.

Commercial banks are supposed to meet the set $100 million capital threshold by 2020 and are expected to have submitted their comprehensive re-capitalisation plans to the central bank by month-end.

Local economist and head of Econom-

eter Global Capital Takunda Mugaga said although most commercial banks operating in the country will struggle to meet the $100 million capital thresh-old, the standard should be maintained as risk was "nearing peak". "Actu-ally capital requirements cannot be reviewed downwards when both liquid-ity and credit risks are nearing peak. "It

is equally noteworthy that banks will not perform miraculously better even assuming capital requirements were to be scrapped. What Basel calls for is to have capital levels commensurate with risks being carried, which we call Capital Adequacy," he said. "As a mat-ter of fact, this is the best moment to cushion depositors and this can only be achieved through maintaining high capital levels."

Last year, the banking sector industry average after tax profits declined to $4,5 million from $8,4 million in 2012. In percentage terms, that was a 46 percent decline in profitability during the period. And the situation in the sector is expected to worsen this year as liquidity challenges and the short-term nature of deposits continue to constrain local banking operations. Economic analyst Ronald Chizenga

however believes that the RBZ should do more in ensuring that banks comply with the maximum fixed asset ratio of 25 percent.

"Although capital adequacy is an important regulatory instrument to ensure solvency in the financial sys-tem, it is also critical that the central bank closely monitors the liquidity of banks. Because a bank can have sound capital adequacy ratios and yet be bogged down by being in an illiquid position," he said.

However, there are concerns in some quarters that the effect of exces-sive regulation will be to regulate the amount of lending that local banks will do, which in turn will affect money sup-ply growth in the economy. Being in a deflationary state, Zimbabwe requires a serious injection of capital. •

'Weakening banks performance necessitates high capital adequacy'

By Rumbidzayi Zinyuke

Zimbabwe’s raw milk production increased by a marginal 0,5 percent in the five months to May 2014 compared to the same period last year mainly due to an increased herd and an availability of stock feed for dairy cows.

Statistics from the Dairy Services Unit in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mecha-nisation and Irrigation Development show that milk production for the period stood at 22 245 942 litres, up from 22 128 847 liters in 2013.

Regional dairy officer, Addmore Wan-iwa said the depressed volumes expe-rienced in the first quarter could be attributed to the liquidity crunch which is affecting feed procurement by farm-ers. He said the availability of harvested crop had also positively impacted on affordability of stock feed.

“Liquidity challenges tend to have a negative impact on output in dairy production as the industry is capital intensive. However volumes are on a gradual increase due to availability of crops which farmers are using in mak-ing their own feed rations with bought in feed, supplementing their require-ments,” he said.

During the period under review, the intake of raw milk for processing was down 0,3 percent from 19 960 488 litres in 2013 to 19 905 399 litres.

However, producers retailed 7,9 per-cent more milk in the five months to May than the comparable period. In 2013, 2 168 359 litres were retailed by producers and the number went up to 2 340 543 litres this year.

On a month-on-month basis, produc-tion for May went up 3,7 percent to 4 604 768 litres from 4 441 293 litres in May 2013.

Zimbabwe has been failing to meet tar-gets for milk production since its drastic drop to 12 million litres in 2009. Last

year production stood at 54,6 million litres, a figure far less than the targeted 70 million litres which still falls short of the national demand of 120 million litres per annum.

The low supply of raw milk is contribut-ing to the high import bill as dairy com-panies import whole powdered milk to supplement.

The move to increase the national herd by importing heifers has however con-tributed to the increased the number of milking cows and subsequently the increase in milk production.

The heifer importation scheme is expected to provide an additional four percent of raw milk per month. •

2 NEWS

Zimbabwe raw milk production marginally up

BH24

4 NEWS

By Isdore Guvamombe

Finally, Zimbabwe and Zambia have agreed to implement a uni-visa regime starting this month to boost tourist arrivals between the two countries after years of working on it.

The implementation matrix which had been stalled for many years, was tested during the United Nations World Tourism Organisation general assem-bly, held in Victoria Falls in August last year and is ready as a major step towards a single visa regime for Africa.

Zimbabwe’s Tourism and Hospital-ity Industry Minister, Engineer Walter Mzembi said the neighbouring coun-tries now expect to proceed to a com-mon visa for Southern Africa

Zimbabwe and Zambia share the world famous premier tourist resort, the Vic-toria Falls, one of the natural wonders of the world. Minister Mzembi said the concept has been approved by both governments after the two countries

ran a pilot project when they co-hosted UNWTO.

“At policy level we are done. We are just working on a few areas to ensure the process is smooth.

“As I speak we are talking to the World Bank and one of the issues is about funding the project,” Minister Mzembi said.

The agreement will also give the SADC, through the Regional Tourism Organ-isation of Southern Africa, Retosa, an opportunity to evaluate the feasibility of a common visa before the SADC Heads of States and Governments meet in Victoria Falls in August to deliberate on the issue. •

Uni-Visa for Zimbabwe and Zambia

Minister Mzembi

AdM-DI156506-

BH24

6 NEWS

Ashraf Elguindy, Telecel Zimbabwe Chief Commercial Officer, resignsTelecel Zimbabwe’s Chief Commercial Officer, has resigned. Suddenly.

A number of trusted sources inside the company told us and confirmed that an email to staff was sent out yesterday evening by the Telecel Zimbabwe Gen-eral Manager, Angeline Vere, advising everyone Elguindy had exited with immediate effect. The reason, appar-ently, is that he had chosen to pursue new opportunity elsewhere.

Normally, this wouldn’t be news. But when people make an effort to reach out to us with such stuff we know bet-ter than not to assume something big is going on somewhere.

Unfortunately no one, including official sources, will say why the sudden exit. The curious thing is this is the kind of sudden exit that characterised that of the former CEO Francis Mawindi. He too left in a huff to pursue other oppor-tunities. Only to turn out he had been fired, and that he was bitter enough about it to sue.

We have no idea if Elguindy was actu-ally fired, but it certainly can’t be ruled out. It’d also be interesting to know which shareholders fired him; is it

the Egyptians, or is it the local share-holders. Or is it he wasn’t fired but did indeed decide to leave. But who chooses to leave with immediate effect in the middle of the month?

Another reason could be that his work permit didn’t get renewed, but then again, who says someone has to be in

Zimbabwe to be the CCO. John Swaim is MD, and he’s certainly not here.

Whatever the reason, life has to go on at Telecel and we’re told Nkosinathi Ncube (the executive leading the Tel-ecash project) will take over as acting CCO. ― TechZim •

Former Telecel Zimbabwe, CCO, Ashraf Elguindy

By Lynn Murahwa

The Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) has said the non-repayment of monies disbursed under the Youth Fund hurts the finan-cial institutions since it is their money and part of revolving funds for projects.

IDBZ senior loans officer Tichaona Kaseke told youths at a Youth Business Consultative Forum this afternoon that it is critical that loans be paid as they belong to the investment schemes.

“We want the youth to know that if they get money from IDBZ they should

pay back the loans because it does not belong to the Government but to the project schemes. We use the Ministry of Youth structures in wards, districts and provinces, so they monitor the projects on our behalf to make sure the loan interest rates are low. We cut costs because the ministry monitors projects on our behalf” he said.

He said the money given to youths for projects is a revolving fund and as such the projects cannot continue until it has been paid back for the next individual to be aided. “The money we have is a revolving fund so when we loan the

money we expect it to be paid back so that we can give other people who need that money” he said.

He added that the problem that most banks are facing with youth loans is that the receivers of the loans use cap-ital instead of profit to improve their lifestyle.

“When we give them money they plant crops and use the proceeds to buy things like cars instead of re-investing the money into their projects resulting in the money disappearing. Kaseke said the IDBZ has a duty to develop the

right kind of attitudes in youths adding that debts are not paid because the loans are not being paid back.

“We are a developing bank and we are supposed to develop the correct busi-ness attitudes in youth. The debts not being paid are not a reflection of peo-ple not doing their job but it is because loans are not being paid back and the money is being used outside its stipu-lated mandate” said Kaseke.

Deputy Minister of Youth, Indigenisa-tion and Empowerment Mathias Ton-gofa said the Ministry may not have the required resources but they are committed to developing skills among the youth.

“We do not have resources but we are committed that vocational training centers improve, increase enrollments and we are committed to skills devel-opment” he said. He added that the Ministry is there to provide opportuni-ties for youth and not just resources alone. “The Ministry is there to provide opportunities and not merely resources so we urge the youth to pay back the loans assigned to them” he said. •

NEWS7

Youth loans non-repayment hurts banks, projects funding says IDBZ

The equities market maintained a bull-ish trend with the industrial index rising 2,54 points to close the week at 187.40 points.

Tobacco processor BAT added 10 cents to trade at 1235 cents while PPC went up 5 cents to close at 230 cents. bev-erages manufacturer, Delta increased by 3.01 cents to trade at 124.01 cents. Innscor was 2.01 cents solid at 80.01 cents and TSL was up 2 cents at 30 cents.

The gains were partially offset by losses in Mashonaland Holdings which shed 0.10 cents to close at 2.3 cents with Ariston easing 0.05 cents to close at 0.80 cents.

Dawn went down 0.01 cents to close at 0.95 cents. Volumes on the local

bourse however remain lethargic and the value of trades was at $1.208 mil-lion, mainly driven by trades in TSL, Econet and Delta.

Week on week the industrial index rose 6.66 points.

The mining index was up 1.22 points to close the week at 59.00 points after Hwange was bid higher at 7 cents. Bindura, Falgold and Riozim main-tained previous trading levels.

— BH24 Reporter •

8 ZSE REVIEW

Equities close week on high

Zimbabwe is targeting restoration to the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) with increased gold production this year.

But to ensure that the country remains a member there is need for the coun-try's gold producers to be sustainable.

And that requires efficiencies. How-ever the current gold production micro-environment and the mac-ro-environment are not conducive for sustained efficiencies.

To be clear, local gold producers are likely to experience reduced or no profits if weak gold prices continue to prevail on the global market. This is attributable to the additional effects of high gold royalties, energy costs and inflexible labour laws.

Falgold chairperson Ian Saunders recently forebode a bleak outlook on the basis of the constrained per-formance of the precious mineral on international markets. "Of particular note is the continued weak world price of gold. The gold price has fallen from a range of approximately $1 600 - $1 650 per ounce through 31 March 2013, to a current range of approxi-mately $1 250 - $1 300 per ounce,"

he said in a statement accompanying the firm's half-year interims.

Subdued trading on gold futures mar-kets since the beginning of the year has negatively affected gold producer across the world, but more-so for Zim-babwe as it is a high-cost producer. Saunders said the combined effect of the low gold prices and various high rates and taxes is added pressure on local gold production in the outlook.

"At these levels, with the current tax regime, rigid labour laws and the high power costs, operating profitability is non-existent. The Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe had, in late 2013 and into early 2014 requested that the Government review the high direct and indirect taxes and other charges, together with the high power charges

imposed on gold mining companies.

"These high taxes and charges were sustainable in the elevated gold price regime of 2012 and early 2013, but not at the current gold price levels. As a result, production at the larger gold mines has been falling. Unfortunately, to date, the Government has not seen fit to reduce the levels of taxes, charges and power rates, likely due to current domestic liquidity constraints."

Yesterday, the international gold price scaled $1 300 an ounce for the first time in more than a month. According to mining.com, on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for August delivery – the most active contract – jumped to a day high of $1 322 an ounce, up $49,30 or nearly 4 percent from

Wednesday's close.

This was after comments by US Fed-eral Reserve chair Janet Yellen yester-day and a huge buyer lit a fire under traders. But the current gold price is still significantly lower than the highs of $1 600 an ounce achieved in 2012 when some of the current local rates and taxes were put in place.

Given trends since the beginning of the year, this latest price bump is reac-tive and therefore expected only to be temporary.

Although it would be difficult, nay impossible, for Government to adjust royalty or other policy in reaction to commodity price trends, there is need to make the sector a low cost producer for competitiveness' sake. •

9 BH24 COMMENT

Production inefficiencies worsening effects of low gold prices

BH24

South Africa's rand was still on a firm footing against the dollar on Friday after touching 10-day highs the pre-vious session, with investors favour-ing high-yielding emerging markets after the Federal Reserve signalled U.S. rates would stay low for a while.

The local unit traded at 10.7095 against the dollar by 0703 GMT, up 0.4 percent from Thursday's close.

Government bonds were largely sta-ble, with the yield for the 2026 paper edging up 1 basis point to 8.325 per-cent and that for the bond due next year adding half a basis point to 6.65 percent.

Local assets took their cue from bullish global markets as investors bet that monetary policy would stay loose in the United States, Europe and Japan for a long time to come.

"South African assets still offer some

great emerging market value and we expect real money flows to con-tinue," Standard Bank trader Maemo Rametse said in a morning note. "No major data out today so technicals and flow should determine the tra-jectory."

However, investors are still worried that a resolution remains elusive to end a crippling domestic platinum strike which pushed the economy into contraction in the first quarter of the year. ― Reuters •

11 REGIONAL NEWS

South Africa's rand firmer as global risk appetite rises

enjoy the CAIO ride!

BH24

13 DIARY OF EVENTS

The black arrow indicate level of load shedding across the country.

POWER GENERATION STATSGen Station

20 June 2014

Energy

(Megawatts)

Hwange 578 MW

Kariba 750 MW

Harare 45 MW

Munyati 28 MW

Bulawayo -- MW

Imports 155 MW

Total 1556 MW

26 June - Pioneer 44th Annual General Meeting of Sharehold-ers, Venue: Pioneer Corporation Africa Limited Boardroom, Corner Hood/Hermes Roads, Southerton, Harare, Time: 10:00 hrs

26 June - Masimba Holdings Limited Thirty-Ninth Annual General Meeting of Mem-bers for the period ended 31 December 2013, Place: 44 Til-

bury Road, Willowvale, Harare, Zimbabwe, Time: 12:00

30 June - TA Holdings 79th Annual General Meeting of the ordinary members Venue: Miti Room, Sango Conference Centre, Cresta Lodge, Harare, Time: 1400 hours

30 June - ZIMRE 16th Annual General Meeting of members, Venue: NICOZDIAMOND Audito-rium, 7th Floor Insurance Centre, 30 Samora Machel Avenue, Time: 1230 hours

THE BH24 DIARY

14 ZSE

ZSEMOVERS CHANGE TODAY PRICE USC SHAKERS CHANGE TODAY PRICE USC

TSL 11.11% 1.00 ARISTON -50.00% 3.00

DAIRIBORD 30.00 4.21 MASHONALAND HOLD-

INGS

0.80 0.04

ZIMRE PROPERTY INVEST-MENTS

9.20 21.00 DAWN PROPERTIES 2.30 0.05

INNSCOR 0.90 225.00

DELTA 80.01 1.30

PPC 124.01 70.01

FBC 230.00 73.50

Indices

INDEx PREVIOUS TODAY MOVE CHANGE

INDUSTRIAL 181.03 182.50 +1.47 POINTS +0.81%

MINING 52.08 54.58 +2.50 POINTS +4.80%

Stocks Exchange

15 AFRICA STOCkS

Botswana 8,664.65 -11.96 -0.14% 12July

Cote dIvoire 246.37 +2.18 +0.89% 07Mar

Egypt 7,949.60 -75.68 -0.94% 06Mar

Ghana 2,354.16 -7.26 -0.31% 18June

Kenya 4,790.38 +26.27 +0.55% 18June

Malawi 12,662.47 +0.00 +0.00% 07Mar

Mauritius 2,074.51 -3.51 -0.17% 07Mar

Morocco 9,544.10 +21.01 +0.22% 07Mar

Nigeria 41,171.16 +35.46 +0.09% 18June

Rwanda 131.27 +0.00 +0.00% 24Oct

Tanzania 2,018.97 +25.40 +1.27% 07Mar

Tunisia 4,624.39 -39.32 -0.84% 07Mar

Uganda 1,503.90 +0.81 +0.05% 10Sep

Zambia 4,242.74 +14.95 +0.35% 10April

Zimbabwe 182.50 +1.47 +0.81% 18June

African stock round up Commodity Prices

Name Price

Crude Oil 1,300.91 -0.21%

Spot Gold USD/oz 1,292.63 -0.26%

Spot Silver USD/oz 19.38 -0.46%

Spot Platinum USD/oz 1,421.25 -0.33%

Spot Palladium USD/oz 798.50 -0.64%

LME Copper USD/t 6,770 -0.18%

LME Aluminium USD/t 1,780 -1.17%

LME Nickel USD/t 18,230 -1.73%

LME Lead USD/t 2,095 -1.41%

Quote of the day —"The secreT of success is consisTency of purpose." - Benjamin Dis-raeli Globalshareholder.com

BH24

The European Central Bank would need to move to full-scale quantita-tive easing if inflation in the euro zone remains in the doldrums, the Interna-tional Monetary Fund said.

“If inflation remains stubbornly low, the ECB should consider a large-scale asset purchase program,” the Wash-ington-based IMF said in an assess-ment of the euro-area economy. “This would boost confidence, improve cor-porate and household balance sheets and stimulate bank lending.”

Speaking to reporters in Luxembourg late yesterday after making the rec-ommendations to euro finance minis-ters, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said inflation’s resistance to the ECB’s latest measures would rep-resent the “stubbornness” that triggers quantitative easing.

The central bank stopped short of quantitative easing when it announced unprecedented stimulus measures on June 5, cutting interest rates to all-time lows and prodding commercial banks to increase lending. It became the first major central bank to experiment with

negative rates, putting the deposit rate at minus 0.10 percent.

“I think there is no disagreement with the IMF. We’ve been clear that in case inflation would be too low for too long, we can use additional instruments, including additional non-conventional measures,” ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure told reporters in Luxembourg today. “But we are not in that situation today.”

‘In the Toolbox’

An asset-purchase program “is pos-sible, it is in the toolbox, but it is not needed today,” Coeure said. “I don’t think the IMF would disagree with that.”

The IMF gave a bleak assessment of an 18-nation economy still shaking off the debt crisis, noting that output is still below pre-crisis levels, inflation at 0.5 percent in May “worryingly low” and unemployment at 11.7 percent in April “unacceptably high.”

“The recovery is neither robust nor suf-ficiently strong,” the IMF said.

Progress toward a euro banking union got mixed reviews. While bank supervi-sion will be anchored with the ECB and a system for resolving failing banks has been streamlined, “the current planned backstop may prove insufficient to break decisively bank-sovereign links,” the IMF said.

New rules on deficits, debt and eco-nomic imbalances include many “pos-itive elements,” the IMF said, while criticizing them as “excessively com-plicated with multiple objectives and targets.” ―Bloomberg •

17 INTERNATIONAL NEWS

IMF urges ECB to fight low inflation with asset purchases

By Perry Munzwembiri

When Ghana revised its Gross Domes-tic Product (GDP) figures in 2010, the resultant 60 per cent jump in its GDP estimates saw it being upgraded from low-income country to a lower-middle income country.

Similarly, Guinea Bissau and The Gam-bia also discovered that their econo-mies were more than double the size of what had previously been reported after embarking on exercises to recal-culate their GDP statistics.

Perhaps more pronounced was the giant 89 per cent leap by Nigeria to the title of Africa`s biggest economy (with a GDP of around $510 billion) after rebasing its GDP figures in April of this year.

While the ordinary person walking the streets of Accra, Lagos and Abuja did not immediately have more money in their pockets after their respective rebasing exercises, there are benefits to updating national income statis-tics. Kudakwashe Kadungure,Senior sub-Saharan Africa Equities Analyst at

Imara Africa Securities, a division of Imara SP Reid said:“I think it is gener-ally a positive thing to work with num-bers that better reflect the true state of affairs,” in an emailed response to questions on the benefits of revising National Income statistics.

“With regards to fiscal planning, espe-cially where taxes are concerned, I think it is definitely in everyone`s interest that governments implement tax policies that are as efficient as possible,” Kudakwashe further added, underlining the importance of govern-

ments using tools that are accurate in determining their policies.

In explaining how the updating of national income statistics could poten-tially lure investors and boost private sector activity, Kudakwashe said, “For an investor interested in a recently rebased economy, one can already see how an understatement in metrics that compares that particular market to a global or regional benchmark (such as consumption per capita vs. GDP per capita) can suggest greater growth prospects than previously thought. The

net effect becomes that overall, posi-tive perceptions of the local economy ensue and investors are attracted to such countries after the revision of GDP figures.

“With the Nigerian example, we find that some Africa facingemerging mar-ket funds immediately increased their holdings in Nigeria since their asset allocation was also dependent on GDP weighting,” Kudakwashe added. It would appear then, that the case for more African economies to update their national income statistics has merit.

Especially when one considers the exclusion of key sectors that have become more dominant now than in the past like Entertainment, Informa-tion and Communication Technologies (ICTs), Banking, and the informal sec-tor, it would be in the best interests of African countries to revise their GDP statistics to better reflect economic activity.

Yet at the recently concluded African Development Bank (AfDB) Annual Meetings in Kigali, Rwanda, AfDB Vice-President and Chief Economist,

18 ANALYSIS

African Countries Must Re-benchmark their GDP statistics

19 ANALYSIS

Professor Mthuli Ncube indicated that Africa`s GDP could be underestimated by as much as 30 per cent due to out of date GDP bases and informal sec-tor activity that is unaccounted for. At present Africa`s GDP stands at around $1,5 trillion, but Professor Ncube reck-ons this figure could be somewhere north of $2 trillion, if national income statistics of all African countries were up to date.

Data shows that after a rebasing exer-cise, on average, GDP figures of African countries increased by nearly 30 per cent. However, a major cause for con-cern is the fact that only 10 out of 54 African countries comply with the inter-nationally accepted standards of using a base year for their GDP calculations which is 5 years of fewer old.Currently, 19 countries use a base year that is at least a decade old, with 7 using base years that are 20 years old and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) being the extreme case using a base year from the 1980s.

Given the potential benefits of using current GDP statistics, African countries have displayed a reluctance to revise their national income figures. Granted, re-benchmarking GDP figures does not

always imply an increase in GDP. For instance, when Botswana rebased its GDP statistics, adopting 2006 as the new base year whilst abandoning the old base year of 1993, it witnessed a 10 per cent decline in its GDP statistics.

Such was the case with Ethiopia and Lesotho which both recorded marginal declines of 1 per cent and 4.4 per cent respectively, after their GDP rebasing. The importance however, of using cur-rent data which better portrays the state of economic activities is essential. For countries like Zimbabwe which are trying to attract Foreign Direct Invest-ment (FDI) inflows, rebasing should be prioritised.

Obviously, a GDP rebasing exercise requires a tour de force to implement. Looking at Nigeria, preparatory work for its rebasing exercise started in the last quarter of 2011 according to the country`s National Bureau of Statistics.

The process would involve surveys of economic activities that were not previ-ously captured, validation of data with sector experts and assistance from international development partners. For most African countries, the finan-cial and technical capacity to conduct

such an exercise of enormous propor-tions could be a hindrance. This could in part explain why there has been a rather slow uptake of GDP rebasing, with some continental heavyweights like Kenya still to rebase.

However, some feel that African gov-ernments deliberately ignore rebasing exercises, as doing so would reveal flaws in economies such as growing income inequalities, lower spending on key areas like education and health as well high incidences of institutionalised corruption and leakages.

Some analysts have even gone to the extent of suggesting that countries deliberately understate their GDP fig-ures so they can be eligible for debt relief from international finance institu-tions under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative.

If the continent is to remain in its growth trajectory, it is critical that African economies update their GDP figures to show a truer reflection of economic activities, such that policy makers make evidence based deci-sions.

Furthermore, as the informal sector

on the continent has rapidly grown over the years, it is necessary that this sector is formalised and included in the national income statistics.

Changes in weightings used in GDP cal-culation could also increase the diver-sity of the economies, especially when sectors higher up the value chain such as manufacturing and services are con-sidered.

Going forward, it is important for African economies, especially those in need of significant FDI flows to re-benchmark their GDP. This could likely improve investor sentiment and lure potential investors.

For Africa, higher GDP figures may enhance the continent̀ s role in the global economy, and see it become a more dominant force.

A mere GDP rebasing without compli-mentary policy and regulatory reforms however, would come out to nought as investors would shun countries without favourable policies. On the whole, it is in the continent̀ s best interests to use up to date statistics, and policy makers should seriously consider rebasing in their individual countries. •