Arrrrgh South Africa and their own goals

 

Woke up to Trump withholding all funding to South Africa due to what is perceived to be the Expropriation of Land Act that CR has signed into law.

Needless to say the ZAR tanked against the USD and all currencies. And that decision results in my motorbike purchase going up R900 , not to say the rest of my ongoing purchases while abroad. As I need to get a Certificate of Residency to buy the motorbike I might as well use the certificate to open a bank account and hedge my currency risk by doing one lump sum transfer and then draw as and when I need to. 

A weaker currency is not bad if well managed in that we then have cheaper global labour. BUT with our labour laws and lack of work ethic , who would want to invest in SA for manufacturing? So we continue to drift downstream , rapidly, into the abyss.

But on another note , I have always been an early adopter to new technology so absolutely love that emails in Thai sent to me via GMail are auto translated into English without me doing a thing. I received a business report in Malaysian and I didn't even ask Gemini Google to translate it , I just asked to consolidate the information into one report and it auto-translated for me. 

Quick comparative analysis of the economies of Thailand vs South Africa reflect the following

Feature	Thailand	South Africa
GDP (nominal)	$509 billion (2021 est.)	$419.9 billion (2021 est.)
GDP per capita (nominal)	$7,273 (2021 est.)	$7,083 (2021 est.)
GDP growth rate	1.9% (2023 est.)	0.6% (2023 est.)
Unemployment rate	1.5% (2021 est.)	35.3% (2021 est.)
Main industries	Tourism, agriculture (rice, rubber, seafood), automotive, electronics	Mining (gold, platinum, diamonds), manufacturing, agriculture, services
Major exports	Electronics, vehicles, machinery, rice, rubber, textiles	Gold, platinum, diamonds, other minerals, machinery, vehicles
Currency	Thai Baht (THB)	South African Rand (ZAR)

So although visually you will see a poor country if visiting , the numbers reflect differently. A very large informal business segment, as in South Africa, which is not in the data/ tax net. 

Vehicles :- Went to Big C Hyperstore which is similar to a Tygervalley with smaller stores while Big C is the anchor tenant.  They had a number of cars on display and MG is a brand you will see very often in Thailand and do not be surprised if you see the market open in SA for the brand as well. MG is owned by SAIC Motor in Shanghai , China . Surprise !!! not :-)   . But their price point for hybrids is perfect for the SA market ! You will have to do your own conversions when reading this as , thanks to CR , we are going to have a bumpy ride. Oh, should add that SA , as they lose tax revenue will in all probability hike duties for the imports and to ssupport local car manufacturers who are squealing at the moment due to the Chinese foothold into the local market. 

MG Hybrid at Thb579.900 = R322.830 as at writing. ( 3/2/2025)