Claire Bisseker

SA journalist. Economics editor of the Financial Mail, author of "On the Brink", mother of three amazing daughters, and lover of wild mountain places

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Articles

The times are getting tougher

1 week ago | businesslive.co.za | Claire Bisseker

Finance minister Enoch Godongwana has finally been forced to do what he should have done from the start — concede to scrapping the VAT hike and tabling a less expansive budget. He now has a third opportunity to get the 2025 budget right. But will he take it? The problem with both the budget withdrawn in February (Budget 1.0) and the one subsequently presented in March (Budget 2.0) was that they slapped three-year shopping list on the table of more than R230bn...
ANJA SMITH AND CLAIRE BISSEKER: With NHI uncertain, we must work with what we have

2 weeks ago | businesslive.co.za | Anja Smith |Claire Bisseker

Before the ANC adopted NHI at its Polokwane conference in 2007 SA had been preparing full throttle for social health insurance. This model would have involved thegradual extension of health insurance from the medical scheme population of about 8.9-million people to all 11.7-million formally employed. Now about 26% of the employed, or roughly 4.3-million South Africans (excluding dependants), have medical aid through their employer, but this cover is not mandatory.
NICOLAAS VAN DER WATH AND CLAIRE BISSEKER: Why fixed investment is the greatest thing since sliced bread

1 month ago | businesslive.co.za | Claire Bisseker

Though inflation-tracking indices are normally used to calculate a real (inflation-adjusted) GDP value, these deflators are subject to their own challenges. For one, the extraordinary drop in computer and data costs over the past decade drags our trackers down, thereby overstating the growth in GDP.  This is why a simple, standardised item that retains its characteristics over time — such as a loaf of bread — can serve as a novel but useful control measure.
Risks abound as South Africa wades into murky waters

1 month ago | businesslive.co.za | Claire Bisseker

From best-selling books to a hit TV series, Sally Andrew’s beloved mystery stories celebrate Karoo cuisine, kindness and small-town life
ROY HAVEMANN AND CLAIRE BISSEKER: Make the SA budget predictable and dull again

2 months ago | businesslive.co.za | Roy Havemann |Claire Bisseker

Who would have thought that Barbra Streisand Barbara Streisand and the National Treasury would have anything in common? After the aborted budget last week, the Treasury briefly tried to ban the 2025 Budget Review. Within minutes, the document was on WhatsApp groups. It has been one of the most read budgets in years.   This is known as the Streisand effect — if you try to ban something, it only draws attention to it.
Why South Africa cannot let this crisis go to waste

2 months ago | businesslive.co.za | Claire Bisseker

The National Treasury has suffered the indignity of having its 2025 budget rejected by the cabinet on the very day of the budget, but it is possible the fallout could lead to a strengthening of the country’s fiscal architecture and more decisive policymaking. It could even accelerate the pace of economic reform. Consider, for starters, that the cabinet is now being forced to confront the disparity between its expansive policy agenda and the country’s limited means.
Reality check: The real story behind the matric results

Jan 29, 2025 | businesslive.co.za | Claire Bisseker

The steep rise in the matric pass rate to a record high of 87.3% in 2024 has been hailed by the department of basic education (DBE) as evidence of a “system on the rise” and as proof that schooling in South Africa “is at its healthiest ever”. This rose-tinted view needs to be punctured. For though there is evidence of improvement — more learners are passing maths than ever before and the gap between rich and poor schools is closing — the big picture remains depressing...
From guest lecturer at business school to running it

Nov 13, 2024 | businesslive.co.za | Claire Bisseker

TRADITIONS South Africans are importing Thanksgiving as a good excuse to eat, drink and be merry ... Just don’t mention our own pilgrims, Jan van Riebeek & co
South Africa should make like Maradona

Nov 13, 2024 | businesslive.co.za | Claire Bisseker

Former DA leader Tony Leon tells Peter Bruce that with Trump in the White House, South Africa should not expect the next few years to be a walk in the park
Why South Africa needs a fiscal rule

Nov 6, 2024 | businesslive.co.za | Claire Bisseker

Fiscal consolidation has become something of a swear word in South Africa. It has dominated almost every budget over the past decade, but despite real spending cuts and increasing wage restraint, the goal of debt stabilisation has kept being pushed out. In fact, though the National Treasury has set expenditure ceilings since 2012 that have significantly slowed expenditure growth, the debt-to-GDP ratio has kept rising. Today, at close to 75%, it has reached its highest level ever in peacetime. ..