What lessons can South Africa learn from the Greek Economic crisis?

Guest: Richard Downing - Economist Guest: Marius Oosthuizen – Faculty member of Strategic Foresight and Program Manager at Future of Business In South Africa at GIBS How the Greek crisis impacts AfricaGreece’s expected default, as deadline looms, has affected emerging markets. PHOTO: World FinanceMany expected the goalposts to be moved as Greece’s deadline to pay its creditors loomed on Tuesday, instead over the weekend, the country revealed that it would hold a referendum on whether to accept more austerity for aid. This led to talks failing with its creditors. But how has all this affected Africa?David Shapiro, deputy chairman at Sasfin, said unsurprisingly, the African markets have responded with relative stability to the Greece crisis because it has been a long time coming which prompted a “knee-jerk reaction”. He cautioned that investors are going to be more circumspect and companies that are considered risky will be shied away from. According to Shapiro, America is going to be the biggest beneficiary of the Greece crisis as the dollar strengthened and commodity prices have been declining. This is on the backdrop of America profiting from low oil prices and gaining momentum in consumption.Africa stands to benefit as an indirect consequence to the strong dollar and that is the playground where majority of investors should be playing in by trying to optimise on the dollar, he said.Many are starting to worry about Greece's economic crisis—a sign that the country's tourism industry, which accounts for nearly 20 percent of GDP, could experience a slowdown if the financial situation worsens.