And of course this applies more strongly to countries such as South Africa, where sustainability of current account deficits are perceived to be an issue. These developments come at a time when emerging markets in general are slowing, and the previous optimism that emerging markets are the new epicentre of global growth may have been a bit misplaced.
Despite this, emerging markets remain an important driver of global growth, but the outlook is fragile. The Chinese economy is expecting to slow to levels of between 7–7,5 per cent, growth rates that would be the envy of many countries.