Consequently, a narrow notion of the macroprudential stance should, in my opinion, be replaced with the more comprehensive one of an overall prudential stance, one that would account for how both categories of prudential measures affect the economy. Let me emphasise that this is not just a question of semantics. Microprudential capital requirements, for instance, have been substantially increased after the crisis.
These statistical aggregates, however, disguise one important weakness in the capital inflows into South Africa, and that is the fact that about 80 per cent of the total foreign funds invested in South Africa came in the form of portfolio investments, that is investment in paper assets, and not in bricks and mortar.