It is, therefore, appropriate, I think, to attempt to place recent economic developments in some perspective as this may go some way towards piercing the veil of gloom which appears to have descended over this and other economies. And, for this reason, I thank the organisers of this Conference for according to me the opportunity to participate in these discussions. 2.
Overview of key economic indicators: South Africa  In order to assess the South African economy’s performance over the medium-term, I have chosen to divide the period from 1990 to 2007 broadly into five-year segments, as indicated in Tables 1A and 1B: namely, the periods 1990-1994; 1995-1999; 2000-2004 and finally, the most recent period 2005-2007.