The global financial crisis impacted in some way on most economies, and we are still feeling the effects as the recovery continues in a hesitant manner. And the nature of the recovery in smaller economies such as South Africa is shaped, to an important degree, by the speed and nature of the recovery in advanced economies.
This evening I will give a brief overview of how we see the global economy evolving and then focus on the outlook for the South African economy in the challenging global and domestic context. For some regions in the world, the past year has been better than the previous one, though the recovery is far from assured or complete.