From a South African perspective, what happens in Europe is important, given the trade links that we have with the region. Although the percentage of South African manufacturing exports to Europe have declined over the past few years, at around 30 per cent it is still an extremely important trading partner.
In recent months there have been progressive downward revisions by analysts of the global growth outlook. The IMF, in its latest World Economic Outlook, also downgraded its forecast for world growth to average 3,3 per cent in 2012, and 3,9 per cent in 2013.