published the story of R1m made available to two investment managers to invest for five years in either local or international markets.
Most economists, including Viljoen and Heystek, agree it is better to diversify investments. The social media discourse that tries to force the discussion into a binary choice is, however, also prevalent among fund managers at most big investment companies. Heystek is an outspoken proponent of portfolios leaning towards the international markets. His sharp criticism of what he calls “sunshine economists” suggests a political aversion to local markets. He identifies the objects of his scorn by name: JP Landman and Roelof Botha.
In the main, economists are at the helm of established investment companies. Just about every economist has an ideological profile. The conservative economists who understand SA to be in the former US president Donald Trump “shithole country” idiom see the inevitability of a failed state as motivation to move as much capital as possible to Mauritius or elsewhere. Heystek’s criticism that Botha is a “sunshine” economist is mere white beaches and coral judgement.
Source: Financial Digest (financialdigest.net)