Search Results for: South Africa

THE ARAB Spring has had a mixed record of success as regards liberalization, but one recent bright spot has been the revolution in Sudan, which in 2018 and 2019 swept away 30 years of despotism under former President Omar al-Bashir. This rebellion, notable for its active nurturing by professional classes, has so far spawned a sustainable ‘Sovereignty Council’ government committed to democracy.…

The medieval scholar Abd al-Rahman Ibn Khaldun, a famous Tunisian historian of the 14^th and 15^th centuries, created a model for the history of states, which he said had a natural life of birth, maturity and death.

His Muqaddimah, published in Arabic in 1377, written as a prelude to an ambitious survey of global history, said states went through three stages, always ending – as the adage about politics says – in failure.…

The newly implemented African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is expected to have minimal positive impact in the short term for the continent’s garment and textile manufacturers. The FTA, which came into force at the start of the year and brings together 1.3 billion people in a USD3.4 trillion economic bloc of 54 African countries, a January 1 formal implementation date that was delayed by six months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.…

Eric Dorchies was appointed Mauritius’ Ciel Textile Ltd’s CEO last July (2020) at a moment when his country’s important clothing and textile sector was struggling hard against the impact of the Covid-19. It has not been an easy start to his job (he was previously the company’s COO) given the risk of the third wave of the virus hitting Europe, the company’s main market.…

Egypt’s plans to attract significant foreign investment in its garment and textile manufacturing sectors have been delayed due to the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, with exports down 20% last year. The government’s Vision 2025 strategy had targeted attracting some USD17.5 billion in foreign investment to quadruple textile and garment exports.…

THE IFRS Foundation has released an advisory document helping accountants decide whether a business is a going concern, helping them make sounder judgements when Covid-19 is impacting revenues. The advice will help accountants decide whether a business will bounce back after the pandemic ends or go under anyway.…

WHILE Covid-19 dealt body blows to Bangladesh’s apparel industry last year, one fast-expanding segment fared surprisingly well: denim. While the south Asian country has been the largest exporter of jeans clothing to the European Union (including the UK) for the past few years, as per Eurostat data, last year (2020) it was the largest overseas source of denim to the USA, elbowing out Mexico, according to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).…

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) is consulting on proposed new accounting requirements for mergers and acquisitions involving companies within the same group. At present IFRS 3 on business combinations covers mergers and acquisitions involving third party-owned businesses, not intra-group deals.…

NEW integrated paint manufacturing units in India with an annual production capacity of less than Indian Rupees INR500 million (USD6.6 million) will soon be exempt from securing prior environment clearance by the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF). This rule, covering plants with production facilities for resins and pigments, is expected to come into force early next year (2021) once the central government formalises and gazettes a new Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification.…

WHILE New Zealand’s digital textile printing sector may be of moderate size, serving apparel, accessories and interior design markets, the country still manages to be an innovator with a taste for experimental work such as printing on merino wool. This of course reflects how NZ remains a global wool powerhouse and the country’s textile sector is always striving for competitive advantages.…