The World - News from Feb. 12, 1988

Western economic sanctions against South Africa have failed to isolate the country or hasten reform of apartheid, the country’s leading central banker said. Gerhard de Kock, governor of the Reserve Bank, told foreign reporters that sanctions and withdrawals by foreign firms have, if anything, helped slow the cautious reforms implemented by President Pieter W. Botha. In a bullish assessment, De Kock said the South African economy has been buffeted by factors that include black unrest in the townships but that it is moving from recession to prosperity.