Tag Archives: Africa

The news sent shock waves through the local markets and put the rand under pressure as Ramaphosa, investors’ preferred candidate for president, is now facing possible removal. Anchor Capital’s co-chief investment officer Nolan Wapenaar said stocks could trade weaker for a … Continue reading →

South African gross domestic product (GDP) returned to pre-pandemic levels after expanding by 1.9 percent in the first quarter of 2022, representing a second consecutive quarter of upward growth. This GDP growth was more than expected and well above market … Continue reading →

BNP on Friday said South Africa’s headline inflation rate could soar up to 6 percent this year, as the intensity of Russian sanctions continue to exert upward pressure on the global economy. Inflation has been below 6 percent since 2016, … Continue reading →

SOUTH African Special Risks Insurance Association (Sasria) estimates that damage in July’s looting and mayhem, the most expensive riots in the world, they said, cost more than R50 billion, for which the agency has received claims of up to R32bn, … Continue reading →

The rate of unemployment in South Africa could threaten the expected economic rebound this year after it worsened to a new record high in the second quarter of 2021 due to more than 500 days of the national lockdown. READ … Continue reading →

RATINGS agency S&P Global has warned that it could downgrade South Africa’s credit rating if the country’s economic prospects fail to recover in the medium term. S&P said it would review its attitude towards South Africa if fiscal financing or … Continue reading →

South Africa’s economy was thrown a lifeline of a slow recovery this year after economic contraction for 2020 came in better than expected on both an annual and a quarterly basis. Statistics SA (StatsSA) said yesterday that the economy experienced … Continue reading →

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has forecast that South Africa’s estimated economic growth could more than double this year if fewer restrictions are implemented during winter and completely wiped out at the start of the fourth quarter. In its SA Economic Outlook report … Continue reading →

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has put economic recovery and structural reforms, including job creation and fixing Eskom, at the centre of the government’s priorities aimed at resuscitating the economy from the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic. READ MORE

The country’s unemployment rate in the formal non-agricultural sector accelerated past the 10million mark in the first quarter. Data from Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) yesterday showed that the formal non-agricultural sector shed 3000 jobs during the period, and there are … Continue reading →

International rating agency Fitch on Wednesday left South Africa open to a further downgrade after it reaffirmed the country’s credit rating at one notch below investment grade and maintained its negative outlook. Fitch said the country’s long-term foreign and local … Continue reading →

Nedbank Group chief executive Mike Brown has issued a strong warning to the government stating that the country is fast running out of both time and money, and urgently needs structural reforms to stem economic and fiscal deterioration. READ MORE

South Africa is set to amend the Constitution to allow for land expropriation without compensation. Here are seven essential reads. READ MORE

More than two decades after white-minority rule ended in South Africa, most of its profitable farms and estates are still owned by white people, and about 95 percent of the country’s wealth is in the hands of 10 percent of … Continue reading →

South Africa’s ruling party took a political gamble by increasing sales tax ahead of elections next year as new President Cyril Ramaphosa seeks to stabilize debt and prevent a third junk credit rating. The value-added tax rate will be raised … Continue reading →

Among the key sectors that keep South Africa’s economic engine running are manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, financial services, transport, mining, agriculture and tourism. READ MORE

South Africa’s new president, Cyril Ramaphosa, will have a daunting in-tray, including a formidable economic agenda to tackle. Growth under Jacob Zuma’s leadership has been weak and unemployment is painfully high. It is one of the most unequal countries on … Continue reading →

After nearly a decade of Jacob Zuma’s misrule, South Africans are eager for a leader who can reverse their country’s political and economic fortunes. ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa may have the mandate to do so, but delivering change will require … Continue reading →

Partly as a result of slow growth and partly because of growing corruption, the ANC has been losing electoral support. Its coalition partners, the Communist Party and the trade unions, are rebellious. Cyril Ramaphosa, who has recently replaced the disgraced … Continue reading →

Jacob Zuma has tightened his grip on the finance ministry, the state prosecutor, the public protector and the tax authorities. All of them, to one degree or other, are amenable to his preferences. Now South Africa’s president is trying to … Continue reading →

The proliferation of illegal mining incidents and community unrest are some of the problems that have increased risk in mining in South Africa according to Chamber of Mines chief negotiator Elize Strydom. READ MORE

Economist Mike Schussler, in a presentation at a Financial Planning Institute conference recently, said South Africa was not in as bad a position as other emerging-market countries when faced with sovereign debt downgrades, largely because of a high level of … Continue reading →

Data released by the Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) and Bureau for Economic Research (BER) indicated that South Africa business confidence in the second quarter of this year slumped to levels last seen in 2009 largely driven down by persistent weak … Continue reading →

South Africa’s banks and insurance companies have been downgraded in keeping with the country’s overall downgrade. Moody’s considers the banks and insurance groups’ key credit fundamentals (asset quality, capitalisation, profitability and financial flexibility) to be partly correlated with and linked … Continue reading →

Some analysts say General Motors’ (GM) announcement that it will stop operating in South Africa is a clear indication that the car manufacturer has lost confidence in the country’s economic outlook. READ MORE

Standard & Poor’s Global has cut the South African government’s credit rating to “junk status” for the first time in more than 17 years following the move by President Jacob Zuma to reshuffle his Cabinet last week – including the … Continue reading →

As South Africa awaits a possible S&P Global Rating downgrade to junk status (a move that would move the company’s assessment of South Africa’s creditworthiness to below investment grade for the first time in 16 years and put the country … Continue reading →

South Africa drifted downward to #56 from 53rd place in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2014 – 2015 with other so-called BRICS economies ranked as follows: China (28th), Russia (53rd), Brazil (57th) and India (71st). Nevertheless, only the … Continue reading →