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Macro and Micro News

Expanded pilot project planned to help munis pay Eskom as arrear debt continues to rise

By: Terence Creamer 12th August 2024 Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa reports that a new pilot project is being prepared to further “stress test” an initiative aimed at ensuring that municipalities settle their accounts with Eskom in a context where municipal arrear debt has grown to about R78-billion. The... →

Private placements, carbon seen by JSE as African growth route

By: Bloomberg 12th August 2024 JSE, which operates Africa’s biggest stock and bond exchanges, is looking to expand its private placement and carbon offset platforms across the continent. The JSE Private Placements platform, which allows companies to raise money from select investors through the sale of equity or issuing of... →

Photo by Bloomberg
JSE CEO Leila Fourie

Afreximbank will double intra-African trade financing to $40bn by 2026

By: Schalk Burger 12th August 2024 Trade finance institution the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) plans to double its financing of intra-African trade from $20-billion in 2021 to $40-billion by 2026, Afreximbank Global Trade Bank EVP Haytham ElMaayergi has said. “Afreximbank had been a champion of facilitating... →

Photo by Afreximbank
Afreximbank Global Trade Bank EVP Haytham ElMaayergi 0824

South Africa must focus on export competitiveness – Mavuso

By: Schalk Burger 12th August 2024 South Africa must develop industrial policies that build the international competitiveness of its export industries, including by enabling small businesses that could be exporting much more, particularly to neighbouring countries and particularly in services exports, says business organisation... →

Aveng expects to deliver earnings per share profit at financial close

By: Darren Parker 12th August 2024 Construction and mining group Aveng has alerted shareholders that they can expect an earnings a share and headline earnings a share profit for the financial year ended June 30, compared with the loss a share of A$0.82 and headline loss a share of A$0.62 reported for the 2023 financial year.... →

Impairments to push Sasol into a net loss

By: Darren Parker 12th August 2024 JSE-listed energy company Sasol has reported that its financial results for the year ended June 30 were negatively impacted on by challenging market conditions, including continued pressure from depressed chemicals prices and constrained margins. Despite these challenges, the company noted on... →

South Africa battles to fund vital grid upgrade for green energy

By: Reuters 12th August 2024 South Africa's plan to expand its power grid, now the biggest bottleneck to replacing coal with renewables, has hit a snag: finding investors to lend the necessary $21-billion to a near-bankrupt state monopoly. Since May's election brought a coalition government to power, there has been a policy... →

Pulse report shows marked improvement in major road corridors

By: Darren Parker 8th August 2024 The newly launched National Logistics Crisis Committee (NLCC) 'Pulse' report has so far shown a general year-on-year improvement in terms of the movement of heavy motor vehicles (HMVs) along the eight monitored corridors, data analytics firm Crickmay & Associates MD Jayce Lane said on August 8.... →

Cabinet questions EU citrus restrictions as South Africa moves ahead with formal WTO dispute

By: Terence Creamer 8th August 2024 Cabinet has questioned the imposition by the European Union (EU) of what it describes as “stringent” restrictions on South Africa’s citrus exports, which are now the subject of a formal dispute initiated at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). South Africa has, for the first time, requested the... →

South Africa needs more political will to exit dirty-money list

By: Bloomberg 8th August 2024 South Africa needs decisive political buy-in to ensure its exit from a global dirty-money watch list by a June deadline, a top official at the nation’s financial regulator said. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has ramped up efforts to co-ordinate government response to problem areas identified... →

JSE's first-half operating income up 4% y/y

By: Schalk Burger 7th August 2024 Local bourse the JSE reported 4.2% growth in operating income underpinned by increasingly diversified revenue streams in its half-year results to June 30. Its diversified business segments' and asset classes' year-on-year growth offset the 12% decline in equity value traded, which is the JSE’s... →

Photo by Creamer Media's Simone Liedtke
JSE CEO Dr Leila Fourie

South African firms seek water investments to avoid next crisis

By: Bloomberg 7th August 2024 South African corporates — which have partnered with the government to revive failing transport and energy networks — are in talks with the state to deal with water availability, which the head of the nation’s business lobby said was “the next crisis.” “Does water supply and water provision have... →

Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busisiwe Mavuso

$613m in JET-IP grants have been allocated to projects, Presidency reports

By: Terence Creamer 7th August 2024 The Presidency has released new details showing that $613-million of the $821-million in grants pledged to support South Africa’s Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET-IP) have now been allocated to projects. The disclosure has been made in the second instalment of the online ‘JET Grants... →

Head of the Project Management Office in the Presidency Rudi Dicks

South Africa growth at risk without infrastructure fix, S&P says

By: Bloomberg 7th August 2024 South Africa will need to urgently address crippling infrastructure bottlenecks or risk derailing a budding economic recovery, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. These challenges have left Africa’s most industrialised economy struggling to sustain growth for the last decade. Thea... →

South Africa moves to implement national health bill despite resistance

By: Reuters 7th August 2024 South Africa is moving ahead with implementation of the National Health Insurance bill, President Cyril Ramaphosa said, despite strong opposition from within and outside government. The NHI aims to provide universal coverage through a major overhaul of South Africa's two-tier system. Ramaphosa... →

President Cyril Ramaphosa

Securing ringfenced revenue for NTCSA seen as key first step for tackling R390bn grid backlog

By: Terence Creamer 6th August 2024 Ringfencing revenue for the National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA) is regarded as a crucial short-term step for ensuring that the newly operationalised Eskom Holdings subsidiary is placed on a firmer financial footing to begin dealing with the estimated R390-billion grid... →

Poor social development threatens South Africa’s economic sustainability, report shows

By: Darren Parker 6th August 2024 Persistently high youth unemployment rates and some of the highest levels of inequality globally have led financial institution Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) to rank South Africa twenty-ninth out of 31 African countries in terms of social and human development in its ‘Where to invest in Africa 2024’... →

Photo by Creamer Media
RMB chief economist Isaah Mhlanga

Africa’s richest city needs R221bn to fix infrastructure

By: Bloomberg 6th August 2024 Johannesburg, billed as Africa’s richest city because of its concentration of businesses and millionaires, needs R221-billion to catch up on maintenance and overdue upgrades across its collapsing road, power and water networks. The city council discussed the shortfall late last month and detailed... →

South Africa business activity contracts again in July, S&P Global PMI shows

By: Reuters 5th August 2024 South African private sector activity remained subdued in July amid weaker sales and increased supply-side pressures, a survey showed on Monday. The S&P Global South Africa Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose slightly to 49.3 in July from 49.2 in June, but remained below the 50 level which... →

Photo by Bloomberg
The Port of Cape Town

Artificial demand creating ‘precarious’ scrap market conditions, commentator warns

By: Darren Parker 5th August 2024 South Africa's scrap metal sector is overinvested, international trade consultancy XA Global Trade Advisors director Donald Mackay says. "I think we've got a very weird situation, as scrap metal that doesn't really behave like any other product. As demand for any product rises until the supply... →

South Africa still owns highly enriched uranium, report says

By: Bloomberg 2nd August 2024 South Africa still has a stockpile of highly enriched uranium, Netwerk24 reported, citing Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe. The nation declared its holdings of the nuclear material, which can be used to build weapons, to the International Atomic Energy Agency as part of... →

Photo by Donna Slater
Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe

Company encourages strengthening cybersecurity in real estate

By: Simone Liedtke 2nd August 2024 As digitalisation continues to transform industries, the real estate sector has to deal with significant changes in how it manages and protects information, especially with the transition from paper-based processes to digital systems having introduced new cybersecurity challenges. Real estate... →

SIMEON TASSEV
Cybersecurity firms play a vital role in supporting real estate companies

Galix MD Simeon Tassev discusses cybersecurity in real estate

SA’s automotive prospects clouded by high taxes and exports risks

By: Darren Parker 2nd August 2024 The importance of export growth as an automotive industry strategy is crucial to mitigate the numerous risks associated with South Africa's low growth environment. "We see export growth as a really key strategy to somewhat derisk the South African industry from a low growth environment . . . and... →

Resolving SMME challenges go beyond supportive policy, TIPS Forum finds

By: Marleny Arnoldi 1st August 2024 The yearly Trade & Industry Policy Strategies (TIPS) Forum featured a discussion on the most prominent barriers to entry for small, medium-sized and microenterprises (SMMEs) as small business growth is needed for economic growth and job creation in the country. As a first point of issue, TIPS... →

Treasury reflects on structural reform progress, assures more is to come

By: Marleny Arnoldi 1st August 2024 The new administration intends to continue implementing structural reforms to improve productivity and competitiveness in the economy, National Treasury director-general Dr Duncan Pieterse has assured the country. He referred to Operation Vulindlela moving into Phase 2, which is a second wave of... →

National Treasury Director-General Dr Duncan Pieterse

Steel giant sees first demand ‘green shoots’ in years as GNU prioritises infrastructure and localisation

By: Terence Creamer 1st August 2024 Steel producer ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA), which has been bemoaning weak domestic demand conditions for several years, reports that it is witnessing signs of “green shoots” in manufacturing and has also expressed cautious optimism over a potential for a recovery in energy-, construction-... →

Barbeque Index shows South African food inflation fell in July

By: Bloomberg 1st August 2024 The falling price of pap — a beloved South African cornmeal dish that forms part of a township shisanyama barbecue — is good news for the central bank as it weighs interest rate cuts. Sticky food inflation has been one of the reasons the South African Reserve Bank has been hesitant to ease... →

South Africa factory mood leaps as political uncertainty clears

By: Bloomberg 1st August 2024 South African manufacturers’ sentiment improved more than expected in July as political uncertainty cleared after the formation of a centrist coalition government following the country’s May 29 elections, helping boost demand and business activity. The overall Purchasing Managers’ Index increased... →

Absa PMI rises to 52.4 for July

By: Creamer Media Reporter 1st August 2024 The seasonally adjusted Absa Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) increased by 6.7 points to 52.4 in July, from 45.7 in June. This reflects a solid start to the third quarter following a weak May and June, Absa reports. The survey results show that both domestic and global demand picked up, filtering... →

South Africa to publish proposed new financial rules by year end

By: Bloomberg 1st August 2024 South Africa’s National Treasury said it is close to finalising long-awaited changes to the nation’s financial markets regulations, and plans to publish proposed amendments for comment by the end of the year. The Financial Sector Conduct Authority said last week that the new rules, which have... →

Infrastructure refurbishment investment alone could provide R100bn/y manufacturing stimulus

By: Darren Parker 31st July 2024 South Africa’s decaying water, electricity and logistics infrastructure presents a R100-billion a year repair and refurbishment investment opportunity that could provide much-needed stimulus for the declining manufacturing sector, Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa COO... →

Infrastructure refurbishment investment alone could provide R100bn/y manufacturing stimulus

AECI in early-stage move to produce green explosives as internationalisation drive accelerates

By: Terence Creamer 31st July 2024 Explosives and mining chemicals group AECI is moving to secure green ammonia for use in the production of lower-carbon explosives, demand for which is expected to grow in some of the mining jurisdictions the JSE-listed company is specifically targeting as part of an ambitious internationalisation... →

AECI CEO Holger Riemensperger

South Africa posts trade surplus of R24.23-billion in June

By: Reuters 31st July 2024 South Africa recorded a trade surplus of R24.23 billion in June, revenue service figures showed on Wednesday. →

Business proposes public dashboard to boost implementation of govt commitments – Mavuso

By: Schalk Burger 31st July 2024 Business organisation Business Leadership South Africa's (BLSA's) member companies have suggested the development of a public accountability system that tracks and publishes progress on key initiatives, such as through a publicly accessible dashboard that could highlight the status of projects... →

BLSA CEO Busi Mavuso

SMMEs' contribution to economy threatened by historical legacy, lacking industrial policy

By: Marleny Arnoldi 31st July 2024 Despite the widely recognised notion that formal and informal small, medium-sized and microenterprises (SMMEs) employ most of the country’s labour force, there is a lack of hard evidence on the composition of small businesses in South Africa, Human Sciences Research Council senior research... →

A person working in the manufacturing sector

South African rand firms ahead of Fed policy decision

By: Reuters 31st July 2024 South Africa's rand strengthened early on Wednesday, ahead of a much-anticipated policy decision by the Federal Reserve. At 0718 GMT, the rand traded at 18.22 against the dollar, about 0.6% stronger than its previous close. →

South Africa's population increases above 63-million

By: Schalk Burger 30th July 2024 South Africa’s population is estimated to have increased to 63.02-million this year, with the female population accounting for 51%, or about 32.13-million, of the population, according to Statistics South Africa's (Stats SA's) 'Mid-year Population Estimates' report. Gauteng continues to record... →

StatsSA Demography and Population Statistics chief director Diego Iturralde.

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