JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand firmed against the dollar on Wednesday, buoyed by broader weakness in the U.S. currency and by the return to work of platinum miners after a five-month strike. Tens of thousands of platinum miners returned on Wednesday, ending the longest and costliest strike in South Africa’s history after platinum producers signed off … Read more
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African stocks fell 1 percent on Wednesday, lead by Anglo American Platinum as investors remained cautious about recovery in the mining sector after the end of a five-month strike. Thousands of miners downed tools at Amplats, Impala Platinum and Lonmin in January demanding higher pay, and only returned to work on … Read more
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s economy is unlikely to go into recession, even after a 0.6 percent contraction in the first quarter, as data pointed to a rebound in the mining and manufacturing sectors, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene said. “At this point, signals are that growth in the second quarter to be slow but positive,” Nene said in … Read more
A report on the recent SA election by The Institute for Security Studies, which has just been released concludes that although the ANC was returned to power with a comfortable majority, the seeds of future challenges lurk in the details of the elections data which the party should pay attention to. It concludes that the DA … Read more
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) –Â South Africa’s rand was still on a firm footing against the dollar on Friday after touching 10-day highs the previous session, with investors favouring high-yielding emerging markets after the Federal Reserve signalled U.S. rates would stay low for a while. The local unit traded at 10.7095 against the dollar by 0703 GMT, up … Read more
The impending Security Industry amendment bill contains a number of problematic clauses. It requires all private security companies operating in South Africa to sell a 51% stake to South African citizens, for example, a provision that seems very difficult to comply with and very anti-investment. The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) seems … Read more
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s headline consumer inflation accelerated more than expected to 6.6 percent year-on-year in May from 6.1 percent in April, Statistics South Africa said on Wednesday. On a month-on-month basis, prices increased by 0.2 percent in May from 0.5 percent previously. Core inflation, which excludes the prices of food, non-alcoholic beverages, petrol and energy, was … Read more
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand was on shaky ground against the dollar on Wednesday after pushing convincingly through the 10.80 barrier overnight, with scope for more losses if the current account deficit for the first quarter widens as much as expected. Investors are downbeat about Africa’s most developed economy, which is trying to avoid its second … Read more
By Helen Nyambura-Mwaura JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Young techies hunched over laptops in small offices across Africa want to create their own versions of California’s Silicon Valley and some are beginning to attract investors prepared to take a risk in the hope of high returns. One such start-up, a South African social photography app called Over, … Read more
By Xola Potelwa JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s economy faces “enormous headwinds” caused largely by self-inflicted domestic problems, including a crippling strike in the platinum sector, but a recession is unlikely, Reserve Bank Governor Gill Marcus said on Tuesday. Africa’s most advanced economy contracted in the first quarter of the year as output from the key manufacturing and mining … Read more