Flash Briefing: Fuel prices hit record-high; 2021 Local Elections update; SA pension funds banned from crypto investments per draft rules

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  • South African motorists will be hit with record-high fuel prices from Wednesday, with petrol prices increasing R1.21 and diesel prices shooting up R1.48. This puts the inland petrol price over R19.50, pushing towards the R20.00 mark. Economists and analysts have warned that the petrol price will push over R20 by the end of the year. The increase is due to rising global oil prices, which have soared this year as economies recover from the pandemic. The weaker rand has also made it more expensive to import petroleum products – and adjustments to the slate levy have also added to the pain.
  • South African pension funds will be banned – in no uncertain terms – from investing in bitcoin or its sibling cryptocurrencies, under new draft rules. On Friday, finance minister Enoch Godongwana set 12 November as the public-comment deadline for his proposal, making it possible for the changes to be brought into force before the end of the year. It had previously been thought possible for pension funds to put up to 2.5% of their assets into cryptocurrencies, under rules allowing for a broad category of “other assets” to form part of their strategies. The new draft rules published in the Government Gazette provide that, “A [pension] fund may not invest in crypto-assets directly or indirectly” – and that specifically includes via the “other assets” allowance.
  • With over a third of votes counted, the ANC remains well below 50% of the national vote in the 2021 Local Elections, and of the major Metros, is only above this critical level in eThekwini. The Democratic Alliance is comfortably ahead in Cape Town and leads the field with over 40% in Tshwane. All the other major Metros are very closely contested. Herman Mashaba’s ActionSA is launching a serious challenge to the Big Three in the major Gauteng Metros with its strongest showing in Jhb where current numbers suggest that a successful alliance with the DA and smaller parties (excluding the EFF) would be enough to achieve control.

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