Category: Southern Africa
-
S.A needs to clarify policy to boost confidence: Gigaba
South Africa needs to provide policy clarity to boost investor confidence, after a cabinet reshuffle and a pledge to introduce “radical economic transformation”, Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba said on Tuesday. Gigaba’s comments echo those of President Jacob Zuma about redistributing wealth, which remains largely in the hands of the white minority more than two decades…
-
S.A close to launch of challenger to “big four” banks
South Africa is close to spinning a state-owned bank out of its postal service that will lend to the country’s poor and distribute welfare grants, in a bid to loosen the grip of private sector banks. Financial services, the largest sector of the South African economy at 20 percent of nominal GDP, have long been…
-
Zimbabwe: Mangundya Must Resign Over Bond Notes Failure – Pressure Groups
CIVIL society movements have demanded the immediate resignation of Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, John Mangudya over the failure of bond notes to ease the country’s cash crisis. Addressing a press conference in Harare Tuesday, spokesperson for the organisations, Pastor Evan Mawarire of This Flag movement, said Mangudya had promised to resign if the bond…
-
Zimbabwe: Chinese Firm to Set Up Assembly Plant in Zim
One of the world’s leading automotive manufacturing companies, FAW Group Corporation is in the initial stages of setting up a vehicle assembly plant in Zimbabwe this year. This planned development is expected to boost Government’s efforts to revive the country’s motor assembly industry.As part of its commitment to investing in the county, FAW Zimbabwe recently…
-
S.A rand expected to trade 5% weaker towards ANC conference in December
South Africa’s rand will remain resilient in the short term in the absence of policy surprises and further downgrades, but the currency will weaken towards a December conference of the ruling African National Congress, a Reuters poll showed. The poll of up to 40 strategists suggested the rand would trade five percent weaker at 13.99…
-
Botswana’s Debswana Diamond Company starts processing Cut 8 ore
Botswana’s Debswana Diamond Company has started processing ore from the $3 billion expansion of its Jwaneng diamond mine, popularly known as Cut 8, the company said on Tuesday. The Cut 8 project, which Debswana started in 2010, is meant to uncover 100 million carats of diamonds and extend the life of the world’s richest diamond…
-
S.A:The world’s 50 most innovative economies – S.A fails to make the cut.
APRIL 26th is World IP Day. But what does it mean for South Africa? And where are we in the global rankings when it comes to innovation and intellectual property? The Bloomberg 2017 Innovation list has recently been released which ranks the world’s top fifty economies. There were seven factors in total that determined these…
-
South Africa’s maize output seen rising 87 percent higher in 2017
South Africa will likely harvest 14.54 million tonnes of maize in 2017, up 87 percent from last year after favourable weather conditions lifted yields, the government’s Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) said on Tuesday. The third production forecast for the season, which is higher than market expectations of 14.175 million tonnes, will be the largest yield…
-
Zimbabwe:IMF says bond note cannot solve economic problems
Zimbabwe’s “bond note” surrogate currency will not solve its economic problems, the International Monetary Fund said, adding that only comprehensive reforms would address a fiscal crisis. The southern African nation last year introduced bond notes, which officially trade at par with the U.S. dollar and are backed by a $200 million bond from the African…
-
SA is heading for a crisis worse than junk status if President Zuma delays signing the FICA Bill, this is why
A global group that monitors money laundering worldwide has expressed concern that a bill to fight the crime in South Africa faces “significant ongoing delays” and warned the country’s banks risked being exposed to illicit money flows that could hurt investor sentiment. David Lewis, executive secretary at the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), said…