Category: Southern Africa
-
Grand Parade takes bigger bite of Spur
Grand Parade Investments has increased its stake in Spur Corporation via its wholly-owned food services company, Grand Foods, subject to GPI shareholder approval. The proposed transaction between Coronation Fund Managers and Grand Foods will result in GPI having an effective holding of just less than 30 percent. This acquisition embeds GPI’s strategy to focus on the…
-
Zimbabwe’s Mugabe paves way for bond notes
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has side-stepped parliament to issue a decree clearing the way for the introduction of “bond notes” that have raised fears of a return to a domestic currency abandoned in 2009 as hyperinflation crippled the economy. The bond notes are meant to ease biting cash shortages that have gripped the southern African…
-
Bostwana’s Choppies to inject Sh755m into loss-making Ukwala
Botswana retailer Choppies is set to invest Sh754.7 million in loss-making Ukwala Supermarkets in which it acquired a 75 per cent stake earlier this year. The multinational retail chain says in its latest trading update that it will invest the cash to open 12 more stores in the local subsidiary over three years. The planned…
-
Zimbabwe dam levels at record lows after drought
Zimbabwe’s dam levels have fallen to 42 percent following a devastating drought that has left millions in need of food aid and local councils rationing water, Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Friday. An El Nino weather pattern, which ended in May, triggered drought conditions across the southern African region that hit the staple, maize,…
-
S.A’s petrol price to rise by 3.6 percent next week
The retail price of petrol in South Africa will rise by 3.6 percent from Nov. 2, while the price of wholesale diesel will go up by 5.9 percent, the energy department said on Friday. The price of 93 octane petrol will rise by 45 cents to 12.79 and 95 octane by 45 cents to 13.05…
-
S.A:Let me do my job – Finance Minister Gordhan
South Africa’s embattled Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, didn’t show any anxiety a few days before his fraud trial in the capital Pretoria. Minutes before Gordhan’s CNBC Africa-Discovery Invest Exclusive Insights interview on Friday at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in Sandton, CEOs and business executives came to support him. A standing ovation was observed. “When…
-
S.A’s Amplats offers unions 7 percent wage hike
Anglo American Platinum has tentatively agreed with South African unions to wage increases of at least 7 percent over the next three years to avert a strike, according to a draft agreement seen by Reuters on Thursday. The draft agreement contains a “peace obligation”, which says no members of the unions “shall be entitled to…
-
S.A:PPI inflation falls, 2017 should see subsidence of food price inflation
PPI inflation fell to 6.6% y/y in September from 7.2% y/y in August. The diesel price fell by 48c/litre in September, but in October a 23c/litre hike occurred. For November a 63c/litre hike is currently building on the higher oil price. We continue to expect the oil price to average around US$45/bbl this year. The…
-
S.A’s MTBPS seeks to contain budget deficit, slow debt accumulation, will it be good enough to avoid a ratings downgrade?
South Africa’s Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, who was fine-tuning his toughest Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) up until the last minute, called on South Africans in a press conference to “tighten whatever needs tightening and work like hell to achieve a common purpose” to grow the economy and create political stability to attract investments.…
-
S.A: Free education for all a far cry as Gov debt exceeds $500 bn
Government debt has escalated over R2 trillion with rising debt service costs crowding out expenditure on priorities such as infrastructure and education. This is one of the concerns highlighted in South Africa’s mid-term budget policy statement on Wednesday which was tabled by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. The statement noted that government spending per capita has…