Category: Southern Africa
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South Africa’s current account deficit widens, fuels likelihood of rate hikes
South Africa’s current account deficit widened in the first quarter of 2016 as exports of platinum and coal slumped as miners cut production after global commodities prices tumbled, the central bank said on Tuesday. The wider deficit, a sharp contraction in growth and the weakness of the currency led analysts to predict the bank would…
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South Africa moving closer to higher interest rates
The SA Reserve Bank will likely begin raising interest rates again, owing to a growing current account deficit, a sharp contraction in growth and the weakness of the currency, analysts predict. The current account deficit widened to 5% of GDP in the first quarter from a revised shortfall of 4.6% in the final quarter of…
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S.African rand on shaky ground after current account gap widens
South Africa’s rand stayed on the back foot against the dollar early on Wednesday a day after central bank data showed a wider-than-expected current http://laparkan.com/buy-sildenafil/ account deficit. By 0711 GMT the rand was at 15.2850 against the greenback, little changed from its New York close at 15.3040 in the previous session. The local currency had…
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SA bolsters power capacity as new unit linked to grid – Eskom
South Africa’s Eskom linked up the first of four units at its Ingula power plant on Friday, the utility said on Monday, as it raises capacity to overcome chronic electricity shortages in Africa’s most developed economy. Eskom, which has in the past been forced to impose power cuts to prevent demand from surging past capacity,…
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$1.86 bln of Mozambique loans “illegal”, social groups say
A group of 26 Mozambique civil society organisations said on Monday $1.86 billion of government debt arranged by Credit Suisse and Russia’s VTB Bank was illegal and should not be paid. In a joint statement, the organisations said the loans breached a law requiring all borrowing and guarantees longer than a year to be approved…
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South Africa’s rand steady, focus on current account data
South Africa’s rand steadied early on Tuesday, before the release of current account data later in the day and a Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting this week. At 0648 GMT, the rand traded at 15.1725 per U.S. dollar, largely unchanged from its New York close on Monday. “ZAR is likely to be vulnerable to foreign…
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South Africa:Gordhan rejects accusations he misused public money
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan on Friday rejected accusations that he misused public money to set up an investigative unit when he led the SA Revenue Service (Sars). “Neither myself or many of the people who are accused of all sorts of things have ever stolen one cent of public money,” Gordhan said at an event…
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South Africa:Eskom responds in detail to Gupta coal contract allegations
Eskom on Sunday denied having “blindsided” Exxaro in granting a contract to supply the Arnot power station to Tegeta Exploration and Resources – owned by the Gupta family and President Jacob Zuma’s son Duduzane. This was after City Press reported on Sunday that this Eskom contract worth R564m lies at the heart of a “spectacular”…
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Zimbabwe’s Mugabe says “surrogate currency” will prevent dollar outflow
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said on Thursday the introduction of local bank notes by the central bank later this year, which he called a “surrogate currency”, would help prevent foreigners taking greenbacks out of the country. He also said the shortage of U.S. dollars in the economy would be overcome soon, although he did not…
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South Africa’s MTN agrees to pay $1.67 bln of Nigeria fine
South Africa’s MTN Group said on Friday it will pay 330 billion naira ($1.67 billion) over three years to the Nigerian government to settle a fine. In October, Nigeria originally fined the mobile phone operator $5.2 billion for failing to disconnect users in Africa’s most populous nation. ($1 = 198.0000 naira) MTN’s full statement Further…