Category: Southern Africa

Alleged pyramid scheme DiPESA has been exonerated by the National Consumer Commission (NCC) after an investigation showed that the business was “legitimate”. In September 2015 the NCC launched a preliminary investigation into nine suspected pyramid schemes to establish whether they were in contravention of the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) and its regulations.…

South Africa’s economy is now expected to grow by 0.6 percent in 2016, down slightly from the 0.7 percent seen in January, as weaker exports and policy uncertainty take their toll, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday. In its April world economic outlook, the IMF reiterated its GDP growth projection for Africa’s powerhouse Nigeria…

South Africa’s Oakbay Investments will start setting up meetings with banks on Tuesday to try restore relations after the top four lenders cut links with the company amid speculation that its owners, the Gupta family, are wielding undue political influence. Last week, several South African companies, including two major banks, cut ties with Oakbay following…

South African’s rand firmed for a third consecutive session against the dollar on Tuesday as the greenback slipped while emerging markets lapped up a return of appetite for riskier assets. At 0715 GMT, the rand traded at 14.6615 versus the dollar, 0.5% firmer from Monday’s New York close and near a one-week high. Government bonds…

THE Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) has agreed to a wage deal with Sibanye Gold, claiming victory for a modest increase on a deal the union says it largely negotiated six months ago. Amcu announced on its website and on social media that its members had agreed on Sunday to an increase of…

Zimbabwe’s banks are limiting withdrawals as an excessive demand for cash has lead to shortages, the central bank chief said on Friday. Zimbabwe ditched its currency in favour of the U.S. dollar after hyper-inflation scaled 500 billion percent in 2008, leaving it unable to print its own money. A shortage of notes surfaced at the…

MEMBERS of the Gupta family, who are friends of President Jacob Zuma, have not fled the country following a wave of controversy surrounding their alleged influence over the nation’s leader. “They are not hiding,” Oakbay Investments CEO Nazeem Howa said on Monday in an interview with Bloomberg TV in Johannesburg. “They’ve not fled the country.”…

SA may tap international capital markets for the first time in almost two years to finance a widening budget deficit after a bond rally reduced borrowing costs. The government picked Citigroup, Rand Merchant Bank and Standard Bank as joint lead managers and Investec as a co-manager for a call with investors yesterday, according to a…

Zimbabwe’s tourism industry is investigating ways to solve the dollar challenge brought by the depreciation of the rand, according to Walter Mzembi, Zimbabwe’s minister of tourism and hospitality. One of the main challenges for tourism in the Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) region is currency behaviours, Mzembi told Fin24 at the global summit of the World Travel…