Category: INTERNATIONAL
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S.A’s Budget 2017 makes retirement funds attractive
The 2017 budget speech takes place at a time when the fiscus is under pressure. Unsurprisingly, the Minister has raised the necessary additional revenue by primarily increasing personal taxes. This comes through in the form of lower bracket creep relief, a new tax bracket for high-income earners, a higher dividend withholding tax rate and higher…
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S.A:Bidvest can tap $1 billion for acquisitions says CEO
South African trading, services and distribution firm Bidvest has access to $1 billion for acquisitions, its chief executive said on Monday. “We’d be able to raise $1 billion should we need it, or about 14 billion rand ($1 billion) to 15 billion rand and that has been confirmed by a lot of the bankers,” said…
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Risk of Nigeria devaluing naira rising – Reuters Poll
Nigeria’s authorities may soon devalue the naira but won’t fully relinquish control over it, instead taking steps to narrow the gap between the official and black market rates to boost confidence in the economy, a Reuters poll showed on Friday. A shortage of dollars in Nigeria – for big and small needs including capital imports…
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Kenya:Barclays set to retain name for 3 years after UK parent firm’s exit
Barclays Africa will continue using the Barclays brand in its operations outside South Africa, including in Kenya, for three years following the reduction of Barclays Plc’s shareholding of the lender below the 50 per cent mark. Barclays Africa will also receive “certain services” from Barclays Plc “on arms’ length basis” for a transitional period, up…
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Kenya: Calls from rivals for higher charges by Safaricom rejected
Proposals by Airtel and Telkom Kenya that could have seen Safaricom forced to charge its customers higher rates than its rival telecommunications providers have been rejected by consultants hired to assess competition in the sector. Airtel and Plum Consulting (on behalf of Telkom Kenya) had separately written to the Ministry of ICT last year asking that…
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Kenya receives Washington’s approval for direct US flights
Kenya is upbeat about launching direct flights to the United States earlier than planned after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved non-stop air travel between the two countries. Inspectors from America’s FAA gave Jomo Kenyatta International Airport a clean bill of health after an audit leading to the award of the long awaited Category One…
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Fuel levy compounds South Africans’ woes
The increase in fuel levies announced in the national budget on Wednesday worsens SA’s already “disproportionately high pump prices”, BMI Research said in an economic note on Friday morning. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said in his budget speech the general fuel levy would increase by 30c/l and the Road Accident Fund (RAF) levy by 9c/l,…
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S.A’s Budget 2017 makes retirement funds attractive
The 2017 budget speech takes place at a time when the fiscus is under pressure. Unsurprisingly, the Minister has raised the necessary additional revenue by primarily increasing personal taxes. This comes through in the form of lower bracket creep relief, a new tax bracket for high income earners, a higher dividend withholding tax rate and…
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Kenya: Tea price drops reversing last week’s gain
The price of the Kenyan tea dropped by Sh16 per kilogramme this week at the Mombasa auction, reversing the gains witnessed last week. A report from auction indicates that the price dropped from Sh305 last week to Sh289 per kilogramme (kg) in Tuesday’s auction. This marks only the second time since the beginning of the…
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Kenya: Nersa caps Eskom tariff hike at 2.2%
The National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa) said on Thursday Eskom’s tariff increase for 2017-18 would be limited to 2.2% when the new prices come into effect on April 1. The decision is based upon methodology applied by Nersa which has a complex five-year tariff system informed by what it considers “allowable revenue”. As Eskom…