Evan Pickworth

The <i>Financial Mail</i> reported on Thursday that South Africa could switch to targeting CPI and not CPIX inflation.

The South African Reserve Bank monetary policy committee's rates meeting started on Wednesday morning.

It is "not bad" if the rand stays around current levels rather than heading to R8 to the dollar, says a senior derivatives dealer.

Global analysts Lehman Brothers said on Wednesday that they viewed central bank governor Tito Mboweni's speech on Tuesday as "mildly hawkish".

Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Wednesday that there is a responsibility by all of those of his era to construct a deep democracy in SA.

Finance Minister Trevor Manuel convened a meeting on Thursday between the Treasury and Cosatu in an attempt to resolve numerous challenges.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development on Tuesday released a key report on the economic status of South Africa.

Global analysts Lehman Brothers wondered out loud on Friday morning whether some notably hawkish statements by Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni on Thursday might be a signal that a rate hike of 100 basis points could be on the cards come June 12.

South African stocks were mixed in early afternoon trade on Wednesday due to volatility, but the feature of the morning session was a strong gain by synthetic fuel producer Sasol. At 12.25pm, the JSE's broader all-share index was up 0,09%, with the industrial index up 0,88%, but resources were down 0,38%.

One of the most decisive rates meetings yet of the South African Reserve Bank's monetary policy committee (MPC) began on Wednesday morning with "no hitches", according to a bank spokesperson. The meeting will end after lunchtime on Thursday, with the final decision announced live to the public just after 3pm.

While emerging markets have been resilient so far to global market subprime turmoil, global spillovers could test their resilience, said the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) director of monetary and capital markets, Jaime Caruana, on Tuesday at the launch of the IMF's latest <i>Global Financial Stability Report</i>.

A senior bond-portfolio manager and an emerging-markets analyst from Lehman Brothers both uttered the same dreaded word soon after reading what Tito Mboweni had said in Parliament on Wednesday: hawkish. In fact, Lehman Brothers now predicts a 50-basis-point increase in the repo rate on April 10 to 11,5%.