No image available
/ 19 September 2006
South Africa’s yawning current-account deficit will remain the bugbear of the country’s economy, with figures on Thursday due to show the gap hovering near record levels in the second quarter of 2006. The Reserve Bank’s quarterly bulletin on Thursday will reveal whether there was any narrowing of the shortfall on the country’s broadest measure of trade.
No image available
/ 7 September 2006
South Africa’s central bank warned on Thursday that interest rates may have to rise again to curb soaring consumption in the continent’s biggest economy and said the rand is adjusting to a widening current account gap. The Reserve Bank has already raised its key repo rate by a full percentage point to 8% in two moves since June.
No image available
/ 6 September 2006
Russian President Vladimir Putin presided over more than a billion dollars of new deals in Cape Town on Wednesday and predicted a wave of others in a powerful economic foray into South Africa. ”In Russia we have great respect for the economic achievements of South Africa,” he told President Thabo Mbeki at a business forum in Cape Town.
Barack Obama, the only black United States Senator, criticised South African leaders on Monday for their slow response to HIV/Aids, saying they were wrong to contrast ”African science and Western science”. Aids activists say Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang is creating confusion by pushing traditional medicines and a recipe of garlic, beetroot, lemon and African potatoes to combat HIV/Aids.
South Africa is pressing ahead with a law to ban mercenaries, clouding the prospects of thousands of South Africans now fighting for foreign armies or working for security companies in Iraq. But critics say the draft law will have far-reaching consequences for South African soldiers fighting for legitimate foreign forces.
A growing number of HIV-positive people in South Africa are living normal lives in one of the countries worst hit by Aids. But this maturing stage in the epidemic brings new policy dilemmas for officials seeking to track Africa’s expanding Aids crisis and to make long-term plans to treat millions of infected people.
Television footage of dozy MPs nodding off during lengthy debates in Parliament are a source of amusement for some, but one member, on Tuesday, saw justification in a quick forty winks.
The major crude oil refiners operating in South Africa expressed serious concern on Monday over new legislation to restructure the industry, arguing it may perpetuate past distortions.
South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel was upbeat on Thursday on the progress achieved in making Nepad a reality, saying its fledgling peer review was a world first.
he introduction of an amnesty for individuals who illegally stashed money offshore in the past, has been postponed by one month, the National Treasury confirmed on Wednesday.