Helmo Preuss
Guest Author
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/ 4 June 2004

Treasury creates space for rate cut

The National Treasury has over the past two weeks created space for the South African Reserve Bank to cut interest rates at the next monetary policy committee meeting on June 9 and 10. One of the reasons for not cutting interest rates at the February and April MPC meetings was concern about the future course of oil prices.

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/ 1 June 2004

Govt caps petrol price increases

South African petroleum product price rises will be capped at 30 cents a litre and this policy will be maintained for as long as possible, Minister of Minerals and Energy Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka announced on Tuesday afternoon. The government in May expressed concern about current and future petrol-price increases.

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/ 1 June 2004

Healthy rating of SA manufacturing index

South Africa’s seasonally adjusted purchasing managers index (PMI) rose slightly in May to 56,4 from 56,2 in April after surging to 57,9 points in March from 52,6 in February. The PMI is an index modelled on the Institute of Supply Management index of the United States, which measures manufacturing activity.

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/ 28 May 2004

Summit in Maputo to focus on development

More than 600 leaders from all sectors of society and from 46 countries will take part in the World Economic Forum’s 14th Africa Economic Summit in Maputo, Mozambique, from June 2 to 4. Its main purpose is to get business leaders and governments together to overcome the obstacles holding back many African economies.

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/ 28 May 2004

South Africa’s Big Mac rating rises

Invented in 1986 as a light-hearted guide to whether currencies are at their "correct" level, <i>The Economist</i> magazine’s Big Mac index is used to gauge purchasing power between countries. South Africa’s Big Mac rate is R4,28 a dollar — when the rand touched a record worst level in 2001 a South African Big Mac cost less than a dollar.

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/ 24 May 2004

New deputy finance minister speaks out

In an ordinary society, Phillip Jabulani ("Be Happy") Moleketi would have become a medical doctor, but South Africa in the mid-1970s was not an ordinary society and did not cater for the aspirations of its young black elite. Now Moleketi has been appointed South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Finance.

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/ 24 May 2004

Fruitless attempt to buy SA retail bond

"After more than four hours of trying to buy a retail bond from South Africa’s National Treasury on Monday, the only word that describes my experience is ‘frustration’." I-Net Bridge’s reporter Helmo Preuss has trouble buying a bond on its first day of availability.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=66794">Nedbank clients can buy from Tuesday</a>

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/ 20 May 2004

Brace for a 36c a litre petrol price increase

The Department of Minerals and Energy anticipates that the South African retail petrol price will increase by 36c a litre on Wednesday June 2 — based on fuel price information at its disposal on Wednesday. The increases are as a result of higher international crude oil petroleum product prices and a stronger dollar.