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/ 9 December 2003
The rand’s recent strength has left it "overstretched", Merrill Lynch South African economist Nazmeera Moola said in the firm’s latest overview of the South African economy. "On a short-term basis, we see room for mild rand weakness … a rand at R6,65 per dollar in the next six weeks is very possible," Moola said.
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/ 5 December 2003
South African provincial tender boards are to be phased out as part of a wide-ranging revamp of the government’s supply-chain management, the National Treasury said on Friday. The National Treasury is in the process of issuing practice notes, which deal with specific issues relating to supply-chain management.
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/ 3 December 2003
The port of Durban is the first African port to have a United States customs post as part of the Container Security Initiative (CSI), the US embassy in Pretoria said on Wednesday. Durban is only the 17th port to be CSI compliant since the CSI was proposed in January 2002 in the wake of the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks.
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/ 2 December 2003
Price stability remains a core objective, South African Reserve Bank (SARB) governor Tito Mboweni said in a speech at the annual heads of foreign missions dinner on Monday evening. "However, the South African economy will always be affected considerably by developments in the rest of the world," he said.
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/ 1 December 2003
The 32,6% year-on-year (y/y) rise in value-added tax (VAT) collections to R7,528-billion in October points to a buoyant South African economy, as VAT is a very good indicator of general economic activity. This is because VAT is levied throughout the production and distribution chain.
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/ 26 November 2003
The South African Revenue Service (Sars) will lower the interest rate it charges on outstanding taxes, duties and levies as from December 1 2003. This rate is equal to the rate determined by the minister of finance in terms of the Public Finance Management Act of 1999.
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/ 25 November 2003
Adding his voice to the chorus of economists and business people calling for more intervention by the South African Reserve Bank, Brait economist Colen Garrow has said that the bank should absorb more dollars to boost its reserves. Progress on the net open foreign currency position for October will be unveiled on Friday.
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/ 21 November 2003
The rand’s strength over the past two years might have been more as a result of the currency’s association with other emerging market and commodity-based currencies than with South African specific fundamentals, according to research published by South African commercial bank Absa.
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/ 20 November 2003
South Africa needs rand stability to grow faster, Moody’s Investors Service head of sovereign ratings Kristin Lindow said on Thursday. One of the ways that the South African Reserve Bank can aid rand stability is to buy more dollars to boost its foreign reserves, which were only $7 839-billion at the end of September 2003.
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/ 17 November 2003
The rand at R6,70 per United States dollar remains more than 20% undervalued when using the Big Mac measure. According to this measure it should be R5,30 per dollar. Using the Union Bank of Switzerland measure of living costs in major centres, an even stronger level of R4,12 per dollar is necessary.