Helmo Preuss
Guest Author
No image available
/ 31 January 2005

Strong rand fails to dent export growth

South African exports rose by 7% in rand terms and 25,7% in dollar terms in 2004, as the strong rand failed to dent export growth due to strong demand from China and high commodity prices. Exporters are reporting buoyant demand, which is sadly constrained by bottlenecks on the railways and harbours, not by the strong rand.

No image available
/ 19 January 2005

Mbeki, Manuel, Mboweni to attend WEF meeting

South African President Thabo Mbeki, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel, Minister of Trade and Industry Mandisi Mpahlwa and South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni will lead a high-level delegation to the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland, sources confirmed on Wednesday.

No image available
/ 15 January 2005

Will SA escape ratings jinx this time?

The rand and bonds are weaker now than their Tuesday close before international ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service of South Africa’s upgraded country ceilings for foreign currency debt and bank deposits to Baa1 from Baa2. This seems to confirm that South Africa once again was hit by the ratings jinx, although mildly.

No image available
/ 12 January 2005

Record rise in SA retail sales

South Africa’s real retail sales rose by a record 12,8% year-on-year (y/y) in September after a revised 11,9% y/y increase (original estimate was 11,7% y/y) in September, Statistics South Africa said on Thursday. This brought real retail sales growth for the first 10 months to 9,9% y/y.

No image available
/ 11 January 2005

Petrol price likely to increase in March

The South African retail petrol price is likely to be increased once again in March if the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ basket price remains above $38 per barrel and the rand stays near R6 per dollar. On Monday, there was already an under-recovery of almost 20 cents per litre.

No image available
/ 10 January 2005

Dollar recovery pressures rand

The dollar recovery in the first week of 2005 has put pressure on the rand, which weakened to R6,1448 per dollar on January 6 from the 2004 best level of R5,5850 per dollar reached on December 29. After reaching a record worst level of $1,3668 per euro on December 30, the dollar strengthened to a best level of $1,3027 per euro on January 7.

No image available
/ 15 December 2004

GDP growth to trend around 4%

South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth should trend about 4% for the next few years as employment growth finally completes a virtuous circle. In May last year, South Africa entered its longest "upward economic phase", as the previous longest upward phase lasted from September 1961 to April 1965.

No image available
/ 13 December 2004

More secure bank notes on the way

Upgraded banknotes with improved security features will be issued from February 1 next year, the South African Reserve Bank said on Monday. This follows the introduction of a new bi-metal R5 coin on August 2 this year. The coin has a bronze-coloured centre and a silver-coloured border.