The rand held steady against the major currencies in quiet midday trade on Wednesday as the dollar strengthened following the release of United States trade data. Gold was quoted at $403,60 an ounce compared to the previous close of $402,38 an ounce.
April’s wholesale sale statistics may be the first sign that the recent strong increase in consumer demand is slowing down, according to Efficient Group economist Nico Kelder. Real wholesale trade sales, excluding diamonds, in South Africa plunged by 9,2% in April from March after seasonal adjustment.
The trade-weighted rand on Thursday jumped 2,1% from Wednesday and moved to its best level since October 16 2000, when it was R62,72 and was 24,4% stronger than this year’s worst level of R50,11 reached on January 16. Its level on Thursday at 10.30am was R62,35, beating last year’s best level.
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Ratings Services said on Wednesday it has assigned its B long-term and B short-term sovereign credit ratings to Mozambique. The outlook is positive. The ratings on Mozambique are supported by high export-led GDP growth — albeit from a low base — and strong donor support.
The South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB) monetary policy committee (MPC) on Thursday decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 8%. The prime interest rate is therefore to remain steady at 11,5%. This was the third consecutive MPC meeting that no change was expected.
The South African Cabinet has approved a programme to develop human capital and improve research and innovation in relation to the pebble-bed modular reactor (PBMR) project, which has been called the world’s sexiest baby nuclear reactor by its proponents.
There is a growing danger that Aids is dropping off the South African media screen, an analysis by Media Tenor, the Institute for Media Analysis in Pretoria, showed. In terms of coverage of major topics, Aids receives only 0,1% more airtime or column inches than environmental issues, showing that South African media have lost their focus on this issue.
The South African Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) started at 9am on Wednesday, with a decision on interest rates expected at 3pm on Thursday. The unanimous forecast of economists is that this will be the third consecutive MPC meeting where no change in interest rates is announced.
One week after the South African government announced a change in its fuel-price policy by capping fuel-price increases for June, numerous requests to find out what the fuel-price policy will be after June have been unsuccessful, which begs the question as to whether there is in fact a fuel-price policy.
The South African Chamber of Business has won a $20 000 award for its simple toolkit to assist small and medium enterprises address HIV/Aids in their workplaces. The chamber also won accolades for its strategy to monitor the implementation of this product through its chamber movement.