The South African Reserve Bank paved the way for a one percentage point cut in prime lending rates on Thursday when it reduced its repo rate by the same margin. Some economists have been calling for a more aggressive rate cut, contending that a reduction of at least 1,5% would be justified.
<li><a class="standardtextsmall" href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=19066">Banks reduce lending rates</a>
<li><a class="standardtextsmall" href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=19062">SARB cuts repo rate to 11%</a>
A race to find out who won Europe’s biggest lottery prize to date got under way in Italy on Thursday after a €1 ticket bought in a small town bar outside Milan in Italy won the €66-million jackpot.
The Johannesburg Housing Company launched a R98-million, 650-unit housing development in Johannesburg’s inner-city suburb of Newtown with a sod-turning ceremony on Thursday. Located on vacant land at the foot of the new Mandela Bridge, the development is a key component of Jo’burg’s inner-city regeneration plan.
Mac Maharaj has come out fighting after he resigned from FirstRand today, slamming the Scorpions for allegedly leaking information to the press about their investigation into whether payments from Durban businessman Schabir Shaik were corrupt.
A powerful bomb killed five passengers on a bus in northeastern India on Thursday as fears of more attacks put the country on high security alert on the eve of its annual Independence Day celebrations. The blast in Manipur state was the latest in a string of attacks blamed on rebels in the region.
Absa, First National Bank, Nedbank, Old Mutual and People’s Bank announced they would drop their prime lending rates by one percentage point after the South African Reserve Bank announced on Thursday it would cut the repo rate.
<li><a class="standardtextsmall" href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=19062">SARB cuts repo rate to 11%</a>
The uprooted of Riemvasmaak were the first beneficiaries of the new government’s earliest resettlement project. Optimistic about their future despite misgivings of the past, the locals are gradually rising again from the Kalahari dust.
The South African Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee on Thursday announced a 100-basis-point cut in the repo rate to 11% at the conclusion of its two-day meeting in Pretoria. Many economists hoped for more, given the
significant downward revision to consumer inflation data announced on May 30.
A lack of money is hampering arms procurement agency Armscor to an extent that could be to the detriment of the defence force, says chief executive Sipho Thomo.
Workers at the Sasol coal mine in Secunda, represented by the trade union Solidarity, continued their strike on Thursday in protest at management’s proposed salary increases.