A post template

No image available
/ 13 July 2000

GOVERNMENT STICKS TO GDP GROWTH GUNS

Government is sticking to its growth forecast despite a low first quarter growth rate of 0.9 percent. Finance director general, Maria Ramos said the lower than expected first-quarter growth rate was largely due to the performance of agriculture although a bumper maize crop should raise the performance of this sector and allow for an overall […]

No image available
/ 13 July 2000

Sugar crop looks strong

REUTERS, Johannesburg | Wednesday 12.15pm. SOUTH Africa could harvest a near-record sugar cane crop this summer and the industry has secured its important Far East markets, according to the cane growers’ association and the latest edition of the South African Sugar Journal. Quality problems and a poor ratio of cane to sucrose pointed to the […]

No image available
/ 13 July 2000

Toyota beefs up SA operation to tune of R180m

LUCIA MUTIKANI, Johannesburg | Wednesday 11.30am. Japan’s Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) is to invest about R180m in a catalytic converter plant in South Africa next year. TMC President Fujio Cho said a joint venture between Toyota South Africa and Cataler Corporation would start production in the latter half of 2001 with an initial annual output […]

No image available
/ 13 July 2000

Zim gold mines at risk

REUTERS, Johannesburg | Wednesday 12.45pm. ZIMBABWE’S Chamber of Mines fear that 90 percent of the country’s gold mines were at risk due to a critical shortage of foreign exchange. The warning came as another Zimbabwean gold mine, suspended operations due to unsustainable losses. ”At least 90 percent of our gold mines are at risk if […]

No image available
/ 12 July 2000

VESTACOR ACQUIRES MORESPORT

VESTACOR, which operates as an investment capital fund is to acquire the interests, loan accounts and cash of sports goods retailer Moresport for R173m, or 70 cents a share. Vestacor said that after the disposal of Totalsports, Moresport did not have the required critical mass and immediate profitability necessary for a listed company to attract […]

No image available
/ 12 July 2000

Transnet deal a coup for Johnnic

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 01.00pm. IN the biggest state restructuring deal under President Mbeki’s auspices, Transnet has reached an agreement with Johnnic Holdings Limited and Johnnic Communications Limited to convert its 23% stake in MTN into shares in its holding company M-Cell Limited, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Transnet will also sell 75 […]

No image available
/ 12 July 2000

SPERMICIDE INCREASES HIV RISK

AIDS researchers hoping to find a way for women to silently protect themselves from Aids infection were disappointed to report on Wednesday that tests showed one product actually worsened the risk. The product, a spermicide called nonoxynol-9 and marketed under the trade name Advantage S by US-based Columbia Laboratories Inc, did not protect women in […]

No image available
/ 12 July 2000

REFORM FOR ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

SIX of the world’s biggest international trade and finance organizations will reform a four-year-old program to help the world’s poorest nations integrate into the global economy. The reorganization was prompted by criticism from independent experts who said that the programme was weak in administration and failed to link efforts to improve trade to the overall […]