South Africa’s National Treasury on Monday announced the first of three new bonds announced in the February 26 Budget. The new bond will be called the R201 bond and will be an 11-year bond maturing on December 21, 2014.
SA consumers could see a 30 cents per litre cut in the retail petrol price in June as the recent decline in the daily over-recovery is not enough to wipe out the gains accumulated before the retail petrol price was adjusted on May 7.
South Africa’s Growth and Development Summit to be held on June 7 in Midrand, near Johannesburg, is likely to be an "endorsing" summit, where President Thabo Mbeki and some 200 delegates will endorse a programme of action that has already been decided before the time
Data released on Monday by the South African Reserve Bank is flashing red with regards to the prospects for the South African economy, as money supply growth has slowed precipitously and the leading indicator peaked in May 2002.
The South African National Treasury on Friday welcomed the decision of international credit ratings agency Fitch to upgrade South Africa, saying it confirmed South Africa’s status as a haven.
The South African rand reached a new best level for 2003 in early morning trade on Thursday as it broke below 7,60 rand per dollar to touch 7,5868 rand per dollar. This was its best level since January 2001.
The South African rand broke below the key technical level of R7,72 per dollar to reach a new 2003 best level.
The South African government has published a bill that aims to give legislative effect to the foreign exchange amnesty announced by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel in his Budget speech on February 26.
Real retail sales rose by 3.6% y/y and increased by 1.3% m/m in January 2003, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said on Wednesday, after real retail sales rose by 4.5% in 2002.
The rand has remained near the R8 per dollar level despite the start of the American invasion of Iraq on March 20 and a change in South African Reserve Bank (SARB) exchange rate policy announced on the same day.
South Africa’s hosting of the eighth Cricket World Cup (CWC) in February and March has firmly positioned South Africa as a leading global sports and tourism destination.
The rand is forecast to depreciate gradually over the next two years, reaching a median of R8,967 per dollar at the end of March 2004 and 9,478 at the end of March 2005, the March 2003 survey of economists by London-based Consensus Economics shows.
The sudden collapse of the rand in the fourth quarter 2001 was due to a flood of money printed by the South African Reserve Bank according to monetary economist Richard Grant, a former chief economist at the Chamber of Mines.
South African Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni said that the SARB’s inflation targeting policy was compatible with growth in his inaugural lecture as Extraordinary Professor at the University of Stellenbosch.
South African Tourism has used interest in cricket to launch a 90 000 Indian rupee, 10-day ultimate luxury family holiday package targeting select upper income groups in India.
The initial public offering in South African telecommunications company Telkom raised R3,9-billion rand, but in US dollar terms this was less than $500-million, of which only half is expected to come from offshore.
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/ 28 February 2003
Overseas visitors to South Africa soared by 35% y/y to 198 615 after rising by a record 42% y/y in October. This brought the cumulative increase for the first 11 months to 18.5% y/y for a total of 1 668 352, data supplied by Statistics South Africa show.
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/ 24 February 2003
The South African Treasury is rolling in money and will be able to give taxpayers back some R10-billion rand when the 2003/4 Budget is presented on Wednesday, PLJ Financial Services chief economist Dawie Roodt said.
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/ 21 February 2003
South Africa has been ranked 36th out of 82 countries surveyed by the World Economic Forum, the World Bank and the Paris-based international business school INSEAD in the latest Network Readiness Index.
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/ 21 February 2003
The resurgent rand has put the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) under increasing pressure to cut interest rates despite SARB governor Tito Mboweni’s repeated warnings that speculation of an imminent interest rate cut is premature.
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/ 17 February 2003
Banking group Nedcor’s capital expenditure project listing for South Africa showed a 113% jump in announced capital projects (valued at more than R20-million) to R53,4-billion in 2002.
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/ 11 February 2003
South Africa’s total manufacturing production soared by 5,4% in 2002, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reports. This was the highest annual increase since 1995, when manufacturing production surged by 8,1% after six years of subdued growth.
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/ 3 February 2003
Statistics released on Friday show that South Africa’s 2002 exports increased most to Oceania, which includes Australia and New Zealand. Import growth in 2002 increased most from Africa, in part because South Africa switched oil imports from the Middle East to African countries.
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/ 30 January 2003
The South African rand rallied in early trade on Thursday after better than expected December credit extension data and the announcement that the Telkom initial public offering (IPO) would take place on February 25.
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/ 24 January 2003
South African bonds opened firmer on Friday as the rand kept near the 8,70 rand per dollar level compared with the 8,80 level on Thursday afternoon.
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/ 22 January 2003
Representatives from a dozen nations will gather today in Paris for the first international meeting of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership.
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/ 14 January 2003
The rand should be less volatile this year, said international credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s managing director for Europe, Middle East and Africa sovereign ratings, Konrad Reuss on Monday.
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/ 27 November 2002
South African bonds were slightly softer in early trade on Wednesday ahead of the release of October producer inflation data.
SA’s private sector land freight volumes rose by 8% year-on-year in September to 45,754 million metric tons, while the volume of goods transported by state-owned Transnet declined by 1% y/y to 14,686-million metric tons.
South African bonds were steady in quiet early trade on Monday as traders settled into the lethargic December holiday period.
The retail petrol price in South Africa should drop by 18 cents per litre (c/l), the latest data from the
Department of Minerals and Energy shows. An official announcement is expected on Monday, December 2.