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/ 20 February 2008

SA energy crisis sends rand tumbling

South Africa is sitting on gold, platinum and other minerals that are selling at record prices on world markets, yet its economy is, quite literally, underpowered. The rand, the worst performing currency this year, has lost 12% against the dollar in the past month since the country was hit with electricity shortages that kept mines from working.

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/ 6 February 2008

Consumer confidence remains high, survey shows

Results of the latest MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Confidence for the first half of 2008 show that consumer confidence in South Africa remains optimistic, despite a minor decrease from last year. Out of a possible score of 100, the South African index score decreased from 86,5 for the first half of 2007 to 83,7, it said in a statement on Wednesday.

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/ 28 January 2008

Mining losses could hit GDP by R5,6bn

South Africa’s mining industry could lose up to R9,2-billion in revenue and the country’s GDP could take a knock of up to R5,6-billion as a result of the power restrictions imposed on mines by Eskom last week. T-Sec economist Mike Schussler estimates that the mining industry is losing about R330-million in revenues a day.