Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian

S Amp P Global

latest news & developments
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.
2025 BUDGET

Godongwana trims spending, lowers growth forecast

In his third prepared budget for the year, the minister said government debt would still stabilise this year but at 77.4% of GDP, higher than predicted in March

  • Emsie Ferreira
5 min read
As developed countries grapple with the effects of low births and ageing populations, many have pointed to Africa’s youth as a source of its future economic might. Photo by Robert Wallis/Corbis via Getty Images)
BIRTH RATES

Fertile ground: What fewer births mean for SA’s economic growth

The country’s changing demographics can be positive – but only if there are jobs for the still-growing, working-age population

  • Sarah Smit
6 min read
After delivering a solid set of results this week, Nedbank chief financial officer Mike Davis has insisted that impending interest rate cuts won’t flatten the group’s performance this year. (Nadine Hutton/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
MIKE DAVIS

Nedbank won’t be crushed by falling interest rates, says chief financial officer

Shored up by higher borrowing costs, South Africa’s banking sector seems to have to weather the 2023 economic storm

  • Sarah Smit
4 min read
President Cyril Ramaphosa. (Photo: David Harrison)
BUSI MAVUSO

Ramaphosa announces new R2 trillion investment target

President announces reforms aimed at attracting investors to the country as he opens conference

  • Sarah Smit
3 min read
The South African Reserve Bank is likely to hold interest rates unchanged
ANNABEL BISHOP

Explainer: What a weak rand means for interest rates

Later this month the South African Reserve Bank will decide how big a rise the country’s flailing economy can take

  • Sarah Smit
3 min read
Nehawu members protest outside George Tabor Technical College in Soweto on 8 March 2023. (Fani Mahuntsi/ Gallo Images)
ANC

Little fires everywhere as SA comes to terms with economic decline

As the deteriorating economic conditions threaten to ignite another bout of social upheaval, we should consider our options for a co-ordinated blaze

  • Sarah Smit
5 min read
Nehawu members protest outside George Tabor Technical College in Soweto on 8 March 2023. (Fani Mahuntsi/ Gallo Images)
2023 BUDGET

Public sector crunch inflicts pain

The government is walking a tightrope as civil servants embark on industrial action over pay

  • Sarah Smit
7 min read
The tourism industry is crucial for South Africa but it is being hamstrung by problems with its power, water, transport and waste infrastructure. (Leon Sadiki/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
ECONOMIC GROWTH

S&P downgrades SA’s outlook as load-shedding weighs on growth

Data released this week gave credence to the view that South Africa may be headed for another technical recession

  • Sarah Smit
3 min read
The pandemic’s shock to the local economy was a big reason for the decision to downgrade the country to junk status.(Photo by MARCO LONGARI / AFP)
ANC

Long road ahead for South Africa to climb out of junk status

Economist don’t expect an upgrade anytime soon, but the country is in a better position to claw back its investment grade rating

  • Sarah Smit
6 min read
Inadequate rail capacity has pushed more trucks, and costs, onto municipal roads, which are steadily deteriorating. (Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
CITY OF EKURHULENI

Transnet’s decline tears at tight municipal budgets

Inadequate rail capacity has pushed more trucks, and costs, onto municipal roads, which are steadily deteriorating

  • Sarah Smit
4 min read
Saldanha Bay, West Coast, South Africa, Railway trucks carrying iron ore from Sishen to Saldanha Bay terminal on the West Coast of South Africa. (Photo by: Peter Titmuss/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
ALAN MUKOKI

Strike sets Transnet back — again

The industrial action is the latest in a series of economy-hitting upsets for the state logistics company

  • Sarah Smit
7 min read
QINGDAO, CHINA – MAY 09: Aerial view of shipping containers sitting stacked at Asia’s first fully automated container terminal of Qingdao Port on May 9, 2022 in Qingdao, Shandong Province of China. (Photo by Zhang Jingang/VCG via Getty Images)
CHINA

Commodity prices buoy South Africa amid China’s slow growth blow

South Africa’s fate is tied to China’s, but war-related disruptions in the global energy market keep exports going

  • Sarah Smit
6 min read
February 23 2022 – Minister Enoch Godongwana speaks to the media at the Imbizo Media Centre in Parliament, Cape Town. (David Harrison)
2022 BUDGET

Light at end of tunnel, but wage bill could blow the budget

The treasury is meeting rating agencies that identified the public service compensation as a threat to South Africa’s credit outlook

  • Sarah Smit
8 min read
Protests: Turkey has seen opposition to the country’s declaration of   ‘an economic war of independence’ by refusing to rein in inflation using higher interest rates and other measures. (Yasin Akgul/AFP/Getty)
ALEXANDER FORBES

Lessons from Turkey to SA: Economic independence is a battle

Without tighter capital controls, regulating the flow of money in and out of their economies, Turkey and South Africa are vulnerable to the whims of the financial markets

  • Sarah Smit
6 min read
No new coal: Unemployed men such as Bonginkosi Mhlanga scrape a living from abandoned mine shafts. Analysts warn that commodity prices, which have over the years sometimes papered over South Africa’s economic woes, will not keep the country going forever. (Emmanuel Croset/AFP)
ZUMAUNREST

Commodities ‘bail out’ South African economy, but chronic structural woes remain

The mining industry is riding a wave that will eventually crash, analysts warn

  • Sarah Smit
8 min read