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Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za CONSUMERS will be digging deep into their pockets for petrol and electricity as prices soar to their highest in spite of household income being impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The petrol price breaches the R17 mark today for the first time since late 2018, following hikes of 95 cents and R1 per litre for 93 unleaded and 95 unleaded, respectively. The depreciation of the rand against the US dollar, from R14.76 to R14.95, led to higher contributions to the basic fuel prices of petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin. This comes as stiff electricity tariffs kicked off on Thursday after Eskom was granted permission to increase the rate of tariffs by 15.63 percent from April 1. This means an additional 5.44c/kWh to the standard tariff for…
Stronger-than-expected global economic rebound of 6% has changed the estimate Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za THE INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised South Africa's growth prospects for 2021 upwards due to a stronger-than-expected global economic rebound of 6 percent. The IMF yesterday said South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) would now grow at 3.1 percent this year, up from a revised 2.8 percent forecast in January due to vaccines concerns. For 2022, the IMF in its World Economic Outlook said South Africa’s economy would advance by 2 percent, up from the previous estimate of 1.4 percent before moderating at 1.6 percent in 2026. The IMF’s outlook is slightly lower than the SA Reserve Bank and the National Treasury estimates, which expect the economy to rebound by 3.3…
IN A BID to uplift small businesses, local fuel refiner and retailer Astron Energy, which holds the Caltex licence in South Africa and Botswana, has given Verigreen Packaging a contract and preferential funding. The contract and funding were through Astron Energy’s development programme. In a statement released yesterday, Astron Energy said instead of giving the contract to one of its regular suppliers, it had chosen to give the contract to a small business. Astron Energy chief executive Jonathan Molapo said he believed that it was an obligation of every big enterprise to uplift smaller suppliers as a core part of their business model. He said the Enterprise Supplier development has provided more than R100 million in interest-free loans and credit lines over the past five years. “It’s a genuine win-win…
Sandile Mchunu sandile.mchunu@inl.co.za SOUTH African Breweries (SAB) said yesterday that it was continuing with the launch of its R5.4 billion broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) scheme – Zenzele Kabili – after it was pushed back last year due to the Covid-19 outbreak. Zenzele Kabili will launch next month, while the existing scheme, SAB Zenzele, would also reach maturity next month, a delay from the original timelines due to Covid-19. However, the group said the Covid-19-driven restrictions had prevented the necessary shareholder scheme meeting from taking place, and prevented beneficiaries from voting regarding payouts and reinvestment options. “The SAB Zenzele board, together with SAB, recognised at the time that such postponement would have a significant negative impact on the anticipated cash flows of shareholders, which had been exacerbated by the…
SOUTH African stocks rallied to a three-week high yesterday as optimism around a swift economic recovery was helped by massive stimulus spending and vaccination campaigns and a better-than-expected outlook. The JSE All Share Index rose as much as 1.23 percent to 68 063 index points yesterday, its highest level since March 12, following its global peers after a long Easter weekend. Anchor Capital’s Seleho Tsatsi said the JSE this year had been driven by a combination of outperformance by South African facing businesses and the continuation of the bull market in the resources sector. “Several of the best performing shares year-to-date and in the month of March were among the worst affected companies last year,” Tsatsi said. “We have seen so-called cyclical shares outperform globally this year and…
FORBES’ annual world’s billionaires list includes a record-breaking 2 755 billionaires, with Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos topping it for the fourth consecutive year, the media company said yesterday. The ranks of the ultra-wealthy are expanding after a year in which the coronavirus pandemic upended world economies and threatened the livelihoods of people across the globe. This year’s billionaires are worth a combined $13.1 trillion (R190trillion), up from $8trln last year, Forbes said. “The very, very rich got very, very richer,” said Forbes’ chief content officer, Randall Lane, in an interview. Tesla chief executive Elon Musk jumped into second spot on the list, up from 31st last year. Bernard Arnault, the chief executive of luxury goods firm LVMH, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg round…
