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THE BITING interest rate hikes in South Africa may not be slowing down anytime soon in spite of the big petrol price drop expected in September to ease the elevated consumer prices. Unaudited mid-month data from the Central Energy Fund indicates that motorists could be in for a big fuel price cut in September as the global price of Brent crude oil has softened below $95 (R1 553) a barrel. The Automobile Association (AA) said yesterday that 95 unleaded petrol was expected to drop by around R2.60 a litre, while 93 unleaded might decrease by R2.45 a litre. The wholesale price of diesel is expected to fall by around R2.30 a litre and the price of illuminating paraffin by almost R2 a litre. The price of oil this…
Lengthy delays to make calls on the findings on dozens of investigations LENGTHY delays by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition (Dtic), and the Minister of Finance, to make calls on the findings on dozens of International Trade Administration Commission (Itac) investigations have resulted in the loss of R1.25 billion in customs revenue a year, and have had material implications for affected industries. Furthermore, Donald MacKay, the chief executive and founder of XA Global Trade Advisors, said yesterday that Dtic Minister Ebrahim Patel’s indecision had tied up billions in overdue Itac customs duty investigations. According to the firm’s first Open Cases Report, this has cost local consumers R2bn in import duties collected, on goods and services that could not be produced locally, because of outstanding issues taking…
LG ELECTRONICS, in a vote of confidence in the South African economy, yesterday launched its first Premium Service Centre in Johannesburg. The multi-million rand centre will ensure that LG provides quality aftersales and repair services, giving customers a quick and convenient option to have their appliances fixed directly with LG. LG has been one of the foreign direct investors supporting President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ambitious R1.2 trillion investment drive by providing a much-needed boost for the country’s declining manufacturing sector that has been pummelled by power outages. This comes more than a year after the Korean electronics group lost millions of rand when its R21 million factory and distribution centre was looted and set alight during the July 2021 social unrest. The LG factory was fairly new, having been…
THE PRICE of meat is likely to remain high after the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD), Thoko Didiza, took the decision to suspend all movement of cattle in South Africa due to foot and mouth disease (FMD). In a statement released yesterday, DALRRD spokesperson Reggie Ngcobo said the minister’s decision was aimed at halting the continued spread of FMD in the country. The ban will be declared in the Government Gazette and any disregard for the movement ban will be a criminal offence. The exception would only be upon veterinary permit for cattle for direct slaughter at registered abattoirs and slaughter for ritual purposes. “It also means that cattle may not be moved from one property to another for any reason for a period of 21…
THE MAJORITY of Zimbabwean banks have been fined for involvement, “in activities that ran contrary” to the terms of operating licences, such as illegal currency dealings, in the latest bid by the authorities to save the plummeting Zim dollar unit. Zimbabwe’s banking sector has been fragile over the past few years with multiple bank failures, cash shortages and sudden policy pronouncements. These include shifts in functional currencies that have worsened the plight of the sector. President Emerson Mnangagwa said on Sunday that out of 16 banking institutions, “only five passed the integrity test” with the rest having been “involved in activities that ran contrary” to terms of their operating licences. Previously, authorities have sanctioned mobile money platforms for contribution to the spike in the parallel market exchange rate. Now, Harare…
MINIMAL progress has been made in balancing gender representation in senior positions at top JSE-listed companies since January 2020, according to PwC South Africa’s 2022 Executive Directors Report. This was while equal female representation in senior management and executive positions had been a long-standing area of focus within the corporate sector. PwC SA said yesterday it had long maintained that the first and most important step towards resolving the gender pay gap was equal gender representation within senior positions. Leila Ebrahimi, PwC South Africa People and Organisation Reward co-lead, said while all were familiar with the setbacks Covid-19 posed to the equality agenda, the world was normalising to a point where it was no longer appropriate to look for reasons why inequality persisted. “It’s Women’s Month, and every time it…
