Star 2023-03-10

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has assured Parliament that the government was working to build a professional public service as part of implementing the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP). Yesterday Ramaphosa was giving his first oral replies for the year to questions from MPs in the National Assembly. ANC member Judy Hermans asked Ramaphosa what were the plans of the government after the audit of the civil service to build a capable developmental state for the implementation of the ERRP. The government announced the ERRP in October 2020 in response to the severe health, social and economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Ramaphosa said that there were multiple plans and interventions to ensure the successful implementation of the ERRP. He reiterated the centrality of a capable and effective State in addressing…

SOUTH Africa’s economic indicators are currently all pointing towards an impending recessionary period following the latest credit ratings downgrade, and shrinking gross domestic product (GDP), while the country has recently been greylisted. The SA Reserve Bank (SARB) said yesterday that the country’s terms of trade (including gold) deteriorated further in the fourth quarter of 2022 as the rand price of imported goods and services increased while that of exports decreased. The SARB said the country’s current account balance switched to a deficit of R174 billion, or 2.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the final quarter of 2022 from a revised surplus of R3.1bn in the third quarter. This was the largest current account gap since the third quarter of 2019, as the goods surplus narrowed further to R12.2bn…

SIM TSHABALALA, the CEO of Standard Bank, Africa’s largest bank by assets, delivering bumper annual results, said yesterday that the South African economy looked run down, with pessimism about a quicker turnaround become more entrenched amid unprecedented electricity supply and other structural constraints further straining the continent’s most sophisticated country. Standard Bank is anticipating interest rates in South Africa to increase by an additional 25 basis points in the first half of the current year, although the lender believes a pause in rate hikes is possible beyond that. It also anticipates inflation to moderate to 5.9% in the year ahead, while economic growth will likely come in at 1.2%, held back by “severe electricity shortages and structural constraints” to the economy. “The level of electricity disruptions experienced this year…

A PUBLIC Investment Corporation (PIC) senior investment committee in May 2018 approved a R4.3 billion share for cash transaction with AYO Technology Solutions (AYO) in a report that was signed by the PIC chairperson, five of its senior directors and most of its executive team, the Western Cape High Court heard yesterday. AYO legal representative Nazeer Cassim, (SC), yesterday, during his continued cross-examination of PIC witness Victor Seanie, a dismissed assistant portfolio manager of the PIC, read out documents showing that PIC policies allowed for transactions of less than R10bn to be ratified by the PIC, and then subjected to normal PIC transaction approval processes at a later stage. This contradicted Seanie’s former claims, which he reiterated yesterday, that he believed the transaction was corrupt as it had bypassed…

PAN-AFRICAN financial services group Sanlam stood firm as it navigated a tough 2022 of “extreme turbulence” amid high insurance claims and investment volatility. Challenges it faced last year included significant volatility in global equity, credit and interest rate markets as well as flooding in KwaZulu-Natal. In its results for the year ended December 2022, life insurance new business volumes slid 10% to R64.8 billion, while the value of new covered business fell 14% to R2.4bn. This as the group increased its divi- dend by 8% to 360 cents per share, while its headline earnings increased by 2.8% to R 9.3bn. Its general insurance net result from financial services declined by 32%, impacted by several factors including significant claims inflation, adverse weather conditions as well as investment market volatility.…

THE SOUTH African Poultry Association (Sapa) has extolled growth in the local industry despite challenges, including load shedding, which has necessitated investments that adds amounts ranging from 75 cents to R2 to the cost of production as well as higher grain and other input costs. Sapa CEO Izaak Breitenbach has said the industry had been able to hold its own despite extensive culls in Janu- ary and February as a result of power cuts. This put pressure on farmers to not pile the increases on the consumer. Daily power cuts disrupt 24-hour production schedules and necessitate expensive investment in diesel generators. Sapa estimates that load shedding adds 75c/kg to the cost of producing a chicken. In addition, production was reduced in January and February by 13 million…