Star 2023-12-08

SOUTH Africa’s current account deficit nar- rowed sharply in the third quarter of 2023, to 0.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) from a revised 2.7% in the second quarter, central bank data showed yesterday. In rand terms, the current account recorded a deficit of R19.3 billion for the July-Sep- tember period from a revised R185.2bn deficit in April-June. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a deficit of R111.2bn or 1.9% of GDP in the third quarter. The trade surplus grew to R189.1bn in the third quarter, compared to R22.2bn in the second quarter. “The value of merchandise imports decreased more than that of goods exports,” the South African Reserve Bank said in a statement accompanying the data. On Tuesday, the statistics agency released third-quarter GDP figures which showed a…

AFRICA could lose up to $25 billion (R473bn) a year as a result of the EU Carbon Border Tax Adjustment Mechanism, African Development Bank (AfDB) group president Dr Akinwumi Adesina said yesterday. He was addressing delegates at the Sustainable Trade Africa Conference at the UAE Trade Centre in Dubai. The new EU carbon border tax could significantly constrain Africa’s trade and industriali- sation progress by penalising value-added exports including steel, cement, iron, aluminium and fertilisers. Adesina said that with Africa’s energy deficit and reliance mainly on fossil fuels, especially diesel, the implication was that Africa would be forced to export raw commodities again into Europe, which would further cause the de-industrialisation of Africa. “Africa has been short-changed by climate change; now it will be short-changed in global trade,” Adesina…

CONSTRUCTION activity in South Africa surged to its highest level in nearly seven years in the three months to September, and could pick up in 2024 on the back of renewable energy investment and public/private partnerships. This is according to the findings of the Afrimat Construction Index (ACI) for the third quarter of 2023. The ACI is a composite index of the level of activity within the building and construction sectors compiled by economist Dr Roelof Botha on behalf of Afrimat. The index recorded a level of 131.5 points in the third quarter, compared with 120.3 points in the previous quarter. According to Botha, the lethargy of the economy as a whole during the third quarter was not evident in the construction sector, with six of the nine…

IT IS SIX years since the former CEO of Steinhoff International, Markus Jooste, stepped down from the firm in December 2017 after massive accounting fraud came to light, and yet he is still not behind bars. Corruption Watch said yesterday that South Africa should do a lot more to translate rhetoric about fighting corruption involving high-profile cases such as the masterminds of the Steinhoff scandal into successful prosecutions and penalties. The collapsed Steinhoff has been the most significant and high-profile corruption case to rock corporate South Africa in recent years. The Johannesburg and Germany dual-listed multinational company was liquidated in October this year after investigations showed that it had overstated profits over several years in an accounting scandal. However, there has been no criminal action against Jooste, who resigned from…

Parastatal says its recovery plan to address equipment availability is gaining traction TRANSNET Port Terminals (TPT) has vowed that its recovery plan to address equipment availability at Africa’s biggest and busiest container terminal was gaining traction following a groundbreaking agreement with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). TPT yesterday concluded a seven- year agreement with four OEMs for the supply of critical spares for equipment across its terminals, including the Durban Container Terminals (DCT) Pier 2. The confinement agreements signed with the OEMs are aimed at reducing waiting times for critical spares of handling equipment like straddle carriers, ship-to-shore and rubber-tyred gantry cranes. This comes as there were a total of 22 container vessels at anchorage destined for the Durban Container Terminals yesterday as TPT continues to alleviate container vessel congestion at…

FOR THOSE involved in the beef in- dustry this year was a perfect storm, according to Roelie van Reenen, the supply chain executive at Beefmaster Group. He said financially grain farmers had made considerable gains this year, but the profits of beef, chicken and pork industries had been knocked by foot and mouth disease (FMD), Avian flu and African Swine Fever, among others. Paul Makube, a senior agricultural economist at FNB Commercial, said they had seen a negative price growth for beef and pork with poultry mostly flat, while overall livestock slaughter fell by 8% relative to the previous quarter. “The livestock sub-sector also grappled with disease outbreaks such as the avian influenza in the poultry industry by mid-quarter three and given its sheer size of 42% of total agriculture…