Star 2024-04-18

CONSUMERS should brace for a prolonged period of elevated cost of living as the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is unlikely to temper its monetary policy after headline inflation remained stubborn on the back of rising education fees. Data from Statistics SA (StatsSA) yesterday showed that the rate of annual consumer price inflation (CPI) softened to 5.3% in March, down from 5.6% in February. StatsSA said core inflation recorded a modest decline, from 5% to 4.9% in March. This disinflation trend in the headline was better than the expected decline of 5.5%, and is expected to continue as the year progresses, albeit at a slower pace. StatsSA said the categories with the highest annual price changes in March were miscellaneous goods and services, education, health, and housing and utilities. StatsSA…

THE AUTOMOBILE Association (AA) has warned of another petrol price hike in May that will push the cost of living even higher for financially-constrained consumers, as inflation also remained sticky above 5% in March. The AA yesterday said that current unaudited data from the Central Energy Fund (CEF) indicated the petrol price would again increase by 37c/litre in May, pushing the price close to R25.15/l from the current R24.78/l. The transport index on the headline inflation print rose by 2% between Feb-ruary and March, mainly due to a monthly rise of 5.3% in fuel prices in March, when petrol increased by R1.21/l, and diesel by R1.06/l and R1.19/l, respec- tively. South African fuel prices have reached record-high increases over the past three years, despite the government not increasing the General…

RETAIL activity in South Africa is expected to remain constrained after sales fell for a second month in February as elevated inflation continued to affect consumers’ disposable incomes. Statistics SA (Stats SA) yesterday said retail sales declined by 0.8% year-on-year in February, marking the second consecutive month of decreases in retail activity, following a 2% decline in January. Stats SA’s deputy director for distributive trade statistics, Raquel Floris, said three of the seven retail groups registered a fall in sales in February, with the clothing category being the largest negative contributor to growth. Floris said the retail print experienced significant drops in sales of textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods, and all other retailers as it fell by 6.8% during the month. “Hardware, painting, glass, and the miscellaneous group referred…

THE SOUTH African Revenue Services (Sars) has remained adamant that it had not defaulted on paying its electricity bill to the Tshwane Municipality as lights went off due to more than R800 000 arrears incurred at the office it occupies in Pretoria. This comes as the Metro confirmed yesterday that the revenue collector had since paid its arrears amount after it was cut off as part of the “Tshwane Ya Tima” operation aimed at collecting R4 billion a month in arrears revenue. In response to Business Report, Sars said it could not confirm the reported R838 000 arrears for electricity supply which had resulted in the Metro switching off the lights in the ongoing Tshwane Ya Tima, partly as a result of unpaid service charges. “Sars does…

THE FUTURE of a decarbonised mari- time footprint took a step closer on Monday after Greece announced that it had joined the Clean Energy Marine Hubs Initiative (CEM-Hubs) and become its seventh member. The initiative is led by Brazil, Canada, Norway, Panama, the UN and Uruguay. Nelson Mojarro, the head of innovation and partnerships for the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), speaking on Monday at the 14th Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, welcomed Greece joining the initiative and highlighted how the maritime sector was set for major disruption in the pursuit of clean energy. The initiative, which was launched last year, brings together the private sector and governments across the energy-maritime value chain to transform maritime transportation and production hubs for…

AGRICULTURE South Africa (AgriSA) said yesterday that the Extension of Security of Tenure Amendment Act (Estaa), which was enacted at the beginning of this month, marked a significant milestone in the ongoing evolution of property rights in South Africa. Agri SA said Estaa represented a concerted effort to address long-standing issues within the Extension of Security of Tenure Act of 1997, and would ensure sustainable land reform, enhancing and protecting property rights. It also said the Estaa refined key definitions within the legislation. “Through the introduction of key amendments and regulations, Estaa aims to enhance security of tenure while balancing the rights of both landowners and occupiers,” it said. “The inclusion of new definitions for ‘dependent’ and ‘family’ ensures that the rights of spouses, both adopted and biological children, parents,…