Star 2024-11-14

A group of leading multilateral development banks (MDBs) have estimated to make $170 billion (approximately R3 trillion) in collective climate financing contributions in response to Loss and Damage for low- and middle-income countries until 2030. This comes as the 29th 2024 UN Conference of the Parties (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, yesterday heard that the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage was now ready to accept contributions after the signing of key documents and is now expected to start financing projects in 2025. Loss and damage has been a key priority in the COP29 Presidency’s plan to enhance ambition and enable action. The Fund will serve as a lifeline by providing critical and urgent support for those impacted by the devastating consequences of climate change. Africa receives only 3–4%…

Prosus sold Swiggy shares worth more than $500 million (R8.99 billion) as part of the successful IPO of the India-based on-demand convenience platform yesterday, the second largest listing in that country this year. In the IPO, the Bombay Stock Exchanges of India (BSE) valued Swiggy at $11.3 billion (R203.4bn). Amsterdam-based and JSE listed Prosus, 43% owned by Naspers, has been a major investor in Swiggy since 2017 and will be left with 25% of the India company after the IPO, with two seats on the board. Prosus CEO Fabricio Bloisi said they had supported the Swiggy management team since Naspers’ first investment in 2017 with a 31% stake, and have seen the company flourish in the post-pandemic era. Swiggy listed its shares at ₹390 (R82.83) per share during its IPO.…

Fixed-odds lotto betting platform Lottoland South Africa has won an interim order in an antitrust case against Alphabet’s Google, with the Competition Tribunal ruling that the internet search giant must allow Lottoland SA to access Google Ads locally and in Ireland. This ruling comes hot on the heels of an almost decade-long battle between Google and the European Commission over restrictions the European body said the search engine had placed in online search advertising. In 2019, Google was fined €1.49 billion over its online advertising practices, which the commission said included preventing its competitors from advertising on the search engine, as well as reserving the best spots for its own adverts. That fine was overturned in September by the European Union General Court. Lottoland SA, which has been in existence…

Treasury considers increasing guideline tax burden for all the alcohol categories or scrapping it South Africa’s beer industry has applauded the government for proposing to make adjustments to the guideline benchmarks framework for taxation of alcoholic beverages in South Africa. The National Treasury published a policy review yesterday on the taxation of alcoholic beverages, which builds on the previous excise tax policy review in 2014 and proposes adjustments to the current policy framework. In September, the lucrative industry raised issues about its sustainability amid ongoing economic pressures on the back of recent above-inflation increases in excise duties of between 6.7% and 7.2% on alcohol, which deviated from established excise policy and have resulted in beer tax burdens exceeding the targets set by this policy. Over recent years, excise duties on…

Last week saw Unit 6 at Kriel Power Station explode, with Eskom’s official press statement saying, “A preliminary investigation revealed that an oil pipe had broken, causing an oil spill on the hot surfaces of the turbine, which triggered a fire.” But what Eskom, through its Censorship by Omission, does not appear to tell the public is that this risk was already identified in the VGBE Energy Report. They have known about the risk since last year. Readers of this column may recall that between February and August of 2023, the South African Treasury contracted independent teams, led by the German company VGBE Energy, to assess the status of the coal fleet. Initially, the Treasury attempted to withhold this information from the public. However, after significant public pressure, especially following…

Donald Trump has secured the presidency of the United States for a second time, marking a remarkable return to power after a tumultuous first term. His victory over Vice President Kamala Harris has ushered in an era of uncertainty and prompted widespread discussion about the potential economic implications of his policies. My best-case scenario includes a soft landing in the US, further easing in inflation, further rate cuts, and a somewhat weaker US dollar. That would generally be good for emerging markets, emerging market currencies, and South Africa, as well as the rand, which under that scenario would strengthen. Trump’s policies wouldn’t be good for that. His policies on trade tariffs would mean higher consumer goods prices. His immigration policy would limit labour supply and thus higher wage and salary…