News in South Africa 11th August: 1. SA R500 billion in debt: South Africa will need to borrow R500 billion over the next year, or R2 billion per weekday on average, to fund its current fiscal deficit and refinance maturing debt. This increases the risk of investing in the country and increases borrowing costs for […]
News in South Africa 21st July: 1. Financial stress climbing: A survey of more than 35 000 people has revealed that 55% spend more than 40% of their take-home pay on debt repayments, while 37% say more than half their available income goes straight to servicing debt. Nearly 80% of respondents say that they “experience […]
News in South Africa 20th July: 1. Division over interest rate hikes: Economists are divided over whether South Africa’s central bank will pause interest-rate increases on Thursday, or extend its longest phase of monetary tightening since 2006. Deteriorating inflation expectations, currency risks and enhancements to the South African Reserve Bank’s quarterly projection model, used to […]
News in South Africa 27th June: 1. South Africans severely indebted: South Africans are among the most indebted people in the world, with as much as 73% of disposable household income servicing debt repayments. Credit abuses and frailties in the legislative framework, compounded by financial illiteracy, leave borrowers vulnerable to manipulation by lenders. This is […]
News in South Africa 30th May: 1. Sanction warning: The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has warned of dire consequences should the country face censure due to its stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. At worst, secondary or indirect sanctions could be imposed on the country and lead to a sudden halt to capital inflows […]
News in South Africa 22nd May: 1. Stage 8 all but certain: Business interest group BLSA says that stage 8 load shedding is all but certain in the coming months, warning that companies relying on diesel to keep their operations going during outages will be hit even harder as the lights go out for as […]
News in South Africa 18th April: 1. Load shedding vs blackout hours: It’s only halfway through April 2023, and South Africa has already experienced as much load shedding (hours) as almost the entirety of 2022 – and the number of hours of blackouts you experience is worse than ever before. These are some of the […]
News in South Africa 17th April: 1. Stage 8 not imminent but possible: Despite the tripping of Koeberg Unit 2 over the weekend prompting fears that stage 8 load shedding could be looming, stage 8 load shedding is only likely if there is a ‘perfect storm’, which would include a cold front lasting for several […]
News in South Africa 11th April: 1. Eskom debt relief extends to municipalities: National Treasury is rolling out an ambitious plan to rid struggling municipalities of their ever-growing debt to Eskom, but only if they adhere to strict conditions to permanently change problematic behaviour at council and consumer level. If successful, the plan – set […]
News in South Africa 28th March: 1. Civil servants may accept pay hike: South African public servants are likely to accept the government’s latest wage offer, according an initial estimate of a ballot of labour-union members. Employee groups representing about 1.3 million government workers are currently seeking a mandate from their members to accept a […]
