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 19th July: 1. EU carbon levy impact: The European Union’s plan to put a carbon levy on imported goods from outside the bloc is an attempt to shift the burden for climate action to developing countries and may contravene World Trade Organization rules, South Africa said. The so-called carbon border adjustment […]
News in South Africa 14th July: 1. Rand breaks through R18/$: The rand broke through the psychologically important R18/$ level for the first time in just over three months on Thursday, boosted by positive US data, along with hopes that Chinese stimulus will offer support to commodity prices. The local currency reached R17.99/$ in mid-morning […]
News in South Africa 13th July: 1. Stage 8 load shedding warning: South Africa’s sudden return to stage 6 load shedding after about a month of day-time suspensions of the rolling blackouts is not really a surprise, say energy experts – and the risk of things escalating remains a possibility. Eskom was forced to return […]
News in South Africa 5th July: 1. Severe water shortage: Experts are warning of a looming water crisis on a scale worse than load-shedding in South Africa as criminal syndicates have begun targeting water infrastructure to score tenders. Professor Anthony Turton from the Centre for Environmental Management at the University of the Free State warned […]
News in South Africa 4th July: 1. Food supply under threat: PwC has warned that South Africa is at risk of heightened food insecurity with load-shedding, adverse weather, and deteriorating infrastructure disrupting the country’s food supply. This is from the financial advisory firm’s South Africa Economic Outlook, released in June, where it discussed how businesses […]
News in South Africa 28th June: 1. Eskom issues new rules for grid access: Eskom is doing away with its “first come, first served” principle for projects applying for grid access. It now wants developers to demonstrate that their projects are shovel-ready and will be able to add generation capacity before making grid allocations. Speaking […]
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 26th June: 1. Eskom’s smart meter project: Eskom on Friday announced the beginning of a pilot project that will give consumers more control over load shedding by using smart meters. The utility said selected consumers in Fourways in Gauteng will during Stage 1-4 load shedding get four opportunities to reduce their […]
