Over the past few days South African government officials and business representatives have had to be on their toes, answering British investors’ questions – especially about nationalisation and empowerment. Anitha Soni, chairperson of the International Marketing Council, said that interest in meetings held in London this week as part of President Jacob Zuma’s state visit, […]
Category: business
IMF Chief to visit Kenya, South Africa, Zambia
IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn is to visit Africa to gauge how the continent’s economies were coping with the financial crisis, officials said on Thursday. During his five-day trip beginning Sunday, the International Monetary Fund chief will visit Kenya, South Africa and Zambia for meetings with the authorities, trade unions, representatives of civil society, and […]
S.Africa: Mining plan is opposed
An application made for prospecting rights for minerals in areas of the Cape Winelands has met with staunch opposition. Made by state-owned African Exploration Mining and Finance Corporation (AEMFC), the application seeks the right to prospect for tin, zinc, lithium, copper, manganese and silver in areas considered critical biodiversity areas. Adding their voice to the […]
Sasol plea opens can of worms in the oil sector
A SASOL application to the Competition Commission for leniency has opened a can of worms in the oil industry. The commission said yesterday it had found that major oil companies had fixed their bitumen prices. The commission ruled against Chevron SA; Engen; Shell SA; Total SA; Masana Petroleum Solution (BP is a shareholder in the […]
S.Africa: Gordhan bemoans response to Eskom
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said yesterday he was “disappointed” by the response of developed countries to Eskom’s plan to seek about 4bn in loans from the World Bank to build power plants. “It’s the first loan SA is asking the World Bank for, and suddenly there’s all sorts of doubts,” Gordhan said in an interview […]
Governments must set up changes to halt global warming
Businesses are looking to government for leadership in establishing the necessary behavioural changes to halt global warming. This was one of the findings of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ report released on Thursday entitled “Appetite for Change: The global business perspective on tax and regulation for a low carbon economy. In the South African supplement to this report, the […]
S.Africa: SARS must get its share, Court rules
The tax collector must get his share from imported wefts used to attach hair or wigs to a person’s scalp or own hair, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) held on Thursday. The court upheld an appeal by the Commissioner of the Revenue Service (SARS) concerning the correct tariff classification for customs duty on synthetic […]
Patel eyes pensions billions for state fund
Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel is to explore ways of investing some of the R1,5-trillion of public and private retirement funds in development projects, including the possibility of issuing a development bond. The use of retirement funds for development is one objective of the Department of Economic Development’s strategic plan tabled in Parliament this week. […]
S.Africa: Strong rand twists ARM
Diversified miner African Rainbow Minerals yesterday reported an 80% fall in first-half headline earnings, hit by lower commodity prices and a strong rand against the US dollar. ARM, which has interests in nickel, coal, iron ore, platinum, chrome and manganese, said headline earnings per share for the six months to end-December fell to 214 cents […]
Market hails talk of Old Mutual US sale
Speculation that SA’s leading life assurer, Old Mutual , was considering the sale of its US life operations pushed its share price up more than 3,9% to R13,29 yesterday. London-based Old Mutual had hired JPMorgan Chase to consider a sale of the US life business and several possible buyers had been found, the Financial Times […]