BP mounts bid to put state off building huge refinery — Energy giant BP Africa has taken the unusual step of publicly discouraging the government from going ahead with the building of PetroSA’s project Mthombo, SA’s largest refinery. BP Africa CEO Sipho Maseko said on Friday SA should not make a “hasty” decision on the […]
Category: business
Eskom tariff ruling wait is almost over
A barrage of important economic data this week may be eclipsed on Wednesday by the long- awaited decision on Eskom’s electricity price hikes over the coming three years. The power utility has scaled back its initial request to the National Energy Regulator of SA for a 45% increase, to 35%, but even that would take […]
Cost of welfare 'is rising faster than South Africa's ability to pay'
Economists have warned about the mounting costs of dispensing social welfare grants in South Africa after Treasury director-general Lesetja Kganyago reported that the costs had risen from just over R4 billion to R5.16bn in four years. Economists.co.za chief economist Mike Schussler, noting that R80bn was dispensed by the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) in 2009/10, […]
Recession takes its toll on small KwaZulu companies
The number of companies and close corporations in KwaZulu-Natal had skyrocketed from 8654 in 2002 to 39364 in 2008, but 8000, or 20%, of these had closed down last year due to the economic downturn, said Clive Coetzee, an independent economist in Pietermaritzburg. The figures were provided by the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office, […]
Minister of Finance defends his ‘pro-poor’ budget speech
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has defended his budget speech against criticism by unions, saying he had announced a “pro-poor” budget. Last week Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said the speech was like “old wine in new bottles” and threatened a general strike if the government did not take steps to reduce unemployment and ban labour […]
Zimbabwe: President Mugabe defends new law
President Robert Mugabe has defended a law requiring Zimbabwean businesses to be controlled by blacks, underlining differences with his governing partners. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has said the law was unworkable and would discourage investment. The law, passed by parliament when it was still dominated by Mugabe’s legislators in 2008, […]
UN to focus on Africa’s slow progress on millennium goals
The United Nations (UN) and its agencies would use the 2010 World Cup to highlight Africa’s slow progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals of halving poverty by 2015, a senior UN official has said. The UN was concerned that sub-Saharan countries were significantly behind schedule in realising some of the key development goals agreed […]
COM LOBBIES FOR 25PCT TARIFF, GOVT INJECTION
The SA Chamber of Mines (CoM) has called on the government as a shareholder to take responsibility for Eskom’s recapitalisation and to provide the electricity utility with R7bn/year in order to avoid the 35% electricity tariff increase. “The South African economy cannot absorb the 35% tariff increase requested by Eskom,” said the CoM’s Dick Kruger. […]
COMMODITY PRICES TO PUT UP STRONG PERFORMANCE IN 2010
Commodity prices are likely to put up a strong performance in 2010 even though the speed and extent of the global economic recovery remains uncertain, Frost & Sullivan said on Monday. This would boost the worldwide mining industry, although difficulties particular to South Africa could dampen local prospects. “The global mining industry is likely to […]
FOREIGNERS BOUGHT NET R1.481 BILLION SA BONDS
Foreigners were net buyers of R1.481 billion worth of South African bonds including repurchase agreements in the week ended 15 January, after net sales of R1.041 billion worth of local bonds the week before, figures from the Bond Exchange of South Africa show. This brought net purchases, including repurchase agreements for 2010 year to date […]