B2B Central

Economy

30 Mar 2021

Household finances weakened by lockdown restrictions: SARB QB

By Staff Writer

The South African Reserve Bank’s Quarterly Bulletin (QB) was released earlier today. According to the Quarterly Bulletin, economic activity normalised on easier lockdown restrictions in the fourth quarter of 2020, supporting growth of 3.7% q-oq in personal disposable income (PDI).
30 Mar 2021

How’s the punchbowl looking?

By Staff Writer

The Fed recently abandoned the old punchbowl theory of monetary policy. After a major review, it effectively decided late last year that the punchbowl needs to remain in place so that the party can get going properly.
29 Mar 2021

SA wage growth comes in bottom of the log compared to EM peers

By Staff Writer

The United Nation’s International Labour Organisation (ILO) named South Africa (SA) as one of the few Emerging Markets (EM) to experience a real fall in wages in 2020. SA’s economy registered one of the largest falls in nominal and real wage growth in 2020 compared to most of our comparable EM peers.

25 Mar 2021

MPC’s decision to again leave interest rates unchanged widely expected

By Staff Writer

The MPC’s decision to again leave interest rates unchanged was widely expected and in line with market expectations. This is according to NWU Business School Econmist, Professor Rayond Parsons.
25 Mar 2021

Research reveals 3 key ways COVID-19 has impacted livelihoods of township residents in Cape Town

By Staff Writer

New SA-TIED research conducted in Cape Town, South Africa, reveals the devastating impacts that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the livelihoods of township residents.
23 Mar 2021

Manufacturers still reporting constrained supply chains: Survey

By Staff Writer

Global restrictions implemented to curb the spread of Covid-19 have had a direct impact on manufacturing supply chains with constraints still evident across many manufacturing subsectors a year after the country first went into hard lockdown, according to the Q1 Absa Manufacturing Survey.
19 Mar 2021

Inflation fears are premature and overplayed: deVere CEO

By Staff Writer

Heightened fears about inflation are overplayed and could negatively impact investors’ portfolios, warns Nigel Green, chief executive and founder of deVere Group.
18 Mar 2021

Mantashe names preferred bidders for emergency power tender

By Staff Writer

Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe today named eight preferred bidders for the country's emergency power tender. The Minister told a press conference this afternoon that energy security of supply was recognised as critical to achieving the objective of economic recovery in South Africa.
18 Mar 2021

Fitch: Fragile Frontier Markets Most Exposed to ‘Taper Tantrum Two’ Risk

By Staff Writer

A long tail of smaller and low-rated frontier markets is more exposed to rising US bond yields than larger mainstream emerging markets (EMs), reflecting larger external financing needs and high levels of foreign-currency government debt, Fitch Ratings says.
18 Mar 2021

Fitch revises world GDP forecasts up

By Staff Writer

Global growth prospects are improving as fiscal support is stepped up sharply, economies adapt to social distancing and vaccination rollout gathers momentum, says Fitch Ratings in its latest Global Economic Outlook (GEO).
16 Mar 2021

BlackRock's Weekly Market Commentary: A strong restart, not a recovery

By Staff Writer

We see three reasons why this is an economic restart, not a recovery – a distinction that matters for markets. First, we have stressed that the Covid shock is more akin to a natural disaster: economic activity is temporarily shut down, and then rapidly comes back online.

15 Mar 2021

Eskom remains focused on recovering its operational performance

By Staff Writer

Eskom is making notable progress in the recovery of its operational performance, with the implementation of the Generation Recovery Programme (9-Point Plan) and reliability maintenance recovery (RMR) programme beginning to yield the desired outcome.