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Agri- boom in Africa Could Have Greater Impact on Development than Mobile Phone
October 8, 2010-- Agriculture and agri-business offer the biggest transformational potential for Africa, with an even greater positive impact on ordinary people’s lives than the mobile phone boom.
“If you ask me what the next ‘big thing’ in Africa will be, I’d say without hesitation agriculture and agri-business,” the World Bank Vice President for Africa, Ms. Obiageli K. Ezekwesili, told investors at the Africa Investment Climate Summit in Washington, DC, Friday.
The Summit was convened by Africa Investor Magazine, a pan-African investment promotion monthly with offices in London, Johannesburg and Beijing.
“The World Bank is bullish on Africa,” Ms. Ezekwesili told participants at the Summit, which took place alongside the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Africa is “on the cusp of an economic transformation”, Summit participants noted, suggesting that the continent is probably at the same point where India and China were20 and 30 years ago respectively, just before their own economic takeoff.
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Source: World Bank
SA battles in global currency war
October 7, 2010--The Reserve Bank bought at least $618m in the currency markets to try to push the rand weaker in September, the bank's latest statement on its gold and foreign exchange reserves shows. This is more than the $504m bought the previous month.
That is SA's contribution to the so-called currency war being waged in international markets at the moment. It's small by international standards - central banks like Brazil's think nothing of buying $1bn a day.
A wall of foreign capital has flowed to emerging markets because of abnormally low interest rates in developed countries. This flood of capital is pushing up currencies all over the world, and central banks have been intervening (buying dollars) to stop their currencies from overheating.
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Source: Fin 24
JSE ends higher on strong gold stocks
October 5, 2010--The JSE closed higher on Tuesday supported by a strong performance in gold stocks and stronger than expected US manufacturing numbers.
By 17:00 local time the JSE all share index was up 0.94%, with gold miners adding 2.48% and resources gaining 1.79%. Platinum miners edged up 0.97% while banks added 0.83%. Financials were 0.67% higher and industrials were up 0.30%.
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Source: FIN24
Treasury moots tighter regulation
October 5, 2010--The treasury is in the process of creating a council of regulators, which would bring together all financial regulators for increased coordination and information-sharing.
This was disclosed in parliament on Tuesday in a written reply by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to Dion George, Democratic Alliance spokesperson for finance.
Gordhan said a round table of regulators is being formalised into the council, and that it has already begun work on areas of financial stability, enforcement, market conduct and legislative alignment.
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Source: FIN24
Bonds lose ground on foreign sales
October 4, 2010-- South African bonds were up to 7 basis points weaker in late trade on Monday after foreigners sold close to R3.5bn worth of South African bonds on Friday.
By 15:50 the benchmark R157 bond was at 7.385% from 7.330% at its close on Friday, while the R207 was bid at 8.060% and offered at 8.030% from 7.980% at its previous close. The R186 was bid at 8.090% and offered at 8.060% after closing at 8.020%.
The rand was bid at R6.9704 to the dollar from its previous close at R6.9196.
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Source: FIN24
Rand edges a tad lower
October 4, 2010--The rand was softer in afternoon trade on Monday, tracking a weaker euro against the dollar amid Ireland's budget deficit woes.
At 15:39 local time the rand was bid at R6.9486 to the dollar from R6.9196 at the previous close. It was bid at R9.5497 to the euro from R9.5452 before and at R11.0300 against sterling from R10.9428 at its previous close. The euro was bid at $1.3711 from $1.3778 overnight.
A local dealer said: "We are a bit weaker tracking euro weakness against the dollar. Same investors are suggesting a slight correction on the euro after a good week, but I don't think this changes the overall picture for continued rand strength."
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Source: FIN24
Nigeria Transforms Statistics Bureau to Provide Reliable Economic Data
Accurate and accessible data on Nigeria’s economy can guide development strategies, according to experts
The country is looking to expand its data network and become a leader in statistics in Africa
An IDA-funded project is helping Nigeria achieve that goal by reforming the government's Statistics Bureau
October 4, 2010-Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics, an institution once viewed as undependable and decaying, is now generating surveys that provide valuable insight into the country’s economy, thanks to funding from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA).
For years, the statistics department was largely unknown and undervalued and many statistics users viewed the data as unreliable and of only limited use. With help from IDA and Britain’s Department for International Development (DfID), Nigeria began to transform the bureau by merging the Federal Office of Statistics and the National Data Bank to create the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Since its revamp in 2005, the NBS has conducted over 21 functional surveys and studies on Nigeria’s development, focusing on areas such as employment, welfare indicators, trade, agriculture, industry and business, energy, environment, inflation and others.
National Bureau of Statistics-Nigeria
Source: World Bank
Rand in a range
October 1, 2010-- The rand was hardly off its overnight levels in morning trade on Friday, tracking the euro's movement against the dollar.
A dealer noted a week of consolidation for the local currency having initially surged through 7.00 against the greenback.
At 08:56 the rand was bid at 6.9461 to the dollar from 6.9573 at the previous close. It was bid at 9.4961 to the euro from 9.4706 before and at 10.9347 against sterling from 10.9185 at its previous close
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Source: FIN24
Bonds weaken further on PPI
September 30, 2010--South African bonds were up to 10 basis points weaker in late trade on Thursday after a higher than expected PPI figure crushed hopes of a rate cut at the next MPC meeting in November.
South Africa's producer price index (PPI) registered growth of 7.8% year-on-year (y/y) in August compared with 7.7% y/y in July, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) data on Thursday showed. The PPI increased 0.4% on a monthly basis after July's monthly increase of 1.3%. The PPI was expected to have reached 7.4% y/y, a survey by I-Net Bridge found, with forecasts among nine leading economists ranging from 7.0% y/y to 8.0% y/y.
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Source: FIN24
Credit demand rises
September 30, 2010-- Credit demand by the private sector rose by 2.98% year-on-year in August, compared with a slightly revised 1.96% in July, Reserve Bank data showed on Thursday.
Growth in the broadly defined M3 measure of money supply accelerated to 4.38% year-on-year compared with 3.71% in July.
A Reuters poll showed expectations of private sector credit demand at 2.75% year-on-year in August. Money supply growth was seen increasing to 4.55% on the year for August.
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Source: FIN24
