European counters inspire a rebound on the JSE
August 3, 2018--The local bourse tracked higher along with European indices which were buoyed by positive bank earnings, and the positive sentiment in technology stocks.
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Source: FIN24
Rand topples off 'pedestal' after Ramaphosa's land reform announcement
August 3, 2018--Market bias is once again tipping the scale towards weakness, according to Bianca Botes, corporate treasury manager at Peregrine Treasury Solutions.
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Source: FIN24
JSE slides along with global peers on trade concerns
August 2, 2018--Global markets pulled back as trade concerns reignited on news that the Trump administration was looking to raise tariffs on $200bn worth of Chinese imports to 25%.
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Source: FIN24
Rand reels as hawkish Fed, trade war add to investor fears
August 2, 2018--The rand headed for its worst drop against the dollar in two weeks as a hawkish Federal Reserve and escalating trade tensions weighed on emerging-market currencies.
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Source: FIN24
IMF Country Focus South Africa: Restoring Confidence to Oil the Wheels for Growth
August 2, 2018--It's been almost 25 years since the end of apartheid, the system of institutionalized racial segregation that left most South Africans with limited access to basic services.
The post-apartheid years saw remarkable progress in terms of poverty reduction, access to education, and reducing unemployment. But some of those early achievements have unwound recently amid slow growth and political uncertainty.
The IMF's latest assessment of South Africa's economy projects real GDP growth will stay slightly below 2 percent in the medium term, not enough to increase living standards or make a dent in unemployment.
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Source: IMF
Investor fears weaken the JSE
August 1, 2018--The JSE closed lower on Wednesday as investor fears set in surrounding the ANC's announcement that it wanted to amend the Constitution to clarify under which conditions land expropriation without compensation could take place.
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Source: FIN24
Rand falls on news ANC wants constitutional amendment on land expropriation
July 31, 2018--The rand, which hit a six-week high earlier in the day, abruptly lost 16 cents to the dollar in late trade.
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Source: FIN24
JSE firms on hopes of new talks between China, US over tariffs
July 31, 2018-News that China and the US were seeking to restart talks to defuse their trade war helped undo earlier negative market sentiment.
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Source: FIN24
JSE edges higher on strong financials
July 30, 2018--While the Industrial index lost 0.06%, both the Financials and Resources indices ended up on the day and the rand firmed against the dollar.
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Source: FIN24
IMF Staff Country Reports-South Africa: Selected Issues
July 30, 2018--WHAT LED TO THE DOUBLING OF PUBLIC DEBT IN THE LAST DECADE? WAS DEBT GOOD FOR GROWTH?1
A permanent increase of 4 percentage points of GDP in national government expenditure underlies the doubling of public debt in the last decade. The wage bill accounted for most of the expenditure increase (64 percent), followed by the interest bill (23 percent).
The debt expansion, thus, financed a countercyclical fiscal policy centered on current spending, which likely shielded the impact of subdued economic activity, but had limited permanent effects on growth. Had resources devoted to wage increases and debt service payments been invested in more productive outlays, such as highly productive capital expenditure and reforms in key network industries, the growth gains would have been higher.
view the IMF Staff Country Reports-South Africa: Selected Issues
Source: IMF