South Africa’s economy is projected to grow by 4.9% this year but growth will slow down to 4.5% next year, this according to the National Treasury. The forecasted drop in next years growth is largely due to slower growth in developed markets across the world as a result of the subprime mortgage crisis in the USA together with a slower growth in domestic consumption due to the ever increasing interest rates in South Africa. Although, The Treasury predicts that growth will rise to 5.3% in 2010, the next two years will see slow downs in growth. Read the rest of this entry »

I had an experience this weekend I thought I would share with you. I was out for dinner over the weekend and decided to settle my bill using my debit card. So the waitress kindly swipes my card, asks me to enter my pin number and I do so, only for their ‘machine’ to decline my card. I was in shock as I knew there was sufficient funds in that account. So the waitress asks me if she should try again and I say yes, thinking that maybe there was a technical problem. We tried again and same result. Luckily I had another card from a different bank which I then used and that went through with no problems. Read the rest of this entry »

After the Standard bank deal yesterday with the ICBC, it now looks like Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest mobile phone operator, MTN, could be a potential takeover target for China Mobile.

Shares in MTN jumped over 6% today due to the speculation of this potential takeover from Mobile China which is the worlds top cellular carrier by subscribers.

We will continue to keep an eye on this for the next couple of days and see where it leads to. The market was correct about speculating on Standard Bank, so we are guessing that something is definitely being lined up with regards to MTN. Maybe it is advisable to hurry and go buy some MTN shares now.

Today saw the largest foreign investment in Africa when it was announced that The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) was to buy 20% of Standard Bank for R36,7bn in cash. This would be the largest foreign acquisition by a Chinese commercial bank. Many questions are already being thrown around such as, “Is this a good move for Standard Bank?”, “Who is going to benefit the most from this deal?” and “Are South African banks following the same suite of English Football teams by being taken over by foreigners?” Read the rest of this entry »

This week Standard Bank released a cautionary statement to the market indicating that the bank is in talks that could have a material impact on its share price. Speculation was rife on the market with suggests that Stand Bank maybe in the process of lining up a take over of some sort. But a report on Fin24.co.za states that Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is to acquire a stake of about 20% in Standard Bank. An official announcement has not been made yet and one is expected to be made later on today (Thursday).

As the news breaks be sure to check it out on The Rand Today.

The latest inflation figures were released this morning and they showed an increase from 6.3% year on year in August to 6.7% in September, which is a four year high. This increase in the CPIX (Consumer Price Index excluding mortgage rate changes) to 6.7% has come as a huge shock to many as analysts had predicted a rise to about 6.4% but no one really expected it to be this bad. Read the rest of this entry »

Shares in one of South Africa’s leading banks, Standard Bank, closed 3.75% higher yesterday at R109.45, this after the bank issued a cautionary statement yesterday.

Under the rules of the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE), a listed firm has to announce a cautionary statement if they are in the process of a deal that could affect more than 10% of their market capitalisation. This signals that Standard Bank could be involved in a deal of around R4 billion. Read the rest of this entry »