The Reserve Bank today (31 January 2008) announced that the repo rate in South Africa will remain unchanged. Prior to the announcement, many analysts had predicted that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) would not change the rates and their predictions have been correct.

The repo rate will remain at 11% and thus the prime lending rate will also remain at 14.5%.

Some had thought that the rate would go up today after the announcement of the increase in inflation. In the past, the Reserve Bank has increased interest rates in order to try slow down inflation but it is suprising to note that today the Reserve Bank has not decided to increase interest rates even after a clear sign of increased inflation in South Africa.

It seems like there is no stopping the rate of inflation in South Africa. The countries consumer price index (CPIX) which excludes mortgage rate changes rose to 8.6% year-on-year in December 2007 from 7.9% in November. This does not bode well for the outlook of the South African economy adding to the current electricity problems being faced. The South Africa central bank is set to announce its decision on interest rates tomorrow (31 January 2008) and with inflation having risen, there could be a chance that interest rates will go up again tomorrow. Read the rest of this entry »

Identity fraud or identity theft are comparatively rare type of crime, but are on the increase. These terms are used to refer as a crime in which someone obtains and uses another person’s personal data. It is done when an impostor obtain pieces of personal identifying informations like your name, credit card number, Social Security number without your permission. This is also called ID Theft.

Internet is the major route for fraud to victimize merchants who sell and ship products and also for those who provide online services. If you are using credit cards to transact business using the Internet, protect your identity against the fraud by using Lifelock. Be responsible enough with your identity. Read the rest of this entry »

Today the South Africa national football team plays their first match in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and we at The Rand Today would like to wish Bafana Bafana all the best. Do us proud and try by all means to bring the trophy back home to South Africa. All we ask for is that you give it 110% and no one can fault you for doing that even if the results do not go your way. The Springboks set the tone last year by winning the Rugby World Cup now we hope you can follow that up with bringing yet another trophy back.

Good luck Bafana Bafana. We are behind you all the way.

I was walking through a mall in Cape Town yesterday and 90% of the shops had a “SALE” sign on their windows or doors. It really was no surprise seeing most of the shops having sale signs as January is usually the slowest month for retailers as consumers are very reluctant to buy due to lack of disposable income. So I decided to enter one of the clothing retail shops which displayed a sale sign. I was expecting a small section of the store to be on sale but to my amazement, every single product in the shop was on sale! Then I thought to myself that maybe they have just reduced the prices by a small fraction but after browsing through their clothes, I could see that some of the products were cut down by as much as 50%. Now this was a real sale. Read the rest of this entry »

As South Africa faces regular electricity load shedding across the country, President Thabo Mbeki came out and admitted that it is the governments fault. Eskom, the country’s power utility, told government several years ago to invest more into electricity generation as the demand for electricity was growing in a growing economy. But the government did not heed Eskom’s advice and today South Africa now faces severe electricity shortages. Read the rest of this entry »

There is no hiding from it anymore now, if you are a running a business today, no matter how small or large it is, you need to be online and have a website for a business. I have come across many businesses in South Africa who do not have a website and to me that just goes to show that businesses in South Africa are still a few paces back from realising the importance of having a website. How often do you hear of a company and then you think, “Let me find out more about them.”? The first thing you would do is type in their company name in your web browser and end it with .co.za or .com. You should be taken to the company’s website straight away. If not, you then try to Google the companies name and find their website. If both options do not yield any results then it is highly likely the company you are looking for does not have a website and for me I already loose an element of confidence in doing business with them. Read the rest of this entry »