The xenophobia attacks occurring in South Africa are starting to take their toll on businesses. Businesses are experiencing high rates of absenteeism because of these attacks with quite a largely number of people, mostly foreigners, not able to go to work. The National Union of Mineworkers (Num) on Friday said there was an agreement on how to engage with the violence within the industry. “If not stopped quickly, these attacks can have a repercussion on the mining sector as they are targeting people who are well-trained and would take time to replace,” said NUM president Senzeni Zokwana. Read the rest of this entry »

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is meant to meet on June 11 and 12 to discuss whether or not interest rates in South Africa should remain where they are or they should be raised. Most signs point to the MPC deciding to increase the interest rates by as much as 100 basis points in order to try curb the ever rising inflation. CPIX inflation is currently sitting at 10.1% year-on-year with the latest statistics being released next week Wednesday (28 May). Read the rest of this entry »

The xenophobia attacks occurring in the Gauteng province in South Africa seem to be getting worse by the day. Many foreigners have lost their homes and possessions with lives being lost in the process. The attacks are said to be stemming from South Africans who do not want foreigners in the country anymore. Violent scenes and pictures of these attacks are being screened across the world and as the international community looks on, one can only wonder how much these attacks will start to affect the local economy. Yesterday (Tuesday) the rand was sharply weaker against major currencies as concerns about the xenophobia attacks by the foreign community started to weigh in on the currency. Read the rest of this entry »

The stadium being constructed in Cape Town for the FIFA World Cup in 2010 is now seeking a naming sponsor. The City of Cape Town has now put out a tender to the public for the 68 000 seater stadium in Greenpoint for the stadiums naming rights and a new long-term contract for operating the stadium. Construction of the stadium took a while to get going with many hurdles causing the delay of the stadium but now construction is in full swing and the stadium will be ready to host 8 games including a semi-final in the worlds biggest soccer event taking place in 2010. Read the rest of this entry »

The cost of flying not only in South Africa but the rest of the world is set to go up due to the rising world oil prices. The price of oil is currently hovering around the $125 a barrel mark which is close to the record high of $128. South African Airways (SAA) have recently increased its fuel charges by R223 for domestic routes, R355 for regional routes and by a staggering R820.60 increase for its international routes. Read the rest of this entry »

The whole country was tense about the proposed electricity tariff hike that was proposed by Eskom but now Eskom have decided not to hit the consumers with a once off hike of over 50% but rather increase tariffs over a period of time. Consumers will still have to pay slightly more for electricity but they will not feel the hit once off.

This has come as a huge relief to many people, most notably for the Reserve Bank. A once off hike of over 50% would have forced inflation in South Africa to sky rocket. High inflation is bad news for the Reserve Bank who are trying to keep inflation between 3 – 6%. With a 50% electricity tariff hike it would have been almost impossible for inflation which is currently hovering around 10% to come back down to between 3 – 6%. Read the rest of this entry »

What would you do with R100-million today? Why not buy an apartment. It is reported that there are three penthouse apartments up for sale at a new development at the Waterfront in Cape Town each going for about R100-million. The apartments are part of a new R1-billion Tower Marina development scheduled to be completed next year. Each apartment comes with four bedrooms, a terrace with a swimming pool, a gazebo lounge, a wine cellar, a study and a music room. From the apartment you will have stunning views of Table Mountain and Robben Island. Read the rest of this entry »