There will be a new R5 coin in circulation in South Africa as of July 18 as part of the celebrations of Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday. The coin will be legal tender and can be used to buy goods and services just like any other money in South Africa. The coin shows Mandela wearing one of his signature patterned shirts on the coin’s face, which differentiates his portrait from the more formal ones of other former leaders on coins.

The coin was launched yesterday (Monday) in Houghton by the South African Reserve Bank, the South African Mint Company and the Nelson Mandela Foundation. Mandela was present at the launch together with Finance Minister Trevor Manuel and Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni.

We may be in for even tougher times according to T-sec economist Mike Schussler. There could be another fuel price increase in August by between 20 and 40 cents. This coming off the back of an increase on July 2. The reason behind the potential August increase is because the world oil markets right now are very volatile and know one really knows what is going to happen. For the current month there was a 54 cent under-recovery overall for petrol and 60 cent under-recovery for diesel, this will most likely result in the 20 - 40 cents increase. Read the rest of this entry »

The local stock exchange is in a state of panic. Yesterday, stocks were down 3.11% resulting in a total weekly loss of 7%. Many economists are not really surprised with the events taking place on the JSE with some saying that it is “normal” for the market to have a correction after shares have “run for so hard so long”. Another contributing factor to the slump of the JSE may be attributed to the strengthening of the rand as local investors look to sell off their shares and opt for trading in the currencies market. The rand had strengthened by more than one percent to a one-month high against the dollar on Thursday, adding to Wednesday’s sharp gains. Read the rest of this entry »

New vehicle sales continued to drop in South Africa in the month of June. Statistics from the National Association of Automobile Manufactures of SA (Naamsa) showed that sales were down 21.9% in June compared with the same period last year. In May new vehicle sales fell 23.4%, or 12 095 units year on year. This is a bad time for the motor industry as sales continue to plummet. One can only wonder, how long will the motor car dealers and manufacturers be in business for? Read the rest of this entry »

According to a report on Fin24 yesterday; The manufacturer of Zimbabwe’s banknote paper will not supply any more notes to the country. This comes off the bank of pressure from the international community to force a change in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe’s bank note paper was supplied by a German company called Giesecke & Devrient GmbH. The German government has asked the paper manufacturer to stop supplying Zimbabwe with the paper as a way of imposing sanctions on the country. This move will surely add more pressure on the Zimbabwe government as there will be no form of cash in the country. There is already a serious cash crisis in Zimbabwe and this move by the Germans will not ease the crisis in any way. The Zimbabwe government will have to look for another paper supplier and do it quickly as the German company has stop supplying with immediate effect.