5 important things happening in South Africa today
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
Stage 7 load shedding warning: South Africa has returned to the brink of Stage 7 amid freezing weather, power plant breakdowns and increased maintenance. A cold front started to hit parts of South Africa on Tuesday, which saw power demand surpass what Eskom expected. On Wednesday, as the cold front intensified, Eskom asked South Africans to cut their power use to avoid higher load shedding stages beyond Stage 6. [BusinessTech]
Striking oil could be gold for SA’s GDP: Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe said during his address at the annual Southern Africa Oil and Gas Conference that accessing and developing South Africa’s oil and gas resources has the potential to change the fate of the economy and could spur GDP growth to as high as 8%. “South Africa has a responsibility to ensure it exploits deposits and converts them into wealth for the country in order to tackle unemployment, poverty and inequality,” he said. [News24]
Retirement fund warning: Public servants have been warned against withdrawing from their retirement savings when the two-pot system starts in March 2024. Former acting director-general of the National Treasury Ismail Momoniat noted that public servants would be allowed to withdraw a maximum of R2,000 per year but said this could be detrimental in the long run, and servants should seek financial advance regarding the new system. [Daily Investor]
Let bygones be bygones: Following the tensions between South Africa and the USA that threatened our African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) membership, US consul-general Vincent Spera wants to put the bad blood behind the two countries. The Agoa forum, to be hosted by SA in November, is about “potential and moving forward and building on the strengths of our relationship”, he said. “The Agoa forum is about prosperity. If you look at the overall US-SA relationship, the engagement between the two countries is only expanding … we are very proud of our strategic relationship with SA and are committed to continue,” he added. [Business Day]
Markets: South Africa’s rand strengthened on Wednesday after the release of U.S. inflation data that could give the Federal Reserve a cushion to keep interest rates on hold at its meeting next week. On Thursday (14 September), the rand was trading at R18.77/USD, R20.18/EUR and R23.47/GBP. Oil is trading at $92.37 a barrel. [Reuters]
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