5 important things happening in South Africa today
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
A glimmer of load shedding hope: Business leaders who serve on the national energy crisis committee (Necom), which has been put in charge of implementing the Energy Action Plan, said that while the country is likely to experience high stages of load-shedding (stages 4 to 6) for the rest of 2023, they are confident that Eskom’s generation turnaround plan will start showing real results from next year. This, together with about 4,000MW of capacity that will return to service or be commissioned at Kusile power station between September and December, will help ease load-shedding in 2024. [Business Day]
Consumer critical: South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.6% in the second quarter of 2023. However, economists are concerned that this growth is unsustainable as the main driver of South Africa’s economy is consumer spending, which turned negative in Q2. “The power of the financial consumer wallet is critical to the economy’s strength, with nearly 64% of the country’s GDP attributed to private final consumption in 2022,” said PwC chief economist Lullu Krugel. Thus, with household spending declining by 0.3% in Q2, it is likely that the economy will not grow for the rest of the year. [Daily Investor]
Tshwane looking for IPPs: The Tshwane Municipality is offering 40-year leases to independent power producers (IPPs) to upgrade and manage two power stations which have not generated electricity for about a decade – the Rooiwal and Pretoria West power stations. Tshwane Executive Mayor Cilliers Brink said the coal stations have fallen into disuse and do not generate any electricity despite costing the city millions. The city said it should be awarding contracts by the end of June next year. [702]
Uber surcharge warning: Uber is loading its fares to and from South African airports with surcharges and parking fees without warning riders about the extra costs. These charges include an “Airport surcharge” and an “Airport Parking Fee”. A driver told Mybraodband that the extra money goes straight into Uber’s pockets and has nothing to do with the airports. [MyBroadband]
Markets: The South African rand was steady against a weaker dollar on Monday, ahead of local and international interest rate announcements this week. The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) will announce its interest rate decision on Thursday and provide clues on the country’s future rate path. On Tuesday (19 September), the rand was trading at R19.02/USD, R20.31/EUR and R23.55/GBP. Oil is trading at $95.04 a barrel. [Reuters]
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