Business

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Seth Thorne

 ·2 Jan 2024

Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:

• BRICS doubles with five new members:  On January 1st, 2024, five new countries – Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and Egypt – joined the BRICS group, which now has 10 members. The group includes some of the world’s largest energy producers and developing countries. Only Argentina declined to join after its new President reversed his predecessor’s membership bid. [Daily Investor]

• JSE delisting wave ensues: The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) is experiencing a wave of delistings, which is creating concerns about its usefulness as a capital-raising platform, particularly for small to mid-cap companies. The JSE had 22 delistings in 2023, slightly less than the 25 in 2022, and while there were seven new listings in total, more companies are leaving the exchange than joining. [News24]

• Eskom’s monopoly fading: According to former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter, private investors have invested in 66,000 MW of renewable energy sources since the cap on private generation capacity was lifted. de Ruyter expects that this will eventually replace Eskom. [Daily Investor]

• Load shedding returns: Following a streak of suspensions, Eskom has announced that load shedding will be back this week after it lost 6 generating units. Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented from 05h00 today, until 16h00. Thereafter, stage 3 load shedding will be implemented until 05h00 on Wednesday (3 January). This pattern of stage 2 and stage 3 load shedding is expected to be repeated until further notice. [BusinessTech]

• Markets: South Africa’s rand slightly strengthened, resulting from its boost at the end of 2023 from positive domestic economic data. However, it is recorded to have weakened by around 7.5% against the US dollar over 2023. On Tuesday (2 January), the rand was trading at R18.31 to the dollar, R23.32 to the pound, and R20.20 to the euro. Oil is trading at $74.58 a barrel. [Reuters]