5 important things happening in South Africa today
·12 Mar 2024
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- The perfect storm that could push up inflation: Inflation may increase for February due to rising international food prices, lower local crop yields, higher fuel costs, and increased medical expenses, contrary to earlier predictions made by economists. This could lead to the central bank maintaining the highest interest rates in 15 years for a longer period, pushing some economists’ expectations for rate cuts until later in 2024. [News24]
- South African food prices at risk: According to a farm-industry group, dryer and hotter-than-usual weather across South Africa’s main summer crop growing regions is hurting the outlook for the key corn harvest – raising risks for higher food-price inflation. [BusinessTech]
- Eskom challenges ‘inaccuracies’ of damning report: State-owned power utility Eskom disagrees with parts of a report by a German consortium commissioned by the Treasury, which states that urgent maintenance is needed to prevent “catastrophic failure” at the raw water treatment plant shared by Medupi and Matimba power stations. Eskom denies that the two stations share a water treatment plant and says that they are unaware of any urgent maintenance needed. [Business Day]
- Social grant fraud a major issue: According to the Public Service Commission, social grant fraud remains a major concern. Whistleblowers continue to expose corruption within government departments, with almost 250 tip-offs received in the third quarter of the 2023/2024 financial year. [EWN]
- Markets: The rand firmed on Monday, holding onto gains from last week in the absence of any major domestic economic releases. On Tuesday (12 March), the rand was trading at R18.70 to the dollar, R23.92 to the pound, and R20.41 to the euro. Oil is trading at $82.46 a barrel. [Reuters]
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