5 important things happening in South Africa today
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
Head in the sand: President Cyril Ramaphosa says that he doesn’t know which ministers are allegedly entangled in corruption at Eskom, nor does he have any intention of finding out or taking the matter further. The president says that he does not need to be briefed on the matter, as it is the responsibility of the accuser – former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter – to approach the appropriate authorities. De Ruyter alleged the two senior government officials were actively involved with corrupt activities at the power utility. [News24]
Rate pain: Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago says that despite the shock increase in inflation reported by Stats SA on Wednesday, he still believes that inflation will ease over the course of this year and eventually settle within the central bank’s target range. However, he expressed concern over rising food prices, which were accelerating despite international prices coming down. He said the weaker rand – impacting imports – and other idiosyncracies like load shedding were to blame. [BusinessLive]
SARS hole: SARS commissioner Edward Kieswetter says that the revenue services has lost around R60 billion in tax revenue due to load shedding. However, this is likely to be far worse, as the persistent outages have both a direct and lag effect on collections. The lag effect would only come through over time, especially with corporate tax, SARS said. The revenue service was presenting its annual performance plan to parliament. [EWN]
Going nuclear: Russian state nuclear company Rosatom is peddling nuclear technology as a solution to South Africa’s ongoing power crisis, and is keen on being involved in setting this up. The group has a land-based small modular reactor – much like the Karpowership ships, only nuclear – and wants to build three more of these for energy generation. However, this is no short-term solution to load shedding, and would take up to seven years to get any deal signed, it said. [Moneyweb]
Markets: The South African rand recovered some losses it incurred earlier on Wednesday after local inflation data showed a rise in prices for the second consecutive month. Inflation rose 7.1% year-on-year in March, driven by a steep increase in food prices, Statistics South Africa said. The reading was a surprise as analysts polled by Reuters had predicted a drop in March to 6.9%. On Thursday, the rand was trading at R18.19/$, R19.94/€ and R22.60/£. Brent crude is trading at $82 a barrel.
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