5 important things happening in South Africa today
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
SA to host AGOA summit: Despite US threats earlier this year that South Africa would be ousted from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the summit be moved to another country amid Russian ties, South Africa will continue to host a summit between the US and beneficiaries of the AGOA. In a joint statement on Wednesday, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Ebrahim Patel confirmed that the summit will start in Johannesburg on 2 November. [News24]
SABC crisis: SABC board chairman Khathutshelo Ramukumba recently told Parliament that the TV licence fee evasion rate had rocketed to 87% in the 2022/2023 financial year. In other words, only about 13% of licence holders on the SABC’s database had paid their fees. This figure shows a further decline from the roughly 18% that paid their fees in 2022 and 2021. [MyBroadband]
JSE cutting red tape: The JSE, which has almost halved in size over the past two decades, is looking at rewriting its listing requirements and cutting the red tape that has made it unattractive for local and offshore companies. Africa’s biggest exchange by value said on Tuesday it would embark on a “simplification project” over the next 18 months with the aim of using understandable language in its listing requirements in the hope of attracting more companies. [Business Day]
Load shedding suspension continues: Power utility Eskom says that improved generation capacity has allowed it to suspend load shedding once again on Thursday. As with most of this week so far, load shedding will return in the evening – stage 3 load shedding will be implemented from 16h00 until 05h00 on Friday. [BusinessTech]
Markets: The South African rand jumped on Wednesday as the dollar slipped ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision and after local consumer price index (CPI) and retail sales data. Year-on-year inflation edged higher to 4.8% in August from 4.7% in July but remained within the central bank’s target range of 3% to 6%. On Thursday (21 September), the rand was trading at R18.92/USD, R20.12/EUR and R23.31/GBP. Oil is trading at $92.88 a barrel. [Reuters]
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