{"id":704483,"date":"2023-07-17T07:50:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-17T05:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=704483"},"modified":"2023-07-17T08:04:30","modified_gmt":"2023-07-17T06:04:30","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1569","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/704483\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1569\/","title":{"rendered":"5 important things happening in South Africa today"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Here&#8217;s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Solar delay<\/strong>: Despite Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announcing the Bounce Back Energy Loan Guarantee scheme in February, it is yet to take off. The scheme, which was supposed to launch in April, aims to support small businesses with the rollout of renewables. The Banking Association of South Africa said that lenders are still negotiating with treasury, with many looking for less stringent criteria. Investec has, however, confirmed that it will not participate in the scheme as it does not meet its clients&#8217; needs. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/fin24\/companies\/five-months-later-where-is-the-promised-solar-loan-support-for-small-businesses-20230717\" target=\"_blank\">News24<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Export pain<\/strong>: The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition says the EU&#8217;s new import tariff based on carbon emissions will hurt a number of industries in South Africa as it places the burden of climate action on developing countries. Although South African exports already face a direct emissions tax, the decision to include indirect emissions in the new tariff could cost South Africa $1.5 billion (R27 billion) in exports, as 90% of Eskom&#8217;s electricity is generated from coal. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/national\/2023-07-17-sa-states-its-case-against-eus-carbon-border-taxes\/\" target=\"_blank\">Business Day<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Interest rate intervention<\/strong>: The ANC has instructed finance minister Enoch Godongwana to speak with the South African Reserve Bank on how it can manage inflation without further raising interest rates. Since November 2021, the SARB has raised interest rates ten times. ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula said that the NEC was concerned that rising interest rates were eliminating all disposable income in the country, leading to subdued consumer activity, which is hurting economic growth. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/ewn.co.za\/2023\/07\/16\/anc-to-engage-sa-reserve-bank-on-rising-interest-rates\" target=\"_blank\">EWN<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Water woes continue<\/strong>: Although Rand Water completed a major water maintenance project last week that resulted in a 58-hour outage, several areas in Johannebsurg are still without water. Rand Water said that certain pipelines will require decommissioning to allow for water flow. It added that specific areas of the system could be taken out for service to deal with airlocks within pipes. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.enca.com\/news\/water-woes-continue-joburg-residents\" target=\"_blank\">eNCA<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Markets<\/strong>: Despite being one of the worst-performing major currencies this year, the rand made a major comeback against the dollar last week off the back of softer-than-expected US inflation data. Leed Hardman from MUFG Bank said that the rand&#8217;s rally will be welcomed by domestic policymakers, as another interest rate decision is expected this week. On Monday (17 July), the rand was trading at R18.13\/$, R20.34\/\u20ac, and R23.72\/\u00a3. Brent crude is trading at $79.06 a barrel. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2023-07-14\/an-underdog-rally-in-year-s-worst-currencies-helps-central-banks?srnd=premium#xj4y7vzkg\" target=\"_blank\">Bloomberg<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Solar scheme still in the works; EU trade at risk; plans to lower interest rates; areas in Joburg still without water. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":669913,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-704483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=704483"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":704515,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704483\/revisions\/704515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=704483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=704483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=704483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}