{"id":880628,"date":"2026-10-21T07:37:49","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T05:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=880628"},"modified":"2026-10-21T07:37:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T05:37:49","slug":"south-africa-hit-canada-with-its-own-tariffs-and-end-date-for-tv-licences-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/5-things\/880628\/south-africa-hit-canada-with-its-own-tariffs-and-end-date-for-tv-licences-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa hit Canada with its own tariffs, and end date for TV licences in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The rand remained stable in early trading on Tuesday as investors awaited the medium-term budget presentation and September inflation data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rand was trading at 16.4150 against the dollar, showing little change from its previous close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is scheduled to present the medium-term budget policy statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It could provide new insights into South Africa’s fiscal trajectory amid expectations of an improving budget balance and a more favourable outlook for sovereign ratings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, Statistics South Africa will release consumer inflation and retail sales data, which will offer a glimpse into price pressures and consumer demand in the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economists polled by Reuters anticipate that headline inflation will rise to 4.7% in September, up from 4.4% in August, while annual retail sales growth is expected to slow to 3.0% in August, down from 3.4% in July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s benchmark 2035 government bond remained flat in early trading, with the yield at 8.735%. [Reuters<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday, 21 October 2026, the rand was trading at R16.40 to the dollar, R21.94 to the pound, and R18.41 to the euro. Gold is trading at $4,114.98, while oil prices were at $110.30 a barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5 important things happening in South Africa today<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

South Africa hit Canada with its own tariffs:<\/strong>\u00a0South Africa has introduced a 5% tariff on newsprint imports to safeguard its print industry, primarily affecting Canadian imports, which account for 47.2% of the total. Tariffs remain 0% for the EU, UK, EFTA, SADC, and AfCFTA nations, as well as MERCOSUR countries like Brazil. [Business Day<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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End date for TV licences in South Africa:<\/strong>\u00a0Parliament wants the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies to finalise a sustainable funding framework for the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) within 6 months. [MyBroadband<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Expect the best news for South Africa\u2019s finances in 20 years:\u00a0<\/strong>Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is expected to signal the country\u2019s commitment to fiscal discipline on Wednesday, with its debt-to-GDP ratio set to decline for the first time in more than two decades. [Daily Investor<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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More name changes for South Africa:\u00a0<\/strong>The Department of Sports, Arts and Culture has gazetted new names for towns, villages and other geographical features in South Africa, in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. [BusinessTech<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ANC fails its targets set out in 2012:<\/strong>\u00a0The Minister of Planning, Maropene Ramokgopa, attempted to downplay the government’s failure to meet the National Development Plan’s unemployment targets, which aim for 6% by 2030. Since its 2012 release, these targets have not been met due to destructive policies and corruption. Unemployment instead rose to 33.6% in mid-2026. [Newsday<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are five important things happening in and affecting South Africa on Wednesday, 21 October 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":815413,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2112780434216001636","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2244069679746764","_sma_instagram_post_id":"17971520745158358","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[18993,853],"class_list":["post-880628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5-things","tag-5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880628","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\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=880628"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":880640,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880628\/revisions\/880640"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}