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South Africa’s second Investment Conference - another rare win for the economy
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 07 Nov 2019

Following last year’s inaugural Investment Conference initiated and headed by President Ramaphosa, South Africa’s second Investment Conference, dubbed “Accelerating economic growth by building partnerships” came to its conclusion today. The previous year’s Conference came on the back of the Presi...

South Africa finally making solid moves on ICT policy that will benefit the economy
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 05 Nov 2019

Despite having the most advanced economy in Africa, South Africa’s ICT (Information and Communications Technology) sector lags behind its peers globally, and a large part of this can be attributed to policy. Country comparisons reveal that South Africa’s fixed broadband internet speeds are relati...

South Africa awaits in trepidation for Moody’s assessment of its credit tonight
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 01 Nov 2019

Later today Moody’s rating agency is expected to make a pronouncement on South Africa’s sovereign credit rating, and this is after the agency decided to skip publishing the country’s review twice already. The stakes are high given that Moody’s Baa3 rating with a stable outlook is the country’s on...

Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement reveals a deteriorating fiscus amid low growth and non-stop Eskom bailouts
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 30 Oct 2019

During the past few weeks government has been particularly busy introducing policy and plans that are meant to address many of South Africa’s current economic challenges in the lead up to today’s Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS). The MTBPS, tabled annually during end-October by the Min...

SA Government moves to deal with Eskom and energy conundrum
SOUTH AFRICA · In Brief · 29 Oct 2019

Minister Pravin Gordhan today released his government’s Special Policy Paper on Eskom, its restructuring, and the country’s energy transition over the next decade. Key and critical interventions are as follows: Eskom’s debt will be restructured in consultation with the stakeholders, but underpinn...

Policy debates and poor implementation in South Africa are further delaying economic recovery
SOUTH AFRICA · Forecast · 24 Oct 2019

Summary and Assumptions • South Africa’s growth: Recovery of GDP growth in the second quarter of 2019 helped to contain the growing pessimism regarding the South African (SA) economy. Not only did GDP growth surprise on the upside, but it also meant an aversion of a second technical recession in...

South Africa’s main opposition party in a leadership crisis as three leaders resign in one week
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 24 Oct 2019

South Africa’s main opposition party is the Democratic Alliance (DA), and yesterday its leader, Mmusi Maimane, resigned as party leader. His resignation follows this week’s earlier resignation by DA’s Herman Mashaba as mayor of Johannesburg (the country’s most prosperous region), of which the DA ...

Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba resigns following election of Democratic Alliance’s new Federal Council Chairperson, Helen Zille
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 21 Oct 2019

After the August 2016 municipal elections, Mr. Herman Mashaba assumed office as the Mayor of Johannesburg . He was a member of the Democratic Alliance (DA), the main opposition party to the ruling African National Congress (ANC). Mr. Mashaba’s taking office as the Mayor of Johannesburg meant that...

South Africa’s Integrated Resource Plan 2019-2030 finally released
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 18 Oct 2019

Following the Cabinet’s approval of the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) yesterday, Gwede Mantashe (Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy) announced the energy strategy earlier today. This policy blueprint for the electricity sector clarifies a proposed energy mix for the country until 2030.

Eskom disappoints the nation as it implements unexpected load shedding, while the nation waits to learn about its future
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 17 Oct 2019

During his opening address at the Financial Times Africa Summit in London earlier in the week, President Ramaphosa declared that the government would soon give a deliberation on how the ailing power utility’s (Eskom) debt would be dealt with. As such, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan sp...

The long overdue IRP approved by the Cabinet to be released on October 18 - but will it create certainty in the energy sector?
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 17 Oct 2019

Electricity in South Africa (SA) is exclusively provided by the state-owned Eskom, supplying close to 95% of the electricity in the country – which is about 45% of Africa’s total electricity generation. Moreover, SA’s power generation is predominantly dominated by coal as well as nuclear energy (...

SA law enforcement agencies start acting against corrupt politicians and business personalities
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 11 Oct 2019

One of the major reasons South Africa’s economy has been failing to improve for so long is because of low business confidence. This has not only been the result of policy uncertainty, but also the poor state of governance that prevailed, especially in the past decade as corruption became rampant....

State debt to balloon as some SOEs continue to be rescued by the government
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 07 Oct 2019

The communications ministry announced on October 4 that the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) would receive a bailout of R2.1 billion from the National Treasury (NT). This follows more than two years of the SABC’s struggle to secure funds from the NT, and the funding should therefore ...

South Africa’s National Treasury pleased with the oversubscribed new bonds, but the country’s borrowing costs remain elevated
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 02 Oct 2019

The South African government has been able to raise money through the issuance of bonds since the late-1990s. Last week, the National Treasury announced that government had successfully placed US$5 billion worth of bonds in the international capital market, comprised of 10-year bonds, (maturing i...

The ANC special National Executive Committee meeting concludes ‒ without decisions on SA’s economic woes
SOUTH AFRICA · Report · 01 Oct 2019

Over the past weekend, the African National Congress (ANC) held its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, deliberating over Finance Minister’s recently released recovery plan (which has caused divisions in the party), with discussions about the ailing economy at the top of the agenda. Indee...

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