March 2020

17 March 2020 – There is a strong sense of unease in the world right now. The coronavirus outbreak in China is fast spreading across Asia and other regions, and the health implications present risks for global value chains. From a macroeconomic perspective, we have already seen organisations such as the Organisation of Economic Co-operation […]

16 March 2020 – With reports that more than half of companies around the world do not have effective business continuity plans in place to combat an infectious disease outbreak like COVID-19 and the virus starting to take a stronger foothold in South Africa, businesses must do more to prepare themselves for the repercussions this

13 March 2020 – Mining production beat market expectations, rising sharply in January and recording the largest increase in more than two years. Mining production increased 7.5% year on year, data released by Stats SA on Thursday showed. This was well above the Bloomberg consensus of seven economists, who had forecast an increase of 1%,

11 March 2020 – Illicit trade is one of the biggest contributors to the strain that South Africa’s fiscus is currently experiencing, as the country is losing about R250-million a day in tax revenue as a direct result of illicit trade. Illicit trade is defined as the production, import, export, purchase, sale or possession of

10 March 2020 – South Africa’s agricultural sector could take a R39 billion export hit as a result of the coronavirus dampening demand from Asian countries, the Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz) has warned. South Africa products sold into Asian countries include wool, fruit, grains, beverages, vegetables and red meat. In all, Asia – which is

9 March 2020 – Rating agency Moody’s has cut South Africa’s growth forecast from 0.7% to 0.4% for 2020, on the back of the global coronavirus outbreak. “The global spread of the coronavirus is resulting in simultaneous supply and demand shocks,” Moody’s said in a global research report. This, in turn, will impact South Africa’s

6 March 2020 – SA is retaining preferential access to the US market despite the Trump administration’s decision to remove the country’s exemption from trade-remedy laws. In February, the US narrowed its internal list of developing and least-developed countries to exclude SA, China and India. That reduced the threshold for triggering a US investigation into

5 March – The coronavirus outbreak is plunging the world economy into its worst downturn since the global financial crisis, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development warned on Monday, urging governments and central banks to fight back to avoid an even steeper slump. The global economy is set to grow only 2.4% this year,

4 March 2020 – South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate decreased by 1,4% in the fourth quarter of 2019. South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) decreased by 1,4% in the fourth quarter of 2019. The transport, storage and communication industry decreased by 7,2% and contributed -0,6 of a percentage point to GDP growth.

3 March 2020 – The state of the economy will be at the forefront this week, with some economists forecasting that SA may have slid into another recession. Stats SA is expected to release the GDP print for the fourth quarter of 2019 on Tuesday. A contraction of 0.2% is the median forecast among 12 economists