August 2020

31 August 2020 – South Africa’s economic activity is projected to contract by 7.2 percent in 2020, according to the IMF’s staff report that accompanied the government’s Rapid Financing Instrument request. What has been the impact of COVID-19 on South Africa and what sectors have been hit the hardest? COVID-19 brought many challenges: a decline of about […]

28 August 2020 – The Ctrack Freight & Transport Index declined by 1.7% from June to July. This follows the biggest-ever monthly improvement from May to June. Telematics solution provider Ctrack South Africa says that a small decline is generally not a concern for the transport industry; however, some subsectors within the index have seen

27 August 2020 – Annual CPI inflation quickened to 3,2% in July from 2,2% in June as lockdown restrictions continued to ease. The monthly increase was 1,3%, the biggest monthly rise since February 2016 when the rate was 1,4%. The monthly move in July was driven largely by fuel prices and municipal tariffs. Motorists felt

26 August 2020 – The SA Reserve Bank’s composite leading business cycle indicator increased 2.7% month on month in June, rising for the first time since March.  The increase in the June print was largely supported by an improvement in the number of residential building plans approved and new passenger vehicles sold, data from Bank

Perishable Cargo Growth Prospects Looking Good 25 August 2020 – There’s a rosy outlook for perishable cargo which is forecast to better weather the Covid-19-induced economic storm than the dry cargo trade given the broader resilience of the food supply chain, according to Drewry’s latest Reefer Shipping Annual Review and Forecast 2020/2021. The bad news,

24 August 2020 – JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s retail industry is feeling the pain from the coronavirus pandemic on two fronts — store closures during lockdown and the sharply reduced purchasing power of households. South Africa, the continent’s most industrialized economy, went into strict lockdown at the end of March, with people only allowed to shop for

20 August 2020 – The agricultural sector is a significant contributor to the South African economy – making up 10-12% of GDP through job creation, export and providing raw materials to other sectors. In these uncommon times, Santam, South Africa’s leading general insurer, is highlighting areas that intermediaries and agribusinesses should consider to keep this

20 August 2020 – T he continuing lockdown has deepened the recessionary economic conditions and further distorted trade conditions, says the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci). It adds that the selected restrictive approach towards certain types of trade, especially during the hard lockdown period in late March and throughout April, had a

19 August 2020 – Food systems are essential to economic activity because they provide the energy we need to live and work. However, macroeconomists have long ignored them in the belief that the global agrifood industry always offers all we could wish for when it comes to food. This year, 2020, will be a year

18 August 2020 – Since its inception in 1659, South Africa’s wine industry has continued to experience global year-on-year growth and wine is now the country’s second-largest agricultural export product, contributing US$28 billion or 4.3% to the GDP. In 2019, South African wine exports reached 320 million litres and some 300,000 people are employed in