June 2022

30 June 2021 – South Africa recorded foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows of R27.2-billion in the first quarter of 2022, up from R22.7-billion rand in the fourth quarter of 2021, the central bank said on Tuesday. The South African Reserve Bank said in its Quarterly Bulletin that the increase was due to foreign entities increasing equity investments […]

29 June 2022 The Allianz Trade Collection Complexity Score measures how difficult it is to collect debt in a given country. Sweden, Germany, and Finland are the three countries where debt collection is less complex, while Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and the UEA are the most challenging places to collect debts. South Africa is ranked 43rd with

28 June 2022 – South Africa’s higher-than-expected inflation data in June points to a further interest rate hike in July, but there is still some uncertainty about how much the central bank will hike by. The South African Reserve Bank is now forecast to follow up the 50bps hike in May with another 50bps rise

27 June 2022 – Shippers need to brace themselves for at least another year of lengthy delays and exceptionally high freight rates. Freight rates are expected to rise by another 39% in 2022, according to the latest market report by independent maritime research consultancy Drewry, which has completely dashed all hope that 2022 will provide

24 June 2022 – South Africa’s economy is recovering steadily and should not head into a harsh upward interest rate cycle and recession in 2022. This is according to Investec economist Chris Holdsworth. Speaking at the annual conference of the Road Freight Association recently, he said the economy had already recovered to pre-Covid-19 levels two

23 June 2022 – South African gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 1,9% in the first quarter of 2022, representing a second consecutive quarter of upward growth.1 The size of the economy is now at pre-pandemic levels, with real GDP slightly higher than what it was before the COVID-19 pandemic. GDP production: Manufacturing activity jumps in

22 June 2022 – South Africa’s total trade with other BRICS countries has seen a 69% rise since last year. President Cyril Ramaphosa has in his weekly newsletter on Monday emphasised the crucial role of the BRICS partners to help rebuild the country, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ramaphosa will from Thursday

21 June 2022 – Rising input costs, biosecurity concerns, interest rate hikes, intensified geopolitical risks and ongoing weakness in municipal service delivery are taking their toll on agribusinesses, according to the Agbiz/IDC Agribusiness Confidence Index released on 13 June. According to the index, agribusiness confidence moderated by two points to 60 in the second quarter

The Road Freight Association wrote to President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday to ask him to to urgently intervene in an ongoing blockade of key cargo routes across the country. In an open letter, Road Freight Association CEO Gavin Kelly told Ramaphosa road freight companies were being targeted and that the entire supply chain was under attack. Kelly said the companies were being prevented from doing their business by forces acting under the

17 June 2022 – Retail trade sales in South Africa rose 3.4% year on year in April, according  to data released by Statistics South Africa on Wednesday. This exceeded consensus expectations of 1.6% growth and indicates that South Africans are still spending, though on a month-on-month basis there was a slight dip of 0.2% –