8 October 2019 – Emerging market volatility is expected this week as the US and China enter another round of trade talks around tariff appeasement on Thursday and Friday, coming as it does amid hopes from around the world that a semblance of sanity will prevail. But according to reports, Beijing isn’t showing any signs […]

Commentary: 7 October 2019 A Bloomberg analysis has shown that the Brazilian real will be the largest emerging-market benefactor in the event of the conclusion of a US-China trade deal, while the Thai baht and the Israeli shekel are among those which will be the least responsive. In general, commodity-exporter currencies such as the real

Economists expect Stats SA to report another contraction in manufacturing output 7 October 2019 – Manufacturing and mining production are in focus in the week ahead, with the performance of these major sectors of the economy expected to be disappointing as they battle a tough global environment and an uncertain domestic outlook. The median forecast

4 October 2019 – South Africa’s public debt could rise as high as 95% of gross domestic product by 2024 if the government doesn’t restructure the State-run utility Eskom and implement a workable growth plan, the Institute of International Finance (IIF) said in a report. The report, released late on Wednesday, echoes a warning on Tuesday

3 October 2019 – Escalating trade tensions and a slowing global economy have led WTO economists to sharply downgrade their forecasts for trade growth in 2019 and 2020. World merchandise trade volumes are now expected to rise by only 1.2% in 2019, substantially slower than the 2.6% growth forecast in April. The projected increase in

2 October 2019 – South African bank Absa’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 41.6 index points in September from 45.7 in August, the second consecutive large fall which brought the index more than 10 points below July’s high of 52.1 points, a report showed on Tuesday. A PMI is an index of the prevailing direction of economic trends in

1 October 2019 – A weaker oil price in August, together with a solid jump in mining exports, helped to push SA’s trade balance from a deficit to a surprisingly large surplus. South Africa exported R6.84bn more than it imported in August, the SA Revenue Service reported on Monday. This was much better than expected: The

Commentary: 30 September 2019 – Last week was characterised by heightened levels of geopolitical risk. There continues to be fallout from the attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities, which knocked out 5% of world oil supply. While Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for the attack, both Riyadh and Washington have blamed Iran, with

The total number of company liquidations grew 13.5% in August, according to Stats SA 30 September 2019 – Business liquidations and insolvencies continue to rise, according to Stats SA data released on Monday, underscoring an economy that is struggling to grow and facing business confidence at record lows. The total number of company liquidations grew

27 September 2019 – Producer inflation continued to slow in August, reaching 4.5% year on year, down from July’s 4.9%, Statistics SA said on Thursday. This continues a five-month easing streak, coming in slightly below a Bloomberg survey of economists that had expected it to reach 4.6%. Producer inflation — as measured by the producer