Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has said that there is a need for the reduction of some banking fees.

South African motorists will be able to breathe a sigh of relief as the petrol price will drop this week.

South Africa's first Green Economy Summit ended with delegates calling for the development of green growth policies and regulations which support the development of clean technologies.

After three consecutive quarters of improvement, gross domestic product (GDP) growth is expected to sustain its stronger performance in 2010 and 2011, the SA Reserve Bank (SARB) said on Thursday in its May 2010 Quarterly Bulletin.

South Africa's economic competitiveness in world rankings has improved for the second year running, results released on Wednesday showed.

 

The South African government performed "really well" during the recent global financial crisis, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Wednesday.

Hundreds of delegates, currently meeting in Sandton for a Green Economy Summit, are expected to advise government on how it can contribute towards the development of the country's economy without endangering the environment.

South Africa has targeted some of the world's fastest growing economies, such as China, to reach a minimum target of 115 billion rand in foreign investment projects by 2013, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said on Tuesday.

Teachers, nurses, police and clerks among others, who do not qualify for financial help from banks, stand to benefit from a R1 billion Guarantee Fund.

CEO confidence is pointing to a continuing recovery in the economy. This is according to the Merchantec CEO Confidence Index released on Wednesday.

The FNB House Price Index on Tuesday showed further growth in March compared to February.
Year-on-year growth accelerated from a February revised figure of 6.2 percent to a March rate of 8.6 percent.

Over a thousand South Africans living in London attended this year’s Homecoming Revolution event and explored the possibility of returning home.

A new partnership between First National Bank and PayPal will enable South Africans to sell to PayPal's global customer base and move the proceeds to their FNB accounts - without having to share their personal or financial information online.

The cut in the repo rate announced on Thursday by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the SA Reserve Bank (SARB) would assist consumers currently burdened with debt, the SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry said.

South Africa's consumer inflation as expected slowed back into the central bank's 3 to 6 percent target range in February, keeping alive hopes of an interest rate cut this year.

The easing to 5.7 percent year-on-year, a more than three-year low, from January's 6.2 percent suggests price pressures are cooling although month-on-month inflation quickened.

Statistics South Africa said headline CPI stood at 0.6 percent on a monthly basis in February versus January's 0.3 percent.

Business confidence rose sharply in the first quarter of 2010, according to a survey released yesterday.

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) Limited reported a rise in revenue late on Monday as it released its full year results for 2009.

President Jacob Zuma has pointed out to British parliamentarians that the number of businesspeople on his delegation was indicative of his administration's particular interest in heightening economic relations with the United Kingdom.

Business confidence improved in February, according to the Business Confidence Index (BCI) released by the SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) on Wednesday.


 

Gross domestic product (GDP) figures for the fourth quarter of 2009, released on Tuesday, confirm the economy is on the mend, Nedbank Group economists have said.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan won praise on Wednesday for a balanced, positive budget that held state spending on track without raising taxes.

The new Treasury boss adjusted the growth forecast for 2010 to 2.3 percent of GDP, rising to 3.6 percent in 2012, but warned that South Africans would continue to feel the pinch of the recession as job creation lagged recovery.

The optimistic tone saw the rand trading stronger minutes after the minister started delivering his maiden budget speech to the National Assembly.

Nationalisation of South Africa's mines and other economic sectors is not government policy, President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has come out in support of what it calls President Zuma’s “commitment to long-term energy planning and greening industrial policy” as outlined in the president’s State of the Nation address last Thursday.

Morné du Plessis, CEO of WWF, says, “South Africa cannot achieve the bold and exemplary commitments it made under the Copenhagen Accord without the transformation of its domestic energy economy. This requires, firstly, integrated energy planning, taking into account electricity supply, liquid fuels, direct fuel use by industry and the demand-side sectors of the energy economy.”

“Secondly, it demands a transformed institutional environment which allows for the participation of clean electricity suppliers in a market currently dominated by Eskom and coal.”

South Africa's official unemployment rate edged lower in the fourth quarter of 2009, halting the massive job losses that had accompanied the first recession in nearly two decades.

South Africa is the best performing housing market in the world over the longer-term, latest figures from British news magazine The Economist reveal.