Due to tomorrow being Human Rights Day and it creating an unofficial long weekend, there will not be a News Flash on Friday, 22 March 2019, but we will be back to you as normal from the 29 March 2019 with our weekly summary. Below is a brief News Flash to keep you informed.
Global News
- Theresa May has formally asked the EU for a Brexit extension to the 30 June 2019. The EU has not granted the extension yet as every member of the EU is required to approve it.
- Treasury yields rose slightly on Tuesday as a Federal Reserve meeting kicked off. This could show policymakers scaling back rate-hike projections and outlining a plan to end a run-off of its asset portfolio, amid growing scepticism that rates will be hiked further in 2019.
- New Zealand will be changing its gun laws after the worst mass shooting in the country’s history. The intention will most likely be on reducing the ease of access to military-style semi-automatic assault rifles.
Local News
- Pravin Gordhan, Public Enterprises Minister, has said that there will be no immediate end to load shedding. The cyclone in Mozambique has caused unforeseen damage, the extent to which is still being evaluated.
- According to the World Bank, Eskom has 66% too many employees. For Ramaphosa’s Eskom budget plan to work he needs to move power away from the Union’s, follow this link for more.
- South Africa’s national debt breached the R3-trillion level for the first time this month. It currently stands at R3,046,415m and some change, according to the website commodity.com. The debt is increasing at the rate of about R100,000 every 20 seconds. SA’s proportion of debt as a percentage of GDP currently stands at 56.10%, and SA will pay R172bn this year just to service its debt.
- PricewaterhouseCoopers has delivered a report on Steinhoff and the full impact of the apparent fraud – the report suggested that profits were boosted by R106bn in seven years.
- Follow this link, for an uplifting article from Wayne Duvenage, the leader of OUTA, on the recent improvements that President Cyril Ramaphosa and his team have implemented.
Source: Dynasty, Stanlib, Prescient, Daily Maverick, Moneyweb, Reuters, RMB, Aljazeera, and Bloomberg Markets, etc