Cape Times 2022-04-29

SOUTH Africa is on the cusp of entering a fifth wave of Covid-19 infections as economists yesterday warned that although new formal lockdown restrictions were not expected, there was a downside risk to economic activity. This as new daily Covid-19 cases have increased markedly in South Africa in the past two weeks and jumped to 6 372 on Wednesday, the highest since January 12, which was the tail end of the Omicron wave. Old Mutual Wealth Investment Strategist Izak Odendaal said there was unlikely to be big risk to the broader economy from the fifth wave, but this was dependent on factors still unknown, such as possible further mutation of the virus and the event of the government imposing tighter Covid restrictions, which appeared unlikely at this…

THE SUB-SAHARAN African economic outlook faces a new and severe economic threat due to surging food and fuel prices that have been prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday. “The effects of the war will be deeply consequential, eroding standards of living and aggravating macro-economic imbalances, and could not have come at a worse time, as growth was starting to recover and policymakers were beginning to address the social and economic legacy of the Covid-19 pandemic and other development challenges,” the IMF said in a report on the region released yesterday. Half of the region’s low-income countries are already in or at high risk of distress. As an indication of how this was affecting South Africa, professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said yesterday local…

THE REAL AVERAGE South African salary fell below the R15 000 mark in March and has recorded one of the biggest annual falls on record of 5.6 percent, according to Bankserv- Africa. The automated payments clearing house the BankservAfrica Take Home Pay Index (BTPI) showed that while salary numbers were still looking posi- tive in March as the total take-home pay and private pensions processed in value terms declined by 1.3 percent in real terms, but increased by 4.5 percent in nominal terms. BankservAfrica’s head of stakeholder engagements, Shergeran Naidoo, said the average real salary was R14 969 in March, falling below the R15 000-plus mark seen in the previous months. “The real BTPI annual decline of 5.6 percent is one of the…

PRODUCER price inflation (PPI) in South Africa for March soared to the highest level since 2013, above market expectations, with upward pressure coming from energy and food-related costs aggravated by the Russia-Ukraine war. Statistics South Africa said yesterday PPI for final manufactured goods was 11.9 percent, up from 10.5 percent in February. Lara Hodes, an Investec economist, said yesterday that the outcome, which was notably above Bloomberg consensus expectations of 10.7 percent year-on-year (y/y), was underpinned largely by a hike in inflation within the coke, petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products grouping, in which fuel price dynamics were captured. This category had accelerated to 26.8 percent y/y in March from 22.6 percent y/y previously, contributing 6.4 percent points to the headline outcome versus 5.3…

KAROOOOO, which provides on- ground data analytics and business intelligence reports for businesses, in its first year as a Nasdaq listed company lifted revenue 20 percent, the result mainly of 16 percent subscription revenue growth. The group, which owns 100 percent of Cartrack, 100 percent of Carzuka and 70.1 percent of Picup, said yesterday that the number of subscribers was up 17 percent to 1 525 972, bolstered by the revenue from Carzuka (R67 million) and Picup (R42m). A 60 US cents dividend was declared. “Our decade-plus track record of growth, sustained profitability and a highly cash-generative business model, coupled with consistent innovation and strong customer acquisition, continues. “At the end of 2022 we had more than 88 000 commercial…

From page 1 The implicated public servants have completed debt acknowledgement forms to enable Sassa to recover the debt. “This information has been shared with each province and affected government departments for them to be able to take appropriate action,” she said. “To date, Sassa has not received any reports of the outcomes of these processes.” DA MP Mimmy Gondwe said her party sent a fresh set of parliamentary questions to Zulu and acting Public Service and Administration Minister Thulas Nxesi requesting the names and other details of the 3 268 public servants that received social grants they were not entitled to in order to lodge criminal complaints against them. “Failure to enforce consequence management on this glaring abuse of taxpayer money will only serve to entrench and perpetuate a…