Botswana has suspended all exports of cattle and related meat products while authorities investigate a suspected outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

Italian sports car maker Lamborghini has already pre-sold the entire production run to early 2024, its boss said, with luxury goods seemingly unaffected by global economic uncertainty.

South Africa’s annual consumer inflation reached its highest level in 13 years, increasing to 7.8% in July from 7.4% in June, which is the third consecutive month as underlying price pressure increased.

This is according to a statement posted on Statistics South Africa’s website today.

South Africa is currently experiencing the fastest inflation under Lesetja Kganyago’s time as governor of the central bank, and it is still at a level last seen during the global financial crisis.

The consumer price index (CPI) jumped by 1.5% between June and July this year. Based on Statistics SA, this was only the fourth time since 2008 that the monthly increase was 1.5% or higher.

  • Food inflation increased by 9.7% year on year in July, up from 8.6% in June. Prices for bread and cereals were 13.7% higher than a year ago.
  • Large monthly price increases were observed in a variety of products between June and July, including maize meal (4.2%), cake flour (6.3%), macaroni (5.0%), and white bread (2.8%).
  • However, rice prices fell by more than 3%, while Oils and fats saw the biggest price hikes – up 36% in July from a year ago.
  • Fuel prices increased by more than 10% in July. This had a particularly negative impact on transportation prices, with taxi charges rising by 9% in a single month. Taxis were 16% more expensive than a year ago. Petrol is now 56% more expensive than a year ago.
  • Electricity bills climbed by 7.5% on average, which is lower than the 13.8% increase seen last year but higher than the 6.3% increase expected in 2020.
  • However, service inflation (+4.2%) and durable goods prices (+4.8%) were substantially lower than non-durable goods inflation (14.4%), which is mostly driven by food.
  • Core inflation, which excludes food, nonalcoholic beverages, fuel, and electricity, increased to 4.6%, exceeding the central bank’s target range of 3% to 6% for the first time in more than four years.-wires

Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund plans to raise as much as US$500 million over the next three years to invest in infrastructure projects on the continent.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has banned some telecommunications executives from leaving the country after they resisted paying a new tax on the industry, according to people familiar with the matter.

China will forgive 23 loans for 17 African nations, China’s foreign minister Wang Yi has announced.

The euro briefly fell back below parity against a robust dollar on Monday and was languishing at five-week lows, weighed down by concern that a three-day halt to European gas supplies later this month will exacerbate an energy crisis.

Angola and the European Union are set to start talks for a trade deal this year after EU and African partners approved a request from the oil-producing nation to join a regional trade bloc, according to an EU document and an official.

The green light to start negotiations came in late July, an EU document shows, shortly before the southern African country holds general elections next week.

"We are now in a position to open formal negotiations, but there is not yet a date agreed with Angola. We expect this to happen in the last quarter of this year," an EU spokesperson told Reuters.

The Angolan government had no immediate comment.

The possible deal would likely increase the export of Angolan products to the EU, and possibly reduce the dominance of oil which currently accounts for nearly all exports by value.

Angolan products such as frozen shrimps, ethyl alcohol, wheat bran and bananas are likely to benefit the most thanks to the expected lift of tariffs, according to EU estimates.

With the boost in trade expected from the deal and EU's increased need of fuel amid the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, Angola might also export more oil to the 27-nation bloc. Currently China is by far its largest customer, despite oil now faces no import duty in the EU.

Most of Angolan exports to the EU already benefit of preferential treatment because the country had been classed as a least developed nation.

But thanks to its recent oil-fuelled economic growth, it is set to lose that status in 2027. That means it would face tariffs on several products unless it joins the regional trade agreement the EU signed with six southern African nations in 2016.

Under the deal, EU products will also access the Angolan market with lower duties - an advantage for local consumers but a risk to domestic industries if they do not invest to remain competitive.

Under the regional trade deal, the EU entirely removed tariffs and quotas on any imports from Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, and Eswatini, and almost entirely lifted duties on South African exports, which remain however subject to quotas.

In exchange, the southern African countries removed duties on up to 86% of EU exports.-fin24

The NAMDIA Foundation has launched a N$2.8 million annual Bursary Scheme in honour of Zacharias Lewala, who discovered the first diamond in Namibia, in 1908 in Kolmanskuppe.

Proposed changes to South Africa’s finance regulations to stop money laundering and terrorist financing could cause major headaches for businesses in the country – and lead to higher prices for consumers.

Presenting to the standing committee on finance on Tuesday (16 August), the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) proposed that the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) be amended, broadening the scope of ‘accountable institutions’ under its purview.

This change would force both small and large companies to comply with FICA regulations, adding an administrative burden and costs to business operations.

By doing this, the FIC aims to identify the proceeds of crime, combat money laundering and terror financing as well as supervise and enforce compliance with FICA.

The proposed amendments argue for the following types of entities to be included as ‘accountable institutions’:

  • Certain legal practitioners;
  • Credit providers;
  • Boards of executors or a trust company;
  • Estate agents;
  • Long-term life insurance businesses
  • Dealers in motor vehicles;
  • Dealer in goods over R100,000;
  • Dealers in crypto assets;
  • Dealers in Krugerrands, and;
  • Gambling institutions.

Bad for business

Critics of the proposed changes argued that the amendments to FICA are too broad in their definitions and would include activities that pose no risk of money laundering or terrorist funding.

The inclusion of an entity into the scope of the Act entails that extra compliance measures be taken to ensure that financial crime does not occur – this, however, comes at the cost of a company.

During the committee meeting, industry figureheads representing the insurance industry, the retail sector, the mining sector as well as financial service companies raised concerns over the scope of the amendments.

Keigan Hart, a spokesperson for Outsurance, said that the draft amendments could affect how business in the insurance sector is conducted with the extra costs of compliance ultimately falling on the consumer.

Hart said that the services Outsurance offers are low-risk products that should not be subjected to the same compliance provisions as seen with banking products. He added that the increased compliance costs, especially where the services of third-party vendors are concerned, are not proportionate to the risk.

“Increased compliance costs result in the increase in product costs which is ultimately passed onto the consumer,” said Hart.

The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) said that the accounting industry could face some challenges if the draft amendments are implemented. SAICA said that the amendments lack clarity and do not factor into account the cost of compliance.

SAICA recommended that smaller businesses (SMMEs) be subject to a lesser requirement and that other mechanisms such as transaction value could be used to manage risk when assessing accountants.

The Minerals Council of South Africa also added that the proposed amendments be redefined as they are too wide and must include only cash transactions over R100,000 not ‘payments in any form’.

The proposed amendments were said to be a blunt instrument in a broad kneejerk reaction to the possible ‘greylisting’ and sufficient thought has not been given to the impact such regulations could have on business in the country.

A recent report from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international watchdog, identified significant weaknesses in parts of South Africa’s financial regulation. Such weaknesses have resulted in high cases of money laundering and terrorism funding in the country.

If no significant changes are made to legislation, then the country could be greylisted.

According to Rebecca Thomson, a senior associate at Allen & Overy, this would mean the country would be deemed as high-risk jurisdiction to transact with, and anyone wanting to do business with South Africa will need to take extra steps.

Government has until October to demonstrate that it has a credible plan to address its deficiencies – failing to do so would result in the country being greylisted in February of next year.

Pieter Smit, an executive manager at the FIC, said that the group could not exclude businesses from the scope of the act even if there is a low risk of financial crime. He added that if there is any risk, then the implementation of the act and its provisions will be risk-sensitive.

Joomla! Debug Console

Session

Profile Information

Memory Usage

Database Queries