State should seize iron-ore initiative and move debate into developmental realm

Without question, there is very little sympathy out there for ArcelorMittal South Africa in its fight to hold on to a favourable 25-year iron-ore arrangement with Sishen Iron Ore Company (SIOC). The main reason is that the benefits of the 2001...

SA has some leeway on inflation – Strauss-Kahn

South Africa's government is right to set inflation targets but has leeway for some flexibility as the country looks to emerge from recession, International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn said. "I have to applaud steps taken in the new...

Trade activity back in positive territory

The Trade Activity Index (TAI) returned to positive territory in February, improving to 54 points, mainly as a result of improvements in the sales and new orders subindices, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) reported on...

Weakening rand would be 'very short-sighted' – IMF

Devaluing the rand would be a "very short-sighted" move for South Africa to make, International Monetary Fund (IMF) MD Dominique Strauss-Kahn said on Tuesday. Local union federation Cosatu, an ally of the ruling ANC, has called on the central...

Business confidence returns to precrisis level

While the 15-point climb in the Rand Merchant Bank (RMB)/Bureau for Economic Research (BER) quarterly Business Confidence Index (BCI) for the first quarter of 2010 was “heartening”, RMB chief economist Ettienne le Roux warned that the...

IMF working on $100bn ‘green fund’ – Strauss-Kahn

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was “working on the idea of a green fund” to raise $100-billion a year by 2020 to mitigate the impacts of climate change on developing economies, IMF MD Dominique Strauss-Kahn told a conference in Kenya on...

Patel’s development plan ‘workable’ – economist

Investec economist Annabel Bishop has described Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel's proposal to use pension funds to promote development as "workable". This comes as Patel revealed that he was exploring ways of investing private and...

South African inflation targeting to stay – Nene

The South African Reserve Bank's mandate of targeting low inflation will stay although that also involves taking growth and employment into account, Deputy Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene said on Friday. Nene reiterated the position of Finance...