Economy

Sustained sharp upswing in fuel prices will trim agriculture profit outlook

Early indications are that South Africa faces a massive upswing in fuel prices given the recent mid-month update from the Central Energy Fund which showed an under-recovery of 98 c/litre and 96 c/litre respectively for the 95 ULP petrol and the 93 ULP & LRP petrol. The under-recovery for the two grades of diesel (0.05% and 0.005%) is even sharper at 141.32 c/litre and 141.54 c/litre.

CPI for September 2021

The Reserve Bank governor has recently touted the idea of a 3% point target for inflation, in order to structurally reduce long-term inflation. While the market does not believe that this will be implemented it does raise the indication of the aim to reduce inflation over time.

Business insolvencies in South Africa rise by 21.5%

Employment declined in 2Q21

After a gradual improvement since hard lockdown in 2Q20, employment in the formal non-agricultural sectors of the economy, as shown by the Quarterly Employment Survey, has slowed in 2Q21.