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Inflation slows towards top end of target band

24 August 2016

Sanisha Packirisamy, Economist, and Herman van Papendorp, Head of Asset Allocation at Momentum discuss the country’s inflation in relation to targets.

South Africa benefiting from emerging markets revival

22 August 2016

Emerging market equities hit their highest level in a year after the world’s two most important central banks most recent monetary policy meetings pointed to interest rates remaining low. The MSCI Emerging Markets equity index has rallied 35% (in US dollars) from 21 January, when it hit the lowest level since the 2008 crisis, and has outperformed developed markets handsomely over this period. However, the index is still 15% below where it traded two years ago and 25% lower than its post-crisis peak in 2011. Since it is measured in US dollars, the strength of the greenback has been a big determinant of the poor performance over this period (with the commodity collapse and slower economic growth also contributing).

Resurgent rand in a changing global environment

15 August 2016

It was very easy to be pessimistic about South Africa’s future at the end of 2015 when the rand collapsed even further after the shock removal of Finance Minister Nene. Many investors wanted to flee local asset classes completely. With the benefit of hindsight, that was the worst possible time to go offshore. As investors, we obviously don’t have the benefit of hindsight, but we can make sure that our risks are appropriately spread and managed and that our investment decisions are based on the time horizon of a financial plan and not in reaction to short-term market noise.

Market update: July 2016 - SA economy remained glum

12 August 2016

The outlook for the South African economy remained glum during the month of July. The most worrying data came from the SA Reserve Bank (SARB), as it revised its growth forecast for 2016 down to 0%. Needless to say, this is much less than the country needs to alleviate persistent unemployment and deflect a downgrade by ratings agencies. Fitch followed the same logic and promptly downgraded its SA local-currency debt rating to bring it in line with its foreign-currency rating – one notch above junk. With this no- to negative-growth outlook, the SARB decided to keep rates on hold despite PPI printing at 6.8% year-on-year for June and CPI at 6.3%, breaching the SARB’s upper limit.

quick poll

Question

If you had to hazard a guess, when do you reckon the COFI Bill will be signed into law?

Answer

2026, as promised 2027 looks more likely Impossible to say More consultation needed

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