Reserve Bank of South Africa

Barclays Africa Faces $88 Million Payout to State Over Bankorp

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Barclays Africa Group Limited, the South African lender formerly known as Absa, may have to pay the government an amount equivalent to 8 percent of its annual profit after the country’s anti-graft ombudsman said the bank unduly benefited from state support when it bought ailing Bankorp before the end of apartheid. “The illegal gift granted to Bankorp and Absa is in the amount of 1.125 billion rand,” Public Protector Busisiwe…

South Africa Posts Third Straight Monthly Trade Surplus in April

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa recorded a surplus on its trade account for a third straight month in April as imports of equipment components decreased. The 5.1 billion-rand ($388 million) surplus with March’s revised 11.3 billion-rand surplus, the Pretoria-based South African Revenue Service said in an emailed statement Wednesday. The median of four economist estimates compiled by Bloomberg was for a surplus of 7.4 billion rand. A smaller trade gap eases pressure on the current account,…

South Africa Rate on Hold as Central Bank Warns of Rand Risk

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The South African Reserve Bank left its key rate unchanged for a seventh straight meeting as policy makers warned politics and ratings downgrades could still knock the rand and scupper an improving inflation outlook. The Monetary Policy Committee maintained the benchmark repurchase rate at 7 percent, Governor Lesetja Kganyago told reporters Thursday in the capital, Pretoria. The decision was in line with the estimates of all 21 economists in a Bloomberg…

South Africa to Stick to Low Inflation Plan, Central Bank Says

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African inflation is under control and the central bank will maintain a policy to keep it low to protect the poor and ease inequality, Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago said. Pursuing other priorities, such as reducing unemployment, has been shown in other countries to cause “widespread economic damage,” Kganyago said in a speech at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in the coastal city of Durban on Tuesday. The central bank expects price…

South Africa Central Bank Signals End of Rate-Increase Cycle

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The South African Reserve Bank held its benchmark rate unchanged for a sixth straight meeting and said it may have reached the end of its policy-tightening cycle, even as the rand remains a risk to inflation. Five of the six Monetary Policy Committee members voted to keep the repurchase rate at 7 percent, and one favoured a 25 basis-point cut, Governor Lesetja Kganyago told reporters Thursday in the capital, Pretoria. The decision…

Banks Bashed in Battle Over South African Financial System

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – New allegations by President Jacob Zuma’s supporters that South Africa’s biggest banks are frustrating efforts to address racial inequality signal an escalation of a battle for control of the nation’s financial system including the Treasury. Protestors from the ruling African National Congress’s youth wing invaded aBarclays Africa Group Ltd. branch on Jan. 26. Then, on Monday, the ANC’s top leaders said the four biggest lenders can’t be allowed to continue dominating…

South Africa’s Central Bank Keeps Benchmark Rate Unchanged

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) South Africa’s Reserve Bank kept borrowing costs unchanged for a fifth straight meeting even as inflation forecasts worsened. The Monetary Policy Committee unanimously decided to leave the benchmark repurchase rate at 7 percent, Governor Lesetja Kganyago told reporters Tuesday in the capital, Pretoria. That’s in line with the forecast of all 24 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The key lending rate has remained unchanged since March after the MPC raised it by 200 basis points since 2014…

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