News 13:00

BULLETIN 25 April 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A wage settlement survey predicts salary hikes to outpace inflation in 2024          

# Rugby: Soyizwapi and Sage return for the Blitzboks in Singapore [SOUND]           

# And Taylor Swift’s latest album is breaking records                

# According to Nedbank’s latest state of the economy report, employees can expect some relief this year, as salary hikes are expected to outstrip inflation after two-years of falling short. BusinessTech reports salary increases are projected to average 6.9-percent. At the same time, inflation is likely to average five-percent, resulting in a 1.9-percent real increase, providing some respite for households stretched thin financially. Despite the projected salary growth, challenges such as job losses and high-interest rates may limit the financial relief for South African households.

Meanwhile, union GIWUSA expresses vindication and dismay over findings by the Pietermaritzburg Justice and Dignity Group on the impact of the high cost of living. The report indicates a 6.3-percent rise in the average cost of a household food basket and an 8.5-percent increase in household and personal hygiene items. The union’s president, Mametlwe Sebei, calls for urgent government intervention to address the root causes of the crisis:

# The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime says extortion is growing rapidly and spreading throughout the City of Cape Town, and the groups involved are highly organised. In its latest report, it has focused on four main extortion economies. These are the central business district night-time extortion economy, Cape Town’s construction mafia, the transport and the township enterprise extortion economies. The organisation says once extortion economies become entrenched, they are extremely difficult to deal with.

# Rugby: Dylan Sage will return to the Springbok Sevens team for the first time in four years, and Siviwe Soyizwapi for the first time this season, for next weekend’s tournament in Singapore. Head coach Philip Snyman made five changes to the squad that finished sixth in Hong Kong earlier this month, with Tiaan Pretorius, Tristan Leyds and Rosko Specman also recalled. South Africa will face France, Spain and Samoa in Pool B. Snyman says they are ready to compete: 

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand and the euro at 20-rand-37-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-79-cents and Bitcoin trades at 63-thousand-793-dollars-72-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-327-dollars-18-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 88-dollars-13-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Taylor Swift’s latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, has made history on Spotify. It has become the first album in the app’s history to pick up a billion streams in a single week. The single Fortnight featuring Post Malone became the most-streamed song in a single day in Spotify history on its first day of release. The album has already become the bestselling vinyl release in a single week in the modern era by selling 700-thousand copies in its first three days of release.

Stay tuned for more news………….