News 09:00

BULLETIN 19 September 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The EFF accuses minister Tau of disrespecting Parliament
# ActionSA says Ithala Bank faces imminent collapse
# And the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the first time in more than four years

# The EFF says it condemns minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Parks Tau, for his refusal to fulfil his constitutional duty to Parliament. The party claims that the minister has only attended two out of 16 meetings this year, even staying for less than ten minutes on one occasion. The EFF says Tau, whose department presides over 18 struggling entities has failed to account for his role in stabilising the entities. It has called on president Cyril Ramaphosa to hold the minister accountable.

# GOOD Party Youth has called on the government to release the 7.4-billion-rand allocated for youth employment programmes, as promised in this year’s budget. They argue that delays in funding for the Basic Education Employment Initiative, which has created over 1.7-million jobs, are worsening the youth unemployment crisis. GOOD Youth chairperson Kaden Arguile states with over 44-percent of young people not in jobs, education, or training, urgent action is needed to prevent further unemployment and scams. 

# ActionSA says Ithala Bank faces imminent collapse as neither the KwaZulu-Natal government nor the National Treasury plan to inject any capital to ensure the bank is adequately capitalised. Last month, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority suspended the KZN-based bank’s licence, after it failed to meet financial soundness requirements. ActionSA’s, Alan Beesley, says they have consistently raised alarms about the devastating impact of Ithala’s potential collapse:

# The US Federal Reserve has cut interest rates by half of a percentage point, the first rate cut since March 2020. The central bank’s chairperson, Jerome Powell, says the move to cut interest rates by 0.50 percentage points will help push the country’s economy in a positive direction. He says this aggressive action is intended to make sure that high borrowing costs put in place to fight inflation, would not end up hurting the US economy:

# Soccer: Manchester City opened their Champions League campaign with a goalless draw against Inter Milan at the Etihad Stadium. The match was a repeat of the 2023 final won by City in Istanbul. Jamie Gittens scored twice as Borussia Dortmund beat Club Brugge three-nil. Celtic won their first match of a Champions League campaign for the first time at the 13th attempt, beating Slovan Bratislava five-one. Paris St-Germain defeated debutants Girona one-nil. City manager, Pep Guardiola, says their overall performance was good:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-52-cents and the euro at 19-rand-49-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-15-cents and Bitcoin trades at 62-thousand-36-dollars-38-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-561-dollars-20-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 73-dollars-65-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….