News 08:00

BULLETIN 14 February 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Business Leadership SA says the loss of US aid funding is shocking
# The DA is committed to digitally transform government services
# And Trump orders his administration to determine reciprocal tariffs on US trading partners

# Business Leadership South Africa says the loss of US funding is material, particularly for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief programme, which is integral to the country’s management of the HIV/Aids pandemic. Last year, Pepfar contributed 8.5-billion-rand in direct funding to South Africa, a substantial portion of the 30-billion-rand spent on the fight against HIV. BLSA CEO, Busiswe Mavuso, says the US remains an important trading partner to South Africa and respective private sectors have extensive relationships that need to remain strong.

# The DA says it firmly believes that digitalisation is essential for addressing many of the challenges currently facing South Africa. This week the Home Affairs Department launched the new digital portal for the Trusted Tour Operator Scheme, aimed at simplifying visa applications. The DA’s, Willie Aucamp, says the portal is an example of how digitalisation can foster job creation, increase tourism, and ultimately benefit the country’s economy:

# The South African Correctional Services Workers’ Union is calling on the Department of Correctional Services to review and tighten security measures at all facilities. This comes after Yanga Wayithi was serving a six-month sentence for theft and trespassing when he fled from Pollsmoor Correctional Centre in Cape Town on Tuesday. He was rearrested on Wednesday. The union’s, Alude Jizana, says the department must also offer enough training and resourcing for security personnel working at correctional services:

# US president Donald Trump has signed a memorandum directing his administration to look at implementing reciprocal tariffs against countries that tax or limit markets for American goods. The tariffs would match the tax rates other countries charge on American-made imports. Any new tariffs would follow the 25-percent import taxes Trump has already ordered on steel and aluminium from different countries and the additional ten-percent tax he’s imposed on all imports from China. Trump says they want a level playing field:

# Golf: South African Jacques Blaauw shot a nine-under-par 63 for the clubhouse lead on the opening round of the NTT Data Pro-Am at Fancourt in the Western Cape. He leads by two shots over Denmark’s Christoffer Bring. England’s Eddie Pepperell and South Africa’s JC Ritchie are also on seven under but still need to complete their first rounds after weather and the fading light resulted in the opening round being postponed on Thursday. The first round will be completed this morning, with the second-round tee times adjusted accordingly.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-47-cents and the euro at 19-rand-32-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-19-cents and Bitcoin trades at 96-thousand-691-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-928-dollars-79-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 74-dollars-89-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….