News 09:00

BULLETIN 22 October 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The governor of the Reserve Bank says South Africa is entering a low-inflation era
# The DA slams the Defence Force over starving the naval recruits at SAS Saldanha
# And there are no plans for Trump and Putin to meet in person in the near future

# South African Reserve Bank governor, Lesetja Kganyago, says the country has entered a new era of low inflation, which strengthens the likelihood of declining inflation expectations. SARB expects inflation to average 3.4-percent this year and 3.6-percent next year, before moderating to three-percent in 2027. Speaking at the SA Tomorrow Investment Conference 2025, Kganyago said while the country’s sovereign risk premium was mostly a function of fiscal policy, targeting a lower level of inflation signals a more optimistic outlook for the economy.

# The National Energy Regulator of South Africa has extended the deadline for written submissions and supporting evidence regarding the market inquiry into the impact of fixed charges being levied by Eskom and municipal electricity distributors. The inquiry’s purpose is to evaluate how fixed and capacity-based charges are structured and applied across the electricity distribution sector, and their impact. This is particularly in instances where increases have exceeded Eskom’s approved 12.74-percent tariff adjustments. Nersa’s Charles Hlebela says the deadline is now November 8:

# The DA has expressed outrage over reports that 130 naval recruits at SAS Saldanha Training Base are facing starvation and poor accommodation. DA’s Nicholas Gotsell says this exposes deep systemic failures in defence leadership. The recruits have allegedly survived on minimal rations for months amid construction delays at Simon’s Town Naval Base. He says the DA will submit urgent parliamentary questions on provisioning, planning, and budgeting for the affected recruits:

# The White House says there are no plans for president Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to meet in the immediate future. The two leaders last week agreed to meet in Budapest, Hungary, following a phone call that Trump described as extremely frank and productive. The last Trump-Putin meeting was in Alaska in August, but it ended without any meaningful progress towards a ceasefire. Speaking at the Oval Office, Trump told reporters that he did not want to have a wasted meeting:

# Soccer: The third round of the Champions League on Tuesday evening saw 43 goals scored, five red cards handed out, and six penalties awarded. Defending champions Paris St Germain swept aside Bayer Leverkusen 7-2 to go top of the standings. Fermín López scored a hat-trick as Barcelona earned an emphatic 6-1 win over Olympiacos. PSV Eindhoven recorded a 6-2 win against Italian champions Napoli. Erling Haaland scored for a 12th successive match, as Manchester City beat Villarreal 2-0. Arsenal and Newcastle also claimed convincing victories.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-38-cents and the euro at 20-rand-18-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-25-cents and Bitcoin trades at 108-thousand-498-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-129-dollars-22-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 62-dollars-1-cent a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….