News 09:00

BULLETIN 24 February 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# South Africa is ready to host the G20 Finance Track meetings
# The Auditor-General requests the National Assembly speaker to deal with errant municipalities
# And Germany’s centre-right Christian Democratic Union returns to power

# National Treasury and the South African Reserve Bank will host the G20 Finance Track meetings in Cape Town from today until Thursday, which will include Finance ministers, Central Bank Governors, and their deputies. The G20 Finance Track focuses on fostering global economic stability, enhancing international financial cooperation, and addressing pressing global challenges. SA Reserve Bank Governor, Lesetja Kganyago, says the Finance Track deals with strategic macro-economic issues:

# The Auditor-General, Tsakani Maluleke, has written to National Assembly Speaker, Thoko Didiza, urging her to exercise her statutory powers to clamp down on municipalities that fail to submit annual financial statements on time. As of 31 January, the number of outstanding audits was reduced to nine, while the Mafube Municipality in the Free State has not yet submitted its annual financial statements. Maluleke says appropriate steps may include referring municipalities to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, to scrutinise the reasons for the delays.

# Build One South Africa in Gauteng says premier Panyaza Lesufi will attempt to paint a picture of progress and success, when he delivers the state of the province address today. The party’s Ayanda Allie says Lesufi’s 2024 address was filled with bold commitments, yet many remain unfulfilled, exposing a government failing to deliver on its promises. She says the premier will not address the failures in education, the electricity crisis, and the disastrous implementation of the Township Economic Development Act:

# Exit polls indicate that Germany’s centre-right Christian Democratic Union won the most votes in the general elections, with Friedrich Merz most likely to be the next chancellor. The party claimed 28.8-percent of the vote in Sunday’s election, which is not a majority, meaning a coalition government will need to be formed. The far-right Alternative for Germany came in second, with a record 20.2-percent of the vote, and Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s centre-left Social Democratic Party in third. Germany is Europe’s biggest economy and most populous state.

# Soccer: Liverpool has moved eleven points clear at the top of the Premier League table after beating reigning champions Manchester City two-nil at the Etihad Stadium. Mohamed Salah opened the scoring for the Reds, his 30th goal of the season before Dominik Szoboszlai netted in the second to secure all three points. Liverpool manager, Arne Slot, says in every other league having a lead like this would be very comfortable, but not in the Premier League:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-32-cents and the euro at 19-rand-26-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-21-cents and Bitcoin trades at 95-thousand-294-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-942-dollars-8-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 73-dollars-89-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….