News 09:00

BULLETIN 20 March 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Motsoaledi unveils a promising new TB vaccine
# Everest Wealth predicts the Reserve Bank will not change the repo rate today
# And Olympic Games: A new IOC president will be elected in Greece today

# Health minister Aaron Motsoaledi says Tuberculosis is one of the oldest and deadliest diseases, yet it continues to be a silent killer. In 2023 alone, TB claimed over 56-thousand deaths in South Africa, despite being a preventable and treatable disease. The minister says the soon-to-be-launched End TB campaign aims to reduce TB-related deaths by 41-percent by 2035. Motsoaledi says one of the biggest challenges in combating TB is the lack of an effective vaccine:

# The GOOD Party says the South African Social Security Agency’s gold card swap campaign has been a complete disaster. Of the 2.9-million beneficiaries who were on the SASSA gold card, it is estimated that over a million will not have made the switch to the Postbank black card by today’s deadline. GOOD’s, Suzette Little, says they are extremely supportive of government social relief efforts, however, SASSA and Postbank need to be held accountable for the mess they have created:

# Everest Wealth says the South African Reserve Bank is likely to pause interest rate cuts in today’s announcement. The interest rate may remain unchanged or be lowered by just 25 basis points, with no significant cuts expected for now. This follows concerns over inflation risks, with some members of the Monetary Policy Committee favouring no change. Everest Wealth’s Riaan Grobler says inflation risks and global factors, like US trade policies and rising electricity costs, will influence the bank’s decision.

# UK prime minister Keir Starmer says he is deeply concerned about the resumption of Israeli military action in Gaza. Israel launched a wave of air strikes in Gaza earlier this week, killing more than 430 people. The renewed assault marked the end of the fragile ceasefire deal that had been in place since January. Starmer has urged all parties to return urgently to talks to implement the ceasefire agreement in full and work towards peace:

# Olympic Games: The International Olympic Committee members will elect a new president for the first time since 2013 in Greece today. Seven candidates are vying for the most powerful position in world sport, replacing Thomas Bach. World Athletics president Sebastian Coe is one of the favourites alongside Juan Antonio Samaranch Junior, and Kirsty Coventry, who is vying to be the first female president of the IOC. Bach will stay in the job until June as part of a handover process to his successor.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-9-cents and the euro at 19-rand-73-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-53-cents and Bitcoin trades at 85-thousand-826-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-49-dollars-60-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 70-dollars-80-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….