News 09:00

BULLETIN 24 July 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The US imposes tariffs on goods from 60 countries over forced labour concerns
# Raymond Parsons says the interest rate pause is a positive for struggling consumers
# And Commonwealth Games: Wayne Rittmuller gets South Africa off to a winning start

# US president Donald Trump’s administration is imposing new tariffs ranging from ten-percent to 12.5-percent on 60 trading ‌partners, including South Africa. This is for their failure to adopt and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labour. The tariffs target key economic partners, including the UK, China, the EU, Canada, Japan, and India. South Africa is among the countries facing 12.5-percent tariffs. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer says forced labour impacts over 27.6 million people worldwide:

# The IFP says while the South African Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee has kept the repo rate unchanged, many citizens continue to experience financial strain amid the high cost of living, slow economic growth and persistently high unemployment. The repo rate remains at seven-percent while the prime lending rate stays at 10.50-percent. The IFP’s Nhlanhla Hadebe says the decision provides continuity in monetary policy; however, this alone cannot resolve the country’s economic challenges:

North West University Business School economist, Raymond Parsons, also said keeping interest rates unchanged will bring relief to businesses and consumers facing rising living costs. Parsons added the decision reflects concerns about weak economic growth and global uncertainty, including the conflict in the Middle East. He expects South Africa’s economy to grow by only about 1.2-percent to 1.3-percent this year, citing faster domestic reforms are needed to boost economic growth.

# The threat of a Gauteng-wide taxi shutdown next week has been averted after MEC of Roads and Transport, Kedibone Diale-Tlabela, met with the South African National Taxi Council and the Gauteng National Taxi Alliance. This follows a week of tensions between the department and taxi associations over alleged administrative delays and claims that the MEC failed to engage with democratically elected taxi leadership. Santaco’s Graham Fritz says they have agreed to further engagements to reach sustainable and mutually acceptable solutions:

# Commonwealth Games: Wayne Rittmuller got Team South Africa’s Commonwealth Games campaign off to the perfect start when he won his opening Lawn Bowls men’s singles match in Glasgow. The 44-year-old saw off Singapore’s Harriman Yuen, 9-0, 7-4, in their Section B encounter. In the women’s pairs of the Lawn Bowls, Thabelo Muvhango and Jacqui Janse van Rensburg lost their Section B match to their Tonga opponents, Paris Baker and Milika Nathan. King Charles officially opened the Games yesterday, bringing over three-thousand athletes for eleven days of competition across ten sports.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-81-cents and the euro at 19-rand-13-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-38-cents, and Bitcoin trades at 65-thousand-299-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-28-dollars-40-cents a fine ounce, and Brent crude oil is quoted at 93-dollars-80-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….