News 13:00

BULLETIN 23 March 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The South African Chamber of Commerce is concerned about the economic impact of the Middle East war
# Motorsport: Marco Bezzecchi leads the MotoGP standings after an impressive start to the season
# And: Over 200 volunteers participated in a clean-up mission on Robben Island

# The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry says the conflict in the Middle East has created instability in the financial markets, which will have a significant impact on the global economy. This as the Strait of Hormuz, which carries around 20-percent of the world’s oil supply, has been largely closed by Iran. SACCI CEO, Alan Mukoki, says this conflict does not bode well for any prospect of economic recovery that the South African government was anticipating:

Meanwhile, the General Industries Workers Union of South Africa is urging the South African Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee to cut the repo rate when it makes its second interest rate decision for this year on Thursday. In the wake of the war in the Middle East, the degree of uncertainty around the inflation trajectory has risen. Giwusa president Mametlwe Sebei says the repurchase rate must be cut drastically, bringing the prime lending rate to 3.5-percent to correspond with the current inflation rate:

# London Metropolitan police have launched an investigation after four ambulances belonging to the Jewish volunteer rescue organisation, Hatzola Northwest, were set on fire in Golders Green, north London, this morning. According to officials, multiple cylinders in the vehicles exploded and caused windows to break in an adjacent block of flats. Golders Green is known for its large Jewish and Orthodox Jewish community. Police say they are treating this incident as an antisemitic hate crime.

# Motorsport: Marco Bezzecchi leads the MotoGP rider championship standings by eleven points after the first two races of the season. The Aprilia Racing rider won the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday, backing up his victory in the season-opening Thailand Grand Prix earlier this month. Jorge Martin made it an Aprilia 1-2 and VR46 Racing’s Fabio Di Giannantonio held off defending champion Marc Marquez to claim third place. Four riders crashed out of the race, including South Africa’s Brad Binder. Up next is the US Grand Prix in Austin this weekend.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-19-cents and the euro at 19-rand-77-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-81-cents and Bitcoin trades at 68-thousand-315-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-255-dollars-81-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 109-dollars-11-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Western Cape MEC of Cultural Affairs and Sport, Ricardo Mackenzie, says the clean-up mission on Robben Island over the weekend was a huge success. Over 200 volunteers worked tirelessly to collect as many bags of litter as possible. Mackenzie says this was in collaboration with Robben Island Museum, Coca-Cola Peninsula Beverages, FNB, SANCCOB and the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation:

Stay tuned for more news………….