News 14:00

BULLETIN 27 November 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# South Africa backs off its Taiwan office relocation deadline amid ongoing talks
# The FSCA expects the cost of implementing the two-pot retirement system to increase
# And cricket: Ben Stokes opts out of the IPL to prolong his career for England

# South Africa has reportedly backed off its October 30th deadline for Taiwan to move its office in Pretoria, with ongoing discussions about future bilateral relations. Last month, the government demanded that Taiwan relocate its representative office out of Pretoria, allegedly due to pressure from China. Taiwan refused, citing a 1997 agreement between the two countries signed before the end of official diplomatic relations in January 1998. The US, UK, and Japan have expressed support for Taiwan.

# The Financial Sector Conduct Authority expects the cost of implementing the two-pot retirement system to increase by 300-million-rand annually. Since its implementation on September first, the cost has reached 1.6-billion-rand, including expenses for additional staff, communication efforts, and new call centres. Presenting to Parliament’s standing committee on Finance, the Authority’s deputy commissioner, Astrid Ludin, highlighted that most costs stemmed from system changes and member communication to support the new system:

# Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has revealed that 1.7-million prepaid customers failed to upgrade their meters by Sunday’s deadline. He told Parliament’s portfolio comittee on Electricity and Energy this risks Eskom losing two-billion-rand in revenue monthly. Ramokgopa stresses that the upgrades aim to curb electricity theft, and warns against bypassing legal systems. He says efforts are underway to bring affected customers back on board:

# The Gauteng government has reinstated over 200-million in funding for non-profit organisations. This follows a funding crisis earlier this year that led to several NPOs closing or scaling back operations. Finance MEC Lebogang Maile confirmed that the funding cuts, which were blamed on budget issues, have now been addressed. He says the money will be sourced from the provincial revenue fund, aimed at supporting the social development sector.

 # Cricket: England captain Ben Stokes has decided not to play in next year’s Indian Premier League in a bid to prolong his international career. His team plays New Zealand in the first Test in Christchurch from tomorrow. Stokes’s decision not to take part in the IPL’s auction earlier this week can lead to a two-season ban under new rules. But the 33-year-old says he wants to wear the English shirt for as long as possible. Stokes has scored six-thousand-561 runs in his 107 Tests since 2011.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-9-cents and the euro at 19-rand-3-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-80-cents and Bitcoin trades at 93-thousand-547-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-648-dollars-90-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 72-dollars-61-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….