News 17:00

BULLETIN 30 January 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Reserve Bank cuts the repo rate by 25 basis points
# The South African Defence Force chief clarifies the DRC deployment
# And soccer: Keane says Rashford should be ashamed of his exile under Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim

# There is some good news for those South Africans with debt. The Reserve Bank’s monetary police committee cut the repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.5-percent. This means the prime lending rate will be lowered to 11-percent. The bank says the economy shrank in the third quarter, mainly due to a sharp decline in agricultural production. However, governor Lesetja Kganyago expects a rebound in the fourth quarter, driven by increased agricultural output, strong household spending, and withdrawals from the two-pot pension system:

# South African Defence Force chief, Rudzani Maphwanya, has reaffirmed that SANDF troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo are on a peacekeeping mission, countering Rwandan president Paul Kagame’s claims. He stated their mandate is to neutralise armed groups and restore stability. Maphwanya confirmed that plans are underway to repatriate the bodies of the 13 fallen soldiers to their families:

# UN General-Secretary Antonio Guterres has urged Israel to reverse its decision to ban the UN Relief and Works Agency responsible for Palestinians from operating in Jerusalem. In a letter to the Israeli government, he warned that restricting the agency’s activities would severely impact humanitarian aid in the occupied Palestinian territories. Israel’s Parliament passed legislation in October, effective from today. The agency’s Phillippe Lazzarini says the ban will have dire consequences :

# Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos wants a meeting with US counterpart Donald Trump to discuss the new administration’s immigration crackdown. Trump began his second term with a flurry of executive actions aimed at overhauling immigration, while also suspending many foreign aid programmes for 90 days pending funding reviews. Hundreds of undocumented immigrants were arrested since he returned to the White House, with dozens of migrants expelled last week. The Philippine envoy to Washington, José Manuel Romualdez, says 80 Filipinos were among those set to be deported.

# Soccer: Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane says Marcus Rashford must be ashamed at his exile under manager Ruben Amorim. The 27-year-old has not played for United for seven weeks. Amorim has told him that he has to change if he is to have a future at Old Trafford. The England forward has not been included in the squad for today’s trip to Romanian side FCSB in the Europa League. Rashford has been linked with a loan move to Barcelona, but the transfer window closes on Monday.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-52-cents and the euro at 19-rand-27-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-2-cents and Bitcoin trades at 105-thousand-298-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-780-dollars-98-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 75-dollars-39-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….