Economist Downplays Risk of New Taxes; Local Firm Exploring Sputnik V Vaccine

LOCAL NEWS

• Local economist says he believes a one-off vaccine tax or wealth taxes are unlikely to occur at Fed 24th budget due to laffer curve constraints and limited marginal effectiveness. Expects ~7bn to 13bn funding to come through issuance or a spending reprioritisation from elsewhere.
• Says Mboweni will likely provide a roadmap for this issuance plan, but may also look to approach the IMF for another loan
• Local firm Lamar International Ltd. says it can make 15m doses of Sputnik V vaccine available for SA by May. Despite its 91.6% efficacy rate, the vaccine is yet to be tested vs the SA variant
• Labour Min publishes new national minimum wage at R21.69/hr to take effect from 01 March - amounts to a 4.47% increase from R20.76 in 2020
• Local analyst says extension of the Expropriation Bill to 28 Feb is welcome as the bill poses a systemic threat to SA property rights through expanded state powers to claim property.
  • Institute for Race Relations calls on citizens to rally to kill the Bill in the coming weeks