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ZAR: Inflation Ticks Higher In January, Eskom Suspends Loadshedding

ZAR
EM BulletBulletEmerging Market News
  • President Cyril Ramaphosa called for the restoration of multilateralism in his speech opening a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs, painting it as the "only hope" to overcome current challenges, such as "slow and uneven growth, rising debt burdens and levels, persistent poverty in many parts of the world, and inequality and the existential threat of climate change." Recent weeks have seen growing tensions between various actors and the US, which will take over the rotating G20 presidency from Pretoria in December, amid US President Donald Trump's "America First" approach.
  • Another source of tensions in South African-US relations specifically has been Trump's decision to halt aid to South Africa amid accusations of the mistreatment of Afrikaner farmers. A delegation of Solidarity and AfriForum met with senior officials from the Trump administration this week, asking them to ramp up pressure on the government in Pretoria, although they reportedly also called for the preservation of South Africa's trade privileges under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
  • Eskom suspended loadshedding this morning after the successful recovery of generation capacity and replenishment of emergency reserves. The utility was forced into Stage 6 controlled power outages during the weekend, reducing them to Stage 4 on Monday and Stage 2 on Tuesday as the situation gradually improved. Eskom CEO Dan Marokane said that there would be a further update on Friday on the state of the national grid.
  • South Africa's headline inflation accelerated to +3.2% Y/Y in January, while core inflation ticked lower to +3.5% Y/Y from +3.6%, in line with expectations. SARB Governor Lesetja Kganyago yesterday said that "we expect inflation to be creeping up" and "the expectation is that it will start to rise, but our baseline is still that it will rise toward our target, which is +4.5% Y/Y."
  • News24 reported that the Democratic Alliance (DA) proposed to cut government expenditures (e.g. advertising budgets and travel and catering spending) in order to make up for the rejected VAT hike proposal as intra-government negotiations on the delayed 2025 Budget continue.
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  • President Cyril Ramaphosa called for the restoration of multilateralism in his speech opening a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs, painting it as the "only hope" to overcome current challenges, such as "slow and uneven growth, rising debt burdens and levels, persistent poverty in many parts of the world, and inequality and the existential threat of climate change." Recent weeks have seen growing tensions between various actors and the US, which will take over the rotating G20 presidency from Pretoria in December, amid US President Donald Trump's "America First" approach.
  • Another source of tensions in South African-US relations specifically has been Trump's decision to halt aid to South Africa amid accusations of the mistreatment of Afrikaner farmers. A delegation of Solidarity and AfriForum met with senior officials from the Trump administration this week, asking them to ramp up pressure on the government in Pretoria, although they reportedly also called for the preservation of South Africa's trade privileges under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
  • Eskom suspended loadshedding this morning after the successful recovery of generation capacity and replenishment of emergency reserves. The utility was forced into Stage 6 controlled power outages during the weekend, reducing them to Stage 4 on Monday and Stage 2 on Tuesday as the situation gradually improved. Eskom CEO Dan Marokane said that there would be a further update on Friday on the state of the national grid.
  • South Africa's headline inflation accelerated to +3.2% Y/Y in January, while core inflation ticked lower to +3.5% Y/Y from +3.6%, in line with expectations. SARB Governor Lesetja Kganyago yesterday said that "we expect inflation to be creeping up" and "the expectation is that it will start to rise, but our baseline is still that it will rise toward our target, which is +4.5% Y/Y."
  • News24 reported that the Democratic Alliance (DA) proposed to cut government expenditures (e.g. advertising budgets and travel and catering spending) in order to make up for the rejected VAT hike proposal as intra-government negotiations on the delayed 2025 Budget continue.