J&J Vaccines Arrive; Eskom To Hike Electricity Prices 16%

LOCAL NEWS

• 80k J&J vaccines arrive in SA overnight and will be moved to a secure facility in Gauteng before being distributed overnight to various vaccine centres.
  • HealthMin says 500k doses due to arrive over the next 4-weeks and 20m Pfizer doses by end-March - GOV
• Eskom to hike electricity prices by 16% from 01 April following a court ruling that Eskom can recover R10bn from consumers.
  • Local economist warns this will add pressure disposable income and more pain for industrial and retail businesses
• Health experts call for sugar tax hike to 20% from 10% to improve health outcomes and revenue collection ahead of next week's budget.
  • Tax Analysts note a revenue shortfall in the range of R250bn (govt estimate R300bn) could well be on the cards due to lost sin tax revenues as a result of cigarette and alcohol bans, which comprise ~3.5% of revenue collections.
• Dept of Public Enterprises Min Gordhan says money stolen from SOEs as part of state capture will be recovered and perpetrators will be handed criminal sentences.
  • Also notes SOE architecture will change in 2021, including Eskom, Denel & SAA. Says Denel will have a new business model in 3-months following warnings from the Treasury yesterday that it could run out of cash by end-March