BRICS Business

The public have until September 15 to comment
The National Treasury building in Pretoria [PREUSS]
The National Treasury’s growth strategy entitled ‘Economic Transformation, Inclusive Growth and Competitiveness Plan’ should encourage policy debate, but implementation is key according to economists.
Intellidex’s head of capital markets research Peter Attard Montalto said the plan had already caused quite a stir amongst political and policy circles.

The BRICS New Development Bank is also rated AA+ by Fitch and S&P Ratings
The first president of the New Development Bank K. V. Kamath speaks at the 2nd annual meet of the new lender in New Delhi in April 2017. In 2018, the NDB approved 17 loans totaling about $4.6 billion, building on its base of 13 loans worth $3.4 billion as of the end of 2017 [Image: BRICS Business Council]
The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) was assigned a ‘AAA’ foreign currency long-term issuer rating with a stable outlook by Japan Credit Rating Agency, Ltd (JCR) on August 20.

The municipal government of Jiangsu Province in eastern China announced today that it had reached an agreement with the US-based Ford Motor company to establish a research and development (R&D) center in the capital Nanjing.
In addition to the R&D center, Ford will also set up a China operations center in the same city.
The announcement comes amid further strains in the China-US trade relationship as expectations of a settlement between the two countries fade among market investors.

“One small step for Minergy, one giant leap for Botswana’s coal industry,” says Minergy CEO Morne du Plessis.
A Minergy pit in the country’s southeast. Botswana is entering the coal market in a big way, analysts predict [PREUSS]
With these words, a paraphrase play on American Astronaut Neil Armstrong’s famous speech at the first Moon landing in July 1969, du Plessis welcomed media representatives to the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE)-listed Minergy Limited’s 390-million ton Masama Coal Project in the Mmambula Coalfield in the southeast.

Domestic final demand, which excludes the change in inventories and foreign trade, is more stable

Indaba was shifted one week earlier due to May 8 election
“This industry must be positioned as a key empowering sector of the economy whosepower we should unleash and use to change the lives of people in our urban and ruralareas,” Ramaphosa noted [PREUSS]Many delegates said that although this year’s Indaba was quieter than previous years due to the date shift from the traditional second week of May, they also said that they had a better Indaba as they could engage for longer with their partners.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has been seeking to expand the number of countries joining the Silk Road [Archive]
China has hailed the beginning of a new era in ties with Italy following President Xi Jinping’s visit to Rome on the weekend.
Xi met with Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and the two presided over a ceremony to sign a memorandum of understanding making Italy the first G7 country to join the One Belt One Road initiative, despite US protests over the move.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on 14 May 2017 [PPIO]
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has confirmed that President Xi Jinping will visit Russia and meet President Vladimir Putin to take their strategic ties to a “new stage”.
The two leaders and BRICS allies have met several times in the past year and share a very close view of world affairs. Both are strong proponents of multilateralism and both have opposed the US policy of isolationism.

Final sales grew 10.7 per cent in fourth quarter as net exports add 8.7 percentage points to GDP growth

“This is a Budget that plants a seed for renewal and growth.” Tito Mboweni
Should Ramaphosa establish a Growth Commission? [GCIS]
In his maiden budget in February 2019, Tito Titus Mboweni, the current Minister of Finance, said he was planting a new seed as he walked a tight rope between what the ratings agencies would allow before a downgrade and what was needed to provide policy certainty.
There was no way that the Treasury would be able to provide R100bn in debt relief to Eskom in one go, so instead he provided R69bn spread over three years.