BRICS Business

Exxaro will spend R20bn to expand coal production by 19.8 Mtpa
Courtesy of Exxaro
Exxaro executive head of coal Dr Nombasa Tsengwa told the 14th Annual Southern African Coal Conference that Exxaro will be spending R20bn over the next five years to expand production capacity by 19.8 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) from the 2017 production of 47 Mtpa.
This involved seven separate projects and the mines involved are Grootgeluk, Thabametsi, Dorsfontein, Mafube, Leeuwpan, Matla and Belfast.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivering his keynote speech, at the plenary session of the World Economic Forum, in Davos on January 23, 2018 [PMO, India]
India’s National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) has not yet been able to publish figures showing that the country’s unemployment had risen to its highest rate in more than 45 years.

Provincial rates show large dispersion between 5.3 per cent and 3.6 per cent
Inflation rates were highest in areas of South Africa most affected by years of drought [PREUSS]
The annual average South African consumer inflation rate of 4.7 per cent was better than expected by most economists after the Value-Added Tax rate was raised to 15 per cent from 14 per cent on April 1 and amidst higher fuel costs for most of the year.

US stocks appear to have erased the December doldrums on news of a possible trade agreement with China
Investors appear to have welcomed a report which says that the US is considering at least a partial lift of tariffs on Chinese products in a bid to encourage Beijing to further open its markets to foreign goods.
All European markets were up between 1.23 and 2.63 per cent with the FTSE 100 defying Brexit uncertainty in favor of optimism that there may be a trade breakthrough between China and the US.

Both President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping have signaled they are willing to reach a deal to resolve trade conflict
Two days of trade talks between China and the US kicked off in Bejing on Monday as both sides sought to narrow the divide following nearly a year of tit-for-tat tariffs threatening both economies.
But the talks were quickly overshadowed by events unfolding some 1,800 kilometers in the South China Sea, which Beijing has long claimed to be largely its own dominion.

China has warned the US not to adapt protectionist measures to global trade [Image: Archives]
Chinese industrial profits have dropped for the first time in three years, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The NBS also said that the manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), its survey tracking the health of some 3,000 large and state-owned companies, fell to 49.4 per cent in December.
The reading is below the neutral 50-point level, signalling a contraction in the manufacturing sector.

Deals worth $32.6 billion announced
After the success of the IATF, Egypt will next host a meeting with BRICS countries [PREUSS]
 
The inaugural Intra-Africa Trade Fair (IATF) held in Cairo from 11 to 17 December exceeded the targets set by the organising committee when they approached the Afreximbank for sponsorship.
The ambitious targets the committee set was to attract at least 30 African country pavilions, get at least 1,000 exhibitors and be able to say agreements worth at least $25 billion were signed at the IATF.

Actual quarterly growth rate was 2.2% versus consensus forecast of 1.6 per cent, while annual growth was 1.1% versus consensus forecast of 0.5 per cent
The National Treasury building in Pretoria [PREUSS]
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) exceeded the Reuters consensus forecast of a 1.6 per cent seasonally adjusted annualized (saa) increase in the third quarter on the second quarter by almost a half, as the actual rise was 2.2 per cent.

With BRICS espousing multilateralism, a number of African and Asian leaders were invited to Johannesburg [PPIO]
The World Bank Group’s Doing Business report noted that the BRICS economies, Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa, introduced a total of 23 reforms, with getting electricity and trading across borders the most common areas of improvement.

Tito Mboweni is being seen as the comeback kid in South Africa [Courtesy: Ministry of Finance]
When Tito Titus Mboweni was announced as the future Governor of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) in July 1998, South Africa’s financial markets reacted negatively.
But two decades later, they greeted his appointment as Minister of Finance with glee, resulting in the rand gaining more than 30 cents against the US dollar this week.