South Africa

Lackluster demand from its major export markets is hurting the South African economy [Xinhua]Ratings agency Fitch affirmed South Africa’s investment grade credit rating on Wednesday and maintained its stable outlook.
“The ‘BBB-‘ rating reflects low trend GDP growth, significant fiscal and external deficits, and high debt levels, which are balanced by strong policy institutions, deep local capital markets and a favourable government debt structure,” Fitch said in a statement.

File photo: The Mall of Africa in Midrand, near Johannesburg, South Africa [Xinhua]A South African news portal has claimed a “discredited informer” is behind the recent alert by the United States on a possible terrorist attack in South Africa.
Pretoria has officially said there is no cause for alarm and that its security officials were working to keep South Africans safe.

The African National Congress Chief Whip in parliament Jackson Mthembu writing on the party website ANC Today last December accused the local media of bias against the ruling party.
To drive home his point, Mthembu drew on the work of Noam Chomsky’s and Ed Herman’s Manufacturing Consent – The Political Economy of the Mass Media which argues that the mass media serve special interests through the choice of stories, of emphases and – importantly – of omissions.

The composite leading business cycle indicator compiled by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) increased by 0.3 per cent in March 2016 compared with February. This was the first monthly increase since October 2015 and may herald a turning point in the business cycle. Four of the nine component time series that were available for March 2016 increased, while five decreased.

File photo: South African Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana Mashabane (left) with Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and new UN climate chief Patricia Espinosa [Image: UNFCCC]South African Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane is in China’s Xi’an where she is participating in a summit of the W20, a G20 engagement group, taking place on 24-26 May.
Last year, the world’s 20 leading economies, the G20, launched a new grouping aimed at boosting the role of women in global economic growth.

President Jacob Zuma addresses the South Africa-Qatar Business round table in Doha, Qatar on 19 May 2016 [Image: Presidency.za]South African President Jacob Zuma has met with the Qatari emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on Thursday to discuss investment and bilateral ties between the two countries.

Workers work in an assembly production plant of China First Automotive Works (FAW) Group Corporation in Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, South Africa [Xinhua]Egypt has surpassed South Africa as the second largest economy in Africa, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in its latest World Economic Outlook.
Africa’s most industrialized economy is struggling with falling commodity prices, the worst drought in more than a century and rising wage demands.
The IMF said South Africa has been taken over by Egypt owing to the depreciation of its currency, the rand.

Alex de Waal
African Arguments
When UK PM David Cameron opens the Anti-Corruption Summit on 12 May, we should be aware that the greatest fraud perpetrated on the majority of the world’s citizens is all perfectly legal.
Africa loses at least $50 billion a year — and probably much, much more than that — perfectly lawfully.

I had mixed feelings when I learned that Palestine has erected a statue of Nelson Mandela, the iconic South African anti-Apartheid leader. On the one hand, I was quite pleased that the unmistakable connection between the struggles of Palestinians and South Africans is cemented more than ever before. On the other hand, I dreaded that rich, corrupt Palestinians in Ramallah are utilizing the image of Mandela to acquire badly-needed political capital.

Romans sick of the corruption and crime cleaned up their own streets; a new startup aims to be the Airbnb of the coming kitchen-based sharing economy; and animals are learning how to dismantle their traps.