South Africa's factories shrank again in June, and the economy may feel it
Manufacturing output fell 1.7% in June, a softer patch than May but still a decline that is likely to drag on second-quarter growth.
Economy
Growth, inflation, jobs, the Reserve Bank and the forces shaping South Africa’s economy.
Global food prices just hit a three-year high — and your trolley will feel it later
The UN's food-price benchmark climbed again in July as heat, energy costs and grain-export fears lifted wheat, cooking oil and sugar.
A Saudi ports giant is circling Cape Town's troubled harbour
Transnet has opened a 25-year deal to rebuild and run a Cape Town terminal — and one of Saudi Arabia's biggest state-backed operators showed up to take a look.
Big story
A mining windfall has Goldman betting on another SA ratings upgrade
Company tax is pouring in far ahead of budget, and Goldman Sachs thinks Moody's and S&P will reward South Africa with upgrades within a year.
Editor’s pick
The rand just lost its 13-year monopoly on Southern Africa's payment system
The Angolan kwanza has become the second settlement currency in the SADC payment system, a move meant to make regional trade cheaper and faster.
The one corner of China's economy that refuses to slow down
As China posts its softest growth in years, a worldwide scramble to build the machinery behind artificial intelligence has quietly become the one thing propping the numbers up.
Data centres could swallow a fifth of America's electricity by 2035
A new BloombergNEF forecast says AI's hunger for power will quadruple data-centre electricity use in a decade, straining grids already struggling to keep up.
Why pork just got a lot cheaper at the till
A feared shortage turned into a glut, and wholesale pork has slid from about R40 a kilo back down to R30. Here is what happened.
Big story
Why the Reserve Bank left your loan repayments exactly where they are
Most economists bet on a rate hike this week. The Reserve Bank held steady instead, the rand tumbled, and even the governor admits he might be proven wrong.
South Africa wants to build electric-car batteries, not just dig up what goes in them
A five-year, UN-backed programme aims to give the country the labs, skills and recycling to claim a place in the electric-vehicle battery chain.
Editor’s pick
Transnet Wants Someone Else to Run Cape Town's Docks
Transnet's ports authority has invited private bidders to rebuild and run the Port of Cape Town's multipurpose terminal for 25 years, a year after fruit exporters lost R1 billion to delays there.
Big story
The arms industry its own government stopped buying from
More than 600 South African firms make defence equipment and earn over 80% of their money abroad, while the state-owned company at the centre of the sector has lost money for a decade and is now advertising for outside investors.