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May 24 2012 17:31
The Reserve Bank will maintain current interest rates, and a sizeable reduction in the local petrol price is expected, says governor Gill Marcus.
May 24 2012 15:29
The Reserve Bank will maintain current interest rates, says governor Gill Marcus.
May 24 2012 12:00
Britain fell deeper into recession than initially thought in the first quarter of 2012, upping chances that the central bank could inject more stimulus into the economy.
Johannesburg - Retail sales fell for a tenth month in November, according to
data released by Statistics SA on Wednesday.
Retail sales for November declined by 6.6% year-on-year.
In October, sales fell by a revised 6.1% year-on-year.
Nedbank economist Carmen Altenkirch described the data as
"absolutely terrible. What we usually see in November unadjusted
month-on-month figures is a relatively big bounce pre-Christmas
discounts, but this isn't the case here," she said in a statement.
The data showed that although South Africa had exited the
recession, consumer confidence remained severely depressed on the
back of high debt levels and job losses.
"We saw job losses in the third quarter of the 2009 and we'll
probably see them in the fourth quarter."
She expected a recovery in retail sales only in the middle of
2010.
"As the year progresses the economic recovery should gain
momentum and there should be more jobs created. There's also the
World Cup which should boost retail sales and it'll also positively
impact on people's sentiments."
- Sapa