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May 27 2012 11:21
There's a price war raging between South Africa's cellphone networks after Cell C lowered the rates of its prepaid calls by more than 34%.
May 27 2012 11:49
The country's 200 000-odd Tupperware agents are angry about the counterfeit products being sold as the real McCoy.
May 27 2012 13:09
The oversupply of golf estates has claimed another victim.
Johannesburg - The SA Reserve Bank (Sarb) has left its key
repo rate at a historic low of 5.5%, in line with expectations.
The consensus among analysts was that the Sarb's monetary
policy committee (MPC) could afford to leave rates unchanged as consumer
inflation stayed at 6.1% year-on-year (y/y) in December for the second month in
a row.
Although inflation is out of the Sarb's 3% to 6% target
band, the bank has said it expects this range for most of 2012.
Manufacturing and retail sales data indicated fragility in
the economy. The purchasing managers' index for December contracted, indicating
a slowdown in factory output.
Retail sales for November grew at a lower-than-expected pace
of 6.8% y/y, showing that consumer demand had not recovered fully.
The MPC was expected to discuss raising rates later this
year at its first meeting of 2012.