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Cape Town - In case you missed it, here is a roundup of Thursday's top 5 reads on Fin24:
SARS keeps rate stable
The main economic news on Thursday was the decision that the SA Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 6.75%.
Governor Lesetja Kganyago made the announcement at a media briefing at 3:15pm.
While the news was positive for the rand, reaction from the SA real estate sector was mixed.
PIC pressured as workers threaten to pull funds
Africa’s biggest fund manager may be dumped by a labour federation representing 230 000 South African state workers because it’s concerned that the funds of its members may be used to bail out mismanaged state-owned companies.
The Federation of Unions of South Africa is considering replacing the state-owned Public Investment Corporation with privately owned fund managers to oversee the pension funds of the state workers, including nurses and teachers, that it represents.
SAA bailout scramble: Why the rush, asks FMF
The threat of a domino effect of more state-owned enterprise debt - already totalling about R434.1bn - becoming immediately payable could be the reason for government's urgency to try and bail out South African Airways yet again, the Free Market Foundation proposed on Thursday.
About R17.9bn in SAA guarantees could become immediately repayable if it defaults, the FMF believes.
Another bank blow for Guptas as court bid fails
The North Gauteng High Court on Thursday dismissed the Guptas’ urgent court bid to prevent the Bank of Baroda from closing its accounts.
This means they have to remove their money from the bank by the end of the month. The application was dismissed with costs.
After the bank dismissed the Gupta’s bid, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) said it would lodge an urgent interdict to freeze R1.75bn in mine rehabilitation funds from the Gupta-owned coal mines administered by the Bank of Baroda.
“We want to ensure that this money doesn’t leave the country or find its way into the Gupta family’s pockets,” said Ben Theron, OUTA’s chief operating officer.
SA accountancy body: We have no mandate to probe KPMG
The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants on Thursday denied media reports that it was planning to investigate auditing firm KPMG.
During a radio interview on talk radio station 702 and CapeTalk on Wednesday, new KPMG CEO Nhlamu Dlomu had announced an agreement with the institute to set up an "inquiry" into KPMG SA, in the hopes of regaining SA's trust.
But on Thursday the institute said this was incorrect, as it had no mandate to launch an investigation. It said that Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors was already conducting an independent investigation into KPMG SA.
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