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Cape Town - A roundup of Tuesday's top economic and finance reads on Fin24.
SA business confidence drops to lowest this year
South African business confidence declined to the lowest level this year as industries raised concern about policy uncertainty, including the ruling party’s plan to change the Constitution to make it easier to expropriate land without paying for it.
Confidence indexes and agricultural land prices are slumping in part due to the potential constitutional amendment that the ANC in December decided is needed to correct racially skewed land-ownership patterns.
With elections looming next year, President Cyril Ramaphosa has embraced land expropriation without compensation, but insists there won’t be a land grab and any policy changes won’t be allowed to damage farming production or the economy.
Trade war with US could cost China millions of jobs, warns JPMorgan
The tariff battle with the US will probably cost China 700 000 jobs, or more in the event of further escalation.
The job losses would come if the US imposes 25% tariffs on $200bn in Chinese exports and China retaliates by devaluing its currency by 5% and adding to levies on US goods, according to economists led by Haibin Zhu at JPMorgan Chase & Co. If China doesn’t retaliate at all, three million people could lose their jobs, they wrote in a research note on Tuesday.
Recession may be a boon for buyers in property market
Last week's announcement that the economy has slipped into a recession does not bode well for the local property sector, according to Adrian Goslett, regional director and CEO of RE/MAX of Southern Africa.
Goslett said a recession usually translates into a "buyer’s market" where the supply of properties outweighs demand, this is because during a recession unemployment tends to increase and consumers' spending power declines
CHARTS: How land-seizure talks have hit SA's farming industry
It’s not just the rand that’s been hurt by the ANC’s plan to change the Constitution to make land expropriation without compensation easier.
Confidence indexes and agricultural land prices are slumping in part due to the potential constitutional amendment that the ANC says is needed to correct racially skewed land-ownership patterns.Sasol announces R1.3bn cash bonanza for Inzalo shareholders
Sasol on Tuesday announced a R1.3bn cash bonanza for its Inzalo Black Economic Empowerment shareholders to be paid out on September 17.
Shareholders will receive R85.63 per shares, marking the end of the scheme founded in September 2008.
The shares, which launched at R366 per share peaked at R632 in 2014. They have over the years been battered by the commodity price volatility. In 2009 they slumped to R252 per share.
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