CAPE TOWN: Its five minutes past six, good evening. Welcome to the SAfm Market Update with Moneyweb. My name is Siki Mgabadeli. Prepare to pay between 70c and 80c a litre more for petrol from April. That’s according to the Institute for Race Relations’ chief economist, Ian Cruickshanks. He’s warned that if oil prices remain at current levels motorists can expect a fuel price hike of at least 41c a litre which comes on top of the 30c a litre raise we’ve seen in the fuel levy that was announced in the budget in February. So we’re going to be chatting to him.
And today we’re going to look at how you can get the best handset deals, yes, best handset deals on your contract. Tariffic publishes a special report once a quarter. It’s called Tarrific’s Perfect Package Tracker and they report on changes in the South African cellular market, and they’ll speak to us today.
In our sme feature, we speak to the founders and owners of Mzalwane Clothing Nthati Molefe and Thato Molefe about their family business and Anthea Gardiner of Cartesian Capital watching the markets for us today. But first, Tumisang has your business news headlines.
Thanks Siki. Good evening. South Africa’s inflation now stands at its highest level in nearly seven years, adding pressure on the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates further despite weak economic growth. According to the latest data by Statistics South Africa, inflation hit 7% year on year in February from 6.2% in January. FNBs Sizwe Nxasana shared his views after the central bank hiked rates by 25 basis points this month following a 50 basis points rise in January.
We think that another 25 or maximum 50 basis points are in the offing and we think the Sarb is going to try and hike into the peak of inflation, so we would expect those hikes to be in the second half of this year.
The rand shed as much as 1% against the dollar in early trade. That development came as investors sought safe haven assets, this after the deadly Brussels explosions placed riskier emerging markets on the back foot.
And still on the currencies, analysts say dollar strength is expected to keep the rand under pressure. Meanwhile the greenback was underpinned by hawkish comments from the US Federal Reserve. The Fed has suggested that an interest rate hike could be on the way sooner rather than later.
