Friday, October 8, 2010

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Amy Witherden.

Making headlines:

South Africa's currency is too strong in light of the country's economic fundamentals, South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Thursday.
Speaking ahead of a meeting of global finance chiefs at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank this weekend, Gordhan said that "the rand is too strong given the South African context, and we share the concerns of other emerging markets." The rand has gained more than 28% against the US dollar since the start of 2009. On September 21, the IMF said that the rand could be between 5% and 15% overvalued.
Asked whether South Africa's central bank should be accumulating foreign currency reserves more aggressively in the face of the strong rand, Gordhan said: "More means you have got to find more resources; nothing comes for free in this business. We're working on that with the Reserve Bank."

World finance leaders will this weekend try to soothe simmering currency tensions that threaten to delay an economic recovery that is already too slow and uneven for their liking.
Officials say that foreign exchange matters will be discussed at meetings of the Group of 20 and the Group of Seven today, amid concerns that countries will intentionally weaken their currencies to pursue export-led growth.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) MD Dominique Strauss-Kahn said that leaders "want a rebalancing of the global economy and [that] this rebalancing cannot happen without ... a change in the related value of currencies."
The currency strains are symptomatic of a deeper problem: most advanced economies are not growing rapidly enough to reduce unemployment despite trillions of dollars in government stimulus spending and emergency loan guarantees. Until rich nations find their footing, emerging markets will be the strongest source of global growth. The IMF expects emerging markets to grow at three times the pace of advanced economies.

In the draft second Integrated Resources Plan, or IRP2010, published for public comment on Thursday, the Department of Energy has recommended a revised balanced electricity supply scenario by 2030.
In terms of this so-called revised balanced scenario, the country's electricity mix would, by 2030, comprise 48% base-load coal-fired power, 14% base-load nuclear power, 16% renewable energy, 9% peaking open-cycle gas turbine power generation, 6% peaking pump-storage generation, 5% midmerit gas power generation and 2% base-load import hydropower.
The IRP2010 supports average gross domestic growth of 4,6% over the next 20 years, which would require 52 248 MW of new power generation capacity to be brought on line.

Also making headlines:

Black Management Forum president Jimmy Manyi says that economic growth must be synonymous with job creation and inclusiveness.
Nigeria's Parliament aims to pass a constitutional amendment by the end of the month, allowing Presidential polls to be delayed until April to iron out problems with voter lists.
African National Congress secretary-general Gwede Mantashe tells the South African Democratic Teachers Union that "revolutionary forces" in education are in "disarray".

And, Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says that his Movement for Democratic Change party refuses to recognise new appointments made by President Robert Mugabe, adding that the matter of Deputy Agriculture designate Roy Bennett has now become a personal vendetta and part of a racist agenda.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.