Monday November 14, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Brad Dubbelman

Making headlines:

Volatility in South Africa's exchange rate owing to the eurozone debt crisis is hurting the country's competitiveness and may limit economic growth in the coming year, its Minister of Trade and Industry said. Rob Davies, visiting Dubai at the head of a trade mission, said the rand was still overvalued despite its slide against the dollar in August and September. The currency plunged to a two-year low of 8.49 in late September from around 6.8 at the start of August, and has since rebounded to 7.89.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has pledged to involve opponents in her second term after winning a landslide victory in a poll boycotted by her top rival, over fraud allegations. Newly named Nobel Peace laureate Johnson-Sirleaf won 90.8% of votes according to tallies returned from more than 86 of the country's polling stations.  But her victory was tainted by low turnout for Tuesday's poll, which highlighted simmering tensions in the West African country instead of solidifying the fragile gains made since 14 years of civil war ended in 2003.

President Jacob Zuma conceded that the state of the global economy would likely prevent South Africa from reaching the growth necessary to create five-million jobs by 2020. He told the National Assembly the target – contained in the New Growth Path – was set while the world was recovering from the 2008 economic crisis, and before the latest round of eurozone woes began. "When the government said it was going to create a particular number of jobs, we were discussing that matter in the face of the recovery globally from the 2007/8 financial problems," he said while answering questions in the legislature.

Also making headlines:

Congo must avoid electoral violence or risk facing the International Criminal Court, its prosecutor said.

Major emerging economies favour bolstering the IMF’s resources through bilateral loans to help Europe deal with its debt crisis, a senior Brazilian government official said.

And, despite continued gunfire and explosions near Tripoli yesterday, Libyan officials and fighters said a bloody local dispute that has strained nerves in the city for three days was being resolved.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.