Thursday September 29, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Jessica Hannah

Making headlines:

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) needs to play a more assertive role in helping to resolve economic crises “sooner rather than later” and South Africa would, therefore, support moves to bolster the financial resources of the organisation to enable it to make decisive earlier interventions. Reporting back on the outcomes of the World Bank-IMF Annual Meetings, which took place in Washington DC from September 23 to September 25, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan argued that there was no other “reasonably credible institution” that could take such actions. The possibility of providing support to the eurozone, through the IMF, was also endorsed by the finance ministers from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, or the Brics countries bloc, who met on the sidelines of the annual meeting.

About 395 000 jobs were lost in 2010, Statistics SA (Stats SA) said yesterday. Around 13.1-million people were employed in 2010 compared to 13.5-million in 2009. This indicates the country has not yet fully recovered from the economic downturn in 2009, says Stats SA deputy director-general for population and social statistics Kefiloe Masiteng. However, the level of employment in 2010, at 13.1-million, was still higher than that of 2005, when it was 12.8-million.

The global economy is close to another "Lehman-type" event, and South Africa needs to cushion itself by reducing its dependence on European export markets, says South African Reserve Bank Governor Gill Marcus. The rand lost 22% against the dollar in the first three weeks of September as investors worried about Europe's deepening debt crisis ditched emerging market assets. In an article in the Financial Mail magazine, Marcus said such a rapid decline bore similarities to the fallout from the collapse of Lehman Brothers in late 2008.

Also making headlines:

South Africa needs to work harder to boost the current sluggish rate of creating jobs, with employment still well below 2008 levels, says President Jacob Zuma.
The Public Protector has found no evidence that Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa influenced accommodation arrangements so that he could stay at two luxury five-star hotels.
And, Côte d’Ivoire will hold a parliamentary election on December 11, a government spokesperson reports.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.