For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Thabi Madiba.

Making headlines: National Assembly to elect new Speaker; Slowing South Africa Inflation may put off start of rate hikes; And, Botswana’s Covid-19 budget balloons as it battles for vaccines

 

National Assembly to elect new Speaker

The National Assembly is expected to hold a plenary sitting on Thursday to elect a new National Assembly Speaker.

This comes after former Speaker Thandi Modise was appointed Minister of Defence and Military Veterans.

Lechesa Tsenoli is currently the acting National Assembly Speaker.

President Cyril Ramaphosa recently undertook a Cabinet reshuffle which saw Modise replace Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula as Defence Minister.

 

Slowing South Africa Inflation may put off start of rate hikes

South Africa’s inflation rate fell to the lowest level in three months in July, giving the central bank more leeway to delay raising interest rates.

The monetary policy committee turned less hawkish on policy normalization at its meeting last month and warned that deadly riots in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province and the commercial hub of Gauteng would likely slow the economic recovery.

The unrest and the continued impact of the coronavirus pandemic that caused the economy to contract the most in a century last year, has raised uncertainty and weighed on investor confidence. Slowing inflation could allow the central bank to keep providing support after cutting rates to a record low in 2020.

Consumer prices rose 4.6% in July from a year earlier, compared with 4.9% in June. That was less than expected and takes it closer to the 4.5% midpoint of the central bank’s target range.

 

And, Botswana’s Covid-19 budget balloons as it battles for vaccines

Botswana needs to budget an extra 1.13-billion pula to help secure Covid-19 vaccines and equipment as the southern African country battles a third wave of infections, the country’s Finance Minister, Peggy Serame, said.

The extra money is almost triple the sum originally allocated in February to fight the coronavirus, but 70% of this money had already been depleted by July.

African countries have struggled to procure enough vaccines in a global scramble for doses that has seen poorer nations relegated to the back of a supply line amid mounting fatalities from a more infectious Delta variant.

Botswana’s Covid-19 death toll passed the 2 000 mark on Monday, up from 630 deaths in early April. So far only 161 000 out of its 2.3-million population have been fully vaccinated.

 

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter [@Polity ZA]