News
Product releases, market developments and regulatory changes that matter to people moving money in and out of South Africa. Short, factual updates — what changed and what it means for you.
Is it true that SA’s unemployment rate is 33% or 10%?
Capitec CEO Gerrie Fourie recently claimed SA’s unemployment is closer to 10% than the official 32.9% if we count the enormous informal sector which, by some accounts, represents…
Macro Monday
Market Recap Looking back at last week, we saw a mixed bag of figures, the main highlight being the U.S. Federal Reserve Minutes and elections in the United Kingdom and France.
SA’s evaporating manufacturing sector
The chart below is concerning on so many fronts. It shows manufacturing as a percentage of South Africa’s GDP falling from 25% in 1980 to less than 13% today.
Scam city
Most of us in the financial sector have had family members who fell for a scam of some sort.
MicroStrategy’s huge gamble on BTC
MicroStrategy is a data analytics company, founded by Michael Saylor (who has since handed over the CEO post to Phong Le).
SA public sector workers earn 50% more than the private sector
Stats SA puts the average monthly salary in SA at R28,220 in the third quarter of 2024, which is 6.6% higher than it was the previous year.
Some thoughts on Davos
Social media had some fun with a picture of the unelected leader of the European Union, Ursula Von Der Leyen, stepping out of an Audi A8 6.3 litre 585 HP 12-cylinder monster as…
Stablecoins will swamp central bank digital currencies
Remember all the talk about central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and their potential threat to personal sovereignty – where the authorities can snoop on your purchases and put…
Taxpayer collapse imminent?
The Efficient Group’s Dawie Roodt recently told Jeremy Maggs some sobering facts about the state of SA’s finances: Fewer than 4% of taxpayers contribute almost 50% of personal…
The AI power crunch
While SA tries (and has largely succeeded) to solve load shedding, other countries are scrambling to build out power generators to feed the AI monster.
When governments get desperate, they try to tax unrealised gains
Here’s a shocker: Australia’s “Unrealised Capital Gains Tax” now taxes unrealised gains on pension funds, which could potentially force investors into asset sales (simply to…
Who are the best traders in the world?
US politicians, of course. “It’s interesting to note that the one group of investors with astonishing predictive powers is US senators, who outperformed equity markets by 12…