5 important things happening in south africa today

• Grid collapse warning: Local economists say South Africa is edging closer to a full grid collapse. Nedbank chief economist Nicky Weimar said that data from February showed that South Africa was incredibly close to a fill grid collapse when looking at the available load and demand during the period, with Nedbank now running scenarios of a total grid collapse. Economic analyst JP Landman said that decreased load shedding experienced in South Africa could be a negative, as the purpose of load shedding is to avoid a grid collapse. [News24]

• Treasury on wage increase: Treasury says National Departments will have to find the money to fund the over R37 billion required for the public sector wage bill increase. This may include job shedding, cutting expenditures, hiring freezes and cracking down on major pay increases in public entities. Following unions signing a two-year-pay deal with the government that will see worker pay rise by 7.5% this year, Treasury said that it will not increase government borrowing to fund the pay increase. [BusinessDay]

• Poland receives no arms: The South African government is barring all arms sales to Poland, fearing that it could pass the weapons to Ukraine. It is alleged that the decision was made due to advice from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation intelligence agencies, which did not want to offend its Russian allies by arming a neighbouring country that supports Ukraine, despite end-user agreements in place. [Daily Maverick]

• DA leaders confirmed: John Steenhuisen will remain as the DA’s Federal Leader after being re-elected at the party’s congress. Helen Zille will also stay on as the chairperson of the party’s federal council after being uncontested. Steenhuisen said that the DA must ensure that the ANC remains out of power while guaranteeing that the EFF and ANC do not enter into a coalition in 2024. [EWN]

• Markets: South Africa’s rand held steady against the dollar over the weekend after trading at its strongest level in over a month on Friday. Oil prices surged today after Saudi Arabia and other OPEC+ oil producers announced a surprise round of output cuts, a potentially ominous sign for global inflation just days after a slowdown in U.S. price data had boosted market optimism. On Monday (3 April), the rand was trading at R17.88/$, R19.30/€, and R21.95/£. Brent crude is trading at $83.62 a barrel. [Nasdaq]

Credit – Taken from – https://businesstech.co.za/news/energy/677377/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1499/