| ECONOMIC OUTLOOK |
| SA growth forecast lowered as world economy struggles |
| Weaker recovery in the world economy over the past three months has seen the International Monetary Fund (IMF) slightly lowering South Africa's growth forecast for 2012 to 2.6% from 2.7% projected in April. Although 2012 growth projections for the eurozone remained unchanged in the Economic Outlook (WEO) Update, published this week, growth rates for the UK and US were lowered to 0.2% and 2%, respectively. Full Article |
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| ECONOMY |
| Poor service delivery crippling SA businesses |
| Poor government service delivery, including utilities such as electricity concerns; political uncertainty and crime were hindering business growth in South Africa, advisory services provider Grant Thornton said on Tuesday. In its International Business Report (IBR), the firm found that 59% of all South African business owners surveyed were negatively affected by poor government service delivery. This figure is up from 53% recorded in the first quarter of 2012. Full Article |
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| TRADE |
| Trade conditions weaken in June – Sacci |
| Trade conditions weakened in June and would continue to be under pressure over the next couple of months, weighed down by tight economic conditions and low business confidence, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) said on Tuesday. The chamber said a weaker performance in retail trade, after robust increases earlier this year, had resulted in volatiliy in the seasonally adjusted Trade Activity Index (TAI), which lost seven points to measure 49 in June – down from 56 in... Full Article |
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| FORENSICS |
| New lab part of forensic turnaround |
| A new forensics laboratory in Cape Town is part of the police's turnaround plan to increase convictions through clear-cut evidence, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said on Tuesday. "What we are witnessing today is how modernised systems, coupled with the equipped human resources, can... contribute towards an improved turnaround time in terms of processing forensic case work," he said. Full Article |
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| COAL POWER |
| FutureGen moves ahead with EPA application for power project |
| The FutureGen Alliance on Tuesday affirmed that Morgan county, in the US, would remain the preferred location for its carbon dioxide (CO2) storage site and that it would proceed with an application for a US Environmental Protection Agency permit for the site. The project entails a first-of-its-kind coal-fueled power plant with near-zero emissions that would produce hydrogen and capture and store CO2 in deep geological formations. Full Article |
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| OIL & GAS |
| Thai PTT set to win Cove after Shell drops bid |
| Thailand's PTT E&P is in the box seat to complete a $1.9-billion takeover of Cove Energy Plc and gain access to massive gas finds off the coast of east Africa after Royal Dutch/Shell bowed out of a five-month bidding war. Acquiring Cove will give PTT Exploration and Production exposure to the giant offshore discoveries made in East Africa in the past year. The area looks set to emerge as a major supply province and is well-situated to export into Asia. Full Article |
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| INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY |
| Westcon buys Austrian security distributor Triple AcceSSS IT |
| JSE-listed Datatec on Tuesday said that its subsidiary Westcon Group European Operations had bought Austrian value-added security distributor Triple AcceSSS IT along with its Swiss subsidiary for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition follows hot on the heels of Westcon buying Latin American and Iberian multinational security, virtulisation and data centre distributor Afina Grroup for €50-million. Full Article |
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| COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY |
| Mobile phone subscriptions reach over 6Bn – World Bank |
| Around three-quarters of the world's inhabitants now have access to a mobile phone, with subscriptions growing from fewer than one-billion in 2000 to over six-billion, the World Bank and its technology entrepreneurship and innovation programme, infoDev, said in a new report on Tuesday. Nearly five-billion of the mobile subscriptions were in developing countries, the 'Information and Communications for Development 2012: Maximising Mobile' report stated. Full Article |
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| ALUMINIUM PRODUCTS |
| Hulamin says H1 headline earnings to fall |
| JSE-listed aluminium products producer Hulamin on Tuesday reported that its headline earnings were expected to be between R54-million and R59-million for the six months ended June 30, compared with R71-million in the corresponding period of 2011. "Operational performance and production volumes were down in the second quarter, as a result of the failure of a motor on the Camps Drift hot line in April," the company said in a statement. Full Article |
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