The tourists love SA — but not the consumers

TOURIST arrivals in January showed a 15% increase compared with the same period last year due to a weakened rand and the relaxation of visa regulations, Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom said in a briefing to parliament’s tourism committee. THE quality of this year’s wine-grape crop was “surprisingly good” considering the drought‚ according to Distell‚ which produces almost a third of South Africa’s wine. The country is experiencing its worst drought in decades. SOUTH Africa’s retail sales grew by 4.1% year on year in February, more than expected, after expanding by a revised 3.6% in January, data from Stats SA showed. On a month-on-month basis, sales increased by 0.5%. SOUTH Africa won quarantine approval to sell more deciduous fruits and nuts to Indonesia, increasing the export potential for its produce to the world’s fourthmost-populous country, industry body Hortgro said. SOUTH Africa’s consumer confidence index recovered from near 14-year lows in the first quarter but remained in negative territory as the economic growth outlook remained bleak, said FNB and the BER. The index registered -9 from -14 in the fourth quarter. MONEY poured out of South Africa for the 16th consecutive quarter in the final three months of 2015, the longest streak of quarterly outflows since the five years through September 1999, according to Reserve Bank data. MINING production fell 8.7% in February compared with a year before after a 5.5% contraction in January‚ Stats SA data showed. The 8.7% was the largest contraction since December 2012, when mining production fell 9.2%. STANDARD Bank attracts more complaints to the banking ombudsman than any of its competitors. The ombudsman’s annual report said it opened just over 5 000 cases in 2015. Standard Bank received 1 530 complaints.