World is buying more SA cars, but growth’s still going nowhere

NEW-VEHICLE exports hit an annual record of 351,154 in 2018 following a 56% surge in shipments in December. The achievement helped compensate for another unsatisfactory local sales performance. Sales to customers in SA slipped 1.9% in December from the corresponding month of 2017. As a result, fullyear 2018 sales of all vehicles fell 1% from the previous year.

A gauge measuring the manufacturing industry expanded for the first time in nine months in December as new-sales and export orders improved. Absa’s purchasing managers’ index rose to 50.7 from 49.5 in November, breaching the neutral 50point mark for the first time since February 2018.

A new set of corporate governance guidelines is on its way for the JSE’s struggling real estate sector, which in 2018 delivered its worst performance since the formation of the South African listed property index in 2002.

SA will be one of the worst performers in subSaharan Africa in 2019, with growth of just 1.3%, according to the World Bank. Its annual Global Economic Prospects report says SA’s growth is substantially lower than the 3.7% projected average for sub-Saharan Africa. The forecast rate is also lower than the Treasury’s prediction of 1.7% for 2019 and the Reserve Bank’s 1.9%.

THE department of agriculture has quarantined an area in Vhembe, Limpopo, following positive laboratory results for foot-and-mouth disease in cattle in the district. The department and the Limpopo Veterinary Services are conducting further investigations to verify the results and determine the extent of the outbreak.

WOOLWORTHS had to make an embarrassing apology when it “acknowledged” there were “striking similarities” between its baby carrier and one made by a local business.