Japanese farmers are among the most protected in the world, with half their incomes from subsidies and price supports, compared to one-fifth in the European Union and one-tenth in the US.

copyright: Martin Spring of OnTarget

The Local Enterprise Office in Fingal has predicted that 75 new jobs will be created by award-winning small businesses in the region. The announcement was made during Fingal Enterprise Week, as finalists in the Fingal Enterprise Awards and the inaugural “Best Young Entrepreneur” competition received awards for enterprise in Malahide this week. In total, seventeen [...]

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Johannesburg - The City of Ekurhuleni says it wants to transform historically disadvantaged townships into viable commercial business areas through...

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Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Pravin Gordhan says the forthcoming Africities Summit, to be hosted by the City of Johannesburg next year in December, will stimulate the local economy.

“We are confident that the summit will stimulate local economic activities, especially tourism, as we had witnessed with the 2010 World Cup,” he said.

Addressing the media on the forth coming Summit, Minister Gordhan said it look at creative answers to the problems that are currently experienced by local governments.

The summit will be held under the theme “Shaping the future of Africa with the people: Africa local government contribution to the Africa 2063 vision”.

According to the organisers of the summit, the theme is aimed at outlining government’s vision for the coming 49 years.

“Ministers alone cannot solve problems. All of us need to cooperate to solve the problems. The biggest challenge is to turn inequality around,” he said.

Minister Gordhan also congratulated the leadership of the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLGA) on the good work they were doing.

He acknowledged the importance of local government in playing a role in delivering essential services to the people.

Johannesburg Mayor Parks Tau said agreements will be reached at the summit, which will be an opportunity to reflect on urban migration.

“We will continue to push for development goals,” Mayor Tau said.

The summit, held every three years, looks at issues affecting urban and economic development in African cities and finds ways to share knowledge and experiences.

It is organised by the UCLGA, an organisation that represents and defends the global interests of local government.

The UCLGA also focuses on increasing the role and influence of local government and its representative organisations in global governance.

The Africities Political Commission is composed of the President of United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG-Africa), who is presently from the West African sub-region, and the four Vice-Presidents from other four sub-regions of Africa, as well as the UCLG-A Secretary General who is an ex officio member of the Commission.

The last Africities Summit was held on 18 December 2013 in Brazzaville.

After deliberation, the Africities Political Commission chose the City of Johannesburg (South Africa), to host the 7th Edition of the Africities Summit.

It was selected as host city because of its record organising major international events such as the Metropolis Board of Directors and One Young World meetings earlier in 2013.

More than 5 000 participants from all the regions of the world including ministries, mayors and local authorities, senior staff of local and central administrations and representatives of regional economic communities in Africa. – SAnews.gov.za

Chambers Ireland has today (09/10/14) renewed its call for the 9% VAT rate for the hospitality and tourism sectors to be retained in Budget 2015.

Speaking this afternoon, Mark O'Mahoney, Director of Policy and Communications, Chambers Ireland said “SIPTU's call for the elimination of the 9% VAT rate is simply bizarre.

The hospitality and tourism sectors are labour intensive, and employ significant numbers of people in a variety of businesses. It is vital that the businesses in these sectors are supported in order to protect jobs. Maintaining the 9% rate will help protect and grow employment throughout Ireland.”

Durban – In a latest effort by government to promote industrialisation, the Dube TradePort in Durban will formally become a special economic zone under the new Special Economic Zones Act 16 of 2014. Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies granted the precinct an Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) operating licence a few months ago. President Jacob [...]Dube TradePort gets IDZ status is a post from: South Africa Business



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The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) stands ready to protect the rand’s value, says Deputy Governor Daniel Mminele.

“… The bank, in following a forward looking approach to monetary management, does not allow any doubting of its preparedness to act when necessary and in keeping with the commitment to its primary objective,” said the Deputy Governor on Wednesday.

Mminele was speaking at the South Africa Tomorrow Investor Conference in New York.

In announcing the appointment of South Africa’s next Reserve Bank Governor on Monday, President Jacob Zuma said that in terms of the Constitution, the primary objective of the central bank is to protect the value of the currency in the interest of a balanced and sustainable economic growth.

At the announcement of his appointment as the Governor-designate, Lesetja Kganyago said the bank’s objective is to contain inflation and stabilise prices.

Last month South Africa’s currency fell more than 5% against the US Dollar.

Kganyago, the former Deputy Governor, reiterated that while the Reserve Bank does not target a particular level or range of the exchange rate, “we are nonetheless mindful of the potential negative consequences of accelerated rand depreciation on the outlook for inflation”.

South Africa’s inflation is already above the 3% to 6% inflation rate target band. In September, CPI rose to 6.4%.

“Based on the bank’s projections for growth and inflation over the coming years and the uncertainties that surround these projections, it would be reasonable to infer that a gradual, data dependent, normalisation path remains appropriate,” said Mminele. – SAnews.gov.za 

The Competition Commission has reopened its supermarkets investigation, it announced on Tuesday.

The commission, which is an entity of the Economic Development Department, says it has received a fresh complaint from the South African Property Owners’ Association (SAPOA).

“SAPOA has requested the commission to relook at the issue of exclusive clauses in long term lease agreements between owners of large retail shopping centres and retail anchor tenants across the country.

“The property owners’ association alleges that these give rise to considerable competition concerns and could amount to substantial prevention or lessening of competition in violation of the Competition Act,” said commission spokesperson Mava Scott.

However, a full scale investigation has not been set up.

“The commission is currently screening the complaint and will make a determination on whether to launch a full-scale investigation or not,” said Scott.

Earlier this year, the commission concluded its investigation into the exclusive leases, looking at local markets across the country where exclusive leases had been agreed and enforced by the three major supermarket groups (Pick ‘n Pay, Shoprite and Spar).

It found that the anti-competitive effects of the conduct could not be demonstrated conclusively.

“The evidence did not meet the test required in order to prosecute the firms involved and therefore the commission took a decision not to refer the matter to the Tribunal.”

The commission expressed concern about the potential dampening effects of exclusive leases on competition, particularly as they affect small competitors and potential entrants to the market.

In addition to the latest complaint, the commission was already addressing the residual competition concerns arising out of the conduct of the respondents through advocacy engagements with key industry stakeholders, including landlords and supermarkets.

The commission is advocating against the parties entering into long term exclusive agreements as by default for each new development and encourage their use only where justified by the investment made by the supermarket in a particular centre.

The commission has also noted the recent High Court judgment, which has upheld such exclusive lease agreements between Pick ‘n Pay stores and Hyprop, the owner of the Cape Gate Shopping Centre in the Western Cape. – SAnews.gov.za

State-owned freight logistics group, Transnet and BHP have signed a whopping R24-billion on a 10-year take or pay export coal deal. Transnet boss Brian Molefe described the agreement as a massive boost for certainty for the company’s expansion programmes on the export coal line. “Today, we’ve agreed to a 10-year contract for export coal on [...]Transnet, BHP sign R24-bn coal deal is a post from: South Africa Business



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Emerging gold jewellery manufacturers have been given a boost with the launch of the Department of Trade and Industry’s Gold Loan Scheme.The...

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