South Africa's overall mining profits slipped by more than $5 billion in the last financial year, while the country that was once the world's largest gold producer might have less than 30 years of a viable gold industry left without renewed investment, according to a new report by big four auditing firm PwC, the Associated Press reported. The report released Tuesday also estimated that South Africa's iron ore mining industry may only last 13 more years without further commitment from companies to identify, pursue and extract new deposits.

South Africa’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged, while signaling that borrowing costs are likely to stay higher for longer because of persistent inflation risks, Bloomberg News reported. The monetary policy committee maintained the rate at a 14-year high of 8.25% for a second consecutive meeting, Governor Lesetja Kganyago said at a briefing north of Johannesburg on Thursday. That matched the median estimate of 26 economists in a Bloomberg survey. “The job of tackling inflation is not yet done,” Kganyago said. “Risks remain.

The Foschini Group Ltd.’s turnaround of South African discount clothing chain Jet is grabbing the attention of a larger rival as competition for the lower end of the market intensifies, Bloomberg News reported. TFG, which acquired Jet three years ago, has refurbished the stores, revitalized the chain’s supply base and added its home-furnishing brand — Jet Home — to 78 of the almost 464 outlets across the country. Jet’s former owner, Edcon Holdings Ltd., was teetering on bankruptcy and didn’t spend on expansion, said TFG Chief Executive Officer Anthony Thunström.

South Africa's central bank has warned of risks to the country's financial stability, due to capital outflows and the possibility of sanctions following a U.S. diplomat's accusation of supplying weapons to Russia to aid its campaign in Ukraine, Reuters reported. These risks, along with the threat of a grid failure due to repeated power cuts and persistent high inflation, have increased the systemic risks to the financial system, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) said in its biannual health check on Monday.

South Africa needs to urgently fix energy, transport and security challenges if it is to reverse souring investor sentiment, executives said on Thursday as President Cyril Ramaphosa targets 2 trillion rand ($111 billion) in new investments over the next five years, Reuters reported. Executives were speaking at the South African Investment Conference in Johannesburg, launched by Ramaphosa in 2018 as a way to boost economic activity that had been in decline for over a decade in Africa's most advanced but struggling economy.

South Africa’s economy probably entered a technical recession with a second straight quarterly contraction, according to an index that tracks interbank payments, Bloomberg News reported. The BankservAfrica Economic Transactions Index, an early indicator of economic activity, dropped 1.7% in the first quarter compared with the prior three months. A median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of analysts is for a quarterly gross domestic product expansion of 0.2%.

South Africa and Nigeria have been placed on a global financial watchdog’s so-called gray list denoting nations with shortcomings in tackling illicit financial flows, a move that scars their international reputations and may raise costs for banks and asset managers, Bloomberg News reported. The decisions were announced by the Financial Action Task Force on Friday. While South Africa’s inclusion on the list was widely flagged as a risk, the possible addition of Nigeria attracted little attention. Morocco and Cambodia were taken off the list after improving their controls.

South Africa is offering a total of 13 billion rand ($710 million) in tax incentives to businesses and individuals to encourage investment in renewable energy projects and offset the impact of higher fuel and food prices, Bloomberg News reported. Africa’s most industrialized economy is experiencing its worst bout of power rationing yet, with outages occurring for more than 200 days in 2022 and every day this year, because the state power utility can’t meet demand from its old and poorly maintained plants.

A shuttered South African airline sued Boeing Co. for fraud over its agreement to buy eight 737 MAX planes and seeks damages of at least $83 million, Reuters reported. Boeing "placed profits over safety and led with a plan of deception," Comair's suit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Seattle said. Boeing declined to comment. Comair said that Boeing committed fraud over its failure to disclose problems with a key flight control system tied to two fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed 346 people and led to the MAX's 20-month grounding.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa played down suggestions that an amendment to the central bank’s mandate is imminent, while confirming that a possible change remains under discussion, Bloomberg News reported. Any change to the mandate of the South African Reserve Bank, which focuses on curbing inflation, will take time, Ramaphosa, told reporters in Johannesburg on Monday. Last week Gwede Mantashe, the chairman of the ruling African National Congress, said the party had agreed at its national conference to change the mandate, prompting a decline in the value of the rand.