South African business leaders warned that Johannesburg’s deepening fiscal and governance crisis risks undermining the country’s improving economic outlook, calling for urgent action to rebuild the nation’s commercial capital. The city’s decline has become a national emergency because it accounts for about 16% of gross domestic product and is central to domestic and foreign investment decisions, B...
South African business leaders warned that Johannesburg’s deepening fiscal and governance crisis risks undermining the country’s improving economic outlook, calling for urgent action to rebuild the nation’s commercial capital. The city’s decline has become a national emergency because it accounts for about 16% of gross domestic product and is central to domestic and foreign investment decisions, Business Leadership South Africa said in a statement on Thursday. Its deterioration risks weakening investor confidence just as South Africa’s economic-recovery story gains traction, the lobby group said. “The situation is urgent and critical,” BLSA said. Read More: ‘City of Gold’ Loses its Luster as Specter of Bankruptcy Emerges The warning comes after Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana in April threatened to cut crucial state funding to Johannesburg unless the city addresses $1.4 billion of wasteful spending and cancels plans to raise municipal wages by more than $600 million by next year. State power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. has also signaled it may suspend power supplies to the city over unpaid debt. The crisis in Johannesburg reflects years of accumulated failures across successive administrations, BLSA said. Capital expenditure has fallen to 6% of the city’s budget, maintenance spending is about 0.5% of asset value, while rates and services charges have more than doubled in real terms over the past 15 years, even as property values have fallen and service quality has deteriorated. The private sector is prepared to work with the city and national government to help stabilize Johannesburg by providing expertise in governance, infrastructure delivery, financial management and anti-corruption measures. That offer is contingent on there being “a counterparty capable of governing scrupulously, delivering for the City, and being held to account,” BLSA said. Such an approach would mirror business’s collaboration with the national government under a partnership founded th...
State election officials continue to work through the uncounted primary ballots, a process that could take days or weeks Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. The race to become California’s next governor in the Senate remains up in the air, with voters potentially waiting weeks until the results are known. A leftwing US political commentator has described the UK government’s decision to...
State election officials continue to work through the uncounted primary ballots, a process that could take days or weeks Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. The race to become California’s next governor in the Senate remains up in the air, with voters potentially waiting weeks until the results are known. A leftwing US political commentator has described the UK government’s decision to ban him from entering the country as “haunting and hilarious” and “Kafkaesque”. Cenk Uygur , the founder and a host on Young Turks, a well-established progressive media outlet, was banned earlier this week from entering the UK to attend a speaking engagement alongside Hasan Piker, a Twitch streamer who has become a popular figure on the US political left. The US House of Representatives delivered a stunning rebuke to Donald Trump over his war on Iran on Wednesday, as representatives backed a move to force him to seek approval from Congress or withdraw US forces. Before signing an executive order related to customs in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump took seven minutes to reassure an anxious public, beset by worries about a protracted war with Iran, surging gasoline prices and rising inflation, that progress has been made on at least one front: the resurfacing of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is nearly complete. The president also took time to once again attack the CNN host Kaitlan Collins for not smiling in his presence and blamed her network for the suicides of four January 6 defendants. The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent , refused to say whether Trump, his family and his businesses would still get immunity from IRS audits after the administration yesterday abandoned plans for a $1.8bn fund that would have benefited the president’s allies. Bessent did confirm that he threatened to beat up a fellow administration member, Bill Pulte , last summer. Continue reading...
Intel is teaming up with Apple supplier Foxconn to develop artificial-intelligence infrastructure—but that wasn’t enough to stop the chip manufacturer’s stock from sliding on Thursday. The selloff came after Intel and Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry said they would collaborate to speed up the AI buildout. “Together, we are accelerating the delivery of end-to-end platforms that un...
Intel is teaming up with Apple supplier Foxconn to develop artificial-intelligence infrastructure—but that wasn’t enough to stop the chip manufacturer’s stock from sliding on Thursday. The selloff came after Intel and Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry said they would collaborate to speed up the AI buildout. “Together, we are accelerating the delivery of end-to-end platforms that unlock new capabilities and extend the impact of AI worldwide,” Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said.
With domestic developers in crisis and foreign capital on its way out, Chinese insurers have become a stabilizing force in commercial real estate. Tucked into Beijing’s tech-centric Zhongguancun neighborhood, few places carry as much nostalgia as the area’s famed electronics markets, with Dinghao Plaza as one of the most storied among them. Once part of a celebrated trio of bazaars in the district...
With domestic developers in crisis and foreign capital on its way out, Chinese insurers have become a stabilizing force in commercial real estate. Tucked into Beijing’s tech-centric Zhongguancun neighborhood, few places carry as much nostalgia as the area’s famed electronics markets, with Dinghao Plaza as one of the most storied among them. Once part of a celebrated trio of bazaars in the district, Dinghao has since reinvented itself as a gleaming office complex. Now it’s changing hands again in a way that reflects a quiet but significant shift reshaping China’s commercial real estate market.