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Straits Times
17-07-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
G20 finance chiefs to meet under tariff cloud in South Africa
Find out what's new on ST website and app. FILE PHOTO: A drone view shows the beach front ahead of the G20 finance meeting in Durban, South Africa, July 15, 2025. REUTERS/Rogan Ward/File Photo DURBAN - G20 finance chiefs will meet in South Africa on Thursday under the shadow of President Donald Trump's tariff threats and questions over their ability to tackle global challenges together. The club, which came to fore as a forum for international cooperation to combat the global financial crisis, has for years been hobbled by disputes among key players exacerbated by Russia's war in Ukraine and Western sanctions on Moscow. Host South Africa, under its presidency motto "Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability," has aimed to promote an African agenda, with topics including the high cost of capital and funding for climate change action. The G20 aims to coordinate policies but its agreements are non-binding. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will not attend the two-day meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in the coastal city of Durban, marking his second absence from a G20 event in South Africa this year. Bessent also skipped February's Cape Town gathering, where several officials from China, Japan and Canada were also absent, even though Washington is due to assume the G20 rotating presidency at the end of the year. Michael Kaplan, U.S. acting undersecretary for international affairs, will represent Washington at the meetings. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore HSA launches anti-vaping checks near 5 institutes of higher learning Singapore Over 600 Telegram groups in Singapore selling, advertising vapes removed by HSA Business Singapore key exports surprise with 13% rebound in June amid tariff uncertainty Business Market versus mission: What will Income Insurance choose? Life First look at the new Singapore Oceanarium at Resorts World Sentosa Opinion AI and education: We need to know where this sudden marriage is heading Singapore Coffee Meets Bagel's Singpass check: Why I'll swipe right on that Singapore Jail for man who fatally hit his daughter, 2, while driving van without licence A G20 delegate, who asked not to be named, said Bessent's absence was not ideal but that the United States was engaging in discussions on trade, the global economy and climate language. Finance ministers from India, France and Russia are also set to miss the Durban meeting. South Africa's central bank governor Lesetja Kganyago said that representation was what mattered most. "What matters is, is there somebody with a mandate sitting behind the flag and are all countries represented with somebody sitting behind the flag?" Kganyago told Reuters. U.S. officials have said little publicly about their plans for the presidency next year, but one source familiar with the plans said Washington would reduce the number of non-financial working groups, and streamline the summit schedule. Brad Setser, a former U.S. official now at the Council on Foreign Relations, said he expected it to be "kind of a scaled-back G20 with less expectation of substantive outcomes." 'TURBULENT TIMES' Trump's tariff policies have torn up the global trade rule book. With baseline levies of 10% on all U.S. imports and targeted rates as high as 50% on steel and aluminium, 25% on autos and potential levies on pharmaceuticals, extra tariffs on more than 20 countries are slated to take effect on August 1. His threat to impose further 10% tariffs on BRICS nations — of which eight are G20 members — has raised fears of fragmentation within global forums. German finance ministry sources said on Tuesday that the Durban meeting would seek to deepen global relationships in "turbulent times". South Africa's Treasury Director General Duncan Pieterse said the group nonetheless hoped to issue the first communique under the South African G20 presidency by the end of the meetings. The G20 was last able to take a mutually agreed stance to issue a communique in July of 2024, agreeing on the need to resist protectionism but making no mention of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. REUTERS
Straits Times
16-07-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Issues on the agenda at the G20 finance meeting in South Africa
Find out what's new on ST website and app. A drone view shows the beach front ahead of the G20 finance meeting in Durban, South Africa, July 15, 2025. REUTERS/Rogan Ward JOHANNESBURG - Group of 20 finance officials meet in South Africa from Thursday amid trade tensions, a global economic slowdown and Washington's threat to withdraw from multilateral organisations. President Cyril Ramaphosa has sought to leverage Africa's first G20 presidency to promote an African agenda, with topics including the high cost of capital and climate change. Here are the key issues to be discussed: DEBT STRESS Nearly two dozen countries in Africa are already in or at high risk of debt distress, the International Monetary Fund said. Debt-servicing costs crowd out spending on services like infrastructure development, health and education. Launched in late 2020, the G20 Common Framework is a platform aimed at speeding up and simplifying the process of getting overstretched countries back on their feet. But progress has been slow. Making the platform more efficient is one target for South Africa. Ramaphosa launched an Africa Expert Panel in March whose role is to galvanise efforts, chief among them debt relief. Panel chair Trevor Manuel told Reuters it had already begun to make detailed recommendations on improving the framework. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore July BTO launch to have over 4,600 balance flats, 2 BTO projects with under than 3-year wait Singapore Acute psychiatry services to be expanded across all healthcare clusters: MOH Singapore 'Kpods broke our marriage, shattered our children': Woman on husband's vape addiction Singapore Asia-Pacific will need over 230k new pilots, 250k aircraft maintenance technicians by 2042: ICAO chief Business Tycoon Robert Kuok's daughter Kuok Hui Kwong appointed CEO of Shangri-La Asia Singapore Alleged Toa Payoh cat killer and abuser handed new charge of torturing sixth cat Life Walking for exercise? Here are tips on how to do it properly Multimedia Telling the Singapore story for 180 years "One of the reforms is that the opportunities in the Common Framework should be available to all middle-income countries as well," said Manuel. FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT With aid and development-finance cuts and a pivot by wealthy countries to defence spending, traditional funding sources for developing nations have become scarcer. South Africa is looking to shore up favourable finance for poorer nations. It wants to strengthen and improve the role of multilateral development banks in financing for development. Washington, meanwhile, could potentially withdraw from more global institutions - including these banks. Some analysts believe Washington's withdrawal from multilateralism could leave a space for China to occupy, but it is unclear if Beijing aims to do that. Lending to Africa from China has slowed to a trickle leaving an $80 billion financing gap. Meanwhile, U.S. and European grants - accounting for 25% of the region's external financing - face cuts as Washington suspends foreign aid and European capitals redirect funds toward defence. JUST ENERGY TRANSITION President Donald Trump's administration has withdrawn from the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) - a key focus for South Africa that is designed to help developing countries transition away from coal to cleaner energy. Launched in 2021, JETPs aim to funnel money from governments, multilateral lenders and the private sector to renewable energy projects in a way that benefits local communities. On Monday, the G20's financial stability watchdog said it had developed a new plan to tackle climate risks but it had paused further policy work in light of the U.S. retreat from climate action. Mobilising funding for climate disasters affecting the Global South was a key agenda item for South Africa's presidency. TRADE Trump's tariff threats have disrupted the global economy and the response will dominate the agenda even as U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent skips the gathering. U.S. plans for tariffs on Canada, Europe and Mexico as well as threats to impose further levies on BRICS member countries including China, India, Russia, Brazil and G20 host South Africa, further heighten tensions between the world's largest economy and other G20 nations. COMMUNIQUE Director General of Treasury Duncan Pieterse said in a statement on Monday that he hoped to issue the first Communique under the South African G20 presidency at the end of the meetings. The G20 was last able to take a mutually agreed stance to issue a Communique in July of 2024. REUTERS
The Citizen
08-07-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
Woolworths vindicated over Vat treatment
Related to rights issue more than a decade ago. The Supreme Court of Appeal decision is important for investment holding companies. Picture: Rogan Ward/Reuters Its 2014 acquisition of Australian department store David Jones has been labelled a 'R20 billion blunder', but Woolworths Holdings has now at least been vindicated over its value-added tax (Vat) treatment of the transaction. The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has held that a 'comprehensive consideration' of an entity's activities is required, rather than isolating a 'single or a segregated' set of transactions. It has dismissed – with costs – a South African Revenue Service (Sars) appeal against a Western Cape Tax Court ruling in favour of Woolworths Holdings's Vat treatment at the time. The acquisition was funded by cash, debt, and equity funding through a R10 billion underwritten rights offer. Woolworths incurred Vat of R18.6 million in respect of professional services for the rights offer to local and foreign shareholders. It deducted input Vat of approximately R8.5 million for services provided by local service providers, declared R15.5 million (foreign) for the services supplied by foreign (non-resident) service providers, and claimed R12.8 million of the cost. ALSO READ: Woolworths Food remains the group's star The deduction claim was based on a tax opinion that the supply of the shares to residents was an exempt supply and the supply to non-residents was a zero-rated taxable supply. Sars disallowed the R8.5 million input Vat claimed and levied a further Vat output tax of R28 373.90 on what it regarded as the correct value of the total imported services. This was in addition to the R15.5 million that had been declared by Woolworths. The revenue service imposed an understatement penalty of R2 million. Woolworths objected to the additional assessments and approached the Tax Court to appeal Sars's decision to uphold only a portion of the objection relating to the output tax. The Tax Court upheld Woolworths's appeal. That court found that Woolworths conducts the enterprise of an active investment holding company and was entitled to the deductions. Sars took that decision on appeal to the SCA. ALSO READ: Woolworths is fighting many battles Definition of 'enterprise' Sars contended before the SCA that the description of the services supplied by Woolworths to its subsidiaries as 'capital management' was an 'obfuscation'. The SCA found it difficult to understand this argument. 'No explanation is offered as to why activities relating to the investments and financial management of those investments must be ignored in the factual determination of the enterprise of Woolworths Holdings,' Judge Nambitha Dambuza noted. Sars reasoned that prior to the acquisition of David Jones, Woolworths Holdings had not engaged in the activity of issuing shares in a 'continuous, unchanged or uninterrupted manner' as an enterprise. It reasoned that the rights offer was an 'isolated activity'. ALSO READ: Woolworths faces the eye of the storm Dambuza said the definition of enterprise requires that the activity of the enterprise be conducted continuously or regularly. It also provides for activity conducted in connection with the commencement or termination of the continuous activity to be deemed to have been performed in the 'course or furtherance of the enterprise'. She added that the inclusion of the proviso in the definition of enterprise demands a holistic consideration of the activities of the entity under consideration. 'The contention by Sars that a once-off transaction at the start of a business enterprise does not form part of the enterprise is incorrect.' De Beers case 'not the same' In her decision, Dambuza noted that Sars placed much reliance on the De Beers case. The factual context in the Woolworths matter case was different. In that case the SCA found that De Beers's main trading activities were not the holding of shares and receipt of dividends, it was the mining and selling of diamonds from SA. The submission on behalf of Sars in this case – that, based on the findings in the De Beers case, the holding of shares by Woolworths does not fall within the definition of enterprise – can only be based on a misreading of the De Beers judgment. 'This court in De Beers acknowledged that investments held by an investment company can conceivably be regarded, on their own, as an enterprise as envisaged in the Vat Act,' Dambuza said. International case law The SCA also considered international legislation and referred to the Kretztechnik AG v Finanzamt Linz case in the European Union – where the courts held that costs of raising capital by way of a rights offer formed part of Kretztechnik's overheads and had a direct and immediate link with its entire economic activity. 'The undue focus by Sars on the specific mode of raising capital [the rights issue], and isolating that activity from the rest of Woolworths Holdings' activities, makes little sense and would render this aspect of South African Tax Law incoherent both nationally and internationally.' Joon Chong, partner at Webber Wentzel, says the SCA's analysis of existing South African and international cases has significantly enriched the jurisprudence on this issue. 'The SCA held that a comprehensive holistic consideration of the vendor's activities and a broad interpretation of any enterprise or activity in the definition of enterprise is required.' Charles de Wet, tax executive at ENSafrica, says it is an important judgment from a Vat perspective. 'Since the De Beers judgment there has been a narrow view of the Vat enterprise conducted by holding companies. It has now been confirmed that the activities go behind the holding of shares and earning of dividends that do not form part of any Vat enterprise.' He adds that it should have a positive impact on the Vat apportionment rate that holding companies can apply. This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.
The Star
26-06-2025
- Sport
- The Star
Cricket-South Africa to test new players against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo
FILE PHOTO: Cricket - Second T20 International - South Africa v India - St George's Park, Port Elizabeth, South Africa - December 12, 2023 South Africa's Matthew Breetzke in action REUTERS/Rogan Ward/File Photo (Reuters) -South Africa tasted long-awaited success with victory in the World Test Championship final against Australia earlier this month, but there will be several new faces for the first test against Zimbabwe that starts in Bulawayo on Saturday. Captain Temba Bavuma has not recovered from a hamstring injury sustained in the five-wicket win at Lord's, while batters Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton and Tristan Stubbs, and bowlers Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen and Lungi Ngidi, are all rested. The latter will be available for the second test, but with seven of the XI who started at Lord's missing the series opener at the Queen's Sports Club, it will be a new-look line-up with much to prove. Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis and 19-year-old Lhuan-dre Pretorius are all young, attacking batters, and it is likely at least two of the three will play. The more experienced Lesego Senokwane could also make his international debut. The expected slow wicket means stand-in captain Keshav Maharaj and off-spinning all-rounder Prenelan Subrayen will likely both play, but firebrand 19-year-old fast bowler Kwena Maphaka, who debuted against Pakistan earlier this year, could also be given a chance. Uncapped seamer Codi Yusuf is also in the squad. "I think there's a lot of guys who want to prove a point, why they're here, and how well they've played over the last couple of domestic seasons to get here," all-rounder Wiaan Mulder told reporters. "We look at ourselves as world champions. That's the standard we set for ourselves. Everybody has that in the back of their mind. We are not trying to become something new. 'The guys that are going to fill a spot or take someone like Ricks' (Rickelton) or Marco's (Jansen) place are going to put them under pressure when they come back." Zimbabwe will also be missing several of their regular players, including the injured pair of batter Ben Curran and new-ball bowler Richard Ngarava. Experienced middle-order batter and spin option Sikandar Raza has opted to play in Major League Cricket over this period. 'There's a real buzz around the squad. I think they're very excited. I'm super excited for the challenge that lies ahead and the guys are amped for it,' Zimbabwe's South African-born coach Justin Sammons said. 'They're looking forward to testing themselves and showing what they're capable of. I think they really want to make a statement over the next couple of weeks.' South Africa have won eight of their previous nine tests against Zimbabwe, with a single draw in 2001, which was also their only previous fixture in Bulawayo. (Reporting by Nick Said;Editing by Alison Williams)
IOL News
18-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
US shifting Africa strategy to 'trade, not aid', envoy says
A general view of the Container Terminal at the port in Durban, South Africa, April 10, 2025. Image: REUTERS/Rogan Ward/File Photo US envoys in Africa will be rated on commercial deals struck, not aid spent, a senior State Department official said, touting it as the new strategy for US support on the continent. President Donald Trump's administration wants to eliminate trade deficits, and drive mutual prosperity, African Affairs senior bureau official Troy Fitrell said, according to remarks shared on Thursday. "Assistance involves a donor and a recipient, but commerce is an exchange between equals," he added at the launch of the policy in Ivory Coast on Wednesday. US ambassadors in Africa had already shepherded 33 agreements worth $6 billion in Trump's first 100 days, Fitrell said. "Trade, not aid, a slogan we've seen thrown around for years, is now truly our policy for Africa." US goods exports to sub-Saharan Africa amount to less than 1% of total US trade, according to US think-tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Despite Trump's aggressive spending cuts, Washington has pledged a $550 million loan for the Lobito rail corridor, a shortcut for copper and cobalt from Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo to Angola's Atlantic port, bypassing China-controlled routes. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ The US is keen to counter both Chinese and Russian influence on the continent, particularly over minerals and trade. In one of China's latest deals on the continent, a $652m loan agreement was agreed with Nigeria through the Exim bank for a highway feeding the new Lekki port and Dangote refinery. The US has set six targets to be met before the next US-Africa Leaders Summit later this year, the envoy said. They include to make commercial diplomacy a core mission, push priority countries to enact business-friendly reforms and back "bankable" infrastructure not "vanity projects". It also wants to embark on more business-only diplomatic trips, match export-ready US firms with African ventures and overhaul financing tools to offer faster and more risk-tolerant blended funding. Global aid groups have widely criticised the US for slashing aid funds to Africa, which they say is costing lives of the most needy. REUTERS
