Paul Vecchiatto

South Africa is considering tax rebates or subsidies to promote the adoption of electric cars, President Cyril Ramaphosa said.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said he favors an agreement that was struck between 10 parties to govern the country at national level being extended to provinces and municipalities, where none of them have an outright majority.

South Africa is considering introducing incentives to encourage local manufacturing of electric and hybrid vehicles and offering tax rebates or subsidies to promote their usage, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday.

South Africa’s Treasury plans to withhold funds from five municipalities next month over their unpaid water bills, part of an effort to compel local governments to pay for basic services.

South Africa’s finance minister said the government can’t guarantee a 4.7% wage-increase offer it made to public servants last month will increase further, after inflation slowed.

‘When we made the offer, which the trade unions are considering, the CPI was at 4.5%, but it has since dropped,' Enoch Godongwana told lawmakers in Cape Town on Wednesday.

South Africa is in talks to obtain liquefied natural gas from Qatar as the country faces a decline in supplies from neighboring Mozambique in the coming years.

The authorities are weighing a commercial agreement that will be led by fuel producer Sasol and state power utility Eskom, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said.

South Africa's government said there are no plans to create a so-called BRICS currency, after US President-elect Donald Trump threatened to impose 100% tariffs on members of the economic bloc that back the creation of an alternative to the US dollar.

‘South Africa supports the increased use of national currencies in international trade and financial transactions to mitigate the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations, rather than focusing on de-dollarisation,' Dirco said.