Hilary Joffe

Johannesburg

Columnist at Business Live

Business Day columnist

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Articles

HILARY JOFFE: What the tariff turmoil means for our small, open economy

2 weeks ago | businesslive.co.za | Hilary Joffe

In these crazy days it seems hard to write anything about economics that won’t be overtaken within days, if not hours. On Wednesday US President Donald Trump backed down on his shock “Liberation Day” reciprocal tariffs just hours after they came into effect, in the face of a market meltdown that threatened to turn into a full-scale global financial crisis as well as pushback even from some of the US business leaders who supported his election...
FirstRand plans to grow corporate banking footprint

2 weeks ago | businesslive.co.za | Hilary Joffe

FirstRand seeks to scale up its presence in the corporate banking market with a more integrated offering to large clients across its Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) and First National Bank brands, and has hired former HSBC and Deutsche Bank CEO Muneer Ismail to lead the process. The group is also looking to bulk up RMB’s corporate banking operations through a proposed deal with UK-based HSBC, announced in September, that is the first of its kind in SA...
Sars commissioner says SA doesn’t need a wealth tax, just greater efficiency

2 weeks ago | businesslive.co.za | Hilary Joffe

Trump’s autarchy is an act of deliberate self-harm, the most destructive economic own goal in recent history
Iain Williamson bows out after ‘big fix-up job’ at Old Mutual

1 month ago | businesslive.co.za | Hilary Joffe

A “big fix-up job” has taken place at Old Mutual over the past five years and outgoing CEO Iain Williamson hopes to have delivered all the building blocks to set up the group to do a better job for its clients by the time he leaves in August. Williamson, 55, who announced recently he would take early retirement, said on Tuesday he had been with the group for his entire adult life, studying on an Old Mutual bursary before joining the group, where he has spent 32 years, the last five as CEO...
Treasury sees two options for a fiscal anchor, but it needs careful design

1 month ago | businesslive.co.za | Hilary Joffe

A fiscal anchor would not be a panacea that would ensure more sustainable public finances for SA, but countries with fiscal anchors have somewhat better outcomes than countries that do not, the Treasury says in a fiscal anchor discussion document.
Standard Bank felt the wild swings in African currencies

1 month ago | businesslive.co.za | Hilary Joffe

A year ago Standard Bank’s extensive African operations were shooting the lights out for the group, whose headline earnings surged 27% for financial 2023 with earnings from the rest of Africa up 49% and markets hailing the success of the group’s three decade long strategic bet on the continent.
Budget faces high-stakes parliamentary showdown

1 month ago | businesslive.co.za | Hilary Joffe

The stage is set for a fierce parliamentary debate after finance minister Enoch Godongwana tabled a budget that backed down halfway on the VAT hike he proposed last month but hit individual taxpayers with so-called fiscal drag to help fund additions to government spending, particularly on front-line services.
FirstRand’s lending only to low- and medium-risk clients is paying off

1 month ago | businesslive.co.za | Hilary Joffe

FirstRand has seen its steady-as-she-goes lending strategy pay off, as its focus on lending only to low and medium risk customers in retail and commercial banking pays off in a market that remains difficult despite interest rate cuts.
HILARY JOFFE: Budget process requires a proper talking to

1 month ago | businesslive.co.za | Hilary Joffe

The last time VAT rate was raised was in the February 2018 budget, to fund the huge expansion of student aid in the wake of the countrywide Fees Must Fall protests. Go back to the medium-term budget policy statement of October 2017 and there was a detailed costing of the extra spending that was required, along with a warning that such structural increases in expenditure to accommodate new policy initiatives would have to be matched by parallel tax increases...
Lesetja Kganyago says inflation target review still on the table

1 month ago | businesslive.co.za | Hilary Joffe

A review of SA’s inflation target is still on the table, even though it was hardly mentioned in last week’s draft budget document, but Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago says he is waiting for the outcome of a Treasury review and will not act on his own to lower it.