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Government wants to cap lottery fortun... 'Dirty tricks by Nats and Liberty Life d... Clinic chief claims ill dealing... UK casino group has big plan... Legislation to curb insider trading loo... |
THE WEEK AHEADMONDAY: The SA Telecommunications Regulatory Authority starts licensing the players in the local telecommunications industry today. The first decision to be taken by Satra, constituted under the new Telecommunications Act, will be approving a licence for Telkom. Most of the details of Telkom's licence, however, have already been drawn up by Telecommunications Minister Jay Naidoo. Draft copies of the licence have been circulated to the four companies bidding for a 20-30% stake in Telkom. The tight deadlines for the Telkom bid forced the ministry to pre-empt Satra, whose job in this case amounts to little more than rubber-stamping. TUESDAY: The Chamber of Mines releases its 1996 production figures this week, with most analysts expecting the total for the year to come in at about 495 tons from 522 tons in 1995. In the 11 months to November output was 5,7% lower than in 1995 at 451 tons. WEDNESDAY: On the economic front this week attention will be focused on the gold and foreign exchange figures for January. In December, a traditional month for large capital outflows, the reserves fell by R700-million to R10,3-billion, but economists expect a slight improvement in January amid the recent strengthening of the rand. Other economic statistics to be released this week include January car sales and the first Business Confidence Index of the new year. THURSDAY: A joint private sector/government conference in Pretoria today will examine the growth potential for SA's R60-billion a year petrochemical industry. The conference, the brainchild of the Trade and Industry Department's directorate of chemical and allied industries, will look at financial aspects, feedstock pricing, the regulatory environment and infrastructure with regard to expanding the industry's downstream potential in areas such as plastic conversion. FRIDAY: Parliament opens today with an address by President Nelson Mandela. The new constitution is expected to play a big role in proceedings this year, being used to guide new laws and, no doubt, to delay or even reverse key legislation. On the economic and business front attention will initially be focused on the various departmental budgets. Finance Minister Trevor Manuel has promised to meet tough new deficit targets outlined in his macro-economic package - his March 12 Budget is crucial in convincing financial markets that he has the support from Cabinet to implement the tough measures required under the plan. In the second half of the parliamentary session business can look forward (with some trepidation) to a new Competition Act as well as laws governing insider trading.
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