News

Despite increased global restrictions due to the Omicron variant and ongoing inflation concerns, most major global indices ended the month higher.

As with any business, but perhaps more so with one rooted in the soils of the constantly shifting South African financial services landscape, there have been challenging times. However, as Octagon, we have always aligned ourselves with the principles of playing the long game, and staying focused on the end goal.

Global equity markets ended the month in negative, but due to the sharp fall in the rand, SA investors experienced a positive November.

As we make our way steadily through the Greek alphabet, do you also feel that 2021 has really been ‘2020 version 2.0 lite’? 2021 was seemingly just another 2020, except for markets that performed rather admirably and a vaccination roll-out that will hopefully be enough to limit the severity of future outbreaks.

Please see the Fund Manager Changes industry report that highlights the business and team related changes that occurred during the previous quarter.

The South African Reserve Bank Governor, Lesetja Kganyago, announced the Monetary Policy Committee’s decision yesterday to hike interest rates from the end of this month.

Amidst the backdrop of the ANC’s bruising in the local government elections and load-shedding that has brought the economy to its knees, Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana, presented his first budget speech in Parliament this week.

Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana, delivered his first Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTPBS) on 11 November 2021

Arthur Kamp provides the background to the MTBPS 2021 and our fiscal challenges. Better debt ratio forecasts don’t preclude consolidation.

The inflation debate, fears about another COVID-19 variant and concerns over increased Chinese regulations impacted investor sentiment during October.