Statistics South Africa says headline consumer inflation fell to 4% year on year in January from 4.5% in the previous month.

The data, released by Stats SA on Tuesday, showed that the unemployment figured decreased from 27.5% in the third quarter of 2018 to 27.1% in the fourth quarter.

In the third quarter, the unemployment rate increased to 27.5% with 6.2 million people without work.

South Africa maintained its score of 43 out of 100 in the Corruption Perceptions Index for 2018, while Somalia has remained at the bottom with a score of 10 points.

Core inflation, which excludes the prices of food, non-alcoholic beverages, petrol and energy, was at 4.4% in November up from 4.2% in October.

EWN business journalist Mashudu Masutha explains all you need to know about the South African Reserve Bank's interest rate announcement on 22 November 2018.

Stats SA has announced inflation numbers for October.

Nedbank economist Johannes Khoza says retail sales growth will show a dip in September but should still make a positive contribution to third quarter GDP.

The BCI increased to 93.3 from 90.5 points in August due to higher export volumes, new vehicle sales and lower inflation.

StatsSA says that consumer inflation has increased to 4.6% in June from 4.4% in May due to a hike in housing, utilities and transport costs.

Absa says it wants to claim its African identity by changing its image across all its operations on the continent.

Business France’s Erick Fajole says the world’s perception of the country has improved since President Emmanuel Macron’s reforms.

In its quarterly labour force survey which polls households, Statistics South Africa said there were 6.0 million people without jobs in the three months to the end of March.

Rand Merchant Bank’s Jan Sluis-Cremer says expectation of higher interest rates in the US fuelled the dollar strength.

The central bank last cut rates in July 2017, highlighting an improving inflation outlook, but warning of a slowdown in economic growth.

It’s currently trading at R11.94 to the US dollar, R16.54 to the euro and R14.71 against the pound.

Viceroy says it has found that Capitec has been advising and approving loans to delinquent customers in order to repay existing loans.

Members of the Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee would have over the past two days weighed up a number of factors when deciding on the next interest rate decision.