LONDON — The question being asked by economists tonight is whether Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has managed to avoid a ratings downgrade by Moody’s. At the news conference before the budget speech, Reserve bank governor, Lesetja Kganyago said the banking system had planned for this scenario and that the system will be able to withstand a downgrade, while Minister Mboweni said the conversations with the ratings agencies were difficult, but he believed the practical steps taken by the Government should be seen as positive. - Linda van Tilburg

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LONDON — Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has drawn the battle lines with Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane. At a news conference before his budget speech in Parliament, Mr Mboweni came to the defence of his Director-General Dondo Mogajane saying that he is reviewing the report of Mkhwebane that ‘Speedy Dondo’ as he called him, should be disciplined because he did not disclose a criminal record for a speeding fine. The Public Protector has since responded, expressing ‘disquiet’ at Mr Mboweni’s effort to trivialise the matter. - Linda van Tilburg

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LONDON — Finance Minister Tito Mboweni warned the cash-strapped state owned enterprises and Eskom in particular at a news conference before his budget speech that the government will not allow the SOEs to continue wasting tax payers money. Shortly after the conference, he unveiled that Eskom will receive an annual grant of R23bn from taxpayers over the next three years. - Linda van Tilburg

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LONDON — Many of the state owned enterprises in South Africa became synonymous with state capture and can be blamed for the economic crisis that the country finds itself in. Looting and sheer incompetence at Eskom, the SABC and SAA pushed them to the brink of financial collapse. At a media conference before his budget speech, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said the future of the state owned enterprises could be debated at a summit…

LONDON — The man accused of being involved in smuggling cigarettes and falsifying documents, Adriano Mazotti found himself to be in the firing line of a new drive by SARS to clamp down on the illicit economy. High Court Sheriffs attached and removed all movable property from his house and a warehouse in Johannesburg. SARS says Mazotti, who is a known backer of the Economic Freedom Fighters, owns the taxman R71.9m. In a news conference before Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s budget speech, acting SARS Head, Mark Kingon did not want to comment on the Mazotti case, but warned that it is not only the tobacco space that they will be focusing on. - Linda van Tilburg

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LONDON — Finance Minister Tito Mboweni announced in his budget that the government will offer early retirement to civil servants which will reduce the public sector wage bill by R20bn over the next three years. He said at a news conference before the speech that early retirement will be offered without pension penalties. - Linda van Tilburg

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LONDON — There was an acknowledgement by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni that many of South Africa’s economic woes are self-inflicted. At a news conference before his budget speech in Cape Town, he gave the backdrop of his budget and says the Government was taking steps to fix the problems and “go back to the plum years.” And there was a warning to those not paying their taxes… ”Ceasar can break your bones!” - Linda van Tilburg

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JOHANNESBURG — Olivier Gremillion - who is in Davos this week for the World Economic Forum - spent 7 years at Airbnb before joining global travel bookings website Booking.com. Now, he's heading up Booking.com's non-hotel business, providing a competitive alternative to that of Airbnb. Olivier has a good knowledge of the African travel market, including that of South Africa. And in this interview, he explains why he's more upbeat than in previous years about the African travel market. - Gareth van Zyl

When Trump tweeted that he wanted to investigate land expropriation and "the large scale killing of farmers" in South Africa, he sent the rand into a tailspin. But the tweet says a lot more about the president than it does about EWC in South Africa. In th

The rand fell this week as South Africa got caught up in an emerging market sell-off driven by the collapse of the Turkish lira. It's a risk-off market, and currencies like the South African rand and Brazilian real have been caught in the gravity well. E