Key view: In December 2021, South Africa’s largest mass grocery retailer (MGR) Shoprite announced that it is establishing a joint venture with its logistics partner RTT Group. This is part of Shoprite’s strategy to strengthen its Checkers Sixty60 e-Grocery platform. We believe that this partnership will bolster Shoprite’s e-Grocery offering by

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• We forecast South Africa's real household spending to grow by 1.9% in 2022, a deceleration when compared to our 2021 estimate of 4.6% growth. However, we note that the Covid-19 pandemic and the related restrictions had a negative impact on household spending in 2020 and has created a low base for real household spending to grow from

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• The global push towards the green transition has gathered momentum in 2021 in light of the COP26 summit.
• Despite rising pressures to move away from call base electricity generation, we still expect South Africa’s coal production to rise in the coming years. This is largely due to the country's heavy reliance on coal fired energy

Key View:

• We hold a negative view on the realisation of South Africa's freight rail project pipeline, due to its focus strong on coal export projects and Transnet's recent withdrawal of support for large-scale coal freight capacity expansions.
• Instead of the above-mentioned large-scale greenfield or expansion projects, we expect that any

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• The South African government's restricted fiscal capacity for infrastructure spending weighs on our outlook for road infrastructure in the country, as the parastatal responsible for South Africa's core road network (SANRAL) relies on financial support from the government.
• Nonetheless, a backdrop of high demand for urban and freight

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• South Africa's higher power generation cap will bolster electricity supply to mines and smelters, so as to stimulate steady production in South Africa's mining and metals sector that previously suffered from load shedding and power outages.
• We expect the regulatory change will allow independent power producers to enter into the

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• LNG has been touted as a transition fuel that can bridge the gap between South Africa’s heavy reliance on more polluting fossil fuels and a clean energy future; however, we remain bearish on a widespread adoption of LNG in South Africa by the end of the decade.
• Sasol and the Central Energy Fund have signed a memorandum of

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• South Sudan’s first licensing round is under way, with the government seeking bids on five blocks. Strong uptake of the blocks is critical, if the country is to reverse the longer-run declines in its oil output.
• While it has a large and underdeveloped resource base, a high-risk investment climate and subdued global capex levels will

Key View:

• We have slightly revised downwards our outlook for the South African consumer electronics market; sales will now grow from USD5.5bn to USD13.7bn over the 2021-2025 period.
• This is to account for recent instances of social unrest and ongoing risks to the country’s economic rebound including rolling electricity blackouts and waning