We are currently seeing the direct effects of such external developments on the HICP rate of inflation, with 2.3% in August and, most likely, a higher rate in September. Earlier expectations that the high annual increase in energy prices would gradually moderate in the course of 2000, owing to a levelling-off or even decline in energy prices, have not materialised thus far.
after the more established and super-financial markets of the major industrial countries. For some years, the development of the South African financial markets was shackled by the constraints of the socio-political problems of the country. In the economic field, the restrictive measures of boycotts, sanctions, disinvestment campaigns and isolation placed severe restrictions on the development of the South African financial markets.