Slowly but surely, the economic clouds hanging over SA appear to be lifting. The JSE all share index keeps hitting record highs, the rand is strengthening against the dollar and other hard currencies, and a meaningful cut in interest rates appears to be on the horizon. And the hard-pressed SA consumer appears to be regaining an appetite for spending if the Stats SA retail sales figures for June are anything to go by.

In constant 2019 terms, retail sales overall grew 4.1% year on year, after revised growth of 1.1% in May. This was the fourth consecutive month of positive sales growth, a far cry from 2023, when almost every month recorded negative growth...

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