China has set an economic growth target for this year of “around 5%” and pledged to pump billions of dollars into its ailing economy, which is now facing a trade war with the US. Its leaders unveiled the plan as thousands of delegates attend the National People’s Congress, a rubber-stamp parliament, which passes decisions already…

The South African government’s plans to raise value-added tax would scupper a nascent recovery in consumer spending, the chief executive officer of the continent’s largest supermarket chain said. A disagreement within the coalition government over the National Treasury’s proposal to increase the VAT rate by 2 percentage points to 17% delayed Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s…

While Woolworths Holdings trumpeted an “outstanding performance” in its food business, the retailer’s fashion business continued to weigh on the group, which reported a 27.7% cut in its interim dividend on Wednesday. It declared an interim dividend of 107 cents per share (cps) at a 70% payout ratio, compared to 148cps for HY2024. Turnover and concession…