This article was produced with the support of Standard Bank Corporate and Investment Banking
As we approach the second half of the year, it is important to reflect on the busy first half. After a hectic 2025, most observers would have expected some form of respite. Unfortunately, respite will not likely be a word associated with the half of the year 2026.
The Oil and gas and the broader energy sector, an industry I have worked in for decades has seen some of the worst turbulence, as prices react to the conflict and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
This turmoil has inflicted unintended knock-on adverse impacts on the price and availability of key energy products and important goods and services such as fertiliser, shipping and logistic services as a result of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. From an inflation monitoring perspective, we have gone from anticipating interest rate cuts, to predicting increases to curb the impacts on the population and protect the value of the ZAR. The protagonists of the ongoing conflict may be limited in number, but the impact of their clash has been widespread, and its reverberations are sure to continue for a while to come.
The case for diversification, the path to a new world order
