Breaking News Today – Thursday 12 February 2026

Business News Today 

Vehicle Sales in South Africa Accelerate

Total local vehicle sales in South Africa grew in January 2026 according to the latest NAAMSA data report. Passenger vehicle sales grew by 7.1% to 37 190 year-on-year compared to January 2025, while light commercial vehicles (bakkies /pick-up trucks) and minibus vehicles grew by double digit figures (11%) to 10 996 y-o-y. Medium trucks and busses dropped by -5.9% to 542 unit sales, and heavy truck and bus sales saw a drop of -4.3% y-o-y, to a total of 1 345 units in January 2026 bringing total local vehicle sales to 50 073 for the month.

The industry also saw a growth in the number of vehicle export sales with a 0.6% growth or 24 568 vehicles shipped for the month of January. Toyota motors maintained its dominance in the market with 11 491 local sales and 5 497 vehicles exported for the month with Suzuki holding second position with 6 410 local sales. BMW holds second place in number of exports with 5 000 export vehicles recorded for January 2026. Commercial vehicle sales for January were dominated by FAW trucks with 336 vehicles sold locally and 119 vehicles exported.

Delta40 Raising its Start-up Portfolio

Kenya-based venture firm Delta40 has secured $20 million to scale financing for early-stage startups across Africa, with support from the Soros Economic Development Fund and the Rockefeller Foundation. The fund combines equity, debt, and grant capital and drew participation from 54 investors spanning 13 countries. Backers include development finance institutions, foundations, family offices, and 25 startup founders, with 14 investors located on the African continent. According to founder and Chief Executive Lyndsay Holley Handler, more than half of the fund is commercial, return-oriented capital.

Delta40 typically invests initial tranches of funds ranging from $100,000 to $500,000 at the idea-to-seed stage and retains capacity for follow-on investments. Its focus areas include energy and mobility, agriculture and food systems, and financial services. The firm also intends to deploy artificial intelligence tools across its portfolio companies.

Crypto Meltdown Continues

Risk appetite for crypto currencies has deteriorated sharply over the last week, with nearly $500B wiped from total crypto market cap since late January. Bitcoin’s 40% depreciation from it’s $126K peak last year has been accompanied by a fall in perpetual futures open interest from around $5B to $3.6B. The move has triggered the largest level of liquidations across crypto markets since the Oct 10, 2025 crash and sees BTC trading below the average purchase level across all spot ETF holders for the first time since before President Trump’s reelection. Analysts are drawing parallels between the current crypto collapse, and the mid-cycle correction in 2021 which also saw BTC fall 40% from the then all-time-high before recording a second peak in November of the same year.

Libyan Oil Licences Announced

Libya has granted several foreign companies new oil exploration and production licences for the first time in 17 years yesterday, after more than a decade of political instability. The hydrocarbon-rich country is seeking to draw major global energy companies back, while boosting daily oil production by 850,000 barrels over the next 25 years.The winners of the latest bidding round included US oil giant Chevron and Nigeria’s Aiteo. Consortiums of Spain’s Repsol with British Petroleum, Repsol with Hungary’s MOLGroup, and Eni North Africa with QatarEnergy, were also granted licences. This was an important development which marked “a return of trust and resuming institutional work in one of the country’s most important sectors after a long time of pause and challenges”, Masoud Suleman, head of the National Oil Corporation, said during the announcement ceremony. The NOC chief also promised “integrity, transparency, equal opportunities” and to “maximise national returns”.

Breaking News Shorts:  

• YouTube megastar MrBeast announced on X that his company, Beast Industries, has acquired Step, a a banking App for teenagers. Step raised half a billion in funding and has grown to over 7 million users, offers financial services geared toward Gen Z to help them build credit, save money, and invest.
• The US economy added 130K payrolls in January 2026, much higher than a downwardly revised 48K rise in December and well above forecasts of 70K. It is the highest figure since December 2024, with job gains occurring in health care, social services, construction and manufacturing.
• The Central Bank of Mauritius unanimously decided to keep its key repo rate steady at 4.5% for the fourth consecutive meeting on February 11, 2026. The Committee said a cautious, wait-and-see approach remains appropriate, emphasizing the need to anchor medium-term inflation expectations amid ongoing economic uncertainties.
• Egypt’s annual urban inflation rate slowed to 11.9% in January 2026 from 12.3% in the previous month, though it remained above the market forecast of 11.7%. This marked the softest increase in consumer prices since last September, as the impact of higher fuel prices in October faded.
• The IMF has urged South Africa to adopt a clearer and more binding limit on government debt, warning that risks to the country’s economic outlook are tilted to the downside despite signs of gradual improvement. In its annual economic check-up, a so-called Article IV report, the IMF said South Africa’s spending ceilings introduced in 2012 have not prevented debt from rising further.

Markets by Numbers 

Currency markets indicate the US dollar gaining ground to major currencies today, with the Greenback trading against the Euro at 1.18620 while trading against the Pound at 1.36198 to the US dollar. The Yen is currently trading at 153.09 to the dollar. The rand (ZAR) is currently trading at around R15.88 and flat against the dollar.

Commodities:  

• Gold futures have lost some momentum today, down by around -0.3% this morning, and currently trading at around $5066.30 per ounce.  
• Copper prices are trending lower today, with prices currently around $59.589 per pound
• Silver futures have dropped by around -0.5% today, and currently trading around $83.820 per ounce.
• Platinum futures are around-0.7% lower this morning, and currently trading at $2129.90, While Palladium prices have lost -0.6% this morning, and currently trading around $1730.50 per ounce.
• Brent crude oil prices are trending higher today, and currently at $69.51 with WTI trading higher at $64.78
• Cocoa futures continue its downward momentum today, and currently trading around $3765 per ton. 
• Coffee futures are currently trending higher today, and trading at around $2.9250 per pound

Crypto Currencies: 

• Bitcoin prices are trending flat today, and trading at around $67072 per coin currently 
• Ether prices are up around 1.2% today, and are currently trading around $1966.49
• $Trumpcoin are currently trading around $3.248

(All prices quoted at approximately 07H40 Central African Time) 

Africa News Briefs:

• Water supply issues, continue to affect various suburbs of Johannesburg in South Africa that have not had water for 24 days, with residents now taking to the streets to protest and the Democratic Alliance political party seeking the courts relief. Despite this, there has been no official explanation for the cause. Johannesburg Water continues to say that it is investigating. The major of Johannesburg Dada Morero, is under massive pressure to resign due to poor service delivery in what was the “city of gold”
• Botswana’s state-owned Okavango Diamond Company plans to increase the share of diamonds it sells to contracted buyers as a way to navigate a depressed global diamond market, Acting Managing Director Lipalese Makepe said on Wednesday. Contract diamond sales are more predictable compared with auctions and tenders that are highly competitive and often lead to price volatility. Until last year, the state diamond marketing company mainly sold its gems through auctions and tenders because a clause in Botswana’s contract with De Beers had prevented Okavango Diamond Company from directly competing with it.