{"id":23584,"date":"2026-02-20T13:39:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T13:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=23584"},"modified":"2026-02-20T13:39:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T13:39:16","slug":"simons-weekly-wrap-trade-shifts-grid-reform-and-gold-gains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=23584","title":{"rendered":"Simon\u2019s weekly wrap: Trade shifts, grid reform and gold gains"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>I chatted with Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist at the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa, on a possible tariff deal with China. At this point, it is a framework agreement, so lots of work still needs to be done. But in a world where trade is rapidly changing, it is important that we engage with our trade partners.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/iframe.iono.fm\/e\/1648235?layout=modern\" width=\"100%\" height=\"170\" frameborder=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.<\/p>\n<p>In the President\u2019s Sona, he spoke a fair bit about power, the role of Eskom and the transmission of power. I chatted with Seithati Bolipombo from alternative energy company Mulilo, asking her about the shifts in our energy mix and the demand for renewable energy for our grid.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/iframe.iono.fm\/e\/1646924?layout=modern\" width=\"100%\" height=\"170\" frameborder=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.<\/p>\n<p>Being an entrepreneur is hard work, and I spoke with Colin Timmis from Xero about their recent survey showing the stresses that many find themselves under. He made a great point about how being busy is not a badge of honour, and we need to always keep our well-being in mind.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/iframe.iono.fm\/e\/1647351?layout=modern\" width=\"100%\" height=\"170\" frameborder=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.<\/p>\n<p>Gold miner results are coming in, and as expected, they\u2019re making bumper profits. I spoke with Pan African Resources CEO Cobus Loots about their numbers as they declared a maiden interim dividend. I also asked about possible hedging with gold at records, but for now, they want to keep full exposure to gold.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/iframe.iono.fm\/e\/1647748?layout=modern\" width=\"100%\" height=\"170\" frameborder=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\">\n            !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n            {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n                n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n                if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n                n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n                t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n                s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n                'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n            fbq('init', '779812924991616');\n            fbq('track', 'PageView');\n        <\/script>#Simons #weekly #wrap #Trade #shifts #grid #reform #gold #gains<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I chatted with Wandile Sihlobo&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[1048,158,1152,993,2774,360,220,361,362],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23584"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}