For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Halima Frost.

Making headlines: US to host meeting of G20 officials without South Africa's participation, sources say; US House committee approves Africa trade bill, no mention of South Africa exclusion for now; And, South African business confidence index surges in November, mainly on tourism

US to host meeting of G20 officials without South Africa's participation, sources say

The US will convene a meeting of officials from the Group of 20 major economies on Monday to kick off planning for next year, when it holds the group's rotating presidency, sources familiar with the plans said.

South Africa, this year's host country, was not invited to join the meeting of the G20 deputy sherpas, the sources said on condition of anonymity.

The US on Monday assumed the 12-month presidency of the G20 amid a bitter feud with South Africa and has said it will not invite Africa's biggest economy to participate in next year's G20 events. South Africa has rejected US President Donald Trump's repeated allegations that South Africa's Black-majority government persecutes its white minority.

Next year's summit of G20 leaders will take place in Miami at a golf resort owned by Trump. Washington skipped this year's gathering hosted by Pretoria and then accused South Africa of weaponising its leadership of the group.

US House committee approves Africa trade bill, no mention of South Africa exclusion for now

Meanwhile, a US House committee approved a bill that would renew for another three years Washington's preferential trade programme for Africa, and there was no immediate mention of excluding South Africa as the US trade envoy had said was possible.

The African Growth and Opportunity Act, a law first enacted in 2000 to provide duty-free access to the US market for eligible sub-Saharan African countries and products, expired in September and hundreds of thousands of African jobs are estimated to depend on it.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the Trump administration was open to a one-year extension but might exclude South Africa, which he described as a "unique problem".

The US House Committee on Ways and Means approved the AGOA Extension Act by a vote of 37-3, a committee statement said, describing the trade initiative as "the cornerstone of economic relations between the US and sub-Saharan African nations".

The bill will pass to the full House of Representatives, though it is not yet clear when it will take it up.

And, South African business confidence index surges in November, mainly on tourism

A barometer of South African business confidence surged in November, but the organisation that compiles the data cautioned against reading too much into it, pointing out that some indicators of tangible economic activity were still lagging.

The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Business Confidence Index jumped to 132.3 in November from 123.8 in October.

The business chamber releases the index every two months and said the increase was mainly driven by greater overseas tourist numbers.

Other drivers were mostly linked to "global economic and financial market assessments (rather) than local real economic activity," it said in a statement.

The real economy refers to the production and use of physical goods and services, encompassing sectors like manufacturing and agriculture, rather than financial transactions.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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