Last week, Statistics South Africa (SSA) gave out a breath of fresh air by announcing that the economy sprang back in the fourth quarter of 2020 driven by expansion in manufacturing, construction and trade. But that announcement did not end there. It was a precursor to the statement that the economy recorded its biggest annual…
As economies across the continent slipped into recession in 2020, Tanzania reaped from its policy of not imposing COVID-19 related restrictions and nationwide curfews, recording the fastest economic growth in Africa. According to the World Bank, Tanzania’s economy grew by 2% in 2020 and Mara Warwick, World Bank country director for Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and…
Selisu Mborantsuo locks his room and goes off to work. Since the start of the pandemic, he, like many others across the globe, have not had a normal life. His main hassle of selling ground nuts in bars and entertainment joints has stuttered and with it, the livelihoods of his four children. Lemina narrates how…
In November, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed – a Nobel Peace Prize winner – shocked the world when he ordered a military invasion in the country’s northern region of Tigray. Abiy justified the decision as “necessary to maintain the authority of the federal government” at a time when the country was plagued by ethnic violence…
When Joseph Gitile started his soap manufacturing business in 2017; he was exuberant and very optimistic that within a few months he would be Kenya’s next millionaire. In January, reality dawned, and he had to painfully shut down his business after accumulating millions of shillings, not in profits – but debts and unpaid bills. Joseph…
Kenya will raise more money from foreign than domestic sources, as it restructures its debt portfolio to take advantage of growing appetite for high-yielding debt. The National Treasury said it is seeking to raise $1.13 billion in sovereign bonds in the next four months and an additional $1.14 billion during the financial year starting July…
Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari has approved the creation of a new entity that will focus on infrastructure development, with a seed capital of $2.63 billion, the office of the president said in a statement. The company, named Infra-Co, will be a public-private partnership, and the initial capital will come from the central bank, the Nigerian…
Uganda’s Ministry of Finance expects public debt will surge to 50% of its annual economic output by June this year, driven by fresh borrowing to fund financial stimulus packages as the country suffers economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. That marks an increase of about 9% in the debt-to-GDP ratio, from 41% in the financial…
Sudan is set to receive a $330 million bridge loan from Britain to help clear its more than $400 million in arrears to the African Development Bank. According to British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, Britain was supportive of the effort and had signed a memorandum of understanding to disburse $40 million to Sudan’s family support…
Central African Republic will receive $34.4 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after the Washington-based lender completed the first and second reviews of its $115 million loan program. The funds are much needed as the country is battling the coronavirus pandemic effects on its economy as well as increased violence launched in opposition to…
Zambia’s government has put itself between the proverbial “rock and a hard place” after it announced that it will further subsidize fuel prices risking the ire of the International Monetary Fund with whom they have been discussing a financial bailout before the upcoming August’s elections. The finance ministry removed a 16% value-added tax on gasoline…
Democratic Republic of Congo has received debt relief from China to aid it overcome growing economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, the foreign ministry announced. Under the terms of the agreement, Congo will no longer be mandated to repay its interest-free loans from China that matured at the end of 2020. At a joint press…
The Republic of Congo’s government has terminated its contract with Australian miner Sundance Resources to develop the huge Mbalam-Nabeba iron-ore deposit, subsequently awarding three new permits to a relatively unknown Chinese-backed company. In a November 30 decree jointly signed by President Denis Sassou Nguesso and four cabinet ministers, the government cited several reasons such as…
Zambia’s Finance Minister Bwalya Ng’andu projects the country’s economy will contract by at least 3% in 2020, as manufacturing, retail and wholesale trade, tourism and travel industry post negative growth rates. The copper producing nation became Africa’s first pandemic-era sovereign country to debt default last month, after it failed to pay a $42.5 million coupon…
The World Bank has urged Nigeria to strengthen reforms of its currency – the naira – before it can approve a $1.5 billion loan, its country director said on Thursday. Africa’s largest economy is badly in need of the financial support to survive its worst economic recession in 33 years, largely attributed to a drop…
Kenya’s top lender by assets, KCB Group, announced on Thursday it has entered a binding agreement to purchase a controlling stake in Rwanda’s Banque Populaire du Rwanda and take full ownership of ABC Tanzania at a combined value of $40 million. The purchase agreements follow a recent trend of Kenyan commercial banks expanding beyond their…
Nigeria has slipped into a recession for the second time in the last five years after its gross domestic product contracted for the second consecutive quarter due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and a fall in crude oil prices. Africa’s largest economy was last in recession in 2016, its first in a generation,…
Africa’s most developed nation warned on Saturday the rating downgrade by Moody’s and Fitch will increase the country’s borrowing costs and limit its fiscal framework Tito Mboweni, Minister of Finance said, “The decision by Fitch and Moody’s… is a painful one. “There is an urgent need for government to implement structural economic reforms to avoid…
A total of fifty companies and financial institutions pledged $7 billion at the South African annual investment conference providing a huge boost to the government struggling to contain record economic recession. At the first conference in 2018, President Cyril Ramaphosa set a goal of attracting $78 billion of investment over the following five years to…
Zambia Minister of Mines Richard Musukwa says that the copper producing nation is seeking a compromise solution with bondholders and does not expect them to seize its mining assets even though it defaulted on part of its debt last week. Musukwa also said that Zambia has no plans to sell its shares in mining companies…