BUSINESS - The African Mirror

Oct

16

2020

Standard Bank lending to fossil fuel industries stands at $4 bln

BUSINESS

STANDARD Bank, Africa's largest lender by assets, has 67.4 billion rand ($4 billion) in loans and commitments to the coal, oil and gas sectors on its books, according to a climate exposure report it has published. Climate campaigners have criticised the bank for both its lending policies and involvement in particular projects such as a blockbuster natural gas development in Mozambique, and its potential financing of a Ugandan oil pipeline. The bank's climate-related financial exposures report gives the fullest picture yet of its lending to fossil fuel industries. It showed those sectors accounted for about 4% of all its lending…

Oct

15

2020

By The African Mirror

G20 to extend debt freeze for poorest nations, still wrangling over next steps

BUSINESS

JAN STRUPCZEWSKI, ANDREA SHALAL and ELIZABETH HOWCROFT THE G20 group of major economies is poised to extend a multi-billion-dollar debt freeze for the world's poorest countries to help them weather the coronavirus crisis, and may adopt a common approach to dealing with longer-term debt restructurings. Finance ministers and central bankers from China, the United States and other G20 countries mapped out their plans in a draft communique seen by Reuters on Tuesday, and are due to finalize the wording when they meet online early Wednesday. Preparatory meetings among G20 deputies involved "intense" discussions, according to multiple sources familiar with the…

Oct

15

2020

By The African Mirror

No evidence to support charges against Eni CEO in Nigeria case – lawyer

BUSINESS

ENI Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi should be acquitted of corruption in a legal case concerning the purchase of an oilfield in Nigeria since there is no evidence to support the charges, Descalzi's lawyer has told a Milan court. Speaking in the court hearing, Paola Severino said the prosecutors' case against Descalzi consisted simply of "suggestive elements" of no criminal significance that were aimed at papering over a "lack of evidence." She called for the Eni CEO to be unreservedly acquitted since there was no case to answer. Descalzi is one of 13 people charged with international corruption over a deal…

Nov

15

2020

By The African Mirror

‘Humanitarian e-commerce’ thrives in Somalia amid pandemic

BUSINESS

ABDI SHEIKH MUSLIMA Abdirahman, a Somali mother of nine, escaped death twice in the past two years while shopping for groceries in Mogadishu, where Islamist insurgents regularly carry out suicide bombings on busy streets and markets. She shudders at the memories: "I wiped my tears with my veil and went home on foot without buying anything." But earlier this year Abdirahman traded her dangerous errands for online shopping, thanks to the World Food Programme's "humanitarian e-commerce" system in Somalia -- part of its global shift from distributing food to handing out cash. Conceived as a way to protect women in…

Nov

14

2020

By The African Mirror

Nigeria to tap $750 mln World Bank loan for local regions

BUSINESS

NIGERIA is in the process of accessing a $750 million World Bank loan to enable local states to support vulnerable households and mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy, according to the finance ministry. Africa's most populous country and the continent's biggest oil producer, is tilting towards recession after the pandemic triggered a collapse in global oil prices, Nigeria's main export. The World Bank said in June that the pandemic could push 5 million people in Nigeria into poverty amid the worst economic hardship in the African powerhouse since the 1980s. "Nigeria ... cannot afford to remain…

Nov

13

2020

By The African Mirror

Nigeria’s government ratifies Africa free-trade membership

BUSINESS

NIGERIA has ratified its membership of the African free-trade zone due to be launched in January, the government said, after initial reluctance to join the bloc for fear of exposing local industries to dumping by countries outside Africa. A cabinet meeting on Wednesday endorsed the president's decision to join the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) following the signing of agreements last year, Information Minister Lai Mohammed said. Mohammed said countries have until December to ratify the agreement, whose launch was pushed back after the new coronavirus pandemic made its original start date untenable. The onset of the pandemic halted…

Oct

22

2020

By The African Mirror

Mozambique to seek extradition of ex-Credit Suisse bankers involved in $2 bln debt

BUSINESS

MOZAMBIQUE's Attorney General's Office will seek the extradition of three former Credit Suisse bankers implicated in a $2 billion debt scandal that sent the country's economy into crisis. Andrew Pearse, Detelina Subeva and Surjan Singh, who helped arrange the loans to Mozambique, all pleaded guilty in the United States last year to charges including conspiracy to violate U.S. anti-bribery laws and to commit money laundering and securities fraud in relation to their role in the affair. Surjan Singh, Andrew Pearse and Detelina Subeva. Lawyers for the three bankers did not immediately respond to requests for comment or could not immediately…

Oct

21

2020

By The African Mirror

Botswana sees 7.7 % growth in 2021 on diamond industry recovery

BUSINESS

BOTSWANA’S economy will rebound and grow 7.7% in 2021 from an 8.9% contraction forecast this year, on the back of improved sentiment in the global diamond industry, according to the finance minister. Botswana's economy shrank by 24% in the second quarter of 2020 as coronavirus lockdowns at home and abroad slowed domestic economic activity and severely constrained diamond sales. Buyers of the precious gem were locked out of the capital Gaborone, where they come to purchase diamonds from De Beers. Mining is the sparsely populated southern African country's biggest revenue earner and accounts for just under 20% of total gross…

Oct

21

2020

By The African Mirror

Nigeria’s battered farmers to get $20 million to aid crop output

BUSINESS

ABRAHAM ACHIRGA and LIBBY GEORGE MARY Daniel, a slight woman in her 40s, weeds by hand a field dotted with trees and scraggly sesame plants. A widow with seven children, she is among the 70% of all Nigerians employed in agriculture. She has grown sesame, maize and cassava her whole life, but coronavirus lockdowns forced her to abandon her three hectares. "We stayed at home, and everything came to a standstill," she said, speaking in her village of Bakin Kogi in Nasarawa state, east of the capital Abuja. Daniel is now among 65,000 Nigerian farmers who will access tractors, seeds,…

Nov

25

2020

By The African Mirror

Ghana, Ivory Coast threaten to suspend cocoa companies’ sustainability schemes

BUSINESS

MAYTAAL ANGEL and ANGE ABOA GHANA’S cocoa regulator has threatened to suspend the sustainability schemes used by major cocoa and chocolate companies to assure consumers that the beans they use are sustainably and ethically sourced. In comments to the World Cocoa Foundation conference on behalf of Ghana and its West African neighbour Ivory Coast, Joseph Aidoo, chief executive of Ghanaian regulator Cocobod said on Thursday that cocoa and chocolate companies in West Africa were thwarting government attempts to combat farmer poverty. As a result, their sustainability schemes, which allow companies such as Barry Callebaut and Nestle to charge consumers a…