BUSINESS - The African Mirror

Apr

2024

Consumer spending growth in South Africa steadied in 2023

CONSUMERS spending growth in South Africa steadied in 2023 after the previous year's post-pandemic surge, but expected interest rate cuts will encourage more purchases in 2024, executives from Visa and Discovery Bank said. Recent retail results show that consumers are under financial pressure as high interest rates increase the cost of debt and inflation pushes food prices higher. Releasing their latest SpendTrend24 report, Discovery's banking unit and Visa said that while consumer spending in South Africa outpaced inflation by 19 percentage points in 2022, the two measures were closely matched last year. Spending on food, including groceries, takeout and dining out, increased in most…

Apr

2024

By ISAAC ANYAOGU

Nigeria’s Dangote refinery supplies petroleum products to local market

BUSINESS

NIGERIA'S Dangote oil refinery started supplying petroleum products to the local market, a company executive and fuel marketing associations said, a major step in the country's quest for energy independence. The refinery, Africa's largest, was built on a peninsula on the outskirts of the commercial capital Lagos at a cost of $20 billion by the continent's richest man Aliko Dangote and was completed after several years of delays. It can refine up to 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) and will be the largest in Africa and Europe when it reaches full capacity this or next year. Dangote's group executive, Devakumar…

Apr

2024

By KOPANO GUMBI and ALEXANDER WINNING

South African policymakers in talks on lowering inflation target

BUSINESS

SOUTH African policymakers are in discussions on lowering the central bank's inflation target, its governor said, adding that a lower target would make the country more competitive and bring the central bank in line with peers. Lesetja Kganyago told Reuters he personally preferred a decision that would lower the target from its current range of between 3% and 6% "before we get to 2025", but that teams from the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and National Treasury were still identifying the appropriate range and risks associated with it. "Our teams are in conversation now," Kganyago said in an interview. "The…

Apr

2024

By SETH ONYANGO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

Somalia plugs 5G into its economic rebound

BUSINESS

SOMALIA has received its first 5G installation, cranking up a series of reforms to revamp its economy after joining the East Africa Community (EAC). Hormuud Telecom Somalia Inc., its largest telco, rolled out faster internet speeds last month, signalling budding growth in the country's digital services industry. "As Somalia strides towards stability, the launch of 5G services by Hormuud Telecom emerges as a critical milestone. This initiative is more than just a technological advancement, it's a symbol of our nation's commitment to growth and constant improvement," said Somalia's Telecommunications Minister Jama Hassan Khalif. The immediate benefit of this rollout, according…

Apr

2024

By BRETT SILBERG

Two-thirds of SA managers view SA bonds and equities as undervalued

BUSINESS

THE Bank of America’s (BofA) latest South Africa fund manager survey found that two-thirds of the managers they spoke to viewed local bonds and equities as undervalued. For the past 58 months, or almost five years, most local fund managers have told the BofA that they view local bonds as undervalued. The survey found that 73% of the managers see more ‘buy’ opportunities in the local market than ‘sell’ opportunities. About 67% of managers surveyed were ‘most bullish’ on SA equities, 20% were ‘most bullish’ about local bonds, and 13% were ‘most bullish’ about cash. About 20% of managers were…

Mar

2024

By DAPHNE PSALEDAKIS and ERNEST SCHEYDER

US talks often with Congo’s Gecamines on cobalt and copper

BUSINESS

THE United States speaks regularly with the Democratic Republic of Congo's state miner Gecamines, a senior State Department official told Reuters, as Washington seeks to deepen relationships with key suppliers of cobalt and copper across the African continent. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Chinese aggressive investment across Congo, Zambia and elsewhere in Africa - which holds massive supplies of minerals used to make electric vehicles and other electronics - has for some time raised concern in Washington. Jose Fernandez, the U.S. State Department's under-secretary for economic growth, energy, and the environment, said in an interview this week that conversations with Gecamines centre…

Mar

2024

By FELIX ONUAH

Nigeria unveils revamped economic management structure amid rising hardship

BUSINESS

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu announced an overhaul of Nigeria's economic governance intended to ease financial hardship and boost productivity, establishing a multi-layered framework to bolster coordination, planning and implementation. Tinubu, who took office last year, inherited an economy struggling with record debt, high unemployment, low oil output, and power shortages that have crimped growth. But reforms he has implemented since then, chiefly ending a costly petrol subsidy and twice devaluing the naira currency within a year, have spurred price pressures and sparked the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades in Africa's largest economy. Central to the economic management structure is the creation…

Mar

2024

By The African Mirror

Salaam Bank launches Uganda’s first Islamic bank

BUSINESS

A unit of Djibouti-based Salaam Group launched in Uganda as the country's first Islamic banking-compliant financial institution, the Ugandan president's office said. The launch of the Salaam Bank Limited's operations follows a law legalising Islamic banking in the east African country last year. Islamic finance follows Islamic religious principles such as bans on interest payments and also eschews investments in some activities like gambling. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni presided over the launch of the bank in the capital Kampala, according to a statement issued by his office. Muslims, who constitute about 14% of Uganda's population, have long complained that Ugandan…

Mar

2024

By The African Mirror

Kenya and Uganda resolve oil import row, Uganda says

BUSINESS

KENYA will allow landlocked Uganda's state oil firm to import petroleum products through its port of Mombasa, Uganda's energy ministry confirmed, to end a row between the two neighbours. Uganda has been seeking alternative ways of importing petroleum products, including through a Tanzanian port after its oil retailers for decades received their cargo through affiliated firms in Kenya. Solomon Muyita, spokesperson for Uganda's Ministry of Energy and Minerals, said the first shipment under the new system was expected in May. "Kenya has agreed to give us a licence, UNOC (Uganda National Oil Company) is now free to import through Mombasa,"…

Mar

2024

By MIKE SEGAR and GABRIELLA BORTER

US officials board ship that hit Baltimore bridge, divers search for bodies

BUSINESS

U.S. federal safety investigators recovered the black box from the freight ship that crashed into a Baltimore bridge, the agency chief said as rescuers searched for the remains of six construction workers lost in the bridge collapse. A highway team also will be looking at the twisted remains of the Francis Scott Key bridge as they try to determine how and why a container ship smashed into a pillar of the 1.6-mile (2.6 km) span in early morning darkness on Tuesday. Investigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board recovered the data recorder after boarding the ship late on Tuesday, NTSB…