BUSINESS - The African Mirror

Nov

02

2023

By KOPANO GUMBI, ANAIT MIRIDZHANIAN and WENDELL ROELF

South Africa seeks tax boost as higher debt peak forecast

BUSINESS

SOUTH Africa's finance minister will propose tax changes next year as part of an effort to stabilise public finances that are under strain from a drop in mining revenue, a mid-term budget review showed. The budget document presented to parliament projected wider deficits over the next three years and saw debt peaking at a higher level than in February when the main budget was tabled. Revenue collections in the current 2023/24 fiscal year were forecast to be 56.8 billion rand ($3.04 billion) below estimates in February. The National Treasury said it was committed to spending reductions, moderate tax measures and…

Nov

01

2023

By PROMIT MUKHERJEE and ANAIT MIRIDZHANIAN

South Africa’s Eskom to significantly narrow loss next year

BUSINESS

SOUTH African state power utility Eskom forecasted a significant narrowing of its net losses in the financial year to March 2025 but after only a marginal drop for this year. Eskom's interim CEO Calib Cassim told a press conference that the company was likely to post a net loss of 23.22 billion rand ($1.24 billion) for the year ending March 2024. "March '24 should be the last year we have significant losses. It should then drop significantly in 2025," Cassim said. Eskom reported a 23.94 billion rand loss for its last financial year, which ended in March 2023. The 100-year-old…

Nov

01

2023

By The African Mirror

Rwanda set for new $262 mln IMF stand-by facility

BUSINESS

THE International Monetary Fund said that a mission to Rwanda had agreed on a new 14-month Stand-by Credit Facility worth $262 million to help the East African country deal with balance of payment pressures from climate shocks. IMF staff and Rwanda also reached an agreement on policies needed to complete the second review of an existing Policy Coordination Instrument and a programme under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility. IMF board consideration of the agreements is tentatively scheduled for December, the fund said in a statement. "Repeated droughts, the severe floods in May 2023, and tightening global financing conditions are compounding…

Nov

01

2023

By The African Mirror

Impala Platinum to cut spending after metal price decline

BUSINESS

SOUTH Africa's Impala Platinum will reduce planned spending across its business to reflect current low metal prices, the company said. The prices of platinum group metals (PGM), which are used by automakers for catalysts that help curb toxic emissions, have fallen steeply this year, squeezing miners still facing high operational costs. Platinum prices are down about 15% so far in 2023 amid concerns over global economic growth, while palladium is currently trading around $1,127 an ounce after peaking above $3,000 in March 2022 after top producer Russia invaded Ukraine. The price of rhodium, a scarce, corrosion-resistant PGM, peaked at nearly $30,000…

Oct

31

2023

By The African Mirror

Africa unlikely to follow East Asia’s manufacturing growth path – study

BUSINESS

AFRICAN countries are less likely to follow East Asia's development model of expanding manufacturing to pull people out of poverty, according to a study that shows a declining share of factory jobs for most countries by mid-century. The new paper released on Monday by the Center for Global Development shows there will be fewer factory workers in 2050 globally than there are now, and that even in poor countries with abundant cheap labour, manufacturing job growth will stagnate. China may be an exception, further expanding its share of manufacturing output among 59 countries modelled in the study to 43.8% in 2050 from…

Oct

30

2023

By CHIJIOKE OHUOCHA

Explainer: What is pushing the Nigerian naira to record lows?

BUSINESS

NIGERIA'S naira is on the brink of breaching 1,000 per dollar after falling to an official record low of 999 last week, Refinitiv data showed, tracing its weakness on the unofficial market where it trades freely. President Bola Tinubu removed Nigeria's foreign currency controls in June in a bid to get transactions flowing through the official market again to help unify the naira's exchange rates. But that has only fuelled the currency's weakness and added to inflationary pressures. Here is what you need to know about the naira. WHY IS THE NAIRA FALLING? The central bank has a backlog of…

Oct

30

2023

By Ange Aboa

Ivory Coast cocoa regulator scraps stockpile exemption for bean grinders

BUSINESS

IVORY Coast cocoa sector regulator will not allow bean grinders to accumulate stocks beyond authorised limits during the main October to March harvest to ensure fair access amid fears of a supply shortage. Cocoa futures have hit record highs due to forecasts for a drop in production, particularly from Ivory Coast and Ghana, the world's top two producers that account for more than 70% of world output. Ivory Coast's main crop is expected to fall by around 25% this season compared with the previous season due to poor weather. Ivory Coast cocoa exporters and bean grinders have a purchasing limit each year…

Oct

28

2023

By JOE BAVIER

U.S.-Africa duty-free programme needs changes

BUSINESS

THE United States should make changes to its flagship trade initiative with Africa that would increase its impact as part of a potential reauthorisation by Congress, a senior U.S. trade official said. Launched in 2000, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) grants exports from qualifying countries duty-free access to the U.S. market. It is set to expire in September 2025, but discussions are already underway over whether to extend it and for how long. "We need to do better," Assistant United States Trade Representative for African Affairs Constance Hamilton told a media briefing ahead of a meeting of U.S.…

Oct

28

2023

By NATHAN OMBUNI, BIRD STORY AGENCY

A savings and credit cooperative is still helping members decades after its formation

BUSINESS

AS Brenda Naharanga weeded her two-acre farm in the Ikonyero area of Kakamega County in western Kenya, she explained that were it not for a local savings and credit cooperative society, she would not own the farmland she stood on. On it, she has put up a two permanent bedroomed house. She has also planted maize for the short rain season and some indigenous vegetables which she sells to local schools. “For a long time, I had yearned to own a property, either a piece of land or a commercial apartment but with meagre salaries and the high cost of…

Oct

27

2023

By SETH ONYANGO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

What next for Safaricom after M-PESA buyout?

BUSINESS

SAFARICOM PLC, Kenya’s largest telco, has fully acquired M-PESA Holdings Co. Limited, consolidating control of its mobile money service and cash cow, M-PESA. Its buyback of M-PESA from Vodafone's subsidiary Vodacom highlights its growth as a mature, independent African entity in the global telecommunications arena. In April 2020, Safaricom and South Africa's Vodacom completed the acquisition of the ubiquitous mobile money platform from Britain's Vodafone. Experts argue the new buyout, which was finalised on October 15, 2023, could mark a turning point in the company's push for profitability beyond its East African home turf. Safaricom will now have sway over…