BUSINESS - The African Mirror

Nov

02

2022

Prosus and Naspers deny report they are in talks to sell Tencent stake

BUSINESS

TECHNOLOGY investment firm Prosus NV and its South African parent Naspers rejected as "untrue" a report that they are in talks to sell their large stake in Chinese software and gaming giant Tencent. In a pre-market statement, Amsterdam-based Prosus said an article in Asian Tech Press citing unnamed sources saying that Naspers was in talks with a group of investors led by state-backed CITIC of China to sell its entire Tencent stake was "speculative and untrue". Prosus holds a 28% stake in Tencent worth $70 billion at current prices. It has said it intends to sell the stake down gradually to…

Oct

21

2022

By The African Mirror

South Africa moves to regulate crypto assets

BUSINESS

SOUTH Africa's financial watchdog has classified cryptocurrency assets as financial products, a notice in the government gazette said on Wednesday, enabling them to be regulated. In the brief notice, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) said a crypto asset, which it referred to as "a digital representation of value", must be regulated in South Africa from the date of publication. Regulations that the authorities have said they planned to introduce include applying foreign exchange controls and licensing crypto trading companies. Financial watchdogs across the globe have been grappling with how to regulate new digital currencies and tokens, the prices of…

Oct

22

2022

By The African Mirror

Walmart doubles down on Africa despite a decade of frustration

BUSINESS

NQOBILE DLUDLA IN 2011, U.S. retail giant Walmart Inc made a bet on Africa, buying a majority stake in South African retailer Massmart in what many investors saw as a step toward dominating the continent's vast untapped market. It didn't go according to plan. More than a decade later, Massmart's balance sheet is burdened with debt, its books are deep in losses and it's drowning in lease obligations on commercial properties. From its late entry into e-commerce to an ill-fated foray into fresh foods, Walmart's African journey over the last decade has been a string of missteps, compounded by economic headwinds and…

Oct

24

2022

By The African Mirror

Analysis: Poor nations face peril over elusive G-20 debt relief push

BUSINESS

KARIN STROHECKER and ANDREA SHALAL A failure to secure meaningful progress on debt relief for the world's poorest nations at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meeting in Washington has left policymakers, campaigners and investors frustrated. Two years ago the Group of 20 launched the Common Framework - a mechanism designed to provide a swift and comprehensive debt overhaul to nations buckling under debt burdens after the COVID-19 shock that would reach beyond temporary debt payment moratoriums. But results have proven elusive, hampered by a combination of a lack of progress in bringing key creditors around the table…

Oct

25

2022

By The African Mirror

Ethiopia-Tigray peace talks to start in South Africa

BUSINESS

NEGOTIATORS for the Ethiopian government and regional forces from Tigray were due to meet in the South African capital Pretoria for the first formal peace talks since war broke out two years ago. The talks come after the Ethiopian military and their allies, who include troops from neighbouring Eritrea, captured several large towns in Tigray, a region in northern Ethiopia, over the past week. The situation on the ground appeared to put the government in a stronger position than its opponents going into the talks, though it was under pressure from foreign powers, including the United States and European Union,…

Oct

25

2022

By The African Mirror

Nigeria’s 2023 budget is a plan of despair and won’t change the tempo of the economy

BUSINESS

NIGERIA’S 2023 budget, recently presented by President Muhammadu Buhari to the National Assembly, has generated a furore. There are concerns about the impact on the country’s rising deficits and debt, as well as its failure to address some of the structural deficiencies behind declining revenues and rising inflation. The 2023 budget expenditure of 20.51 trillion naira (US$43.7 billion) is the highest ever. More than half of this is money the government doesn’t have and has to be financed with new debt. This will mean that the country exceeds the 3% of GDP threshold stipulated by the Fiscal Responsibility Act of…

Jul

06

2022

By The African Mirror

Egypt’s Suez Canal revenue hits $7 billion record peak

BUSINESS

EGYPT'S Suez Canal revenue hit a record high of $7 billion in the financial year to June 30, up 20.7% from the previous year, Canal Authority Chairman Osama Rabea said on Monday. A statement from the authority attributed the rise to an increase in vessel numbers and cargoes, with total cargoes reaching a record high of 1.32 million tonnes, up 10.9% from 2020/21. The number of vessels transiting the canal rose 15.7% to 22,032. The canal is the fastest shipping route between Europe and Asia and one of the Egyptian government's main sources of foreign currency. A 2015 expansion of…

Jul

06

2022

By The African Mirror

West Africa’s startup funding hegemony

BUSINESS

SETH ONYANGO, BIRD STORY AGENCY STARTUP tracker, Africa: The Big Deal's figures show that since 2019, West African startups have hauled in 4.2 billion US dollars, representing 41 per cent of the total funds logged in Africa in that period. "Start-ups in the region have attracted more funding than in Northern and Eastern Africa combined during the period," its weekly analysis read in part. This is in part thanks to Nigeria which gobbled up over 86 per cent of the funds raised in West Africa, during the period, making the populous nation the continent's most vibrant VC market. According to…

Jul

06

2022

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe to introduce gold coins as local currency tumbles

BUSINESS

ZIMBABWE'S central bank said it would start selling gold coins this month as a store of value to tame runaway inflation, which has considerably weakened the local currency. The central bank governor John Mangudya said in a statement on Monday that the coins will be available for sale from July 25 in local currency, U.S. dollars and other foreign currencies at a price based on the prevailing international price of gold and the cost of production. The "Mosi-oa-tunya" coin, named after Victoria falls, can be converted into cash and be traded locally and internationally, the central bank said. The gold…

Jul

04

2022

By The African Mirror

Nigeria lost $1 billion crude oil revenue to theft

BUSINESS

NIGERIA lost $1 billion in revenue during the first quarter of this year due to crude oil theft, the petroleum regulator said on Friday, warning the practice was a threat to the economy of Africa's top producer. Nigeria loses millions of barrels of crude oil a year because of theft and vandalism including the tapping of crude from a maze of pipelines owned by oil majors, underscoring how poor security causes vast financial losses for the country. Gbenga Komolafe, the head of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, said of the 141 million barrels of oil produced in the first…