BUSINESS - The African Mirror

Oct

11

2020

South Sudan to change currency to improve economy-govt spokesman

BUSINESS

SOUTH Sudan's cabinet has agreed to change the country's currency in order to improve the economy, the government spokesman said, without giving further details. "The cabinet has decided that the current currency should be changed....This is to improve our economic situation," information minister Michael Makuei Lueth told a news conference in the capital Juba following a cabinet meeting. The country's currency is the South Sudanese pound, adopted when the country gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after a long civil war. Another war, along with graft and mismanagement, led to an economic crisis in the oil-producing nation. In July, a…

Oct

10

2020

By The African Mirror

S.Africa’s Denel seeks $231 million state support

BUSINESS

SOUTH African state defence company Denel has asked for 3.8 billion rand ($231 million) in state financial support over the next three fiscal years, the National Treasury told Reuters on Friday. Denel, which makes military equipment for South Africa’s armed forces and export, has struggled to pay salaries this year amid a liquidity crisis aggravated by the coronavirus crisis. “Denel has requested a 3.8 billion rand bid over the 2021/22 to 2023/24 MTEF (Medium Term Expenditure Framework) period,” the National Treasury said in an emailed response to questions. A Denel spokeswoman was not able to immediately comment. State firms have…

Oct

09

2020

By The African Mirror

Sub-Saharan Africa to contract 3.3% this year, World Bank says

BUSINESS

DUNCAN MIRIRI THE coronavirus crisis is expected to drive a 3.3% contraction in sub-Saharan African economies in 2020 and could push 40 million people into extreme poverty, according to the World Bank. The Washington-based lender said growth in the region would recover in 2021, with economies growing by 2.1%, below 2019's growth of 2.4%. "The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a large toll on economic activity in sub-Saharan Africa, putting a decade of hard-won economic progress at risk," the bank said. Apart from South Africa, the region appears to have so far escaped the worst of the health crisis, accounting for…

Oct

08

2020

By The African Mirror

European bank postpones expansion into sub-Saharan Africa

BUSINESS

GOVERNORS of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development pledged to shift more than 50% of the lender's investments towards green projects by 2025, gave Iraq the nod to join and formally postponed plans to expand into sub-Saharan Africa EBRD governors, currently congregating virtually for the bank's annual meeting, signed off on the lender's strategy for the next five years. They are also due to elect a new president on Thursday, with sources saying France's Odile Renaud-Basso is set to become the next president. The sign-off confirms the lender's pivot towards on projects that will help shift countries to a low-carbon…

Nov

23

2020

By The African Mirror

Trash for cash: South Africans fight hunger with digital currency

BUSINESS

KIM HARRISBERG MIMI Ngalula never imagined cardboard boxes, cans and bottles would save her five children from hunger during lockdown, but over the past four months, digging through Johannesburg's trash cans has become her lifeline. Ngalula, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is one of hundreds of people in the neighbourhood of Lorentzville who joined a project to exchange recyclables for a digital currency that they use to buy much-needed groceries. Run through local charity Love Our City Klean (LOCK), the project gives recyclers a card with a unique barcode that is used to load their recycling…

Nov

13

2020

By The African Mirror

How Absa Group is using tech to drive growth in Africa’s agriculture marketplace

BUSINESS

THERE are few things more traditional and widespread than agriculture in Africa. While the continent holds around 60% of the world's uncultivated arable land, Africa remains a substantial net importer of food and has a growing population to feed. Projections are that, by 2050, Africa will have almost doubled its population to two billion, and it is a given that agriculture will play a central role in sustaining and feeding its people. Agriculture employs close to 50% of the working labour force on the continent, and in sub-Saharan Africa, the sector contributes 23% of GDP. So, why then is agriculture…

Nov

12

2020

By The African Mirror

Marubeni to pull out of S.African coal-fired power plant project

BUSINESS

JAPANESE resources company Marubeni Corp will pull out of the Thabametsi South African coal plant project, the Japanese group has told Reuters, following the withdrawal of some South African investors this week. Marubeni's exit from the 630 megawatts (MW) Thabametsi coal-based power plant project in the water-scarce northern Limpopo province also follows the withdrawal of South Korea's state-run Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) last month. "As per our policy that we will not develop any new coal power project, we are in process of the withdrawal from the (Thabametsi) project with the Government of South Africa," a Marubeni spokesman said…

Nov

11

2020

By The African Mirror

Ivory Coast cocoa purchases hit again by post-election unrest

BUSINESS

BARRICAES erected by opponents of Ivory Coast's president in protest at last month's disputed election have forced cocoa middlemen in western regions to reduce their purchases of beans, buyers have said. Bean arrivals at ports in Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, fell by half early last week in the days after the October 31 presidential election, when clashes in the centre of the country killed more than 10 people. Buying picked up later in the week but has taken a fresh hit since Monday, when young people in the west and southwest began barricading roads, a dozen buyers…

Oct

20

2020

By The African Mirror

Somalia prime minister retains finance, foreign ministers in new cabinet

BUSINESS

SOMALIA'S Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble retained finance minister Abdirahman Duale Bayle in a reshuffled cabinet of 27 announced on Monday. Finance minister Abdirahman Duale Bayle Bayle, who has held the position since 2017, has been instrumental in steering the Horn of Africa nation closer to securing debt relief from institutions including the World Bank, African Development Bank and the Paris Club of creditor nations, which cancelled $1.4 billion in March. Roble's office said in a statement he had also retained Ahmed Ise Awad as foreign affairs minister and Health Minister Fawzia Abikar Nur. Roble, appointed in late September, replaced…

Oct

17

2020

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe expects inflation of 134% this year -finmin

BUSINESS

ZIMBABWE expects its average annual inflation to slow to 134% in 2020, according to a finance ministry document, more than halving the central bank's previous forecast. The country is grappling with its worst economic crisis in more than a decade, with runaway inflation of 659.4% year-on-year in September, and severe shortages of foreign currency, food and medicine. The document, outlining Zimbabwe's strategy for the 2021 budget which is set to be delivered at the end of November, said the slowdown in inflation would be thanks to a deepening of the foreign currency auction market, which is expected to aid exchange…