Finance Minister - The African Mirror

Dec

2023

Mozambique sees higher economic growth, wider deficit in 2024

Mozambique sees economic growth picking up to 5.5% next year but its budget deficit widening to 10.4% of gross domestic product (GDP) driven by debt service, public sector wage reforms and election spending, its finance minister said on Wednesday. Those forecasts compare with 2023 targets of 5.0% growth and a budget deficit of 8.7% of GDP. Finance minister Max Tonela gave the latest projections in a 2024 budget speech, saying next year's deficit would be financed by external grants amounting to 5.4% of GDP, foreign loans of 1.9% of GDP and domestic borrowing of 3.0% of GDP. 2024 growth would…

Dec

2023

By The African Mirror

Uganda plans to double domestic borrowing in 2023/24 FY

BUSINESS

UGANDA is planning to more than double its level of domestic market borrowing to 6.8 trillion Ugandan shillings ($1.79 billion) in the 2023/24 financial year to help finance new spending needs, the Ministry of Finance said. Government finances have been squeezed since the World Bank, traditionally a key source of cheap credit for the country, cut lending earlier this year to protest against the enactment of one of the world's strictest anti-homosexuality laws. In a budget speech in June, Finance Minister Matia Kasaija said the government intended to borrow 3.2 trillion Ugandan shillings from the domestic market via issuance of treasury bills…

Nov

2023

By KARIN STROHECKER

Zambia debt rework delaying impede key investments, hitting the ‘most vulnerable’ – FinMin

BUSINESS

LONG delays in Zambia's debt restructuring have hamstrung much-needed investments, curtailed economic growth, weighed on local financial markets and added to living costs for its people, Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane told Reuters. Zambia defaulted three years ago and is trying to rework its debt under the G20 Common Framework, a programme designed to ensure swift and smooth debt overhauls for low-income nations. But the process has been beset by delays, with Zambia suffering a major setback on Monday when official creditors rejected a preliminary deal agreed between the country and its bondholders to rework $3 billion over objections on whether it offered…

Sep

2023

By The African Mirror

‘Tightrope’ debt situation not unique to Kenya, finance minister says

BUSINESS

KENYA'S struggle with a heavy debt load and pressure on its hard currency reserves is not unique since other nations are facing the same situation, its finance minister said. Njuguna Ndung'u was responding to a research note by U.S. investment bank JPMorgan which said on Tuesday that the East African nation was "walking a tightrope" to avoid a crisis due to a maturing dollar bond and persistent currency weakness. "All low- and middle-income countries are walking a tightrope given the current economic constraints globally. The Kenyan case is being featured because of the Eurobond 2024," the minister told Reuters, referring…

Mar

2023

By The African Mirror

Israeli minister says “no such thing” as Palestinian people

WORLD

AN Israeli minister with responsibility for the administration of the occupied West Bank drew condemnation after he said there was no Palestinian history or culture and no such thing as a Palestinian people. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who triggered global outrage earlier this month when he called for a Palestinian town to be "erased", made the remarks on Sunday in a conference speech during a visit to France. "Is there a Palestinian history or culture? There is none," he can be heard saying in footage of the speech shared widely on social media. "There is no such thing as a…

Jan

2023

By The African Mirror

Davos 2023: South Africa plans to end load-shedding in 12-18 months

NEWS

SOUTH Africa has a plan to improve energy provision that will end the need for any power cuts within the next 12-18 months, ITS Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said. "Eventually in the next 12-18 months, we will be able to say load-shedding is a thing of the past. That is the target," Godongwana, told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the Swiss resort of Davos. Godongwana said so-called "stage 6" power cuts - which mean at least six hours a day without power for most South Africans - would no longer be needed within about…

Jan

2023

By The African Mirror

Nigeria to spend $7.5 bln on petrol subsidy to mid-2023

BUSINESS

CAMILLUS EBOH NIGERIA will keep its costly but popular petrol subsidy until mid-2023 and has set aside 3.36 trillion nairas ($7.5 bln) to spend on it, Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed said. Africa's biggest economy spent 2.91 trillion nairas ($7 billion) towards a petrol subsidy between January and September 2022, state-owned firm NNPC said, a cost the government has blamed for dwindling public finances. President Muhammadu Buhari signed the 2023 budget of 21.83 trillion nairas ($49 billion) into law on Tuesday after lawmakers increased the size by 6.4% and raised the oil price assumption. "Petrol subsidy will remain up to mid-2023 based on…

Oct

2022

By The African Mirror

UK’s Truss sacrifices finance minister, scraps tax plan in fight to survive

WORLD

ELIZABETH PIPER, KATE HOLTON and ALISTAIR SMOUT BRITISH Prime Minister Liz Truss fired her finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng and scrapped parts of their unpopular economic package in a desperate bid for political survival less than 40 days into her premiership. With financial markets in turmoil, a chastened Truss said she accepted her government's plans for unfunded tax cuts had gone "further and faster" than investors were expecting. "I have acted decisively today because my priority is ensuring our country's economic stability," she told a brief news conference in Downing Street. "I want to be honest, this is difficult. But we…

Oct

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

2020

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe finance minister says COVID-19 won’t hit economy as hard as elsewhere

BUSINESS

ZIMBABWE’S finance minister says the economy would not be as severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic as initially feared and foreign currency inflows had shown resilience. The southern African nation was already grappling with runaway inflation, shortages of drugs in hospitals and strikes by public workers before the novel coronavirus arrived in March. "I am more bullish again even during this COVID-19 moment, I think the economy will surprise us on the upside," Finance minister Mthuli Ncube said during an online media conference. "Our prognosis is that the impact of COVID-19 overall on Zimbabwe is not as deep as in…