Category: Southern Africa

THE price of rice could rise by 15 percent if Government proceeds with the proposed re-introduction of Value Added Tax on the staple alternative, which could potentially exert pressure on the food chain, food processors said yesterday. In the 2017 National Budget Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa proposed recalling VAT on rice that…

Trade volumes between Zimbabwe and China are set to go beyond the $1 billion mark by year-end. China imports tobacco, cotton and various minerals from Zimbabwe while local businesses have turned to the East Asian economic giant for electronic, clothing and other finished products. Speaking on the sidelines of a handover of various educational materialand…

The head of Angola’s state oil company Sonangol has fired the executive committee of subsidiary Sonangol Exploration and Production, the company said on Tuesday. Sonangol’s chief executive Isabel dos Santos, the billionaire daughter of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, has told the Financial Times she plans to split the company into three units. Dos Santos…

Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), owned by Vedanta Resources, has been ordered by a London court to pay the Zambian government more than $100 million for a claim related to the copper price, a state-owned company involved in the dispute said. The claim relates to outstanding payments under a 2013 copper price participation settlement agreement between…

Mozambique’s central bank has bailed out the country’s fourth largest commercial lender in a move it said was needed to prevent the failure of its banking system. The African country has been grappling with a liquidity crunch, exacerbated by the International Monetary Fund and foreign donors cutting off support over loans that were not approved…

Federal Reserve officials, amid signs that the U.S. economy soon could shed its long period of stagnation, approved the first interest rate hike in a year Wednesday and said it foresees three more increases next year. The stock market reacted calmly, while bond yields and the dollar rose. The yield on 2-year Treasurys hit its highest level…

Almost 40 years after its independence, land reform remains at the heart of Zimbabwe’s political and economic challenges. But perhaps more than any other issue in Zimbabwe, it has historically been met with inertia from government and the international community. Governments throughout the world have found difficulty devising economically successful land tenure models that incorporate…