Category: Southern Africa
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Low internet penetration in Africa due to lack of terrestrial fibre
Experts at the Africa Session of the International Telecoms Week conference in Chicago have described terrestrial fibre constraints as the mother of all bottlenecks hindering increased Internet penetration on the continent. During his presentation on the theme “Enabling Content on the African Continent”, Chief Executive Officer of research firm, Xalam Analytics, Guy Zibi analyzed the…
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IMF endorses crpto currency
IMF head Christine Lagarde has dedicated a new blog post to the “potential benefits” of “crypto-assets such as Bitcoin.” The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde was buoyant about cryptocurrency in a blog post in support of the technology, published Monday, April 16. The post, which comes roughly one month after Lagarde…
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Private sector operators welcome African Continental free Trade Area Agreement
Intra-African Connect, an organization committed to promoting and enabling Intra-African Trade and investment has lauded the signing of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement. The organization’s founder Mr. Nana Yao Lee was part of a group of private sector stakeholders that were taking part in the African Union Business Forum, held on the 20th of…
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South Africa’s private-sector activity rises to 14-month high: PMI
South African private-sector economic activity expanded for the first time in seven months in February as political uncertainty eased, prompting increased business activity and higher domestic demand. The Standard Bank Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), compiled by Markit, rose to 51.4 in February from 49.0 in January, crossing the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction…
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Bank Of Baroda to exit South Africa central bank
South Africa’s Reserve Bank said on Monday, the Bank of Baroda has notified the office of the registrar of banks of its intention to exit from South Africa. “The Registrar, which is part of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), is in discussions with the Bank of Baroda to ensure its orderly withdrawal from South…
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Angola’s central bank says only commercial banks can sell forex to public
Angola’s central bank said on Monday it was the sole responsibility of commercial banks to sell foreign currency to the public and that it would sell forex only to large importers of essential goods. The southern African nation in January abandoned the kwanza’s peg to the U.S. dollar, devaluing it by about 10 percent, in…
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South Africa’s power utility Eskom would have defaulted without PIC loan
South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation (PIC), Africa’s biggest investment fund, said on Tuesday that without a 5 billion rand ($420 million) loan it advanced to cash-strapped utility Eskom, the utility would have defaulted on its existing debts with lenders. The PIC, which holds a large chunk of government bonds and stakes in leading South African…
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South Africa’s unemployment rate falls to 26.7% in Q4 2017
South Africa’s unemployment rate fell to 26.7 percent of the labour force in the fourth quarter of last year from 27.7 percent in the third quarter, the statistics office said on Tuesday. In its quarterly labour force survey, which polls households, Statistics South Africa said this amounted to 5.9 million people without jobs in the…
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Botswana’s economy is projected to expand at a faster pace
Botswana’s economy is projected to expand at a faster pace this year compared to last year as the mining sector benefits from a recovery in the global economy, Finance Minister Kenneth Matambo said on Monday. Presenting the 2018 budget to parliament, Matambo said GDP growth was projected at 5.3 percent in 2018 from an estimated…
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S.A: Aveng unit says to lay off 120 workers
A unit of South African construction firm Aveng Ltd said on Friday it would cut 120 jobs mostly due to projects coming to an end and rebuffed a union’s claim that more than 2,000 workers would be affected. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Thursday it had received a section 189 notice that…