Category: Southern Africa
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SA sees biggest fight-back yet against state capture
Cape Town – The admission by Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas that he was offered the position of finance minster by a member of the Gupta family opens the deep wounds and fissures surrounding leadership and governance in South Africa. This is the most direct admission to date of an apparent ‘state capture’ of government…
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Zimbabwe expects IMF loan in third quarter
Zimbabwe expects a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the third quarter of this year, the first since 1999, after paying off foreign lenders by the end of June, the central bank governor said on Wednesday. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s government last week agreed to major reforms including compensation for evicted white farmers…
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Proposed restructuring of Mozambique bond ‘tantamount to default’
Mozambique’s credit rating was cut by Standard & Poor’s (S&P) and Moody’s Investors Service because a proposed restructuring of about $700m of bonds issued by a state-owned tuna-fishing firm could be tantamount to a default, the rating agencies say. S&P lowered the country’s rating by one notch to CC, 10 levels below investment grade, the…
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Rand dips over Gupta row on finance minister job
South Africa’s rand fell early on Thursday after claims that a wealthy family with close ties to President Jacob Zuma may have been behind his decision to sack the country’s respected finance minister Nhlanhla Nene in December. The opposition called for the resignation of Zuma after Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas said late on Wednesday…
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Business leaders demand Zuma response to Jonas bomb
Johannesburg – President Jacob Zuma needs to come up with a “decisive response” to the latest claims around the Gupta family, Business Leadership South Africa said on Thursday morning. “The statement by Deputy Finance Minister Jonas that he was offered the finance minister’s job by the Gupta brothers marks a grave threat to our country’s…
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Mozambique: Central Bank Holds Interest Rates Steady
Maputo — The Bank of Mozambique has opted to keep its key interest rates unchanged for at least the next month. A statement from the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee, which met in Maputo on Monday, declared that “in light of the projections for inflation in the short and medium term, which continue to reflect the…
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Rand tumbles as police challenge finance minister
South Africa’s rand plunged to its weakest in two weeks and bond yields jumped on Tuesday after police said they would exercise “constitutional powers” to push Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to answer questions about a spy unit in the revenue service. By 23:30 the rand had tumbled 2.5% to 15.924 per dollar, just shy of the…
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Zuma appeal to business bodes well for AB InBev-SAB beer merger
Of all the countries whose regulators need to approve Anheuser-Busch InBev NV’s purchase of SABMiller, only one is flirting with a potential junk-bond rating. It’s South Africa. The country’s troubles, from a gyrating currency to a flip-flopping government, may be good news for the maker of Budweiser as President Jacob Zuma tries to restore good…
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Enterprise Mauritius team in SA
MAURITIAN business representatives descended on Durban on Monday, and will be in Johannesburg later this week, to promote the country’s trade opportunities in textile manufacturing, accessories, jewellery, and agricultural products. The Enterprise Mauritius team said it was already talking to big chains, such as Mr Price, Ackermans and Reebok about manufacturing in the Indian Ocean…
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Angola’s crude output tied up to pay for big loans
Angola has found itself with a dwindling amount of crude to sell as more of its oil flows to China for debt repayment, leaving little revenue for anything from oil-sector development to healthcare in one of Africa’s largest oil-exporting nations. Following a trend also seen in Iraq, Kazakhstan, Russia and Venezuela, Angola has tied up…