Category: INTERNATIONAL
-
AfDB refutes World Bank President’s comments on Africa’s debt profile
In several news reports, World Bank President David Malpass was recently quoted as saying some Multilateral Development Banks, including the African Development Bank, have a tendency to lend too quickly and in the process, add to the continent’s debt problems. According to AfDB, the statement made Mr. Malpass is inaccurate and not fact-based. “It impugns…
-
AngloGold Ashanti exits SA, sells mines for US$297 million
AngloGold Ashanti is selling its Mponeng mine and Mine Waste Solutions tailings recycling business to Harmony Gold for $300m (about R4.4bn), marking the end of its exposure to SA mining. Harmony will pay $200m in cash and $260/oz of gold from Mponeng and other underground assets included in the transaction based on production above 250,000oz/year.…
-
Credit Suisse boss Tidjane Thiam quits after spying scandal
Credit Suisse chief executive Tidjane Thiam has resigned amid a power struggle which followed a spying scandal at the bank. He is stepping down after five years at the Swiss bank just months after it emerged that two former employees had been placed under surveillance. Mr Thiam said he did not know the spying was…
-
China halves tariffs on more than 1,700 US goods
China plans to halve tariffs on 1,717 goods it imports from the US as the country faces the fresh challenge of the coronavirus. Chinese officials said tariffs on some goods would be cut from to 5% from 10%, and on others from 5% to 2.5%. The two countries have been stuck in a long-running trade…
-
121 candidates apply for the Secretary-General of AfCFTA post
One hundred and twenty-five candidates, all African citizens, applied for the Secretary-General position of the African Continental Free Trade Area which is located in Accra, a source close to the African Union Commission has said. Two prominent Ghanaians, including a former Minister of State under the previous administration, made it to the shortlist of 30…
-
Trump signs US Mexico Canada Trade Agreement
US President Donald Trump has formally signed a new trade pact with Mexico and Canada, bringing his campaign promise to replace the three countries’ existing deal closer to fruition. The US Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) is set to replace the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta). Mr. Trump has described Nafta as America’s “worst”…
-
Coronavirus fears hit global shares and oil price
Worries over the continued spread of the coronavirus have hit financial markets, with stocks from Wall Street to Tokyo declining. The three main US indexes were down more than 1% at mid-day, while London’s FTSE 100 index ended almost 2.3% lower. Firms with significant sales in China were among the hardest hit. The coronavirus has…
-
Coronavirus: Companies tell workers ‘stay at home’
Companies in China have advised staff to work from home in an attempt to slow the spread of the deadly coronavirus. Businesses are also offering workers longer holidays, as well as telling employees returning from the most affected areas to stay away from work. It comes after the Chinese government extended the Lunar New Year…
-
Honda, Toyota recall 5.3 Million cars over airbag risks
More than 5 million vehicles in the U.S. will be recalled over separate issues that could prevent frontal air bags from deploying normally in a crash. Honda Motor Co. said it will recall 2.4 million older vehicles over defective air bags that the now-bankrupt supplier Takata Corp. told U.S. regulators in December could put drivers…
-
Growth in sub-Saharan Africa to rise to 2.9 percent — World Bank
Growth in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to rise to 2.9 percent in 2020, the World Bank said Tuesday in its January 2020 Global Economic Prospect report. The bank cited improved investor confidence in some large economies, easing of energy hurdles, a rise in oil production, which led to a recovery in oil exporters, as indicators.…