Africa Business News

A statement from the finance ministry says Sudan fully liberalized gasoline and diesel prices on Tuesday and previous prices would be cancelled and gave new prices that it said were in line with import costs.Sudan has been implementing aggressive IMF-monitored reforms in the hopes of turning around its economy and attracting debt relief and renewed financing.The reforms have been painful and annual inflation climbed to 363% in April. Sudanese officials and the IMF have said the reforms, which included a sharp currency devaluation, would cause prices to rise and add to pressure on citizens.The finance ministry says the price of gasoline will rise from 150 Sudanese pounds per litre to 290 pounds, while the price of diesel will rise to 285 pounds per litre from 125 pounds.

South Sudan’s Education Minister Awut Deng Acuil has threatened to close schools that violate the Covid-19 public health protocols.The warning comes after some schools were inspected and found not to have hand washing facilities and learners were not wearing masks.Ms Acuil cited the rising coronavirus cases in neighbouring countries as the reason why school administrators need to enforce all regulations.She recommended that classes be split into small sizes to enable learners to observe social distancing.Ms Acuil also appealed to parents to ensure the guidelines are being followed in schools.

South African Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize has been placed on special leave by President Cyril Ramaphosa pending a corruption probe.Dr Mkhize is being asked to address allegations that two of his close aides embezzled more than $6m from public coronavirus funds, using a front company that was awarded a contract to run the health ministry's Covid communications.The minister denies any wrongdoing and is seeking to state his case to the governing African National Congress.There has been public outrage that thousands of Covid-linked contracts have been awarded to politically connected companies.

The Federal Government says it is targeting over nine million pupils in public schools across Nigeria in the second phase of its school feeding programme.Under the scheme, the pupils will receive free daily meals courtesy of the Federal Government.The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouk, disclosed that one million Nigerians will also receive N5,000 for six months under the Rapid Response Register, an intervention by the Federal Government targeted at urban informal workers impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.The Minister says 550,000 applicants qualified for the final selection of the first stream of Batch C and that another 500,000 will subsequently be engaged.

A report by Moody’s Investors Service says that Nigeria holds the key to the growth of the telecom’s sector in Sub Saharan Africa.Moody’s tipped Nigeria to lead the sector’s growth in Africa because of its large population and relatively low internet and mobile phone penetrations compared to its population.It also estimated that mobile subscribers in SSA would increase by 150 million over the next five years, with most of the growth coming from markets with large populations and low penetration rates.The report stated that African telecoms would benefit from strong growth but are faced with increasing sovereign risks.It added that growth would be highest in the SSA countries with large populations and relatively low mobile penetration rates such as Nigeria, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Kenya.

President Muhammadu Buhari has written to the House of Representatives, urging it to confirm the appointment of Major General Farouk Yahaya as the Chief of Army Staff.Buhari also sent an executive bill to the House seeking to increase the retirement age of teachers from 60 to 65 years.The president says Yahaya’s appointment was in compliance with the provisions of Section 18 subsection 1 of the Armed Forces Act 2004.The speaker referred the request for confirmation to the Committees on Defence and Army.

The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mallam Mele Kyari, called on International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in Nigeria to be more accountable to Nigerians and not just to their shareholders and companies.Kyari says at the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) in Abuja that although oil companies plying their trade in the country were responsible to their home companies, they must also strive to incorporate the interest of the government and its people.He added that shareholders expect companies to deliver value, which is reflected in the dividends that they are able to deliver and beyond that, they expect that chief executives should act responsibly.He says acting responsibly means recognising that there are citizens of that country that have different expectations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described his country’s bilateral relationship with a superpower as one of nuptial bliss.Netanyahu says he wasn’t talking about Washington and arguably one of the most pro-Israeli US administrations in history. He was speaking about China.He says the value of trade between the two countries grew from roughly $1bn at the turn of the century, to a little over $11.2bn in 2019. He says China currently stands as Israel’s second-largest trading partner behind the US.

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog Iran has failed to answer questions about the discovery of uranium particles at former undeclared sites in the country, calling on Tehran to provide information without further delay.Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has been pushing Iran for answers on three sites dating back many years where inspections had revealed traces of uranium of man-made origin, suggesting they were once connected to Iran’s nuclear programme.Grossi is concerned that nuclear material has been present at the three undeclared locations in Iran and that the current locations of this nuclear material are not known by the agency.

Haiti has postponed a constitutional referendum scheduled for June 27 due to the coronavirus pandemic without giving a new date for the vote, further deepening the country’s political crisis.President Jovenel Moise has been ruling Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, by decree after legislative elections due in 2018 were delayed following disputes on the limits of his term.In addition to presidential, legislative and local elections in September, Moise had wanted to submit a new draft of the island nation’s constitution to a popular vote on June 27.He says he would go ahead despite international criticism that the process is not inclusive, participatory or transparent enough in a country plagued by political insecurity and criminal gangs.