Africa Business News

South Korean shares rebounded on Thursday, tracking a tech-led rally in Wall Street, while the government’s new stimulus package added to investor sentiment.
The benchmark KOSPI closed up 20.67 points, or 0.87%, at 2,396.48. Market heavyweight Samsung Electronics jumped as much as 2.74% to lead the gains.
Shares of Kakao Games Corp surged 30% on debut, after it debuted on the junior KOSDAQ at 48,000 won, double the IPO price, valuing the company at 3.5 trillion won.
Foreigners were net buyers of 380.4 billion won ($321.05 million) worth of shares on the main board.
On the foreign exchange market, the South Korean won ended trading at 1,184.9 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.35% higher than its previous close at 1,189.1.
In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,184.4 per dollar, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,184.9.
In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.01 points to 111.87.
The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 0.5 basis points to 0.912%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 0.3 basis points to 1.515%.

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The International Air Transport Association, IATA, says shipping a coronavirus vaccine around the world will be the "largest transport challenge ever". According to IATA, the equivalent of 8,000 Boeing 747s will be needed to complete the task.
There is no Covid-19 vaccine yet, but IATA is already working with airlines, airports, global health bodies and drug firms on a global airlift plan. The distribution programme assumes only one dose per person is needed.

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This episode is sponsored by
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Egypt's annual urban consumer price inflation has decreased to 3.4 percent in August. This is according to figures released on Thursday by the nation's statistics agency, CAPMAS. The figures showed a decline from 4.2 percent recorded in July.

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The National Bureau of Statistics, in its report released on Wednesday stated that the total value of transactions through electronic payment channels recorded in the second quarter of 2020 stood at N263.78 trillion with a transaction volume of 2,160,436,659.
The report was titled Selected Banking Sector Data: Sectorial Breakdown of Credit, e-Payment Channels and Staff Strength (Q2 2020)’.
The report stated that online transfer transactions dominated electronic payments with N72.25 trillion with 1,317,621,686 in volume of transactions.
The value of cheque transactions stood at N2.29 trillion while NEFT transfers accounted for N59.55 trillion.
Transactions via Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) amounted to N37.44 trillion while Point of Sale (PoS) transactions stood at N999.91 billion.
The NBS said mobile app transfers amounted to N6.92 trillion, while USSD transfers totaled N1.04 trillion.

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This episode is sponsored by
· Afrolit Podcast: Hosted by Ekua PM, Afrolit shares the stories of multi-faceted Africans one episode at a time. https://open.spotify.com/show/2nJxiiYRyfMQlDEXXpzlZS?si=mmgODX3NQ-yfQvR0JRH-WA

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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed that Foreign exchange (forex) inflows into the Nigerian economy fell by 43.2 per cent to $5.52 billion in May 2020.
The CBN disclosed this in its economic report for May 2020 obtained yesterday.
The decline in inflow, relative to the level in April 2020, was attributed to the lower receipts from oil sources, which fell sharply by 55.2 per cent because of the continued fragility in global crude oil demand.
The report stated that inflows through autonomous sources, particularly invisible purchases, declined by seven per cent to $3.51 billion, relative to the preceding month, while there was a 66.2 per cent fall in inflow through the CBN, which stood at $2.01 billion in May 2020.

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This episode is sponsored by
· Afrolit Podcast: Hosted by Ekua PM, Afrolit shares the stories of multi-faceted Africans one episode at a time. https://open.spotify.com/show/2nJxiiYRyfMQlDEXXpzlZS?si=mmgODX3NQ-yfQvR0JRH-WA

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The Group Marketing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari, has dismissed the criticism that followed the recent fuel price increase.
He said the outburst is very understandable but I also believe very strongly that it is misplaced because Nigerians are not aware of the opportunities lost.
Kyari said the issue of subsidy has been a big issue in the country for many years but the government can no longer afford it because of the economic issues facing the country.
He added that every corruption that you are aware of in the downstream industry is one way or the other connected to fuel subsidy.

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The Federal Government asked a Milan court on Wednesday to order Eni and Royal Dutch Shell to pay $1.09bn as an immediate advance payment for damages it is claiming in one of the oil industry’s biggest-ever corruption trials.
Shell and Eni jointly acquired the rights to Oil Prospecting Licence 245, a Nigerian offshore oil block, for about $1.3bn in 2011 from Malabu Oil and Gas, a company owned by a former Nigerian Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dan Etete.
Reuters reported that at a hearing into alleged corruption linked to the oil majors’ acquisition of the OPL 245, Lucio Lucia, lawyer for the Nigerian government, called for a guilty verdict and an advance payment, ahead of any broader damages package set by a court at a later date.
The report stated that Lucia did not specify how much Nigeria was seeking in damages overall but said the disputed deal had deprived Abuja of profit oil adding these are massive amounts.

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This episode is sponsored by
· Afrolit Podcast: Hosted by Ekua PM, Afrolit shares the stories of multi-faceted Africans one episode at a time. https://open.spotify.com/show/2nJxiiYRyfMQlDEXXpzlZS?si=mmgODX3NQ-yfQvR0JRH-WA

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The Debt Management Office on Wednesday announced that Nigeria’s public debt hit a total of N31.01tn at the end of June.
As of the end of June 2015, one month after the present regime came into power, the country’s debt profile stood at N12.12tn.
This means that within a period of five years, the nation’s debt profile rose by N18.89tn.
It also means that the country’s debt profile has risen by 155.86 per cent within the five-year period.
Nigeria’s total public debt stock includes the debt stock of the Federal Government, the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

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This episode is sponsored by
· Afrolit Podcast: Hosted by Ekua PM, Afrolit shares the stories of multi-faceted Africans one episode at a time. https://open.spotify.com/show/2nJxiiYRyfMQlDEXXpzlZS?si=mmgODX3NQ-yfQvR0JRH-WA

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President Muhammadu Buhari has inaugurated the National Steering Committee to oversee Nigeria’s Agenda 2050.
The committee is to ensure that the Medium-Term National Development Plan (MTNDP) succeeds the Vision 20:2020 and the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) 2017 – 2020.
The team will be chaired by Mr Atedo Peterside and the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed.
The task before the group is to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty within the next 10 years.
President Buhari said it would oversee governance structure comprising the Central Working Group and 26 Technical Working Groups for the important national assignment.

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This episode is sponsored by
· Afrolit Podcast: Hosted by Ekua PM, Afrolit shares the stories of multi-faceted Africans one episode at a time. https://open.spotify.com/show/2nJxiiYRyfMQlDEXXpzlZS?si=mmgODX3NQ-yfQvR0JRH-WA

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The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has confirmed 176 new cases of coronavirus in the country. This brings the total number of COVID-19 infections recorded in the country so far to 55,632.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in a tweet on its official handle, showed that The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has topped the list of daily COVID-19 fresh cases with 40 new infections, Lagos had thirty- four cases while Plateau had twenty- six cases.
A total of 43,610 persons have recovered from the virus while the death toll now stands at 1,070.

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This episode is sponsored by
· Afrolit Podcast: Hosted by Ekua PM, Afrolit shares the stories of multi-faceted Africans one episode at a time. https://open.spotify.com/show/2nJxiiYRyfMQlDEXXpzlZS?si=mmgODX3NQ-yfQvR0JRH-WA

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