Africa Business News

Railway season ticket holders and commuters will see a 1.6% rise in fares from January in spite of a slump in passenger demand.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said about half of rail fares are pegged to July's Retail Price Index, which defied economists' forecasts and rose from 1.1% a month ago.
Passenger groups said an overhaul of the fares system was needed. UK consumer price inflation also rose, to 1% in July from 0.6% in June.
Robert Nisbet, of the Rail Delivery Group, which represents the train operating companies, told the BBC that the government is ultimately in charge of the price increases and that the industry would like broader reform of fares to make flexible travel easier.
The rail rise compares to 2.8% last year and is the lowest since 2015, which means a smaller price increase for travellers than last year.
According to the figures from the government's Office of Rail and Road, passenger numbers covering January to March fell 11.4% compared to the prior year.

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The US Postal Service has suspended new policies that were decried as an attempt to sabotage the 2020 election.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said he would reverse operational changes that critics say would hamper postal voting.
The U-turn comes as Mr DeJoy is due to testify to Congress and at least 20 states were preparing to sue.
There is a fierce debate over postal funding in 2020, as record numbers of Americans are expected to vote by mail due to the pandemic.
The US Postal Service (USPS) under Mr DeJoy had begun what it said were cost-cutting measures in recent months.

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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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US President Donald Trump has said tech giant Oracle would be a great company to take over TikTok's US operations.
It comes after Oracle was reported as a possible buyer of the Chinese social media app's business in North America, Australia and New Zealand.
Last week Mr Trump ordered TikTok's owner ByteDance to sell its US business within 90 days or face being shut down
Oracle's chairman Larry Ellison is a supporter of Mr. Trump and held a fundraising event for him in February.
Mr Trump's comments came after reports that Oracle was working on an offer for some TikTok assets with a group of ByteDance's investors.
According to those reports, Oracle was seriously considering buying TikTok's businesses in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand with investment firms, including General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital.

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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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South African power utility Eskom on Tuesday said it will implement planned blackouts on both Tuesday and Wednesday after breakdowns at a number of power stations overnight.
The company in a statement posted on Twitter that the power cuts, known locally as loadshedding, will last from 1400 GMT to 2000 GMT on Tuesday, and start again between 0700 GMT and 2000 GMT on Wednesday.

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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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Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines on Tuesday announced a deal with China Nonferrous Metal Mining (Group) Co. Ltd (CNMC) under which the companies would jointly look for African mining projects to explore, develop or acquire.
Ivanhoe’s co-chairmen Robert Friedland and Yufeng Sun said the strategic partnership would also see the companies, both active in Democratic Republic of Congo, exploring production, smelting, and logistics opportunities.
Friedland hinted at possible mergers arising from the agreement with CNMC, saying the partnership would begin by examining the synergies between the operations currently owned by our two companies.
CNMC Chairman Wang Tongzhou said he strongly believe that cooperation is the best way to achieving the goals of both companies.

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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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South Africa’s rand edged higher in early trade on Wednesday, extending the previous session’s gains, on dollar weakness and sustained optimism over a further easing of the country’s coronavirus lockdown.
The rand is expected to track global cues, including the release of U.S. Federal Reserve minutes.
At 0647 GMT, the rand traded at 17.2850 versus the dollar, more than 0.2% stronger than its previous close.
Government bonds were marginally firmer, as the yield on the 2030 bond dipped 0.5 basis point to 9.285%.
Local financial markets shrugged off the resumption of planned power cuts by ailing state electricity utility Eskom on Tuesday. Further outages are due on Wednesday after breakdowns at the utility’s creaking coal-fired power station fleet.

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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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Saudi state news agency SPA on Wednesday reported that Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari discussed efforts taken to stabilise and rebalance global oil markets in a telephone call.
The News Agency said the two leaders stressed the importance of compliance, by all participants, to the OPEC+ agreement and the agreed upon compensation mechanism.
A ministerial panel of key OPEC+ oil producers, headed by Saudi Arabia, is holding a virtual meeting later on Wednesday to review the oil market and the group’s compliance with the current oil supply cut pact.

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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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Ghana’s Central Bank along with individual financial institutions have been charged to channel more resources into the training of staff to help reduce employee involvement in fraud cases in the banking sector.
The latest banking industry fraud report from the Bank of Ghana revealed an alarming rate of involvement of employees of banks in perpetrating fraud in the sector.
The Bank in 2019 reported that out of the total number of 2,295 fraud cases reported suppression of cash and deposits accounted for the largest portion 77 percent, with staff of the financial institutions being the lead perpetrators of that type of fraud.
The Business Operations Manager at e-Crime Bureau, Philip Danquah Debrah while commenting on the growing involvement of both contract and permanent staff in bank fraud, explained that effective staff training and orientation of staff will go a long way in curbing such crimes.


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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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According to the Head of Research at Databank, Alex Boahen, the poor performance of financial stocks on the Ghana Stock Exchange for this year has been generally attributed to a combination of poor public sentiments, the fallouts from the banking sector reforms as well as the impact of COVID-19.
This was made known by the Head of Research at Databank, Alex Boahen.
The GSE Financial Stocks Index (GSE-FSI) which reflects the average performance of shares of listed financial companies, witnessed a significant drop of about 15 percent from January to August 17, 2020.
Mr. Alex Boahen while commenting on the performance of listed financial companies, said the low share prices presents an opportunity for investors.
He however expressed optimism about the performance of the financial stocks after this years’ general elections.

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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 House of Representatives has summoned the management of DSTV over increment of the cable television’s subscription tariffs on June 1.
The House Ad Hoc Committee Investigating the Non-Implementation of Pay As You Go Tariff by Satellite Broadcast Service Providers issued the summons, asking DSTV, owned by South Africa-based Multichoice, to appear before it next Tuesday.
The committee gave StarTimes two weeks to review its subscription fees to reflect the current new 7.5 per cent Value Added Tax at its investigative hearing in Abuja on Tuesday.
Chairman of the committee, Mr Uyime Idem, said the directive was to allow Startimes to have a tariff that reflect the current economic realities, including the VAT and exchange rate.
The lawmakers decried that the tariff hike came at a time when Nigerians were suffering serious economic hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

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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

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/newscast-africa/support