Africa Business News

The House of Representatives on Thursday was against the Central Bank of Nigeria as it failed to account for the $11bn withdrawn from the Excess Crude Account for the implementation of the failed National Integrated Power Projects.
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Godwin Emefiele, failed to give full details on the withdrawals as earlier alleged by the Accountant-General of the Federation.
The money was withdrawn from the ECA between 2005 and 2007 to finance the NIPPs.
Adebisi Shonubi, a Deputy Governor of the CBN who represented Emefiele at an investigative hearing organised by the House Ad Hoc Committee on Power Sector Reforms, only accounted for the N1.51tn as Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility approved and disbursed to Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company after the privatisation exercise.
Shonubi stated that the apex bank, in line with the Federal Executive Council’s approval, granted a total sum of N213bn, out of which N189.1bn had been released so far, while N60.8bn had been repaid by the operators who accessed the fund through NBET.

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Nigerian Government said there is a likelihood of Nigeria sliding into another recession in the Third Quarter of 2020, making it the second time within four years.
The government said the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in crash of global oil prices among other economic factors had adversely affected the nation’s economy, with the Gross Domestic Product growth for Q2 most likely to be negative.
The Minister of State for Finance, Budget and National Planning, Clement Agba, said this in Abuja on Thursday at the beginning of a five-day interactive session on the 2021-2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper.
The event was organised by the House of Representatives’ Joint Committee on Finance; Appropriation; National Planning and Economic Development; and Aids, Loans and Debt Management.
The minister said the Nigerian economy faced serious challenges in the first half of 2020 with the microeconomic environment significantly disrupted by the 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

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The National Bureau of Statistics in the country’s first unemployment data published since 2018 on Friday said more than a quarter of Nigeria’s workers were not in the labour force in the second quarter of this year.
The unemployment rate stood at 27.1% in the second quarter.
It stood at 23.1% in the previous report, which dates back to the third quarter of 2018.
Second-quarter unemployment among young people aged 15-34 was the highest at 34.9%.
Nigeria has been hard-hit by the fallout from the new coronavirus pandemic, grappling not only with its own outbreak, but also from a plunge in oil prices after lockdowns worldwide.

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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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Hong Kong shares closed flat on Thursday as caution prevailed ahead of a crucial U.S.-China meeting this weekend to discuss the progress of the bilateral trade deal.
Under the Phase 1 trade deal signed in January, China had pledged to boost purchases of U.S. goods by some $200 billion over 2017 levels. This included agricultural and manufactured products, energy and services.
At the close of trade, the Hang Seng index was down at 13.35 points or 0.05% at 25,230.67. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index rose 0.28% to 10,244.6. The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares rose 0.6%, while the IT sector dipped 0.63%, the financial sector ended 0.56% lower and the property sector edged up 0.04%.
The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were Tencent Holdings Ltd, which was down 2.02%, China Pacific Insurance Group Co Ltd, which fell 1.42% and Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd, down by 1.41%.
China’s main Shanghai Composite index closed up 0.04% at 3,320.73 points, while the blue-chip CSI300 index ended down 0.26%.

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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 International Energy Agency has cut its 2020 oil demand forecast on Thursday, warning that reduced air travel due to the coronavirus pandemic would lower global oil demand this year by 8.1 million barrels per day.
The Paris-based IEA slashed its 2020 outlook by 140,000 bpd to 91.9 million bpd, its first downgrade in several months.
The agency said that while supply exceeded demand in June, uncertainty over future demand along with increased output by top producers means re-balancing oil markets will be “delicate”.
Data cited by the IEA indicated that mobility in many regions had reached a plateau but was increasing in Europe, though a rise in COVID-19 cases caused the agency to cut demand estimates for gasoline.

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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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Crude oil prices fell on Thursday after OPEC said it expected demand to drop more than expected, although data showing a decline in U.S. inventories lent support.
Brent crude was down 26 cents or 0.6% at $45.17 a barrel after a gain of around 2% in the previous session. West Texas Intermediate also lost 0.6%, a 25 cent decline to $42.42 a barrel which followed a climb of 2.6% on Wednesday.
Data from the US Energy Information Administration showed crude inventories fell by 4.5 million barrels. U.S. fuel demand rose to 19.37 million barrels per day last week, the highest since March while crude output dropped to 10.7 million barrels per day from 11 million bpd.
U.S. crude production is forecast to slide by 990,000 bpd this year to 11.26 million barrels per day, steeper than the 600,000 bpd decline it forecast last month.

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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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European stocks fell from three-week highs on Thursday, amid concerns about a tariff dispute between the US and Europe. At the same time, investors awaited news about a US coronavirus relief package after President Trump accused congressional Democrats of not wanting to negotiate.

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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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India has become the country with the fourth highest number of deaths linked to Covid-19 in the world. Its fatalities jumped by 942 on Thursday, taking its total to 47,033.
According to data collated by Johns Hopkins University, the rise in deaths pushed India’s toll past that of the UK, which had recorded 46,791 fatalities to date.
India also recorded its biggest single-day spike in cases with 66,999 new infections on Thursday, pushing the total to nearly 2.4 million.
Experts say the virus has been spreading rapidly within communities across India. Because the country is densely populated, tracing the chain of transmission has been difficult.

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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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UK travel firm, Tui, has seen a sharp jump in bookings for 2021 as customers make early plans for next year.
The UK's largest tour operator said bookings for next summer were up by a "very promising" 145%.
News of a bounce-back came as Tui posted a €1.1bn loss for the three months to June as lockdown brought the travel industry to a halt.
Tui's travel operations restarted in Europe, Mexico, the Caribbean and Egypt in mid-May.
Tui also said it had agreed compensation with aircraft maker Boeing over the prolonged grounding of 737 Max planes. The travel firm is to receive "staggered" compensation over the next two years, credits against future orders and a deferral of 61 aircraft deliveries. The exact amount of compensation has not been disclosed.

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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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Ericsson has identified key measures for benchmarking 5G technology.
The Chief Technical Officer, Ericsson Middle East and Africa, Mr. Zoran Lazarevic, said regulators across the Gulf countries have done an excellent job in supporting Communication Service Providers with an efficient spectrum allocations process for 5G deployments.
According to him, as a result of regulators’ work on 5G spectrum allocations, some of the first 5G deployments globally were executed by CSPs in the Gulf countries and these CSPs are now global leaders in 5G deployments.

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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