Africa Business News

Gold dropped more than 2% to break below the key $1,900 per ounce level on Wednesday as a resurgent dollar forced bullion investors to reassess their positions after a record-breaking price rally.
Spot gold fell as much as 2.5% to a near three-week low of $1,863.67, resuming its free fall after a brief hiatus in early trade. It was down 1.6% to $1,881.55 by 0540 GMT, extending losses after a 6% plunge on Tuesday.
U.S. gold futures slid 2.8% to $1,892.
Prices of silver tumbled 3.3% to $23.96 per ounce after slumping 15% in the previous session.
IG Markets analyst Kyle Rodda said It looks like some of the euphoria is coming out of the gold market with a test of support around $1,800 now looking possible

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The South African rand strengthened and traded around 17.4 against the dollar on Wednesday, amid some optimism over a potential coronavirus vaccine after news that two more Covid-19 vaccine trials will take place in South Africa soon, with Johnson & Johnson and Novavax joining the Oxford vaccine trials which started in June. However, market sentiment was tempered by poor domestic data raising concerns over the country's recovery while markets await news about negotiations on a new US rescue package.

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· 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 a parliamentary report published on Wednesday, the country’s Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) said Ghana expects cocoa output of around 900,000 tonnes in the 2020/2021 season, up 5.8% from the forecast for 2019/2020.
Ghana is the world’s second-biggest cocoa producer. Its growing season runs from October to September.
The report also said the COCOBOD planned to raise $1.3 billion in syndicated loans to fund cocoa purchases during 2020/21 from a consortium of banks and financial institutions, with the government as guarantor.
The loan will carry annual interest of one-month Libor plus 1.75%, a commitment fee of 0.62% per year and an upfront flat fee of 1.25%.

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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 FMDQ Holdings Plc has listed the United Capital Plc Series 1 N10.00bn Fixed Rate Bond under its N30.00bn Bond Programme in its platform.
The Exchange also admitted LAPO MFB SPV Plc Series 2 N6.20bn Fixed Rate Bond under its N20.00bn Bond Issuance Programme.
FMDQ said in a statement that the Nigerian debt capital market had continued to demonstrate buoyancy and resilience in the face of the pandemic.
It said this had authenticated its role and increased capacity to support domestic economic growth by providing alternative capital sources as well as the much-needed liquidity to boost working capital for corporates and governments.

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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 said the Federal Government will auction N150bn worth of bonds by subscription on August 19.
A circular by the DMO on Tuesday showed the breakdown of the figure to include a N25bn 10-year reopening bond that would mature in January 2026 and be offered at 12.5 per cent; and a N40bn 15-year reopening bond that would mature in March 2035 and be offered at 12.5 per cent.
It also showed a N45bn 25-year reopening bond that would mature in July 2045 and be offered at 9.8 per cent; and the longest tenor of a N40bn 30-year reopening bond to be offered at 12.98.
According to the DMO, the settlement date for the bonds is August 21, 2020.
The Federal Government’s bonds worth N130bn, which were auctioned in July, were oversubscribed by N340.13bn.

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· 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 Federal Government on Tuesday said the supply of electricity remains a major challenge to the development of Information and Communications Technology as over 32,800 generators are used to power ICT infrastructure in Nigeria despite grid electricity.
Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, said this in Abuja at the inauguration of 11 ICT projects executed by agencies under his ministry in various states.
Pantami, who was responding to concerns raised by the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, on the need to deepen Nigeria’s ICT to enhance security and boost the economy, explained that two major challenges confronting the sector were right-of-way issues and power constraints.
The communications minister pleaded with the Minister of State for Power, Goddy Jedy-Agba, who was also at the event, to intervene by improving power supply in Nigeria.
Pantami stated that the government was perfecting measures to deploy security agents to protect ICT infrastructure nationwide.

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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 stated that its investigation of the National Social Investment Programmes of the Federal Government is not about the Vice-President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo.
Chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts, Wole Oke, stated this on Tuesday in Abuja made this known when the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Olusola Idowu, appeared before the panel.
The committee had last week summoned the immediate past Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun; the incumbent Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed; and Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, to account for a total sum of N1.7tn appropriated for the implementation of the NSIP from 2016 to September 2019.

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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 federal government has said it will not abandon its plan to concession up to 178 identified flare gas fields through its Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Program (NGFCP) which it initiated in 2018.
The Technical Adviser (TA) on Gas Business and Policy Implementation to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Timipre Sylva, Justice Derefaka, disclosed this during an Interview.
Derefaka, who is also the Program Manager for the NGFCP, said the country has been working on the modalities so far, adding that the process of concluding the first phase of the NGFCP was ongoing with the bid rounds.
According to the government, the NGFCP was designed as its strategy to eliminate gas flares from oil fields in the country. It noted that with potentially enormous multiplier and development outcomes for Nigeria, the NGFCP will support technically and commercially sustainable gas utilisation projects developed by competent third-party investors.

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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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Facebook on Monday said it has created a new unit devoted to financial services to harmonize payment systems on its platform.
The new group, called Facebook Financial, will be headed by e-commerce veteran David Marcus, who was a president at PayPal before joining the leading social network six years ago.
Marcus is one of the creators of Facebook’s digital money network Libra, and heads the team building a Novi digital wallet tailored for the currency.
Facebook Financial will handle management and strategy for all payments and money services across the Silicon Valley company’s platform.

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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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Some of America's biggest tech firms on Monday backed a challenge to President Donald Trump's restrictions on foreign workers.
Amazon, Apple and Facebook are among the companies arguing that the temporary visa bans will damage US firms.
Mr Trump imposed restrictions on some foreign workers to safeguard jobs for Americans during the virus pandemic.
Many of those affected by the measures are technology workers from India.
Microsoft, Netflix, Twitter and other big technology companies also backed the lawsuit, which was filed last month by major US business associations.

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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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