Africa Business News

According to a U.S. government notice posted on Tuesday, Goods made in Hong Kong for export to the United States will need to be labelled as made in China after Sept. 25.
The move follows China’s imposition of a national security law on Hong Kong and a U.S. decision to end the former British colony’s special status under U.S. law, escalating bilateral tensions that were already rising over trade war tariffs and the handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
The latest step will see Hong Kong companies subject to the same trade war tariffs levied on mainland Chinese exporters, should they make products subject to these duties, said the U.S. Customs and Border Protection notice.
It said that 45 days after its publication, goods must be marked to indicate that their origin is China.

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China’s Tencent Holdings will be under pressure to address concerns on the impact of a U.S. ban on WeChat-related transactions and outline its plans to mitigate any fallout as it reports second-quarter results on Wednesday.
The ban takes effect in September and the latest salvo in a worsening U.S.-China standoff, has cast a shadow over Tencent that aims to eventually get about half its gaming revenue from overseas, versus 23% as of last year.
The United States would be key to such a plan as it is the No.2 gaming market after China.
Tencent shares plunged more than 10% within hours on Friday after news of the ban, knocking as much as $74 billion off the tech giant’s market value.

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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 Japanese giant Toshiba has sold its final stake in the personal computer maker Dynabook.
It means the firm no longer has a connection with making PCs or laptops.
Toshiba in a statement said Sharp bought 80% of Toshiba's personal computing arm in 2018 for $36m (£27m), and has now bought the remaining shares.
Toshiba's first laptop, the T1100, launched in 1985. It weighed 4kg (8.8 pounds) and worked with 3.5 inch (8.8cm) floppy disks.
It was launched at first only in Europe with an annual sales target of 10,000 units, according to the Toshiba Science Museum website.

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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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Official figures showed that Employment in the UK fell by the largest amount in over a decade between April and June.
The Office for National Statistics said the number of people in work decreased by 220,000 on the quarter.
This was the largest quarterly decrease since May to July 2009, the depths of the financial crisis.
The ONS added that the youngest workers, oldest workers and those in manual occupations were the worst hit during the pandemic.
The UK unemployment rate was estimated at 3.9%, largely unchanged on the year and the previous quarter, as millions remained on the government-backed furlough scheme.

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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 weakened early on Tuesday, remaining on the back foot after a national holiday that kept liquidity low and investors tentative ahead of local manufacturing data.
At 0700 GMT the rand was 0.07% weaker at 17.7000 per dollar, having touched 17.7800 overnight, its weakest level in close to 12 weeks.
The currency has suffered sharp losses in the past two weeks, losing around 8% of its value against the dollar as sentiment towards emerging market currencies soured with a pickup in the global economy seeming to be slower than initially hoped.
In the past session, stalled talks in the U.S. Congress over a stimulus deal kept investors cautious, leaving the rand with little forward momentum.

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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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Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth late on Monday said a Japanese ship that ran aground on a reef off Mauritius two weeks ago has now stopped leaking oil into the Indian Ocean but the island nation must still prepare for a worst case scenario.
Jugnauth said the leak from a damaged oil tank on board the stricken vessel, the MV Wakashio, had stopped but that it still had 2,000 tonnes of oil in two other, undamaged tanks.
Jugnauth said in a televised speech said the salvage team has observed several cracks in the ship hull, which means that we are facing a very serious situation.
Mauritius has declared a state of emergency and former colonial ruler France has sent aid in what environmental group Greenpeace said could be a major ecological crisis. Japan has also sent help.

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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 Sasol on Tuesday warned that it will report an annual loss after a drop in oil and chemical prices and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic hit earnings.
The world’s top producer of motor fuel from coal said its headline loss per share is expected to be between 8.72 rand ($0.4949) and 14.86 rand in the year to June 30, compared with headline earnings of 30.72 rand per share during the same period a year ago.
Sasol said lower global chemical and refining margins and a 18% decrease in the rand per barrel price of Brent crude oil had hurts earnings.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) is also expected to fall by as much as 37% to between 30 billion rand to 39.5 billion rand.

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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 stated its desire to boost investment in Nigeria’s natural gas market with its formal activation of the National Gas Transportation Network Code yesterday.
According to the Technical Adviser (TA) on Gas Business and Policy Implementation to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Timipre Sylva, Justice Derefaka, the launch of the National Gas Transportation Network Code would open a vista of opportunities for investors interested in the country’s gas market.
Sylva in February had launched work on the National Gas Transportation Network Code and review of the code’s licensing framework and development of all its ancillary agreements have however been firmed.

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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 on Monday said Nigeria is on its way to becoming a major gold-producing hub in the West African region.
According to the government, this would diversify the country’s revenue base from crude oil and create jobs for its teeming youthful population.
The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, made the declaration in Abuja while taking stock of his first year in office as minister.
He said the international roadshows they have had in the past have produced fruits. Today, we have Thor exploration in Osun State through the Segilola Gold project.
Adegbite said the government had licensed two gold refineries that would refine gold to the London Bullion Market Association standard.
The minister projected that a number of industries would spring up across the gold value chain.

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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 oil benchmark, Brent crude, rose above $45 per barrel on Monday, supported by an improvement in Chinese factory data, rising energy demand and hopes for an agreement in the United States on more coronavirus-related economic stimulus.
Brent, against which Nigeria’s crude oil is priced, climbed by $0.81 to $45.21 per barrel as of 6:40pm Nigerian time on Monday.
the latest S&P Global Platts survey found that Quota compliance by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies fell to 96 per cent in July, from 106 per cent in June, with their collective production increasing by 1.10 million barrels per day.
OPEC+ output is set to rise even further in August, with the 22-country coalition hiking its quotas by about two million bpd in anticipation of higher global oil demand.

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