Africa Business News

Sudan’s prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, replaced the finance, foreign, energy and health ministers and three other senior cabinet post-holders on Thursday as part of a sweeping reshuffle.
In a statement, the government said the transitional Prime Minister had dismissed the health minister and accepted the resignation of Badawi and the others. It named interim replacements to lead all seven ministries.
The reshuffle comes nine days after large street protests demanding faster and more comprehensive reforms from transitional authorities.

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Air Namibia says it will be allowed to temporarily operate commercial flights after a court late on Wednesday suspended the cancellation of its air licence.
The airline, which operates 10 aircraft and has close to 800 staff, requires around 8 billion Namibian dollars ($469 million) to stay afloat, but only received a tenth of that in last month’s budget. In a statement on Thursday, the airline said "The suspension of Air Namibia’s service licence has been upended by the High Court. Air Namibia shall continue to fly all domestic flights as per published schedule”.
A hearing on the matter is scheduled for August 3.

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Zambia's ministry of mines says the nation’s copper production increased to 342,734 tonnes in the first five months of this year, from 330,024 tonnes in the same period of 2019.
Copper production was projected to continue rising in the third and fourth quarters of 2020 in line with rising prices driven by factors including growing production of electric vehicles that rely on copper.

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A U.N report on wildlife crime says illegal global trade in ivory has shrunk while the trafficking of pangolins has soared. The report, released on Friday, was based on four years' data.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in its World Wildlife Crime Report, said national bans on selling ivory, particularly China’s in 2017, appear to have helped to curb ivory trafficking after it peaked around 2011-2013. The UNODC however said the trafficking of pangolins, during the same period, has surged.
The UNODC estimates the annual income generated by ivory trafficking between 2016 and 2018 at $400 million. It said seizures of pangolin scales, mainly sourced in Africa, increased tenfold between 2014 and 2018. In that time, 185 tons of scales were seized, for which roughly 370,000 animals would have been killed. 
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Botswana has started rationing fuel after an announcement on Thursday by President Mokgweetsi. The president said the move was part of efforts to ease a crippling shortage that has seen some consumers rush to stock up.
In a televised address, President Mokgweetsi said sales will be limited to the value of 250 pula worth of fuel, though the limit would not apply to front-line workers and public transport operators. He said the country has started importing fuel through Nambibia and Mozambique to complement supplies from South Africa.
Long queues have formed in recent weeks at fuel stations in Botswana’s capital, Gaborone, as some ran dry. The shortages have disrupted businesses and threaten to exacerbate the woes of an economy already expected to shrink 13% this year.


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National medical groups in Ghana have warned that the coronavirus epidemic risks overwhelming the country’s health sector if the government does not take urgent action such as guaranteeing health workers have sufficient protective gear. The warning was issued by the national doctors, nurses and pharmacists associations and the health service workers union after an emergency meeting. In a joint statement, the four associations said as of the end of June, 779 health workers had contracted COVID-19 and many more were unable to work as they waited for test results in isolation, jeopardising care for the growing number of patients requiring hospital care.

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The International Energy Agency has increased its 2020 oil demand forecast on Friday. The agency however warned that the spread of COVID-19 posed a risk to the outlook.
In its monthly report, the Paris-based IEA raised its forecast to 92.1 million barrels per day, this is up 400,000 barrels per day from its outlook last month. The agency cited a smaller-than-expected second-quarter decline for reviewing its forecast.

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The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has appealed to the Central Bank of Nigeria to exempt outstanding credit commitments to foreign suppliers of raw materials from the unified exchange rate.
MAN President, Mansur Ahmed, on Thursday, urged the CBN to consider unpaid credit from the second quarter of 2019 till date, which had been agreed with suppliers at 345 naira per dollar.
According to him, this will allow banks redeem their obligations to foreign suppliers on behalf of manufacturers at between 330 naira and 360 naira per dollar.

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Nigeria's Former Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has expressed optimism about becoming the Director-General of the World Trade Organization.
Okonjo-Iweala, in a video on her Twitter handle, described the WTO as an organization that has become more important than ever.
According to her, with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world needs to come together using trade to build a better society.
She will be competing for the post alongside five other candidates which include South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee; Kenya’s former foreign minister Amina Mohamed; Mexico’s former WTO deputy director-general Jesus Seade Kuri; Egyptian former diplomat Hamid Mamdouh; and former Moldovan foreign minister Tudor Ulianovsch.

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The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, says the Federal Government had reached a conclusion that it could no longer bear the burden of petrol subsidy.
In an Instagram post, Sylva said the Federal Government has concluded that it was unrealistic to continue with the burden of subsidising PMS to the tune of trillions of naira every year, more so because the subsidy is benefiting - in large part - the rich, rather than the poor and ordinary Nigerians.
This means market forces will henceforth determine the prices at the pump and the federal government will continue to play its traditional role of regulation to ensure the commodity is not priced arbitrarily by private sector suppliers.

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