Africa Business News

Lloyds Banking Group chief executive António Horta-Osório will step down next year after spending a decade at the helm.
Mr Horta-Osório said he had "mixed emotions" about the decision, which the bank said would see him leave the role by the end of June 2021.
Lloyds also appointed industry veteran Robin Budenberg as new chairman.
Last year, Lord Blackwell said he would retire as Lloyds chairman during 2020.
Lloyds in a statement said that the 12-month timeframe for the appointment of a replacement chief executive would allow a smooth transition.
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South African petrochemicals giant Sasol Ltd on Sunday said it has opted to give up its licence to explore for gas off the Mozambique coast, the company said on Sunday.
The firm in a statement said Sasol will return Block 16/19 in its entirety to the Government of Mozambique. To this end, a withdrawal notification has already been sent to the relevant Mozambican authorities.
Sasol was awarded the research licence in 2005. It is still exploring for gas onshore in the fields of Pande and Temane, in the northern province of Inhambane.
Sasol, the world’s top producer of motor fuel from coal, is trying to shed assets to pay off its debt pile and avoid a rights issue of up to $2 billion.
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South Africa’s rand gained early on Monday, as the dollar was dragged down by a steady rise of coronavirus infections in the United States.
At 0630 GMT, the rand was up 0.66% at 16.9425 per dollar after closing at 17.0500 on Friday.
Trading in the Asian session saw a return of risk appetite after last week’s narrow ranges, with demand growing for the rand and other emerging-market currencies.
Rising coronavirus infections in the United States have discouraged some investors from taking big positions in the currency market, but most remain focused on the growing likelihood that major economies will continue to recover.
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The state planning agency on Sunday said Morocco’s economy is expected to contract by 13.8% in the second quarter under the impact of the coronavirus lockdown.
It said the economy was expected to shrink by a further 4.6% year-on-year in the third quarter as restrictive measures are loosened.
It said the economy grew 0.1% in the first three months of this year. Both domestic and foreign demand are expected to improve in the third quarter after taking a hit in the previous three months.
The central bank forecasts economic growth at -5.2% in 2020 against +2.5% last year.
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The Chief executive of Kenya Airways in an internal memo seen by Reuters said Kenya Airways will lay off an unspecified number of workers, reduce its network and also get rid of some assets due to the coronavirus crisis.
The coronavirus crisis has hit the global aviation industry hard, with African carriers alone expected to lose $6 billion this year in revenue.
Allan Kilavuka wrote in the memo dated July 3 that their short and medium-term projections indicate that they must inevitably reduce their operations before they begin to scale up again adding that the exercise will be completed by Sept. 30.
The carrier, in which Air France-KLM holds a small stake, was struggling long before the outbreak, posting 2019 losses of almost 13 billion shillings ($122.2 million).
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Economist, Adu Owusu Sakodie, has suggested that the Bank of Ghana extends its interventions introduced three months ago to support businesses in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The central bank reduced its policy rate which triggered a drop in interest rate among commercial banks to cushion businesses.
In March this year, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Ghana reduced its policy rate by 150 basis points; from 16 to 14.5%.
Among the reasons that triggered this reduction was the fact that the coronavirus pandemic has impacted economic growth, leaving economic managers uncertain about the future.
This move subsequently led to about 2% drop in interest rate for most commercial banks.
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Data released by the International Monetary Fund, IMF, in a revised Regional Economic Outlook (REO) forecast for 2020 indicates that countries within Sub Saharan Africa will suffer a significant shrink due to depressed economic activity, a negative outcome of the novel Coronavirus pandemic.
According to the IMF, earlier anticipated impact could worsen in Sub Saharan Africa as the regional economy is projected to contract by 3.2 percent in 2020, which is 1.6 percentage points deeper than projected in April, 2020.
A statement issued by the IMF explains that the deepening recession also mirrors a weaker external outlook as global growth is also projected at –4.9 percent in 2020, 1.9 percentage points below the April 2020 World Economic Outlook (WEO) forecast.
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The embattled former management of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund has said all training, contracts and rehabilitation it carried out received the approvals of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment and the National Assembly.
Ngige suspended the NSITF Managing Director, Adebayo Somefun and some members of his executive for allegedly lavishing “N3.4bn on non-existent staff training split into about 196 different consultancy contracts in order to evade the Ministerial Tenders Board and Federal Executive Council approvals.
The NSITF management, in a statement in Abuja on Sunday, while responding to the allegations, insisted that the training referred to by the minister was budgeted for in 2017, 2018 and 2019 appropriations for over 5,000 staff nationwide.
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The Federal Government has carried out some changes in the top management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
It made new appointments and redeployments at the corporation and confirmed the resignation of NNPC’s Chief Operating Officer, Ventures and New Business Directorate, Roland Ewubare.
The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Kennie Obateru announcing the changes at the corporation in a statement issued on Sunday, the oil firm said the move would reposition the corporation for greater efficiency.
It said the Group General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division, Adokiye Tombomieye, was appointed the new Chief Operating Officer, Upstream among other appointments.
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The Joint House of Representatives committees on finance; banking and currency will begin an investigative hearing into an alleged forex racketeering on Monday.
According to a notice and schedule of the event, the panel has summoned 24 banks and 14 oil companies.
According to the House, the alleged racketeering is responsible for an annual loss of over $30bn in revenue.
Those appearing before the committees are to explain their roles in the alleged over $30bn revenue leakages from foreign currency dominated contracts in engineering, procurement, construction, installation and marine transportations.
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