Africa Business News

South Africa’s rand opened stronger on Friday and was on course for gains of roughly 2 percent against the dollar this week, after the first current account surplus in 17 years and an upbeat U.S. jobs report.
At 0650 GMT, the rand was around 0.3% firmer than its previous close.
Government bonds were flat, with the yield on the 2030 bond at 9.27%.

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The Institute for Energy Security says the drop in Ghana’s oil revenue in 2019 could be attributed to the movement of crude prices on the world market and the challenges faced by Tullow Oil in the TEN Fields.
Oil revenue dropped by 5 percent to 925 million dollars in 2019 from 977 million dollars in 2018, even though oil production in the period under review went up by 15 percent.
The Executive Director of IES, Nana Amoasi VII, (The seventh), while speaking to Citi Business News, explained that Ghana’s oil revenue forecast in the national budget was also over-projected comparing to global benchmark prices.
Government in the 2020 budget projected to receive US$1.567billion from oil revenues, anchored on a price prediction of US$62.6 per barrel.

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Ghana’s deputy trade and industry minister Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah has resigned for violating coronavirus self-isolation measures after testing positive for the virus. President Nana Akufo-Addo made the announcement in a statement on Friday.
The statement said the minister visited a registration centre in his constituency before the period of self-isolation was complete.
Ghana has recorded one of the highest number of coronavirus cases in the continent since the outbreak at 18,134, with 117 deaths. Last month, Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman Manu tested positive for the virus.

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The International Air Transport Association said Nigerian airlines lost $2.09bn in April and June.
IATA, in its report, titled, Quarantine measures threaten aviation restart in Africa and the Middle East, noted that aviation was the worst-hit sector in Africa and the Middle East with more than 8.6 million jobs at risk.
According to the report, passenger numbers in Nigeria declined in April and June by 4.7 million and 5.32 million respectively when compared to the corresponding periods in 2019.
It said 125,400 jobs were at risk in April while 139,500 jobs were estimated to be at risk for the month of June.
Muhammad Albakri, IATA’s Regional Vice President for Africa and the Middle East, asked for alternatives to government-imposed quarantine on Africa and Middle East countries as it affected the profitability of the travel and tourism sector.

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The National Bureau of Statistics said the volume of petrol imported into the country in the first three months of the year rose by 9.24 per cent, compared to the same period in 2019.
The NBS data showed that the country imported to 5.32 billion litres in Q1 2020, up from 4.87 billion litres in Q1 2019.
A total of 5.61 billion litres were imported in Q2; 5.09 billion litres in Q3, and 5.26 billion litres in Q4 of 2019.
According to the NBS, 5.36 billion litres of petrol, 1.56 billion litres of diesel, 8.73 million litres of household kerosene, 283.90 million litres of aviation fuel, 23.36 million litres of LPFO and 290.24 million litres of LPG were distributed nationwide during the period under review.

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Latest figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria on Thursday showed that the country’s foreign reserves fell by $373.23m from $36.57bn on June 1 to $36.2bn on June 29.
According to the CBN, the reserves maintained a steady rise at a level of $33.52bn as of April 30, before commencing its downward trend in June.
The reserves had hit a high of $45.17bn on June 11, 2019, but lost $11bn to close at $33.89bn as of April 28, 2020.
Moody’s Investors Service on Wednesday said Nigerian banks’ foreign currency funding gap would rise to $5bn over the current low oil prices, volatile foreign inflows and lower remittances amid coronavirus pandemic.

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The Debt Management Office on Thursday announced that the total public debt portfolio of Nigeria has risen to N28.63tn.
The DMO explained that the country’s total debt rose from the N27.4tn recorded in December 2019 to N28.63tn in March 2020 in its Public Debt Portfolio report released on Thursday night
This showed that within a space of three months, the country’s public debt portfolio grew by N1.23tn, representing 4.48 per cent.
The debt office also stated that Nigeria’s total external debt obligations as of the end of March this year stood at N9.99tn.
The debt office said the country’s domestic debt was N18.64tn, representing 65.11 per cent of the Nigeria’s debt stock.

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The US House of Representatives has approved new Hong Kong-related sanctions, after Beijing imposed a security law that was condemned by countries around the world.
The measure, which was passed unanimously, penalises banks that do business with Chinese officials.
It will have to be approved by the Senate before going to President Trump.
Critics say China's law ends freedoms that were guaranteed for 50 years when British rule ended in 1997.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the law is a brutal, sweeping crackdown against the people of Hong Kong, intended to destroy the freedoms they were promised.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson also said the passing of the law was a clear and serious breach of the 1985 Sino-British joint declaration.
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Lego has become the latest big name to join an advertising boycott on social-media platforms, saying urgent action is needed to end hate speech, discrimination and misinformation.
The Danish toy company said It would pause paid advertising on all social-media platforms for at least 30 days, and spend the money on other channels.
More than 400 companies have joined the Stop Hate for Profit campaign stating
It wants hate, bigotry, racism, anti-Semitism and violence dealt with.
Facebook said artificial intelligence rooted out 90% of hate speech and it was teaming up with experts and civil rights groups to develop more tools.
It has also said it will start to label potentially harmful posts.
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