SA’s high risk premium is the major driver of a higher repo rate, Reserve Bank head of economic research Chris Loewald told MPs on Tuesday.

Loewald is also a member of the Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC), which decides the repurchase rate. In January, the MPC decided to reduce the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25% and it foresees a second cut late in 2020.

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The Vice President of Ghana, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has charged the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), to improve its collection rate to help turn around the fortunes of the energy sector.

The power distribution company currently has a collection rate of 66 percent, a situation that is partly accountable for the recurring debt in the energy sector.

Vice President believes resolving the issue should help address the challenges confronting other actors in the power generation and supply chain.

Dr. Bawumia made the remarks when he launched the ECG Mobile App on Tuesday, February 18, 2020.

The mobile app introduced by the ECG also known as ‘ECG Power’, is a new system that will allows about 2.8 million out of the 3.8 million customers of the power distributor to buy power at their own convenience.

Patrons are able to make purchases via the various payment platforms provided by telcos such as MTN’s mobile money, Vodafone cash as well as AirtelTigo cash.

While smart phone users can access the app by downloading it from the google playstore or app store, other phone users could resort to dialing a short code which helps them to access the services.

Presently, while all postpaid customers can buy power with the app, only customers with the smart prepaid meters can access the service.

But the ECG says there are plans to eventually ensure that all of its customers are enrolled unto the platform within the shortest possible time.

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Allianz Nigeria has announced that it recently concluded a partnership to provide car insurance for the owners of luxury vehicle, BRABUS.

Speaking on the partnership, the Executive Director, Allianz Nigeria, Mr Owolabi Salami, said the partnership, made with Blackpace Limited, the exclusive distribution partner of BRABUS in Nigeria, was one of the projects aimed at providing insurance solutions to premium class of vehicle.

Explaining the rationale behind the partnership, team leader for Motor Unit, Opeyemi Jokanola, noted that the aim was to make car insurance readily available to all motorists.

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As Nigeria’s inflationary trend records the fifth consecutive month rise in January 2020 readings released by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, Tuesday, analysts’ reports have indicated that the sixth month straight rise would hit 12.32 percent by end of this month.

This is attributed to continued border closure; implementation of N30,000 national minimum wage; implementation of the new Value-Added-Tax (VAT) rate of 7.5 percent; low interest rate; and the recent ban of motorcycles and tricycles in Lagos State, which has pressured transportation cost.

In its latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for January 2020, NBS stated that inflation rate rose Year-on-Year, YoY, by 0.15 basis points to 12.13 percent in January 2020 from 11.98 percent in December 2019. On Month-on-Month, MoM, basis, headline inflation rate increased by 0.87 percent in January 2020, representing a 0.02 basis point rise from 0.85 percent in December 2019.

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Akin Abayomi, commissioner for health, confirmed this in a statement by Tunbosun Ogunbamwo, director of public affairs in the state ministry of health.

Abayomi said the patient is currently in isolation at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).

He said the situation is under control and asked residents to be calm.

He assured residents that the state government in collaboration with the federal ministry of health and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control is doing everything possible to control the spread of the disease in the state.

“The Ministry of Health through Epidemiology, Biosecurity and Global Health Directorate is currently carrying out ‘contact tracing’ to determine those who may have been infected in line with international standards while we beef up our other surveillance strategies,” he said.

Abayomi reiterated the need for residents to ensure and maintain adequate personal hygiene and environmental sanitation at all times as part of prevention and control measures against the spread of the disease.

He said the prevention and control of the disease remains a shared responsibility of all citizens through observance of the highest possible standards of personal and community hygiene.

“Members of the public are further advised to avoid contact with rats, to always cover their food and water properly, cook all their food thoroughly, as well as block all holes in the septic tanks and holes through which rats can enter the house and clear rat hideouts within the premises.”

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THE Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, has concluded plans to increase Nigeria’s wheeling capacity from 8, 000 to 20,000 megawatts by 2022. In a recent report obtained by Vanguard, TCN said development object of its transmission rehabilitation and expansion program (TREP) is to rehabilitate, stabilize and provide necessary flexibility and redundancies and expand the wheeling capacity to 20,000MW by 2022.

According to the report, “TCN needs to successfully implement the following four-point strategy achieve system frequency control; procure adequate sunning reserve; provide functional supervisory control and data acquisition, SCADA and achieve critical investment in lines and substations.

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Shares across Asia declined on Tuesday, reversing gains from a day earlier after smartphone maker Apple Inc. warned that it would not be able to meet sales targets for the quarter due to production delays caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

Japanese stocks slid to a two-week low as the benchmark Nikkei fell 1.2 percent by the midday break and the broader Topix dropped 1.2 percent.

In Hong Kong, shares were down 1.37 percent while mainland Chinese blue chip stocks lost 0.87 percent. Shares in South Korea declined by more than 1 percent.

In a statement late on Monday, Apple said that while work was starting to resume in China they are experiencing a slower return to normal conditions than they had anticipated." Global iPhone supplies will be "temporarily constrained," the company said.

Analysts say the virus may slash demand for smartphones by half in the first quarter in China, the world's biggest market for the devices.

Chinese firms are most likely to see the effects in February, a vice chairman of the country's state assets regulator said on Tuesday, as containment measures disrupt production and supply chains.

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Health officials in China have published the first details of more than 44,000 cases of Covid-19, in the biggest study since the outbreak began.

Data from the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC) finds that more than 80% of the cases have been mild, with the sick and elderly most at risk.

The research also points to the high risk to medical staff.

A hospital director in the city of Wuhan died from the virus on Tuesday.

Liu Zhiming, 51, was the director of the Wuchang Hospital in Wuhan - one of the leading hospitals in the virus epicentre. He is one of the most senior health officials to die so far.

Hubei, the province Wuhan is in, is the worst affected province in the country.

The report by the CCDC shows the province's death rate is 2.9% compared with 0.4% in the rest of the country.

The findings put the overall death rate of the Covid-19 virus at 2.3%.

China's latest official figures released on Tuesday put the overall death toll at 1,868 and 72,436 infections.

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Real estate industry players in the country will by the end of the second quarter of this year have access to cheaper credit to undertake their projects.

This is because the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has set its focus on launching a Real Estate Investment Trust regulatory framework by end of June.

According to the Group CEO of Databank, Kojo Addae Mensah, the move will make available a less expensive alternative source of raising revenue to finance real estate projects and this would significantly boost the country’s real estate sector.

According to him It will help the real estate industry raise funding for projects using the mutual funds for very good projects because generally raising funds for real estate is very difficult,” he stated.

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Gunmen killed 24 people, including a pastor, and wounded at least 18 near a Protestant church in the village of Pansi, in Burkina Faso's northern Yagha province, officials said on Monday.

The assault occurred on Sunday during a weekly service at the church, according to security officials. The attackers, roughly 20 of them, separated men from women near the church. Both Christians and Muslims were killed before the church was set on fire.

More than 1,300 civilians in Burkina Faso were killed in attacks last year — more than seven times the previous year, according to Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

Attacks targeting Christians and churches have become more frequent in Burkina Faso's northern provinces. The West African nation is one of the poorest countries in the world and is one of several countries in the Sahel region dealing with extremist violence.

Since 2015, around 750 people have been killed in Burkina Faso and around 600,000 have fled their homes.

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