The Portuguese government has taken control of a stake held by Angolan investor Isabel dos Santos in Efacec Power Solutions SGPS SA as it tries to help the manufacturer find a new shareholder.

The 72% stake in Efacec was held through Malta-based firm Winterfell 2, which is indirectly controlled by dos Santos. Portugal's Economy Minister, Pedro Siza Vieira, disclosed this in Lisbon after a cabinet meeting. The government will immediately start a plan to sell the stake and there are already proposals from various companies.

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Low-cost carrier Fastjet Plc says it is suspending commercial flights in South Africa and Zimbabwe due to the coronavirus pandemic, jeopardizing negotiations to raise emergency funds through a disposal.

In a statement on Friday, Fastjet said an investor group, including Solenta Aviation Holdings, and Zimbabwean investors have expressed interest.

Fastjet, the first discount airline spanning sub-Saharan Africa, is in a precarious situation with just enough funds to survive until the end of August. The company's cash reserves at the end of June stood at $1 million. For now, Fastjet will operate about three repatriation flights per month from South Africa to Zimbabwe

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The African Union commissioner for infrastructure and energy, Amani Abou-Zeid, on Thursday, said African countries have lost almost $55 billion in travel and tourism revenues in three months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Abou-Zeid told a news conference the economic impact of lockdowns and border closures to curb the spread of the virus would be severe, with the continent’s air industry hit particularly hard. She said tourism and travel represented almost 10% of the gross domestic product of Africa.

On his part, Prosper Zo’o Minto’o, regional director for the International Civil Aviation Organization, told the news conference that African airlines would need an estimated $20 billion to resume operations.

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South Africa’s National Treasury on Friday said there was no further action planned to bailout struggling national airline SAA except to settle guaranteed debt as attempts to revive the airline hang on a knife edge.

The South African government wants creditors to back a restructuring plan for South African Airways (SAA) but did not allocate new bailouts for the loss-making state airline in an emergency budget last week.

The National Treasury told lawmakers they would not provide any new money to the airline as they are insolvent and turnaround plans have not been finalised yet

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A survey has shown South African private sector activity shrunk much less quickly in June. Markit’s Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 42.5 in June from 32.5 in May, the latter being its lowest level since the survey began in 2011.

This comes after a record pace of contraction the month before, as the easing of a nationwide lockdown to contain the coronavirus boosted orders and activity.

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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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