Ratings agency Moody’s on Thursday said The South African government target to stabilise its ballooning debt by 2023 will be very difficult to achieve and unlikely.

The Treasury on Wednesday presented a supplementary budget in response to the coronavirus crisis that projected a wider budget deficit, while public debt was estimated to be more than three quarters of gross domestic product in the medium term.

Moody’s in a research note on the budget said the government hopes to achieve a primary surplus by fiscal 2023 that would stabilise debt.

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Djibouti Government on Thursday said it is setting up a sovereign wealth fund for domestic and regional investment, aiming to fund it to the tune of $1.5 billion over the next decade.

Wealthy nations traditionally use sovereign wealth funds to invest surplus billions overseas to prevent inflation at home, diversify income streams and accumulate savings.

The government said Djibouti will however use its fund to finance domestic investment including in the telecoms, logistics and infrastructure sectors. It will also prioritize investments in the Horn of Africa region.

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President Edgar Lungu on Thursday said Zambia’s expenditure is expected to rise by approximately 20 billion kwacha ($1.11 billion) this year as the local currency weakens, piling more pressure on a nation already struggling with huge debt.

Lungu said in a national address External debt service will rise by 8.7 billion kwacha because of a sharp fall in the currency.

Zambia has $3 billion of Eurobonds outstanding and owes $2 billion to commercial banks, $2 billion to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, and a further $3 billion to China.

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South Africa’s rand was little changed early on Friday amid surging global coronavirus infections, despite the currency’s staging a recovering after a gloomy budget earlier in the week.

At 0617 GMT, the rand traded at 17.1750 versus the dollar, 0.2% lower than its New York close on Thursday.

The rand had regained ground after the budget speech, which forecast ballooning debt and a higher government deficit, as well as fading hopes globally of a quick economic recovery.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni on Wednesday said the main budget deficit would widen to a record 14.6% of gross domestic product in 2020/21, while public debt would top 80% as the country borrows to plug gaps in revenue caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Frimpong Boateng, has given a one-week ultimatum to some steel manufacturing companies within the Tema Free Zones enclave to come out with a road-map on how they intend to deal with environmental pollution in their areas of operation.

The Minister’s warning comes in the wake of several complaints from some adjoining companies operating within the Free Zones enclave as well as residents living nearby regarding pollution from the steel companies in the area.

Among the steel manufacturing companies visited were United Steel, Rider steel, MND Metal and Success Aluminum Company.

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The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, BoG, Dr. Ernest Addison, has reiterated that it is illegal to price goods and services in foreign currencies such as the U.S dollar.

Despite the existence of the law, the practice exists in many facets of the Ghanaian economy as some businesses have even adopted new ways by pricing against the exchange rate without accepting the physical foreign currency to outwit the law.

the BoG Governor called on businesses and institutions operating in the country to desist from such acts while responding to a question raised by the MP for Ningo Prampram, Sam George, when he appeared before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee,

He said Dollarisation is illegal and It is illegal to index to the US dollar. He said invoice in US dollars is not allowed.

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The Federal Government on Thursday engaged stakeholders from various sectors of the economy for the implementation of its Highway Development and Management Initiative.

It said the HDMI sought to bring multi-dimensional resources of skills, manpower, finance, technology and much more into the national highway governance within Nigeria’s 35,000 kilometres of federal highway.

The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, who disclosed this during a webinar, noted that over N160bn worth of investments would be attracted by the first phase of the initiative.

He said the initiative was aimed at bringing order, accountability and profitable entrepreneurship to the operation, management and maintenance of federal highways.

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HP Inc. has announced its commitment to eliminating 75 per cent of single-use plastic packaging by 2025 as part of efforts to reduce its environmental footprint.

In its newly released 2019 Sustainable Impact Report, the company highlighted the progress it was making to drive diversity and inclusion as well as strengthen communities globally.

HP President and Chief Executive Officer, Enrique Lores, said Recent events have laid bare the systemic racism and deep inequalities that remain a stain on society.

He said it was important for companies to hold themselves accountable and publicly report their progress.

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The Federal Government on Thursday said it would announce the date for the reopening of Nigeria’s airspace to commercial flight operations next week.

It stated that the airports remained shut as some gaps in the aviation restart process had not been closed.

The Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Musa Nuhu, disclosed this during Thursday’s briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja.

He, however, made no mention about the submission of the restart plan for the aviation sector.

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Air Peace on Thursday announced that it flew all 25 aircraft in its fleet on June 24 to different parts of the country in readiness for the resumption of domestic flights.

It said the flights were aimed at ensuring that the aircraft were in good condition, having been grounded for close to three months, although they had been under storage maintenance.

The airline in a statement by its spokesperson, Stanley Olisa said All the aircraft took to the skies flying to Abuja, Port Harcourt and back to Lagos without passengers.

Olisa said the flights were part of measures the airline had developed to guarantee the safety of both passengers and crew when operations resume.

He said the aircraft were brought out of storage and the pilots had been testing them, as all pilots and flight attendants had been retrained in line with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority directives.

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