The world's two biggest economies have become less competitive due to their ongoing trade war, which seems to have no short-term resolution in sight.

Both China and the US have slipped down the World Competitiveness Rankings for this year.

Smaller economies including Singapore, Denmark and Switzerland top the list.

The Institute for Management Development (IMD) survey said their handling of the coronavirus pandemic helped strengthen their positions.

The US, the world's biggest economy, slipped seven places to 10th, while China fell six places to 20th. The two economic superpowers have been locked in a trade war since 2018 with import taxes (tariffs) imposed on a wide range of goods.

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Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg says users will be able to turn off political adverts on the social network in the run-up to the 2020 US election.

In a piece written for USA Today newspaper, he also says he hopes to help four million Americans sign up as new voters.

Facebook has faced heavy criticism for allowing adverts from politicians that contain false information.

Rival social platform Twitter banned political advertising last October.

Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram will give users the option to turn off political adverts when they appear or they can block them using the settings features.

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According to data from a banking regulator, U.S. bank profits fell by 69.6% to $18.5 billion in the first quarter of 2020 from the year prior as banks felt the economic impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation reported that deteriorating economic activity caused lenders to write off delinquent debt and set aside billions of dollars to guard against future losses. Over half of all banks reported a profit decline, and 7.3% of lenders were unprofitable.

Despite the setbacks, FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams said banks had been able to effectively serve clients in the downturn, and were a source of strength for the economy.

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South Africa’s rand firmed against the dollar early on Wednesday, but traders said gains could be limited as concerns about a resurgence of global coronavirus cases and geopolitical tensions in Asia hurt risk appetite.

At 0640 GMT, the rand traded at 17.1775 per dollar, 0.36% firmer than its previous close.

Analysts at Nedbank in a client note said the rand, along with its emerging-market peers, remains at the mercy of a global recovery.

Adding that news from China of an escalation in the number of reported cases of coronavirus, scuppering this scenario, the local unit again failed to consolidate any move sub-17.0000.

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South African indebted sugar producer Tongaat Hulett on Wednesday said it would sell a sugarcane farm in eSwatini to the country’s public pension fund for 375 million rand ($21.83 million).

The move is part of an effort by Tongaat to cut its debt by 8.1 billion rand by selling assets, cutting costs and potentially even raising capital.

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The chairman of the state holding company that owns the airline on Tuesday said Egypt’s national carrier EgyptAir is seeking a 3 billion Egyptian pound ($185 million) loan to tide it over during the coronavirus crisis.

Chairman Mohamed Rushdi Zakaria said the crisis prompted Egypt to close its airports to most commercial traffic in mid-March, costing EgyptAir 3 billion pounds in lost revenue a month.

He added that Procedures for obtaining the loan from the state-owned National Bank of Egypt and Banque Misr should be finished by next month.

Zakaria said the funds will be used to pay $12 million in instalments on foreign loans it had taken out to finance the purchase of new aircraft

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According to a long-delayed rescue plan, the South African government would need to find at least 10 billion rand ($580 million) in new bailout funds if it wants to rescue South African Airways (SAA) with most of its routes intact.

State-owned SAA’s longstanding frailties have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has pushed even previously profitable airlines into financial distress.

The administrators’ restructuring plan on Tuesday proposed the government fund or raise funding for a working capital injection of around 2.8 billion rand, 2.2 billion rand for layoffs, 3 billion rand for unflown tickets, 600 million rand for general concurrent creditors and 1.7 billion rand for lessors.

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A new report by the Bank of Ghana has established that even though banks have been resilient to shocks amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, the same cannot be said for Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions such as Savings and Loans Companies and Microfinance firms.

The report, which was conducted by the central bank for the first quarter of this year, that’s from January to May, also showed that Ghana’s financial sector saw an increase in cash withdrawals largely due to the pandemic and its attendant impact.

The report, first pointed out that the COVID-19 containment measures such as the lockdowns, border closures, and social distancing that were announced by government disrupted and dampened economic activities.

According to the Bank of Ghana, these measures posed two main risks to Ghana’s financial sector.

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The Ghana Civil Aviation Authority has told Citi Business News that it has lost almost 95% of its revenue due to the coronavirus induced ban on international passenger travel.

The Director General of the GCAA, Simon Allotey, said they have also taken drastic measures such as pay cuts to remain in business.

Ghana’s main Airport, the Kotoka International Airport, was closed to passenger flights on March 22, 2020, although cargo transport is allowed, as well as special passenger services such as the evacuation of Ghanaians from elsewhere and other nationals out of Ghana.

Director General, Simon Allotey, told Citi Business News the Authority is operating on virtually no revenue as its revenue has dropped by 95%.

The regulator of air transportation in Ghana, the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, has not been spared the adverse impact of the border closure.

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The Africa Regional Director of the International Air Transport Association, Funke Adeyemi, on Tuesday said Nigeria’s aviation sector has suffered a loss of $700m during the coronavirus pandemic.

Adeyemi, who said this during a webinar, titled, ‘A national conversation: Mapping Nigeria’s response to COVID-19’ on Tuesday, added that 90,000 jobs were at risk in the industry.

She said Aviation is one of the hardest-hit sectors. Over the past three months, passenger travel reduced by 90 per cent. That led to a loss of $28.5bn in GDP for Africa and put about three million jobs at risk.

She however, thanked the governments of the world for the introduction of the lockdown as the aviation sector could have accelerated the spread of the pandemic.

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