Newscast - Africa

India’s Flipkart on Thursday said it had acquired parent Walmart Inc’s local cash-and-carry business, as the e-commerce firm strengthens its wholesale offerings to compete better with Amazon.com Inc .

The Bengaluru-headquartered firm said the deal will allow Flipkart to launch a digital marketplace called Flipkart Wholesale next month, without disclosing any financial details of the deal.

Walmart, which has been running Best Price wholesale cash-and-carry stores in India since 2009, bought a controlling stake in Flipkart in 2018 for $16 billion.

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South African mobile operator Vodacom Group Ltd on Thursday reported a 7.6% rise in first-quarter group service revenue, buoyed by strong demand for voice, data and financial services in its domestic market during the coronavirus lockdown.

Vodacom, which is majority owned by Vodafone, said group service revenue grew to 18.7 billion rand ($1.14 billion)in the three months ended June 30, up from 17.4 billion rand from the year-earlier period. Overall group revenue grew by 5.6%.

Vodacom said the significant growth in demand for data assisted in offsetting the effects of the price cuts.

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South Africa’s rand gained early on Thursday, before a central bank decision on interest rates, as tensions between China and the United States resurfaced and weakened the dollar.

At 0650 GMT the rand was 0.27% firmer at 16.4275 per dollar from an overnight close of 16.4850.

The rand has strengthened most of the week, spurred by the rescue package the European Union agreed and by investor hopes of a quick global economic recovery.

The currency has managed to break through the 16.50 technical resistance mark but has struggled to get beyond that, with a surge of COVID-19 cases locally and abroad keeping bullish investors cautious.

The South African Reserve Bank concludes its three-day policy meeting on Thursday, with most analysts expecting it to cut rates by 25 basis points but some forecasting no change.

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According to Government sources, Sudan’s amended budget for 2020 includes a currency adjustment programmme beginning in August that aims to reach a full currency float in two years.

The country’s currency recently fell to a record low of 150 Sudanese pounds to the dollar on the black market, compared with 55 at the official rate. The black market rate was 140 pounds to the dollar on Wednesday.

Acting Finance Minister Hiba Mohamed Ali said the private sector will be allowed to import unlimited quantities of fuel to address shortages, which will lead to a rationalization of its price, referring to a removal of subsidies to help meet the reform demands of international donors.

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The African Development Bank (AfDB) on Wednesday said it has approved a roughly 5 billion rand ($300 million) loan to the South African government to help it fight the COVID-19 pandemic and support its budget.

Africa’s most industrialised economy was in recession even before COVID-19 started ravaging its economy. Forecasts are now for gross domestic product to shrink by at least 7% this year, and a budget deficit of around 15% of GDP.

The country has recorded the most coronavirus infections in Africa, with more than 380,000 cases.

The AfDB in a statement said that the loan was to protect lives and promote access to essential medical equipment, to protect livelihoods by preserving jobs, and to support companies in the formal and informal economy.

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Latest figures from the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) show that patronage of electronic payment channels that go through the GhIPSS platform, increased by 81 percent in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year.

According to GhIPSS, the total volume of transactions spanning January to June 2020, stood at over 29 million compared to about 16 million transactions for the same period in 2019.

It also stated that specific channels such as GhIPSS Instant Pay (GIPS) saw a huge growth of almost 600 percent, while Mobile Money Interoperability grew by over 444 percent in the first half of this year.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GhIPSS, Mr. Archie Hesse said the increase is driven mainly by transfers from account to wallet which represented 86% of GIP transfers.

He also stated that the country is making steady progress towards becoming a cashlite society, as about 60 per cent of all financial transactions were initiated and completed on the various electronic platforms in use.

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The total amount disbursed to farmers under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme from inception in 2009 rose to N635.39bn as of the end of March 2020.

The Central Bank of Nigeria disclosed this in its Economic report for the first quarter of 2020 on agriculture, on Wednesday.

The report reads, at end-March 2020, the total amount released, since inception by the CBN under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme to the participating banks for disbursement, amounted to N635.39bn for 608 projects, while the total amount repaid since inception stood at N406.29bn at end-March 2020.

The CBN stated that a total of N539.8m loans was guaranteed to 3,161 farmers under the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme in the first quarter of 2020.

The CBN stated that the initiative was capable of boosting the structural transformation of the economy by providing opportunities for public and private sector investments.

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The Debt Management Office said the Federal Government Bonds for the month of July worth N130bn, which were auctioned on Wednesday, were oversubscribed by N340.13bn.

The total subscription received for the bonds was N470.13bn, comprising of N71.97bn for the 12.5 per cent FGN January 2026 bonds; N60.32bn for the 12.5 per cent FGN March 2035 bonds; N130.27bn for the 9.8 per cent FGN July 2045 bonds; and N207.57bn for the 12.98 per cent FGN March 2050 bonds.

The auction results published on the DMO site on Wednesday said that 36, 58, 70 and 29 were successful bids for the total bids for each bonds auction of 97, 87, 131 and 189 bids.

According to the DMO, successful bids for the 12.5000 per cent FGN January 2026, 12.5000 per cent FGN March 2035, 9.80 per cent FGN July 2045 and 12.9800 per cent FGN March 2050 were allotted at the marginal rates of six per cent, 9.5 per cent, 9.8 per cent and 9.95 per cent respectively.

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Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises who are members of the organised private sector have decried their inability to access the loan offered by the Central Bank of Nigeria for MSMEs and household impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Many who applied for the loan through NISRAL’s online platform did not get an acknowledgement of their applications while only a few got feedback from the organisation.

The acting Director-General, MAN, Ambrose Oruche, while sharing the experiences of manufacturers who tried to access the loan said 12 of MAN’s members who applied for the loan were not credited.

According to him, there was no acknowledgment from the NISRAL microfinance bank.

He said they had 12 companies that qualified; they prepared their business plans and sent their applications. The microfinance bank however did not acknowledge the application not to talk of giving out the loan.

He added that the N50bn loan did not get to manufacturers but mostly to households and traders.

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The Oyo State Government has approved N100bn private bond tagged the Oyo Prosperity Bond to facilitate the execution of priority projects in a bid to drive the state’s economic development.

This was disclosed in Ibadan by the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Dr Wasiu Olatubosun, after the weekly State Executive Council meeting.

The SEC meeting was held virtually in compliance with the COVID-19 protocols.

According to Olatubosun, the fund would be raised in two tranches of N50bn each for the construction of the 50-kilometre Iseyin-Ogbomoso Road, the Ibadan Circular Ring-Road and the upgrade of the Ibadan Airport.

The fund will also cover the development of Ibadan Dry Port and the rail corridor which would serve as economic hubs of the state.

The commissioner stated further that the state would upgrade one government hospital in each of the three senatorial districts of the state.

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