British retail sales fell by a record 18.1% in April as many stores were closed amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The drop in April worsened from a fall of 5.2% in March, when the government first introduced lockdown measures.

According to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Clothing sales plummeted by 50.2% as many High Street shops were shut.

The ONS said online shopping as a proportion of all retail reached a record high of 30.7%.

All types of shop, other than those selling clothing or household goods, saw record amounts being spent with them online.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) UK government borrowed £62.1bn in April, the highest monthly figure on record.

It underlines the cost of coping with the coronavirus pandemic through jobs schemes and loans, and is higher than many economists forecast.

The cost of furlough schemes had the largest impact, hitting £14bn in April.

The government's independent forecaster, the OBR, has said the full-year deficit could hit £298bn.

April's figure is significantly higher than analysts had predicted, with a consensus of economists predicting £30.7bn for the month.

Jonathan Athow, deputy national statistician at the ONS, described April's figure as pretty much unprecedented.

He told the BBC that Borrowing now is about six times what it was [in April] last year, there are some really significant changes in the government finances.

China will not set an economic growth goal for this year as it deals with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

The announcement was made by Premier Li Keqiang at the start of the country's annual parliament meeting.

It is the first time Beijing has not had a gross domestic product (GDP) target since 1990 when records began.

The world's second largest economy shrank by 6.8% in the first quarter from a year ago as lockdowns paralysed businesses.

Premier Li said this is because our country will face some factors that are difficult to predict in its development due to the great uncertainty regarding the Covid-19 pandemic and the world economic and trade environment.

South Africa’s central bank cut its main lending rate by 50 basis points to 3.75% in an effort to shield the economy from the impact of the new coronavirus.

The central bank expects gross domestic product to contract by 7% in 2020. The latest rate cut will help ease pressure on consumers amid widespread job losses, it said.

The bank’s five-person monetary policy committee was split 3-2, with three members voting for the 50-bps cut and two for a 25-bps reduction.

State Minister of Finance Eyob Tekalign Tolina told Reuters that The Ethiopian government will sell a 40 percent stake in Ethio Telecom, a monopoly operator, as part of the country’s plans for opening one of the world’s last major closed telecoms markets,

Two government officials briefed on the matter said foreign firms will be invited to bid and a percentage of the minority stake will be sold to Ethiopian citizens.

The government will retain ownership of the remaining 60 percent.

South Africa’s rand weakened early on Friday as a rising dollar ended its rally, although the South African currency remained near two-month highs following another rate cut by the country’s central bank.

At 0630 GMT, the rand was 0.62% weaker at 17.7200 per dollar, having rallied to 17.5100, its highest since March 27, the day after the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) lowered lending rates by 50 basis points.

The bank cited the need to provide relief to households and companies battered by the coronavirus and a nationwide lockdown now in its eighth week, saying the economy was likely to shrink 7% before recovering in 2021 but urgent reforms were needed.

That lifted the rand as investors cheered the aggressive action from the usually conservative central bank, even as the rate cut reduced the return on the currency, but a worsening of U.S.-China tensions capped those gains.

South African petrochemicals giant Sasol, which has been hit by high debt levels and falling oil and chemical prices, on Friday said it expected full-year headline earnings to decrease by at least 20%

Sasol, which reported headline earnings per share of 30.72 rand in the previous financial year, is due to report results for the financial year to June 30, 2020, on Aug. 17.

The United States and Sudan have reached a common understanding on the outlines of a future bilateral claim’s agreement linked to the 1998 al Qaeda bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the U.S. State Department’s top diplomat for Africa said on Thursday.

Assistant secretary for African Affairs, Tibor Nagy told a teleconference that the final agreement will reflect Sudan’s agreement to pay. It would include compensation in connection with claims relating also to non-U.S. nationals killed and injured in the embassy bombings

His comments come days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the African nation cannot avoid punitive damages in lawsuits accusing it of complicity in the 1998 al Qaeda bombings that killed 224 people.

A lawyer representing Sudan, Christopher Curran said the ruling reinstates about $826 million out of a total $4.3 billion in punitive damages.

According to the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) over five thousand applicants have signed onto Ghana’s ¢1 billion Coronavirus Alleviation Programme Business Support Scheme.

The Coronavirus Alleviation Programme Business Support Scheme which was launched by President Akufo Addo on Tuesday, 19th May, is intended to support small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) impacted by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Speaking at a press briefing in Accra on Thursday, the Executive Director of National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI), Kosi Yankey, said her outfit is expecting more applications.

She said that the interest rate for the loan is pegged at 3 percent payable in three years.

The Ministry of Finance has described the decision of the European Commission to blacklist Ghana over money laundering breaches as unfortunate.

According to the Finance Ministry, the methodology used by the European Commission was flawed, as it failed to communicate with Ghana concerning shortcomings that needed to be improved.

The European Commission on 7th May 2020, cited Ghana as one of four African countries listed by the European Union (EU) for money laundering breaches.

This puts the financial transactions of Ghana under greater scrutiny.

A statement issued by the Ministry of Finance said Ghana regrets the 7th May, 2020, publication by the European Commission proposing to the European Union Parliament to add Ghana to its list of high risk third countries with strategic deficiencies in their Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regimes.