Administrators of South African Airways say the airline could start shedding its 5,000 staff from May 12 if unions and workers do not accept a proposed severance deal. 

The airline has been on state life support that has cost the South African Treasury more than 20 billion rand over the past three years.

Rescue specialists Les Matuson and Siviwe Dongwana last month proposed severance packages for all staff, after the government said SAA would receive no more cash.

However, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and the South African Cabin Crew Association, went to a labour court to try to block the cuts.

The rescue specialists added that they would oppose the application by the two unions in court because, if successful, it would further contribute to the financial and other challenges the airline SAA is facing.

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South Africa's Absa bank says it has agreed hundreds of millions of dollars in temporary repayment relief for its borrowers, after the industry said 1.2 million people had applied for help. Absa, one of four biggest lenders in the country, on Monday, said more than 376,000 of its account holders had applied for assistance and the bank would deliver 5.8 billion rand of relief, such as repayment breaks or reductions in instalments, over three months.

The Banking Association of South Africa said the industry had already implemented more than 15 billion rand in temporary repayment help - with roughly half going to individuals and half to businesses. BASA said overall, 852,000 of more than 1.2 million people who had applied for banking help had been successful while others were still being assessed.

The relief measures are only available to customers in distress directly as a result of the impact of the coronavirus outbreak and considered in “good standing” by their lender.

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Algerian government has decided to reduce the state budget by half due to a financial crisis caused by the global collapse in oil prices and worldwide coronavirus lockdowns.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s office said in a statement stating that the government has decided to reduce the budget by “50 percent” for this year

Despite this huge reduction, the government also agreed at a cabinet meeting to increase the minimum wage from 18,000 dinars ($140) per month to 20,000 dinars, while income tax will be abolished for those earning 30,000 dinars or less, the statement said.

The government also postponed from Sunday until 10 May consideration of a finance law, which seeks to frame a response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Tebboune also ruled out approaching the IMF for a bailout, contending that accumulating debt harms national sovereignty stating he prefers to rely instead on domestic borrowing.

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Insurance operators have assured workers, who took job loss insurance covers before the commencement of COVID-19 pandemic, of getting insurance compensation.

According to them, the compensation would be in form of regular monthly salaries that would be paid by the underwriters for a year or until the beneficiary gets another job.

The Chairman, Nigerian Insurers Association, Mr Tope Smart, said the sector would have to attend to claims that arose as a result of the COVID-19.

He said some workers might lose their jobs, but would have to get insurance claims because some underwriters provided job loss insurance covers.

He also said that some shop owners that their shops were burgled, might also apply for claims to cover their losses.

According to the operators, the main features of the job loss cover was that the insurance company would start to pay the sacked worker the salary earned from the last employer, and this could last for up to a year or more.

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The Federal Government has raised the target set for Ministries, Departments and Agencies through the payment of operating surplus from 849.97 billion naira to 916.87 billion naira in a bid to secure alternative sources of funding, following the crash in crude oil price.

The new amount represents an increase of 7.87per cent over the original projections of 849.97 billion naira.

The 916.87 billion naira independent revenue is contained in the revised 2020 budget proposal of 10.27 trillion naira which has been submitted to the National Assembly.

Out of the estimated revenue projections of 916.87 billion naira, about 436.94 billion is planned to be realised from 10 of the agencies.

Some of these top agencies, according to findings, are the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Nigerian Insurance Deposit Corporation, the National Maritime Administration and Safety Agency and the Nigerian Communications Commission.

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The Central Bank of Nigeria and the Bankers’ Committee have jointly agreed to SUSPEND sacking of workers in the banks during the COVID-19 pandemic. A statement signed by the CBN's Director of Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor, said a special meeting of the Bankers’ Committee was convened on May 2, 2020, to further review the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Nigerian banking industry. Okorafor said the committee particularly deliberated on the operating costs of banks in view of the disruptions emanating from the global economic difficulties and decided to take some decisions. He stated that no bank in Nigeria shall retrench or lay-off any staff of any cadre, including full-time and part-time.

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The Federal Government has maintained the pump price of petrol at 123 naira, 50kobo for the month of May, despite continued crash of crude oil price.

The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency had stated that the cost of petrol would be reviewed monthly in accordance with the fluctuation of crude oil price in the international market.

Brent, the crude against which Nigeria’s oil is priced, tumbled in price repeatedly in April 2020, crashing below 20 dollars per barrel on many occasions, before picking up marginally towards the end of April.

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Latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistics shows forty percent of people in Nigeria live in poverty. The figures published on Monday highlights the low levels of wealth in a country that has Africa’s biggest economy.

The NBS, in a report about poverty and inequality from September 2018 to October 2019, said the 40 percent, representing 82.9 million people, live on less than 137,430 naira per year.

The statistics office said the figures did not include Borno state because many areas there were not safe to reach. It said 52% of people in rural areas live in poverty, compared with 18% in urban parts of the country. It said the highest poverty levels were in Sokoto, where 87.7% of people lived under the poverty line compared with 4.5% in commercial hub Lagos state which had the lowest rate.

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South Africa’s seasonally-adjusted Absa Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) contracted to its lowest ever in April with manufacturing activity forced to a standstill due to the coronavirus and a lockdown entering its sixth week.

The index, which gauges manufacturing activity in Africa’s most industrialised economy, fell to 5.1 points from 48.1 points in March, its lowest on record as a number of respondents indicated that zero production took place during the lockdown.

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The International Monetary Fund has approved a 91-million-dollar loan for Malawi to help fund a balance of payments deficit exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement, IMF's deputy manager, Tao Zhang, said the COVID-19 pandemic is having a severe impact on Malawi, creating an urgent balance of payments need. According to the statement, the IMF said the authorities have been proactive in mitigating the impact of the pandemic, including through increased spending on health care and social assistance and ensuring food security through purchase and storage of agricultural harvests.

The World Bank said last month it had approved a $37 million funding package to help Malawi respond to the coronavirus.

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