April 28, 2023/United Capital Research

Anglophone West Africa

Nigeria

• The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Niger Delta has signed a deal with a United States-based firm, Atlanta Global Resources Inc, for the construction of a $15.0bn rail project that will stretch across all nine Niger Delta states.
• The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Golar LNG to build a floating liquefied natural gas plant in Nigeria.
• The Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, disclosed that the 29-May-2023 date for the launch of Nigerian Air still stands as it awaits final approval by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
• Earlier this week, the Ports & Terminal Multipurpose Limited suspended the additional N50,000 charge per unit on folk-lifted imported used vehicles.

Ghana

• The international rating agency, Fitch Ratings, downgraded Ghana’s local currency rating to ‘RD’ from ‘CCC’. According to the agency, the downgrade came on the back of Ghana’s recent default in servicing its local-currency bonds issued prior to the domestic debt exchange and the lack of certainty on when the payments would resume.
• Earlier this week, the Individual Bondholders Association of Ghana (IBHAG) withdrew from the Technical Committee of the government’s Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) due to concerns that the deliberations are not in the best interest of its members.
• According to the 2022 Annual Report released by the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), a paltry GH¢9.29 million was allocated to the industrial sector, out of a total of GH¢4.41 billion of the country’s petroleum revenues earmarked for priority areas under the Annual Budget Fund Amount (ABFA), 2022.
• Also, the report disclosed that the country earned an amount of $1.4bn as oil revenue in 2022, the highest since commercial production began in 2011, despite a 6.0% drop in production during the year under review. This represents an 82.3% increase in revenue from the $783.3mn recorded in 2021 from crude oil production of 55,050,391 barrels (bbls).
• The Board of Directors of Ghana National Gas Company Limited (GNGC) on Tuesday hosted the new Chief Executive Officer for Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company Limited (GCMC). The discussion centered on GNGC taking over GCMC.
• The Asian African Consortium (AAC), a subsidiary of Jospong Group of Companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Cape Coast (UCC) to undertake research to boost rice, maize, and soya production in the country.
• The objectives of this partnership are to identify common areas of collaboration to address the overall mandate of the parties, develop a plan for collaborative operations and detail the scope and principles of engagement between the parties while aiming at achieving food efficiency in the country.

Francophone West Africa

Ivory Coast

• In his 3rd State of the Nation Address to Parliament , President Alassane Ouattara forecasted that the country would experience a 7.2% GDP growth in 2023, in light of the economic interventions made by his government, and its commitment to modernise the country.

East Africa

Kenya

• The Kenyan government launched an international roadshow in New York to attract US investors to invest in Kenya. The roadshow seeks to enlighten US investors about the opportunities available in the country, particularly in fintech, clean energy, sustainability, infrastructure financing, tourism, banking, logistics, manufacturing, and agriculture, among other sectors.
• Avenue Group Limited, a leading healthcare provider in Kenya, has secured a $12.7mn loan from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to expand its healthcare offering and increase its patient reach over the next five years.
• Safaricom Plc has announced the expansion of its 5G coverage to 28 towns in 21 counties in Kenya. This development enables its customers in these areas to access superfast internet connectivity for their homes and businesses while on the move.   

Rwanda

• According to International Monetary Fund (IMF), the cost of living in Rwanda will remain high in H1-2023 due to rising food prices despite a slowdown in core inflation. This is due to the decline in food production following unfavourable weather conditions and weak agriculture performance amid strong domestic demand.

Tanzania

• The International Monetary Fund has approved the first review of Tanzania’s three-year Extended Credit Facility (ECF), allowing immediate disbursement of about $153.0mn in budgetary support. The facility aims to support the country’s economic reform.
• According to the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), mobile money subscriptions in the country increased by 8.3% to print at 44.4mn subscribers at the end of March 2023 from 41.0mn subscribers in 2022. This indicates growth in financial inclusion, as more people are using mobile money services to send, receive, and store money.

Uganda

• The Ministry of Finance highlighted that Uganda’s public debt by currency composition as of December 2022 was primarily dominated by the local shillings, accounting for 40.9% of the total sum. The dominance of the shilling is because the bulk of the domestic debt was issued in the local currency. This was followed by the dollars and Euros, accounting for 30.3% and 17.2%, respectively.
• Government, in collaboration with Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU), have launched the Trade Frontier Fund to support the generation of an additional $6.0bn (c. Shs22.4tn) in exports over the next five years.

Southern Africa

Angola

• The Governor of the Angola Central Bank, José de Lima Massano, disclosed that Angola’s international reserves dropped from $18.2bn in 2017 to $14.7bn at the end of 2022, a reduction of $3.6bn.
• The minister of Education, Luísa Grilo, disclosed that the government authorised an additional 12.5% increase in the basic salary of the Education agents. With this measure, the minister explained, the Angolan government will pay out annually, c. Kz49.1bn.
• Data released by the National Bank of Angola showed bad loans in 2022 totalled Kz296.2bn, 31.0% less when compared to the previous year.
• Customer deposits remain the sector’s primary funding source, weighing 86.4% of the total liabilities. The banking sector has 23 financial institutions, 1,478 branches and 366 banking agents.
• The Ministry of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas disclosed that  Angola exported 87.9mn barrels of crude oil in Q1-2023, valued at $6.9bn, 14.8% less when compared to the previous period.
• The ministry also disclosed that Gas exports reached 1.1mn metric tons (MT) in Q1-2023, with countries in Europe, Asia and the United States of America as the main destinations.
• The volume exported, valued at $947.8mn and marketed at $851.3, decreased by 6.7% q/q and by 3.2% y/y.

South Africa

• The President’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya reiterated that South Africa remains a signatory to the ICC in line with a resolution of the 55th National Conference of the ANC held in Dec-2022, rescinding an earlier decision to withdraw from the ICC.

Zambia

• The nation’s Statistician-General, Mulenga Mupesa, revealed that annual inflation rose to 10.2% this month from the 9.9% recorded in Mar-2023. This brings inflation 2.2ppts above the central bank’s target ceiling.

Zimbabwe

• According to Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency, the month-on-month inflation rate in Apr-2023 was 2.4%, gaining 2.3ppts on the Mar-2023 rate of 0.1%. The year-on-year inflation rate for Apr-2023, as measured by the all-items Consumer Price Index (CPI), was 75.2%.
• Civil servants have refused to government’s 100% salary increment offer citing several reasons. The Zimbabwe Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (ZCPSTU) president CecIlia Alexander disclosed that the National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC) meeting failed as the unions did not sign any agreement.

Central Africa

Cameroon

• Savannah Energy Plc. Has signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Government of Cameroon for the development of the 75.0MW Bini a Warak H,ydroelectric Project in the country’s northern Adamawa region. The project is expected to increase on-grid electricity generation capacity in the region by 50.0%.
• Also, Savannah Energy Plc. announced that it has signed a Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) with the national oil company of Cameroon, Société Nationale Des Hydrocarbures (SNH), relating to the sale by SMIL and purchase by SNH of 10.0% of the issued share capital in Cameroon Oil Transportation Company S.A. (COTCo).

Democratic Republic of Congo

• The Minister of Finance has stated that the country’s state miner and China’s CMOC have reached an agreement on royalties, paving the way for the resumption of mineral exports.
• Italian energy group Eni and the Government of DR Congo on 25-Apr launched a $5.0bn gas liquification project expected to reach a production capacity of 3.0mn T p.a.