October 20, 2023/United Capital
Anglophone West Africa
Nigeria
- FG estimates electricity demand to hit 45,662MW by 2030
The Federal Government, through the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has said electricity demand will grow to 45,662 megawatts by 2030. According to the report, the current generation capacity was lower than what was required to meet the estimated load demand of 17,556MWh/h as of 2020, and that “demand is expected to grow to 45,662MW by 2030.”.
- Fuel scarcity hits again as NNPC supply collapses
Fuel scarcity has resurfaced across Nigeria as many oil marketers shut their outlets against motorists and other buyers on the back of unfavourable working environment. Independent marketers highlighted the Forex crisis, bad roads and inability to get the product at an affordable rate as the crux of the latest development.
- Over 100 mini-electricity grids now operating in Nigeria – FG
Over 100 mini-electricity grids are currently in operation across the country, making Nigeria one of the largest mini-grid markets in Africa, the Federal Government revealed. It disclosed during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the REA and the Africa Mini-Grid Developers Association in Abuja.
- FG gets over $1.5bn fresh W’Bank, AfDB loans Dec – Edun
The Federal Government said it had secured a budget support loan worth $1.5bn from the World Bank and another worth $80m from the African Development Bank to finance various projects in critical sectors of the economy.
- FG to pay nine months N-Power arrears from November
The Federal Government has announced its readiness to commence the payment of nine months backlogs to N-Power beneficiaries who are on the programme beginning from November.
- Nigeria to require mining firms to invest in domestic processing – minister
Nigeria is toughening up licensing rules for foreign mining companies to push them to boost processing and refining of metals like lithium and zinc within the country, its minister of mines said. The policy will require mining companies to show business plans for so-called “value addition” before they are granted licences.
- Ajaokuta steel faces disconnection over N25bn debt, says NERC
Electricity distribution companies through the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission have warned the Federal Government that failure to settle its electricity bills totalling N25bn may result in its facility, Ajaokuta Steel Co. Ltd,’s disconnection from the national grid.
Ghana
- IMF works with World Bank to speed up debt treatment for Ghana and others under G20
Ms Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, IMF said this during a plenary meeting at the 2023 IMF/WGB Annual Meetings in Marrakech. “The IMF and the World Bank are bringing all relevant creditors and debtors together with promising signs,” the IMF Managing Director said.
- Ghana poised to increase truck assembly business – Akufo-Addo
This development will in the long term build the capacity of the nation for a fully-integrated and competitive industrial hub for the automotive industry. President Nana Akufo-Addo, commissioning the second phase of the Zonda Sinotruk Assembly Plant, at Tema, Greater Accra Region, said his Administration was giving meaning to the Ghana Automotive Development Programme under the Strategic Anchor Industries Initiative.
- South Africa: Ghana, South Africa Agree On Visa-Free Travels
The Ghanaian and South African governments have entered into an agreement on a visa waiver regime for holders of ordinary passports. Ghana’s ministry of foreign affairs and regional integration disclosed this in a statement on Friday.
Francophone West Africa
Senegal
- Senegal Inflation Rate Softens for 6th Month to 3.8%
The annual inflation rate in Senegal dropped for the 6th straight month to 3.8% in September 2023, reaching the lowest since December 2021. Prices moderated primarily for food & non-alcoholic beverages (4% vs 6.6% in August); housing & utilities (3.3% vs 4.8%); recreation & culture (4.6% vs 5.1%). On a monthly basis, consumer prices fell by 0.3% in September, after five consecutive months of increases.
Ivory Coast
- Ivory Coast appoints largely unchanged new government
Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara appointed a new government of 31 ministers with many positions unchanged after unexpectedly removing the prime minister and his cabinet from office earlier this month.
- Ivory Coast presidency says Robert Beugre Mambe appointed as PM
Ivory Coast’s presidency said Robert Beugre Mambe, the governor of Abidjan, was appointed as prime minister after the government was dissolved earlier this month.
East Africa
Kenya
- Kenya’s Biggest Bank Says Customers Taking Strain From Economy.
Kenyan borrowers are being held back by economic headwinds including higher interest rates and increased taxes, according to the East African nation’s largest bank. James Mwangi, Equity Group Holdings Plc’s chief executive officer.
- Severe food insecurity rate doubles in Kenya.
The prevalence of severe food insecurity in Kenya doubled in a span of six years, highlighting the challenges Kenyans are going through in trying to put a meal on the table, according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
- Kenya’s Eight-Month Mobile-Money Transactions Drop 3% y/y.
Value of mobile phone-based transactions in the eight months through August declined to KSh5.09tn from KSh5.24tn a year earlier, according to Central Bank of Kenya data.
- Kenya Lifts Gasoline Pump Prices by 2.7% From Oct. 15.
Kenya increased gasoline prices to KSh217.36/ltr ($1.46) per liter in Nairobi, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority said. Diesel is up by 2.2% to trade at KSh205.47/ltr. Meanwhile Kerosene edges KSh2.45 higher to KSh205.06/ltr.
- Kenya’s Tax Collections Climb 11.0% y/y in 1Q to KSh514.3b.
Tax income in three months through September is equivalent to 21% of the full-year target of KSh2.5tn, Treasury Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u.
Tanzania
- Tanzania Second Quarter GDP Expands 5.2% on Year.
Tanzania’s growth slows from 5.4% in previous quarter according to data published by the Dar es Salaam-based statistics agency. Agriculture output rose 2.4% y/y and Construction output rose 2.3% y/y.
- Tanzania Seeks $1.0Bn Exim Bank of India Loan for Irrigation.
Tanzania made a formal request for the Export-Import Bank of India loan during President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s visit to India this week, spokeswoman Zuhura Yunus tells reporters in Dar es Salaam.
Uganda
- Uganda Coffee Exports in 2022-23 Rose 4.8% Y/y, UCDA Says.
Shipments from October 2022 through September 2023 totaled 6.14m bags, versus 5.86m bags a year earlier, Kampala-based Uganda Coffee Development Authority says in a report on its website.
- Uganda Gets $608.0m of World Bank Funding Arranged Before Freeze.
Uganda has received financing for its electricity access project and will spend the money on payments for goods, works and services such as consulting, the Energy Ministry says in a statement in New Vision newspaper.
- Uganda to Award $1.4b Road Deal that Drew Bids From EU, China.
East African nation set to embark on the contracting phase for the Kampala-Jinja Expressway after bowing to funders’ demands that all people negatively impacted by the project be compensated, Minister of Works and Transport Edward Katumba Wamala says in the capital, Kampala.
- Uganda’s 2023 Sugar Output Seen 28% Lower on Cane Shortage.
Production this year could drop to 440,000 MT from 610,000 MT in 2022 because competition pushed growers to harvest immature crops, Uganda Sugar Manufacturers Association tells parliament.
Southern Africa
South Africa
- South African retail sales fall 0.5% year on year in August
South African retail sales fell 0.5% year on year in August after declining by a revised 1.0% in July, Statistics South Africa figures showed on Wednesday. On a month-on-month basis, sales increased 0.2%.
- SA consumers forge a new shopping path
According to NIQ, 99% of South African consumers have changed the way they shop for FMCG (95% globally) and have adopted a range of strategies to manage their spending. The three top saving strategies are buying whatever brand is on promotion (34%), shopping more often at discounters (40%) and focusing on essentials. (46%).
- New factory opened to boost Cape Town’s clothing and textile industry: SA
The City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth, Alderman James Vos, cut the ribbon at the opening of Ivilitex, a new high-tech clothing and textile manufacturing facility in Epping, Cape Town. The garment manufacturer is a division of the Ivili Group, a South African woman-owned company that is aiming to lead the charge towards increasing locally produced apparel from the current 44% to 65% by 2030.
- South Africa set to overtake Nigeria as Africa’s biggest economy — IMF
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts that South Africa may overtake Nigeria as Africa’s largest economy, according to its World Economic Outlook. South Africa, the most industrialised country on the continent, aims to achieve a gross domestic product (GDP) of $401 billion by 2024. However, at current prices, Nigeria and Egypt presently have GDPs of $395 billion and $358 billion, respectively.
- South Africa consumer inflation rises to 5.4% y/y in September
South Africa’s headline consumer inflation rose to 5.4% year-on-year in September from 4.8% in August, data from Statistics South Africa showed on Wednesday. The statistics agency said core inflation, which excludes food and fuel costs, fell to 4.5% year-on-year in September from 4.8% in August.
- Climate change among top 3 concerns for South Africans
Epson’s latest Climate Barometer survey found that climate change is the third most pressing concern facing South Africans, after poverty (68.4%) and the rising prices of goods and services (64.2%). 58% of respondents cited climate concerns as one of the biggest issues facing the world today. The predominant sentiment among South Africans regarding climate change is one of fear, with 36.7% expressing fearfulness and a third expressing anxiety.
- World Bank in talks for $1bln loan to end SA load shedding
The World Bank is in talks about a potential $1bn loan to help enable South Africa to reform its energy sector, a bank official told Reuters, as the country tries to overcome record power cuts that have crippled the economy.
- New research reveals less than 10% of SA businesses receive fair and transparent forex charges
In the world of international business, forex transactions are the lifeblood that keep the global economy alive with an estimated daily volume of $7.6tn as of April this year. The South African portion of that amounts to over $19.1bn.
Angola
- China National Chem to Build Angola’s $6 Billion Lobito Refinery
Angola will sign a contract with China National Chemical Engineering Co. on Friday to build the long-delayed $6 billion plant in Lobito. The processing capacities of the Lobito refinery remain at 200,000 barrels per day and the estimated cost of the investment is around $6 billion,” Diamantino Azevedo, the minister of Minerals and Petroleum, said in Luanda after a meeting between President Joao Lourenço and the company’s Chairman Wen Gang.
- Angola to Export 1.13M B/D of Crude in December
Angola is to load 1.13m b/d of crude in December, according to a provisional schedule seen by Bloomberg. Includes 37 cargoes carrying a combined 35.025m bbl, nudged higher from 1.11m b/d in November’s final plan, which had 35 shipments. The final December schedule is due to be released later this month.
Zambia
- World Heritage Group Clears $5 Billion Dam Near Victoria Falls
An agency of the United Nations has cleared Zambia and Zimbabwe to build a $5 billion hydropower dam downstream from Victoria Falls, a Unesco World Heritage Site, the authority overseeing its construction said.
- Zambia Agrees Deal With Official Creditors on Debt Restructuring
Zambia agreed a memorandum of understanding to restructure its loans with official creditors, co-led by China and France, finalizing a $6.3 billion deal reached almost four months ago. The long-awaited accord, which the International Monetary Fund announced prematurely on Oct. 12, paves the way for the disbursement of another portion of a $1.3 billion loan to the southern African nation. Zambia, which became the continent’s first pandemic-era sovereign defaulter in November 2020, must now sign bilateral agreements with each creditor.
Zimbabwe
- Small-scale mechanisation in Zimbabwean farming: boosting production
Following the introduction to the blog series last week, this blog focus on how small-scale mechanisation is boosting production across our sites. Processes of intensification and commercialisation are driving demand for a variety of forms of mechanisation to assist with tillage, irrigation, seeding and harvesting.
- Zimbabwe now 7th in global diamond production
This was revealed in the latest production statistics released by the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS). The KPCS, which is the regulator of trade, production, and processing of gems globally, has revealed in its latest rankings that Zimbabwe is among the top 10 diamond producing nations. The revelation comes at a time the government is also expecting diamond production to contribute massively towards a US$12 billion mining industry by end of the year.
- Zimbabwe worker exodus intensifies with economy in meltdown
Census data released by neighboring South Africa this week showed the country was home to 1.01 million Zimbabwean immigrants last year, up from 672,308 at the last count in 2011 and an average annual increase of almost 31,000. Emigration data released for the first time by Zimbabwe’s statistics agency in September last year showed 908,913 of the country’s estimated 16 million nationals were living abroad, and 85% of them were in South Africa.
Central Africa
Cameroon
- Cameroon ranks 5th in Africa, 25th worldwide for tax transparency
The latest Global Tax Expenditures Transparency Index (GTETI) places Cameroon as the 5th country most tax transparent in Africa and the 25th worldwide.
- Cameroon reaches new economic deal with China
The Cameroonian Ministry of Finance issued a note informing of the signing of a new cooperation deal with China. The document, signed as part of a visit by Minister Louis Paul Motazé to Beijing, aims to “eliminate double taxation on income and prevent tax evasion and avoidance.”
- Cameroon’s agri-food industry sees a new drop in production costs, after a steady upward trend
Agri-food businesses in Cameroon witnessed a slight decline of 0.8% in production costs between April and June 2023, the National Institute of Statistics (INS) revealed in its latest Industrial Producer Price Index (IPPI). This is the second consecutive drop in ex-factory prices after that recorded in the first quarter.
Democratic Republic of Congo
- Fuel prices surge in Congo amidst protests and economic struggles
In the Republic of Congo, diesel prices have risen by 25 percent in October, marking another increase following a hike in January. Similarly, since July, the pump price of gasoline has also surged by 25 percent.
