January 19, 2024/United Capital
Anglophone West Africa
Nigeria
- Nigeria inflation rises slightly to 28.92% y/y in December
Nigeria’s annual inflation rose to 28.92% in December from 28.20% in November, with food prices a key contributor, its bureau of statistics said on Monday.
- CBN, not Customs, adjusted exchange rate for import, export business —Nigeria
The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Adewale Adeniyi, on Tuesday affirmed that the recent hike in exchange rate which recently affected import and export transactions at the ports were done by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and not the Customs.
- Shell’s $2.4bn assets sale: Meet the titans behind the deal
A consortium, led by the Nigerian independent energy firm Renaissance Oil and including ND Western, Aradel Energy, First E&P, Waltersmith, and Petrolin, marks a significant transformation in Nigeria’s oil industry landscape.
- FG issues 13 new power generation, distribution licenses
In a move to bolster the nation’s energy landscape, the Federal Government, through the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC)(NERC), has greenlit 13 new licenses for the generation of off-grid and embedded power, independent electricity distribution, and electricity trading.
- Nigerian Govt To Reposition NCAM For Improved Agriculture Mechanisation
The Federal Government has assured that it is set and poised to reposition the National Centre for Agriculture Mechanisation (NCAM) situated in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, North Central Nigeria to improve the agriculture sector to attain food security.
- Access Holdings gets CBN approval-in-principle for consumer lending subsidiary
Access Holdings Plc, the parent group of Access Bank, has received the CBN’s approval in principle to set up its consumer lending subsidiary which will be known as Oxygen X Finance Company Limited.
Ghana
- IMF board set to approve $600mln loan for Ghana on Friday – sources
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) executive board is due to meet on Friday to approve a $600 million rescue loan payout to Ghana, three sources told Reuters, after the country reached a deal to restructure $5.4 billion of official creditor debt.
- Ghana agrees debt restructuring deal with official creditors – finance ministry
Ghana has reached a deal to restructure $5.4 billion of loans with its official creditors, the finance ministry said on Friday, a milestone in the country’s quest for debt relief as it charts its way out of the worst economic crisis in a generation.
- Ghana’s cocoa board signs $800m loan with banks
Ghana’s cocoa marketing board has signed an $800 million syndicated loan with banks and expects to draw down the first $600 million as soon as this week, its deputy chief executive officer said on Tuesday. Ghana, the world’s second-largest cocoa producer behind neighbouring Ivory Coast, uses an annual syndicated loan to finance bean purchases from farmers.
Francophone West Africa (WAEMU)
Ivory Coast
- Ivory Coast to End Africa’s Eurobond Hiatus With New Issue
Ivory Coast will become the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to issue a eurobond after a nearly two-year hiatus. The world’s largest cocoa producer will issue a new eurobond next week, President Alassane Ouattara said in the commercial capital Abidjan on Monday.
Senegal
- Vinci Gets €200M Electrical Infrastructure Contract in Senegal.
Vinci Energies and Senelec have signed a €200 million contract to build an array of electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure. French authorities will contribute to the project’s financing.
East Africa
Kenya
- Kenya Explores a Swap Deal as $2 Billion Debt Deadline Looms.
Kenya is looking into a kind of debt swap that would bolster its finances as it faces a crucial repayment deadline, while channeling funds into basic social services, according to people familiar with the early-stage deliberations.
- Kenya Gets $684.7 Million From IMF Ahead of Eurobond Maturity.
The International Monetary Fund agreed to immediately disburse $684.7 million to Kenya, boosting the country’s foreign-exchange reserves before a critical Eurobond repayment due in June.
- Kenya to Lease State-Owned Sugar Firms After Dropping Sale Plans.
Interested parties have until Feb. 15 to submit tender documents, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development says in statement in the state-owned MyGov newspaper.
Uganda
- Ionic Rare Earths Says Mining License Signed for Uganda Project.
Rwenzori Rare Metals, owner of the Makuutu Heavy Rare Earth Project, formally received the granted large-scale mining license over the central Makuutu tenement. This mining license approval is the first large scale mining license awarded in Uganda; Ionic Rare Earths says in a statement
- Uganda’s December Coffee Exports Drop 4.2% y/y on Harvest Delay.
Shipments last month declined to 401,336 bags, from 418,799 bags a year earlier, after rains delayed harvesting and drying of the crop, Kampala-based Uganda Coffee Development Authority says in a report on its website.
Southern Africa
South Africa
- The South African Reserve Bank’s Kuben Naidoo has stepped down
The Reserve Bank has confirmed that deputy governor, Kuben Naidoo, has resigned. The news was made official on Tuesday, 16 January, in spite of Naidoo having already stepped down from his position last year.
- Recession Watch — SA mining output soars 6.8% y/y in November, reducing downturn odds
South African mining output grew briskly in November, lowering the odds that the economy fell into a recession in the fourth quarter of last year. But this may not be sustained for long in the face of global headwinds and the Transnet train smash, which will put a handbrake on the coal sector this month.
- Trade conditions remained weak in November, December, but more positive outlook anticipated – Sacci
Industry organisation the South Africa Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (Sacci’s) December 2023 survey on trade conditions indicated a slight improvement in the trading climate for November and December, but respondents generally still perceived the conditions as fragile.
- South Africa Tax Agency Posts High Court Judgment on Deductibility of Interest Paid on Shareholder Loan
The South African Revenue Service Jan. 15 posted online the High Court Judgment for Case No. A3094/2022, on the deductibility of interest paid on shareholder loans, for corporate income tax purposes. The taxpayer, an investment holding company, claimed a deduction for interest paid to its shareholder.
- Risk aversion flows finding some traction – Fed’s Waller set to speak for the first time since Nov
Sentiment among South Africa’s manufacturers turned positive for the first time in eight months in December, propped up by more robust business activity and less intense rolling power cuts during the festive season. Absa Group Ltd.’s Purchasing Managers’ Index, compiled by the Bureau for Economic Research, climbed to 50.9 from 48.2 in November, the lender said in a statement on Monday.
Zambia
- US Treasury official discusses cholera outbreak, debt with Zambia minister
The U.S. Treasury Department’s top international official spoke with Zambia’s finance minister on Wednesday and discussed Zambia’s ongoing debt restructuring and its response to a recent cholera outbreak, the U.S. Treasury Department said.
Zimbabwe
- Zimbabwe gold output declines 15% amid electricity, forex shortages
Zimbabwe produced 30 metric tons of gold in 2023, 15% less than the previous year, official data showed on Monday, as electricity cuts and currency volatility impacted output.
Central Africa
Cameroon
- Cameroon raises CFA47.9 billion on Beac securities market to repay debt
Cameroon successfully raised CFA47.9 billion on the Beac public securities market between January 8 and 12, 2024, according to data reported by the Treasury. The money was raised through fungible Treasury bills (BTA) with a maturity of 26 weeks, we learned. The funds raised were used to repay a CFA49.8 billion loan obtained on the same market 26 weeks earlier. With the amount already available, the Cameroonian Treasury will not need to tap much of its reserves to settle this debt with market investors.
- Cameroon plans disciplinary action against public servants suspended after Coppé Operation
The Cameroonian government embarked on a new step as part of the State Personnel Physical Counting Operation (Coppé), launched a few years ago. This time, “disciplinary measures involving the dismissal or termination of employment” will be taken against public servants who have remained suspended for four years, according to a note regarding the execution of the 2024 budget signed on December 28, 2023, by the Minister of Finance, Louis Paul Motaze.
- Cameroon Land Credit invested CFA14.5bn in housing financing in 2022
Cameroon’s housing bank -CFC- reported it has granted 317 loans to its clients, totalling nearly CFA14.5 billion in 2022. According to data compiled by the Technical Commission for the Rehabilitation of Public and Para-public Sector Enterprises (CTR), this amount represents just one and a half times the annual volume of disbursements by the CFC (CFA10.2 billion) over the 41 years from 1977 to 2018. During this period, Cameroon’s housing bank had granted loans totalling only CFA420 billion.
