Africa briefs

South Africa's economic recovery will be slow

A recovery in South Africa's economic growth will be slow and less than the Treasury's estimate of 1.5% for 2018 following a surprise contraction in the first two quarters, ratings agency Moody's said on Thursday.

"Growth is going to be below 1%, to what extent it’s difficult to say," Lucie Villa, Moody’s lead analyst for South Africa, told the agency's annual Sub-Saharan Africa conference, referring to this calendar year.

Moody's is the last of the top rating agencies to haveb Pretoria's long-term foreign-currency debt in investment grade.

-Nampa/Reuters

Libya to impose fees on foreign currency transactions

Libya's UN-backed authorities decided on Wednesday to impose fees on foreign currency transactions as well as review fuel subsidies, a government statement said.

It gave no details how the fees would be implemented, given the weak grip of authorities challenged by armed groups that effectively control major banks and ministries.

The move is meant to close the gap between the official exchange rate of 1.4 dinars to the dollar and the parallel rate of between 6 and 7 dinars.

The gap has done much to distort Libya’s oil-dependent economy, contributing to a liquidity crisis and causing corruption as armed groups with access to dollars at the official rate make huge profits through import scams.

The government statement said the size of the fees would be determined within a week by Tripoli-based Prime Minister Fayez Seraj and central bank governor Sadiq al-Kabir.

-Nampa/Reuters

Kenyan central bank fines five banks

Kenya’s central bank on Wednesday said it had fined five commercial banks a total of 392.5 million shillings (US$3.89 million) in connection with the theft of funds at the National Youth Agency, a government body said.

Dozens of senior government officials and business people were charged in May with various charges related to the theft of nearly US$100 million from the youth agency, NYS, marking a new effort to crack down on widespread graft.

The five banks are Standard Chartered Kenya, Equity, Diamond Trust, Co-operative Bank and KCB Group, the central bank said.

The central bank said it had discussed its findings with all the five banks and they had pledged to ensure compliance with all laws in the future and to draw up plans for sealing gaps that were identified.

-Nampa/Reuters

Congo mines minister insists no compromise on new code

Democratic Republic of Congo’s mines minister said on Wednesday that a new mining code signed into law in March cannot be called into question.

Addressing a mining conference in the copper and cobalt-mining city of Kolwezi, Martin Kabwelulu called on industry leaders to work to implement the code as it was signed into law by President Joseph Kabila.

Major mining companies including Glencore and Randgold bitterly opposed the code, which axes tax exemptions and hikes royalties and profit taxes. They have been holding out hope it might be watered down in further negotiations.

-Nampa/Reuters

Tunisia's August trade deficit up 20%

Tunisia’s trade deficit widened by about 20% year on year in the first eight months of 2018 to 12.2 billion dinars (US$4.39 billion), a record level, and official data showed on Wednesday.

The deficit was 10.1 billion dinars in the same period last year.

It widened after imports rose by 20.4% , the State Statistics Institute said.

Last year, the central bank ordered local lenders to stop financing imports of about 220 products - from fish to perfume - as the country tries to curb its trade deficit.

Unemployment is high, especially among the young, and some inland regions remain impoverished.

International lenders have demanded reforms to cut the deficit and reduce spending on a bloated public sector.

-Nampa/Reuters