Africa Briefs

Egypt’s plan to manage state companiesEgypt is discussing the setting up of a sovereign wealth fund to manage state companies as it plans to list them on the stock exchange, the country's minister for public enterprise, Khaled Badawi, said yesterday.The idea of the fund is being discussed internally and is in its early stages, he told a conference in Dubai.Egypt is looking to offer shares in eight to 10 state companies on the stock exchange over the next 18 months, Finance Minister Amr El-Garhy told Reuters in January, as part of a drive to attract foreign investors. – Nampa/ReutersPartners in Kenya's oil project eye pipeline dealCompanies developing Kenya's first oilfields expect to conclude agreement on construction of an export pipeline by the middle of this year, according to Toronto-listed Africa Oil, one of the partners.Oil could account for about a tenth of Kenya's government revenue, on par with its biggest current export, tea, once production reaches its peak, officials say. Production is expected to start around 2021-2022.London-listed Tullow Oil, which struck oil in Kenya six years ago, and its partners proposed in January to transport oil from the land-locked Amosing and Ngamia fields via pipeline to the Indian Ocean port of Lamu 750km away.Tullow said in its 2017 annual report that the initial development stage will target about 210 million barrels of oil out of total 560 million of proven and probable reserves, with daily plateau production of 60 000-80 000 barrels per day (bpd).Production could potentially increase to 100 000 bpd or more, Tullow added. - Nampa/ReutersCongo tackles child labour in cobalt minesThe Democratic Republic of Congo will launch this month new monitoring and tracing mechanisms to tackle child labour in cobalt and copper production, a mines ministry official said.Sourcing of the metals has come into focus as manufacturers scramble to secure supplies of cobalt, a key component in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, as production of electric cars surges.Congo is by far the world's biggest producer of cobalt, accounting for more than half of global supply. But rights groups say child labour is used to produce some of that cobalt. Amnesty International calculates a fifth of the country's cobalt output is mined by hand by informal miners, including children.Alexis Mikandji, the director general of the ministry of mines’ certification agency, CEEC, said the Congo had eliminated the practice in the production of diamonds, iron ore and tungsten. Now it has moved on to tackle child labour at copper and cobalt mines, Mikandji told a metals conference in London.The new mechanisms would apply to artisanal or small scale miners, their customers and operations. - Nampa/ReutersNigeria capital inflow rose in Q4The value of capital imported into Nigeria rose 29.9% in the fourth quarter to US$5.32 billion, as economic activity gathered pace after the first recession in a quarter century, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.Capital imports stood at US$12.2 billion for 2017, up from US$5.38 billion previous year, the NBS said.Nigeria's economy climbed 1.9% in the fourth quarter to return to growth as oil revenues rose. The central bank has been injecting US dollars into the forex market to support the naira and the economy.Capital imports were over US$4 billion in the third quarter, the first such quarterly rise since 2015. The rise was driven by portfolio and other investments, the NBS said in a report. – Nampa/ReutersTunisia to invest billions in energy projectsTunisia will invest 12 billion dinars (US$5 billion) in electricity and other energy projects from 2018 to 2020, a government statement said.The government also said it was planning a new airport close to the capital.The energy projects include a 600 megawatt-underwater power cable to link Tunisia's power grid with Italy's. The 200-km line would cost 600 million euro, he said.The North African country will also build two power plants with a capacity of 450 megawatts (MW) each. – Nampa/Reuters

Africa Briefs

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-10

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Africa Briefs

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-10

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