Africa in brief
South Africa's CPI slows to 4.9%
South Africa's headline consumer inflation slowed unexpectedly in August, data showed on
Wednesday, with analysts saying the print could make the central bank take a less hawkish tone when it delivers its interest rates decision on Thursday.
Headline consumer inflation slowed to 4.9% year-on-year in August from 5.1% in July, and contracted 0.1% after rising 0.8% on a monthly basis, Statistics South Africa said.
Economists had expected CPI to rise to 5.2% year-on-year, according to a Reuters poll.
-Nampa/Reuters
Libya imposes fee on hard currency transactions
Libya's internationally recognised government on Wednesday imposed a fee of 183%
on any hard currency transactions, effectively devaluing the Libyan dinar to bridge the gap to the dominating black market.
If implemented in a country in chaos where the central bank struggles to impose its will, the move devalues the official rate of the dinar to the dollar for such deals to around 3.9 from 1.4, Libya's Eqtisidiya business TV channel said.
Its impact was unclear. The black market rate stands at around 6, and the fee covers only part of the market. Family allowances will be excluded as well as possibly imports of fuel and other subsidised goods.
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.
-Nampa/Reuters
Nigeria to suspend national airline project
Nigeria has suspended its plan to relaunch its national airline, a junior aviation minister said
on Wednesday.
The government had planned to launch the prestige project in December to make good on a promise by Muhammadu Buhari when he ran for president in 2015. He will seek re-election in February.
"I regret to announce that the Federal Executive Council has taken the tough decision to suspend the national carrier project in the interim," Hadi Sirika, junior aviation minister, said on Twitter after the weekly cabinet meeting.
"All commitments due will be honoured," he said. No reason was given for the decision.
In a separate statement, he said: "The suspension was strategic and had nothing to do with politics."
The airline was part of a plan to improve infrastructure that has suffered due to decades of neglect and underinvestment. The government says improvement will require private investment.
The plan to relaunch the carrier was announced in July. A private operator, sought through a Public Private Partnership, would manage it according to a document seen by Reuters.
-Nampa/Reuters
Kenya's finance minister cuts spending
Kenya's finance minister Henry Rotich has cut the government's spending budget by 55.1 billion shillings (US$546.90 million), or 1.8%, for the fiscal year from July this year, a Treasury document showed on Wednesday.
The government is facing a tough balancing act after a public outcry over a new 16 percent value added tax on all petroleum products forced President Uhuru Kenyatta to suggest to
parliament to keep the VAT and cut if by half.
In the document detailing the new spending estimates, Rotich said the budget had to be adjusted because of the amendments to tax measures brought by lawmakers when they first debated it and passed it last month.
The proposed halving of the VAT rate on fuel has left the government with a funding shortfall, hence the cuts in spending.
Parliament will vote on a raft of proposals, including the 1.8% cut on spending, in a special sitting on Thursday.
-Nampa/Reuters
Zambian Kwacha falls over size of country's debt, aid freeze
Zambia's kwacha lost more than 1% on Wednesday, hit by investor worries about the
size of nation's debt and an aid freeze by Britain and Finland over suspicion that social welfare funds may have been misused.
The currency of Africa's No.2 copper producer fell as much as 1.6% to 11.1800 per dollar on Wednesday from a close of 11.0000 per dollar on Tuesday, Reuters data showed.
"Zambia's debt issues continue to create anxiety among investors. In addition, emerging market currencies have been generally weakening," one senior commercial bank trader said.
Zambia's external debt rose to US$9.37 billion by the end of June from US$8.7 billion in December, the finance ministry said in August, a week after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised concerns over country's high borrowing.
-Nampa/Reuters
South Africa's headline consumer inflation slowed unexpectedly in August, data showed on
Wednesday, with analysts saying the print could make the central bank take a less hawkish tone when it delivers its interest rates decision on Thursday.
Headline consumer inflation slowed to 4.9% year-on-year in August from 5.1% in July, and contracted 0.1% after rising 0.8% on a monthly basis, Statistics South Africa said.
Economists had expected CPI to rise to 5.2% year-on-year, according to a Reuters poll.
-Nampa/Reuters
Libya imposes fee on hard currency transactions
Libya's internationally recognised government on Wednesday imposed a fee of 183%
on any hard currency transactions, effectively devaluing the Libyan dinar to bridge the gap to the dominating black market.
If implemented in a country in chaos where the central bank struggles to impose its will, the move devalues the official rate of the dinar to the dollar for such deals to around 3.9 from 1.4, Libya's Eqtisidiya business TV channel said.
Its impact was unclear. The black market rate stands at around 6, and the fee covers only part of the market. Family allowances will be excluded as well as possibly imports of fuel and other subsidised goods.
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.
-Nampa/Reuters
Nigeria to suspend national airline project
Nigeria has suspended its plan to relaunch its national airline, a junior aviation minister said
on Wednesday.
The government had planned to launch the prestige project in December to make good on a promise by Muhammadu Buhari when he ran for president in 2015. He will seek re-election in February.
"I regret to announce that the Federal Executive Council has taken the tough decision to suspend the national carrier project in the interim," Hadi Sirika, junior aviation minister, said on Twitter after the weekly cabinet meeting.
"All commitments due will be honoured," he said. No reason was given for the decision.
In a separate statement, he said: "The suspension was strategic and had nothing to do with politics."
The airline was part of a plan to improve infrastructure that has suffered due to decades of neglect and underinvestment. The government says improvement will require private investment.
The plan to relaunch the carrier was announced in July. A private operator, sought through a Public Private Partnership, would manage it according to a document seen by Reuters.
-Nampa/Reuters
Kenya's finance minister cuts spending
Kenya's finance minister Henry Rotich has cut the government's spending budget by 55.1 billion shillings (US$546.90 million), or 1.8%, for the fiscal year from July this year, a Treasury document showed on Wednesday.
The government is facing a tough balancing act after a public outcry over a new 16 percent value added tax on all petroleum products forced President Uhuru Kenyatta to suggest to
parliament to keep the VAT and cut if by half.
In the document detailing the new spending estimates, Rotich said the budget had to be adjusted because of the amendments to tax measures brought by lawmakers when they first debated it and passed it last month.
The proposed halving of the VAT rate on fuel has left the government with a funding shortfall, hence the cuts in spending.
Parliament will vote on a raft of proposals, including the 1.8% cut on spending, in a special sitting on Thursday.
-Nampa/Reuters
Zambian Kwacha falls over size of country's debt, aid freeze
Zambia's kwacha lost more than 1% on Wednesday, hit by investor worries about the
size of nation's debt and an aid freeze by Britain and Finland over suspicion that social welfare funds may have been misused.
The currency of Africa's No.2 copper producer fell as much as 1.6% to 11.1800 per dollar on Wednesday from a close of 11.0000 per dollar on Tuesday, Reuters data showed.
"Zambia's debt issues continue to create anxiety among investors. In addition, emerging market currencies have been generally weakening," one senior commercial bank trader said.
Zambia's external debt rose to US$9.37 billion by the end of June from US$8.7 billion in December, the finance ministry said in August, a week after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised concerns over country's high borrowing.
-Nampa/Reuters
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