Africa in brief

Angolan Nov oil exports may fall

Angola will export less crude oil in November than in October, based on a preliminary loading schedule on Monday that showed shipments will likely fall to their lowest since August.

The early schedule, seen by traders, showed a drop in the number of cargoes to 44 in November and equates to a daily rate of 1.41 million barrels per day, from October's final 49 cargoes and 1.52 million bpd.

That would be the lowest amount since August's 1.33 million bpd rate, which in turn was a 12-year low.

The schedule included four cargoes of new grade Gindungo, which comes from Total's Kaombo oil field.

Meanwhile, BP was again actively bidding for Nigerian cargoes loading in late October and early November, although, in the absence of any November loading programmes, made no purchases, traders said.

-Nampa/Reuters





Egypt cancels debt auction

Egypt cancelled a Treasury bond auction on Monday, its third such move in as many weeks, as foreign investors cut their exposure to the country's debt at a time of weak appetite globally for emerging market assets.

Data from the central bank showed it had called off the auction of 3- and 7-year treasury bonds worth 3.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($195.97 million). Two previous T-bond auctions, also for 3.5 billion pounds each, had been cancelled after bankers and investors demanded high yields on the debt.

-Nampa/Reuters



South Africa not planning mass layoffs in public sector

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday there would be no mass layoffs of public sector workers as his government considers various ways to pull the economy out of a recession that has rattled the rand and investor confidence.

The economy slipped into recession in the second quarter for the first time since 2009, data showed in August, a stinging blow to Ramaphosa's pledge to revive the economy and reduce record-high unemployment after a decade of stagnation.

In June, the National Treasury said it was considering layoffs and early retirement packages for staff in the public sector to avoid breaking its pledge to cut spending after unions clinched above-inflation wage increases.

-Nampa/Reuters

Rocky start for Sierra Leone's free school programme

Some two million children in Sierra Leone went back to school on Monday in a key test of the country's landmark free education programme for primary and high school students.

It was a key election pledge of President Julius Maada Bio, who took office in early April. Bio has said he will donate three months of his salary to the scheme, which covers school fees and supplies.

Schools were packed on Monday and some pupils were unable to get in due to a lack of space.

"We turned down 30% of the kids seeking admission at our school due to lack of sitting accommodation. We will not exceed the teacher-pupil ratio of 50 per class," said Florence Kuyembeh, principal of a girls' secondary school in the capital Freetown.

Last week, finance minister Jacob Jusu Saffa said the government had paid the fees for 1.1 million children in nearly 3 500 schools and would be picking up the tab for another 158 000 pupils.

-Nampa/Reuters

Tunisia's 2019 debt payments to hit record US$3 bn

Tunisia’s debt repayments will rise to a record level of more than 9 billion dinars (US$3.24 billion) next year, the finance minister said on Monday.

The North African country’s economy has been in crisis since the toppling of autocrat Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, with unemployment and inflation shooting up.

Last year, the debt service was about 7.9 billion dinars.

“Debt service will exceed 9 billion dinar next year compared with about 5.1 in 2016,” finance minister Ridha Chalgoum said, giving no other details.

Tunisia needs about 7 billion dinars in external financing in 2019, a senior official told Reuters last week.

The government aims to reduce its budget deficit to 3.9% next year from the 4.9% it forecasts for 2018.

-Nampa/Reuters