Corona Watch

South AfricaRatings agency Fitch downgraded South Africa's credit rating further into "junk" territory on Friday, another blow for Africa's most industrialised economy, which is still smarting from a Moody's downgrade last week.Fitch lowered its long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating to 'BB' from 'BB+" and assigned a negative outlook.The agency cited "the lack of a clear path towards government debt stabilisation as well as the expected impact of the Covid-19 shock on public finances and growth" among reasons for its decision. – Nampa/ReutersZambiaZambia's central bank said on Friday it has established a 10 billion Zambian kwachas (US$533.33-million) medium-term refinancing facility for financial service providers (FSP) as part of emergency policy measures aimed at easing a liquidity crunch triggered by the coronavirus.The three to five years facility will be available to eligible FSPs to enable them to restructure or refinance qualifying facilities or lend to eligible clients, the bank said in a statement issued by governor Denny Kalyalya.The bank has also "scaled up open market operations" to provide short-term liquidity support to commercial banks on more flexible terms than before the coronavirus outbreak. – Nampa/ReutersRwandaRwanda has secured a US$109.4 million in emergency coronavirus funding from the International Monetary Fund, the first African country to do so, the fund said late on Thursday.The loan, which comes under the Rapid Credit Facility, will help alleviate pressure on trade, tourism and foreign exchange reserves, while enabling greater health spending, the funding announcement said. – Nampa/ReutersNigeriaNigeria plans to create a 500 billion naira (US$1.39 billion) coronavirus fund to strengthen its healthcare infrastructure to tackle the virus, the government said on Saturday.The crisis intervention fund would pull in cash as loans from various special government accounts and get the rest from grants and loans from multilateral institutions, a statement said. – Nampa/Reuters

Corona Watch

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Namibian Sun 2026-04-28

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Corona Watch

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Namibian Sun 2026-04-28

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