On a typical workday, hundreds of thousands of men clad in overalls and carrying safety equipment and head lamps assemble at South Africa’s mine shafts. They crowd into cramped elevators to be lowered miles underground, where they hack at seams of gold or platinum and haul ore in intense...
South Africa’s manufacturing output contracted by 1.3 percent year-on-year in March following a revised 0.5 percent expansion in February, the statistics agency said on Thursday. Statistics South Africa said factory production on a month-on-month basis increased 1.3 percent in March, but shrunk by 1.7 percent in the three months to...
Moroccan national carrier, Royal Air Maroc (RAM), has announced plans to launch flights to five other East African cities only two years after it began its Casablanca-Nairobi operations. Country manager Othman Baba said the move, inspired by Nairobi experience, is part of RAM’s efforts to claw back a share of...
Ivory Coast will stop distributing hybrid seedlings and other advanced technologies that help cocoa farmers improve yields to cut overproduction that has weighed on cocoa prices, according to a letter by the regulator sent to exporters. “We inform you of our decision to suspend the distribution of improved plant material...
Nigeria’s state oil company illegally paid 216 billion naira ($707.4 million) in fuel subsidies in 2017, according to a Senate probe, the findings of which were released on Thursday. The investigation by the upper legislative house said that parliament had not approved those payments by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation...
Zambia’s annual inflation rate quickened to 7.4 percent in April from 7.1 percent a month earlier, official data showed on Thursday. On a month-on-month basis, the rate slowed to 0.6 percent in April compared with 1.3 percent in March, data from the Central Statistical Office showed. “The increase in the annual...
Kenya expects its sugar production to jump by up to 19 percent this year, recovering from a drought-induced drop the previous year, a senior government official said on Thursday. The East African nation has an annual sugar consumption of 870,000 tonnes but production has slumped due to a high cost...
Over the last decade, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has experienced historically high economic growth rates. The region has made significant social progress too. These gains have largely been driven by favourable commodity prices, financing conditions and improvement in macroeconomic management. However, the high growth rates have not been sustained for long...
The World Bank is projecting Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic growth to reach 3.1% in 2018 compared to 2017 decline. Projected growth forecasts according to the World Bank, are premised on expectations that oil and metals prices will remain stable, and that governments in the region will implement reforms to address macroeconomic...
Sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest economies will benefit from a global upswing this year - as long as the U.S.-China tariff dispute does not disturb improving global trade flows, a Reuters poll found on Wednesday. The poll taken in the past week showed economic growth forecasts for South Africa, the continent’s most...