Africa Briefs

SA's net foreign reserves fallSouth Africa's net foreign reserves fell to US$43.115 billion in April from US$43.384 billion in March, the Reserve Bank said yesterday.Gross reserves also fell to US$49.539 billion from US$49.979 billion, the central bank data showed.The forward position, which represents the central bank's unsettled or swap transactions, was lower at US$1.933 billion from US$1.996 billion in the previous month."The decrease of $440 million in the gross reserves reflects the foreign exchange payments made on behalf of the government and the appreciation of the US dollar against most currencies," the central bank said. – Nampa/ReutersZambia concludes mine tax auditsZambia concluded audits of mining companies that prompted the nation to slap Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals with a tax bill of over 76.5 billion Zambian kwacha (US$8 billion), its revenue authority said on Monday.First Quantum, which owns two copper mines in Zambia, said in March that Zambia's tax agency had demanded the taxes, saying they were on import duties, penalties and interest on consumables and spare parts.There are dozens of mining companies operating in Zambia, mainly extracting copper.The ZRA said it had audited all the major mining companies in Zambia and informed them what they owed.Other major mining companies operating in Zambia include Vedanta Resources, Barrick Gold Corp and Glencore. – Nampa/ReutersKenya's fiscal deficit to dropKenya's budget deficit is expected to drop to 5.7% of GDP in the 2018/19 (July-June) fiscal year from 7.2% this fiscal year, estimates sent to parliament by the Treasury showed.The East African nation has been under pressure from the International Monetary Fund and other bodies to cut its budget deficit, which peaked at 9.1% of economic output in 2016/17."This reduction will strengthen our debt sustainability position. We have carefully evaluated our external and domestic debt to ensure that we are in a position to service the same," the Treasury said in the estimates.It said the budget, which will be formally presented in mid-June, would set a net external financing target of 282.5 billion shillings (US$2.82 billion), equivalent to 2.9% of GDP. – Nampa/ReutersThird of Burkina's population is food insecureA third of the 18.6 million people of Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries of the world, will experience food insecurity this year, agriculture minister Niouga Ambroise Ouedraogo has said.He blamed an 11% slump in the grain harvest, affecting 22 out of the 45 provinces.The government has said it will sell 110 000 tonnes of cereal at a subsidised price to help meet needs. – Nampa/AFPSaudi to supply oil to fuel-starved SudanSaudi Arabia will supply Sudan with millions of tonnes of oil for the next five years to help it tackle a growing energy crisis, the African country's oil minister has said.Sudan has been hit with an acute fuel crisis for weeks now, sending black market prices surging in Khartoum as residents queued outside fuel stations for hours.In a bid to resolve the crisis, a Sudanese delegation led by oil minister Abdul Rahman Osman visited Riyadh last week.Sudan will receive 1.8 million tonnes of oil in the first year. After that each year the quantity will be raised by 7%, he said.The financing of the deal is to be facilitated by Saudi Development Bank, Osman added without giving financial details of the agreement or when the first oil delivery was expected. – Nampa/AFPDRC to allow oil exploration in national parksDemocratic Republic of Congo's government is seeking to reclassify swathes of two UNESCO-listed parks so that oil exploration can be carried out there, an investigative group said.The London-based NGO Global Witness said it had seen documents about a scheme to "redraw the boundaries" of the fabled Salonga and Virunga national parks, home to many of the planet's endangered species.A special commission of ministers and DRC civil servants met on April 27 to push through the plan, it said.More than a fifth of the Virunga National Park, the oldest wildlife reserve in Africa, would be affected by the reclassification, it said.Virunga's denizens include hippopotamus, elephants and some of the world's last remaining mountain gorillas. – Nampa/AFPIMF says Egypt must deepen reformsEgypt will have to deepen its IMF-backed reforms and better encourage private sector growth if it wants to cash in on a wave of global expansion that may soon come to an end, a fund official in Cairo said.Halfway into a three-year $12 billion IMF loan programme it signed in late-2016 tied to tough austerity measures, Egypt is hoping painful reforms like tax hikes and subsidy cuts will now lure back foreign investors and kick-start an economy that crashed after its 2011 Arab Spring uprising.Speaking to government officials as part of an IMF visit to review Egypt's reform programme, first deputy managing director David Lipton praised the country's progress but said "broadening and deepening the reform agenda" is crucial to take advantage of ripe global conditions.Cairo's tough reforms have included a currency float that halved the value of its pound, deep cuts to fuel and electricity subsidies and a new value-added tax.The IMF has forecast that Egypt will grow by 5.2% this fiscal year, up from about 4.1% a year earlier. – Nampa/ReutersAlgeria to open farming concessions to foreignersAlgeria plans to offer foreign investors concessions for farm land for the first time, according to an official document, as the oil producer seeks to boost food output and reduce reliance on imports.Under the plan, which is expected to be discussed by the cabinet this week before being submitted to parliament, any foreign investor would need to work in partnership with the state or a private Algerian firm, the document seen by Reuters said.Algeria, a member of OPEC, has been encouraging farmers with incentives such as low interest loans in a bid cut the state's US$50 billion annual bill for food and other imports.The government relies on oil exports for about 60% of its revenues, which are only now starting to recover after a crash in crude prices from above US$100 a barrel in 2014 to below US$30 in 2016. – Nampa/Reuters

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