Africa Briefs

Eskom cuts power for a second daySouth African power utility Eskom warned of a second day of power cuts yesterday citing a number of generating units still out of service.A day earlier Eskom imposed its first power cuts in around seven months, highlighting the challenge facing president Cyril Ramaphosa in rescuing the state company.The rand fell as much as 1% against the US dollar on Wednesday after Eskom announced the cuts.The announcement put more pressure on the country's weak economy ahead of a review by Moody's, the last of the big three credit rating agencies to have an investment grade rating on South Africa.Eskom produces more than 90% of South Africa's electricity but has been hobbled by technical faults at its fleet of mainly coal-fired power stations.It is also grappling with a debt pile which stood at around R440 billion as of March. – Nampa/ReutersZim’s bread price jumps 60%The price of bread, Zimbabwe's second most-consumed staple, jumped 60% overnight due to escalating costs of production, the national bakers' association said on Wednesday, adding more woes to consumers grappling with triple-digit inflation.National Bakers Association of Zimbabwe president Denis Wala said the price of fuel and electricity, as well as rolling power cuts that forced producers to use diesel generators, had pushed up the cost of producing bread.Bread now costs 15 Zimbabwe dollars (US$0.97) a loaf, up from 9.45 Zimbabwe dollars on Tuesday. But shortages still persisted on Wednesday, with many shops saying they had not received supplies.Zimbabwe imports most of its annual requirement of 400 000 tonnes of wheat, but acute shortages of dollars have constrained imports.Although farmers have started harvesting wheat, production is expected to fall below the 160 600 metric tonnes last year, farmers groups say. – Nampa/ReutersKenya's president rejects finance billKenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta has rejected the 2019/20 budget demanding that lawmakers remove a cap on commercial lending rates, a senior lawmaker and a local daily said yesterday.In 2016, the government limited rates banks can charge customers to four percentage points above the central bank's benchmark - currently 9% - saying they were concerned about high rates.In late September, lawmakers rejected a June request by the Treasury to remove the caps, saying lenders had not proven they could be trusted to lower rates without pressure.The Business Daily newspaper reported that Kenyatta had rejected the budget - known as the Finance Bill, over the rate cap, adding that the formal reasons would be sent to parliament later yesterday.Parliament will meet in the next two weeks to consider the president's recommendations on the bill, Adan Duale, parliament's majority leader told Reuters. – Nampa/Reuters

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