Africa Briefs

Zim govt workers get 50% pay hikeThe Zimbabwean government has awarded its workers a 50% pay rise and an allowance to cushion them against hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the finance ministry announced Wednesday."With immediate effect all civil servants' salaries will be adjusted upwards by 50%," the ministry said, adding that the hike also applies to pensions."In addition all civil servants will be paid a flat non-taxable Covid- 19 allowance of US$75 dollars per month," it said in a statement.Zimbabwe has been battling to pay its 300 000 plus civil servants who earlier this year declared they could no longer report for duty, saying galloping inflation had eroded their pay such that they could no longer afford the daily commute to work nor a decent meal a day.Annual inflation rose to 785.55% in May, according to figures released by Zimstat, the national statistics agency this week. – Nampa/ AFPSA to ease low loan payoutsSouth African banks and the government are looking for ways to boost take up of an up to R200 billion loan scheme to help coronavirus-hit businesses, two bank executives and a source close to the discussions told Reuters.Possible amendments being discussed include encouraging banks to ease their lending conditions, the source close to the discussions said."There are minor issues around the design," the source continued, including wording in the terms that has led to banks applying their standard credit procedures and rejecting more applications than anticipated.The scheme was launched in May. But concerns arose that the money was not being fully used after big banks approved only a few billion rand of loans in the first few weeks."This is not meant to be banking as usual," Stuart Theobald, chairman of Intellidex, said. "You want banks to behave as if they are in the best of times ... but the design of it is such that they can't actually do that." – Nampa/ReutersW. Africa propose re-opening of bordersWest African government ministers have proposed re-opening borders between their countries in the first half of July and allowing in travellers from other countries with low or controlled levels of coronavirus spread by the end of July.The proposal said a first phase consisting of opening up domestic air and land transport should be implemented this month. Many governments in the region have already begun to do so.A second phase, involving the opening of land, air and maritime borders within the region, should happen by July 15 at the latest.A third phase, involving the opening of air and land borders to "countries with low and controlled levels of Covid-19 contamination rates", should occur by July 31 but will depend on the evolution of the pandemic, the report said.The ministers' recommendations will be presented to ECOWAS heads of state at a forthcoming summit, it said. – Nampa/Reuters

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