Africa Briefs

Moody's sees little chance of SA downgrade

Moody's said on Thursday there was little chance it would strip South Africa of its investment grade credit rating this year - giving some respite to President Cyril Ramaphosa after the economy moved into recession.

But the agency - the last of the top three ratings firms to have Pretoria's long-term foreign-currency debt at investment grade - said it was critical that South Africa keep its finances tight if it wanted to keep that rating in the longer term.

South Africa entered recession for the first time since 2009, data showed recently, a particular blow for Ramaphosa who has said he is trying to revive the economy after years of stagnation under former president Jacob Zuma.

Moody's said the recovery in South Africa's economy would be slow - slower than the Treasury's estimate of 1.5% growth for 2018 after a surprise contraction in the first two quarters.

"Growth is going to be below 1 percent, to what extent it's difficult to say," Lucie Villa, Moody's lead analyst for South Africa. – Nampa/Reuters

Zimbabwe: US sanctions to remain

The US government will not lift sanctions against Zimbabwe until the new government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa demonstrates it is "changing its ways," Manisha Singh, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs, has said.

He told a House of Representatives hearing there were 141 entities and individuals in Zimbabwe, including Mnangagwa and former president Robert Mugabe, that are currently under US sanctions.

"Our pressure on Zimbabwe remains in place. We are trying to use this pressure to leverage political and economic reforms, human rights observations," Singh said.

"We want to see fundamental changes in Zimbabwe and only then will we resume normal relations with them," she added.

The EU lifted most of its sanctions in 2014, but has maintained those against Mugabe and his wife Grace. – Nampa/Reuters

Zambia denies offerings SOEs to Chinese

Zambia has not offered any of its state-owned companies as collateral for borrowing, its finance minister has said.

Margaret Mwanakatwe was responding to a report this month by London-based publication Africa Confidential that said Zambia was preparing to offer its power utility to China as security against a loan.

She also dismissed assertions in the same report that the southern African country was in talks about a debt/asset swap deal with creditors, including the Chinese.

The copper producer has made interest payments worth US$341.82 million in the first half of the year, Mwanakatwe said, adding that the US$489 million figure in the Africa Confidential report was false.

Zambia's outstanding debt stood at US$9.3 billion, or roughly a third of gross domestic product, at the end of March, up from US$8.7 billion at the end of 2017. The IMF has said the country is at high risk of debt distress. – Nampa/Reuters

Kenya rejects bill delaying fuel tax

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday defied parliament by rejecting a finance bill that sought to postpone a widely unpopular tax on fuel that has triggered strikes and public anger.

Parliament will hold a special sitting on the bill on Sept. 18 to reconsider the finance bill "together with the reservations of the president", said the gazette notice signed by Justin Muturi, the speaker of the national assembly.

Kenyatta government faced a strike by some fuel dealers, anger among commuters and a lawsuit after it triggered a hike in transport and fuel prices by imposing the 16% value added tax on all petroleum products on Sept. 1.

The finance bill that was returned to parliament had also retained a cap on commercial lending rates, after lawmakers amended a move by the finance minister to repeal it. – Nampa/Reuters

Tunisia needs billions in external financing

Tunisia needs around 7 billion dinars (US$2.53 billion) in external financing in 2019 and plans to issue US$1 billion in bonds in early October to help cover 2018's deficit, a senior official has said.

Tunisia needs total financing next year worth 10 billion dinars, while the external borrowing requirement is almost the same level as this year, he told Reuters, asking not to be named.

The government had planned to issue bonds in the first quarter but postponed the move several times.

An official source told Reuters the sale will be early next month, after the North African country hopes to have secured approval from the International Monetary Fund for a new loan tranche worth around US$250 million.

Tunisia expects economic growth to accelerate to 3.5% next year from an expected 2.9% in 2018, driven by a recovery of the tourism industry and an expanding agricultural sector. – Nampa/Reuters