Africa Briefs

SA's retail sales slump in Dec

South Africa's retail sales slumped to their lowest in over a year in December after "Black Friday" discounts boosted the previous month, with sales by general dealers and of cosmetics and furniture the hardest hit as economic recovery continued to stumble.

Retail sales fell 1.4% year-on-year in December after a 2.9% increase in November, while monthly sales contracted by 4.8%, the biggest fall since May 2011, the statistics office said.

Five out of seven of the categories showed contractions as consumers cut back on small and big-ticket items, dimming the prospects of president Cyril Ramaphosa delivering on his pledge to lift growth after nearly a decade of stagnation.

"It's a big surprise. We know November sales were pushed up by Black Friday but we expected growth of at least two percent," said economist at Nedbank Johannes Khosa.

Listed retailers have recently reported sluggish quarterly and half-year sales and earnings, as elevated household debt, higher fuel prices and an increase in value-added tax squeezed spending. – Nampa/Reuters

Uganda expects first oil production to be delayed

Uganda expects to begin producing oil in 2022, its energy minister Irene Muloni said, indicating a slight delay from the east African country's revised target of 2021.

Uganda discovered crude reserves more than 10 years ago but production has been repeatedly delayed by disagreements with field operators over taxes and development strategy.

A lack of infrastructure such as a transportation pipeline and a refining facility have also held up output.

China's CNOOC and France's Total and London-based Tullow Oil have the stakes in the two areas. CNOOC is the operator of Kingfisher area while Total leads the development of Tilenga.

In April last year Uganda signed a deal with a consortium, including a subsidiary of General Electric, to build and operate a 60 000 barrel per day refinery that will cost between US$3 billion and US$4 billion. The refinery is expected to be operational by 2023. – Nampa/Reuters

Egypt cuts key interest rates

Egypt's central bank made a surprise cut to its overnight interest rates on Thursday, citing a strong drop in inflation and an improvement in other macroeconomic indicators.

The bank lowered its deposit rate to 15.75% from 16.75 and its lending rate to 16.75% from 17.75, it said in a statement, its first rate cuts since March 2018.

Consumer inflation fell to 12.0% in December and 12.7% in January from 15.7% in November, while core inflation edged up to 8.6% year in January from 8.3% in December.

The MPC said GDP growth had risen slightly to an annual 5.5% in last quarter of 2018 and unemployment, at 8.9%, had fallen to its lowest since 2010.

"All of the economic indicators were welcoming a reversion to normality," said Wael Ziada, head of investment company Zilla Capital. "The high interest rates were not sustainable." – Nampa/Reuters

Mozambique makes five arrests in debt scandal

Mozambique Thursday detained five people, including businessmen and intelligence officials - the first arrests of suspects linked to a government debt which plunged the country into its worst financial crisis.

Among those arrested are Gregorio Leao, ex-director of the intelligence services, and Ines Moiane, a former assistant of ex-president Armando Guebuza, a prosecutor said in Maputo.

The debt scandal came to light in 2016 when it emerged the government had taken out loans amounting to US$2-billion to buy the equipment, hiding the transaction from parliament and international donors.

An independent audit found that a quarter of the loan amount was diverted, and unaccounted for.

When the debt was revealed, Mozambique - which is one of the world's poorest countries and relies on donor aid - was plunged into the worst financial crisis in its history as donors froze contributions. – Nampa/AFP

Union warns ANC over Eskom split plan

South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) warned the ruling African National Congress (ANC) on Thursday not to take its members' votes for granted at a May election, as it expressed anger at a government plan to split power firm Eskom.

The NUM, which is the biggest union at Eskom with around 15 000 members, said at a news conference that it "barged into" the ANC's headquarters in downtown Johannesburg after president Cyril Ramaphosa said Eskom would be split into three entities.

Senior ANC officials assured the NUM that the plan to split Eskom would not lead to job losses or privatisation of the power utility, NUM general secretary David Sipunzi said. – Nampa/Reuters