Africa in brief

Donors halt aid to Zambian social-welfare schemeBritain and Finland have frozen funding to Zambia on suspicion that US$4 million they channelled into a social welfare scheme may have been misused, the Zambian presidency said on Tuesday.The social cash transfer scheme is a donor-supported programme under which the government relays money to vulnerable households in rural areas in Africa's No.2 copper producer.The British High Commissioner to Zambia, Fergus Cochrane-Dyet, said in a tweet that Britain had frozen all bilateral funding until audit results are known. "[Britain] takes a zero tolerance approach to fraud and corruption," he said.Officials from Finland did not immediately comment.Presidential spokesman Amos Chanda said President Edgar Lungu ordered an inquiry three months ago into possible "misuse" of the aid funds between 2012 and now, and a number of suspects were due to be prosecuted. – Nampa/ReutersBritain will support interim programme for ZimBritain will support Zimbabwe to get on to an interim IMF staff programme to help the country quickly clear its foreign arrears, Britain's ambassador in Harare said on Tuesday,Clearing the US$1.8 billion in arrears to the World Bank and African Development Bank is seen as a major step for Zimbabwe to start accessing foreign credit, especially for the private sector as well as foreign direct investment.Zimbabwe's finance minister Mthuli Ncube said President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government was still deciding whether to follow the Highly Indebted Poor Country route or a commercial deal to clear the arrears.Only then would it come up with a timeline to pay the arrears, he said, adding that he would launch an economic stabilisation programme next month.Zimbabwe, which is trying to shake off its international pariah tag, started defaulting on its foreign debt in 1999. – Nampa/ReutersKenya proposes tax hike on money transfer servicesKenya's president has proposed hiking taxes on mobile money transfer services and other money transfer services, documents sent to parliament this month showed, amid a tussle in government over how to boost revenues without hurting the poor.Uhuru Kenyatta proposed increasing the excise duty on mobile money transfer fees from 10% to 12%.The latest proposal comes as Kenyatta, re-elected last year after an extended and bloody election, seeks to implement planned tax hikes and other measures in this year's budget that were designed to fund a range of government development goals including universal healthcare and affordable housing.Lawmakers and some members of the public have resisted the measures, particularly a new tax on petroleum products. Kenyatta said on Friday the tax is necessary, but that he wanted to cut it to 8% from 16%.Kenya's biggest mobile phone operator Safaricom said in June it is opposed to a proposed tax rise on mobile phone-based transfers, arguing that it would likely mostly hurt the poor, most of whom do not have bank accounts and rely on mobile transfer services such as Safaricom's M-Pesa. – Nampa/ReutersEgypt sees surge in share offeringsA surge of new share offerings over the next few months will test whether Egypt can withstand emerging market contagion after currency crises that rattled Turkey and Argentina last month.The government hopes offerings in five state-controlled firms already trading on the stock exchange will help trim its budget deficit.Five private companies planning initial public offerings (IPOs) by the end of the year are seeking to spur investment and private-sector growth, which has been moribund since Egypt's 2011 uprising. A sixth private company plans a rights issue.Economists say international participation would help appetite among local investors but international market volatility may be chasing them away.Egypt is working on selling shares in at least 23 state-owned companies over the next few years. Analysts say much of the state sector has been suffering heavy losses and companies need major management overhauls and modernisation. – Nampa/ReutersUganda to require telecoms firms to listUganda will introduce a requirement for all telecoms firms to list shares on the local bourse as a condition for obtaining a licence to operate in the country, a government statement said on Tuesday.The statement on resolutions agreed at a cabinet meeting said the move would "help mitigate capital flight, among other benefits."Outlining a series of changes for the telecoms industry, the statement also said the cabinet agreed at a meeting on Monday to renew the operating licence of the local unit of South African telecom company MTN Group.However, it was not immediately clear whether that was conditional on the new requirements for operators.The new policy will also bar operators from selling their allocated spectrum in any merger or acquisition deal. – Nampa/Reuters

Africa in brief

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