COVID-19: How the pandemic has impacted Rwandan exports

JOHANNESBURG/ABIDJAN (Reuters) &#8211; When COVID-19 hit Ivory Coast, Bonaventure Kra, who works at an import-export business, began to worry. Handling hard cash all day was a risk. Queuing in crowded bank branches exposed him to infection.



Then, in the midst of the pandemic, French telecommunications giant Orange&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/ORAN.PA">ORAN.PA</a>&nbsp;launched an entirely digital bank &#8211; its first full banking venture in Africa.



“Going back to cash would be like travelling back in time,” Kra said in the country’s commercial capital, Abidjan. “I intend to use it permanently.”



Africa’s mobile phone operators are ramping up plans to bring banking to millions of Africans, in some cases for the first time, after the coronavirus crisis caused a surge in use of digital financial services.



Orange, MTN&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/MTNJ.J">MTNJ.J</a>, Telkom&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/TKGJ.J">TKGJ.J</a>&nbsp;and Vodacom&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/VODJ.J">VODJ.J</a>&nbsp;are lowering fees, rolling out new lending services ahead of schedule, and expanding mobile payment networks with the aim of finally denting the so-far unshakeable dominance of cash.



“It’s one of those industries that we consider to be ripe for disruption,” Sibusiso Ngwenya, financial services managing executive at South Africa’s Telkom, told Reuters.



With their revenue under threat as governments cap data prices and customers abandon voice phone services for free messaging apps, telcos have sought to leverage their reach into remote villages and urban shanty towns in a pivot to banking.



The global health crisis has been an unexpected catalyst, with some African governments releasing COVID-19 stimulus grants via mobile money platforms and central banks easing regulations, including limits on mobile transactions.



Orange added over five million new customers for its mobile money services in April and May alone. MTN hit one million South African users in June, when it had expected half of this, and recorded a 28% jump in mobile money transactions per minute across all its African markets in the first half of the year.







<h2 class="wp-block-heading">TAKING ON THE CASH KING</h2>



Cash is still king in Africa.



It accounts for around 99% of transactions in Nigeria, the continent’s most populous country, and dominates even in South Africa (90-95%) where banking penetration is relatively high, according to a 2017 estimate from consulting firm McKinsey.



World Bank figures indicate just under 43% of sub-Saharan Africans over the age of 15 had a bank account in 2017. The region’s total population stood around 1.1 billion last year.



That compared with 55% in Latin America and the Caribbean, almost 70% in South Asia and around 74% in East Asia and the Pacific.



That presents a huge opportunity, said Francois Jurd de Girancourt, head of McKinsey’s financial institutions practice Africa. Prior to the crisis, it rated the continent as the world’s No.2 market in terms of growth and profitability potential with banking revenues set to hit $129 billion by 2023.



Telcos are well-positioned to secure a piece of that pie.



By last year, sub-Saharan Africa boasted 469 million mobile money accounts &#8211; more than any other region in the world &#8211; according to industry body GSMA.Slideshow&nbsp;( 4 images )



Mobile phone penetration outstrips access to banks. Operators’ distribution models are low-cost. And telcos possess a wealth of customer data they can use to assess lending risk, a big advantage in a region where most markets lack credit bureaus.



Vodacom, the African unit of Britain&#8217;s Vodafone&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/VOD.L">VOD.L</a>, is now moving to expand lending, insurance and payment businesses currently available only in South Africa to other markets.



It has advanced by months launches of initiatives like overdrafts for the mobile money agents that work on its behalf, helping customers open accounts and withdraw and deposit cash.



It has also accelerated plans for cash advances to merchants at registered pay points, its financial services CEO Mariam Cassim told Reuters.



Orange has Mali, Burkina Faso, and Senegal in its sights as expansion markets for Orange Bank Africa, with the timetable dependent upon local regulatory approval.



Both MTN and Telkom, meanwhile, are preparing to offer micro-loans in South Africa, the companies said.



MTN, Africa’s largest operator, will roll out a mobile money offering for businesses, which is currently being piloted in Rwanda, to other markets by the end of the year. It will also pilot an initiative to digitise cash-heavy small businesses in South Africa, namely small shops known as spazas and often located in townships, executives told Reuters.



And after growing the number of vendors accepting payment via its platform by 100,000 in the first half of the year, it has now doubled an end-2021 target to 1 million.



“We are &#8230; using the opportunity that the crisis is offering us to really accelerate,” said Serigne Dioum, who heads MTN’s mobile financial services division.



‘NO LOSERS’



Mobile operators still have a long way to go to overtake traditional lenders.



Banking revenue pools in sub-Saharan Africa stood around $70 billion in 2019, according to a McKinsey estimate, while the main mobile operators earned less than $3 billion from financial services.



Some regulators remain wary of mobile money, and many informal businesses still don’t accept digital payments.



Such factors mean mobile money adoption varies wildly across the continent. Cash use actually rose in some countries during the pandemic.



M-Pesa, run by Vodacom unit Safaricom&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/SCOM.NR">SCOM.NR</a>, dominates the financial system in Kenya. But both MTN and M-Pesa have in the past been forced to drop mobile money initiatives in South Africa after struggling to attract customers.



“You need a massive market share to be making a lot of money just from payments,” said McKinsey’s Jurd de Girancourt, adding that telcos will need customers to use other services too.



“It’s fine if you are M-Pesa. But we’re probably not going to see that,” he said.



Big banks, historically deterred by low incomes and poor infrastructure, are also fighting back and pushing into underserved segments.



They are agreeing partnerships with fintech firms, building their own networks of agents to distribute banking services and launching rival offerings.



They also partner with telcos, marrying their vast balance sheets with the mobile firms’ wide customer bases.



South African lender Absa&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/ABGJ.J">ABGJ.J</a>&nbsp;is set to launch partnerships with mobile operators in Tanzania and Uganda, its head of retail banking in Africa Vimal Kumar told Reuters.



Absa is also expanding its Kenyan digital offering to cover full-service banking with roll-outs in Zambia, Botswana and Mauritius set for later this year and the rest of its markets in 2021.



“There is no loser,” Kumar said. “The opportunity is so large that no one player is going to be able to dominate.”

Sub-Saharan Africa to suffer 23.1% decline in remittances in 2020 – World Bank

Pandemic spurs Africa’s mobile telcos to ramp up banking bid

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Africa’s overburdened public health systems, dearth of testing facilities and overcrowded slums had experts predicting a disaster when COVID-19 hit the continent in February.



The new coronavirus was already wreaking havoc in wealthy Asian and European nations, and a United Nations agency said in April that, even with social-distancing measures, the virus could kill 300,000 Africans this year.



In May the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that 190,000 people on the continent could die if containment measures failed. Yet as the world marks 1 million COVID-19 deaths, Africa is doing much better than expected, with a lower percentage of deaths than other continents.



The continent’s case fatality count stands at 2.4%, with roughly 35,000 deaths among the more than 1.4 million people reported infected with COVID-19, according to Reuters data as at late Monday. In North America, it is 2.9% and in Europe 4.5%



Hard-hit countries such as Italy and Britain have recorded fatality counts of 11.6% and 9.0% respectively, compared to 1.6% for Ethiopia, 1.9% for Nigeria and 2.4% for South Africa, the continent’s worst affected country.



Hospitals in many African countries say COVID-19 admission rates are falling.



“Based on what we have seen so far it is unlikely that we are going to see anything at the scale that we are seeing in Europe &#8211; both in terms of infections and mortality,” said Rashida Ferrand, a London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine professor working at the Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals in the Zimbabwean capital Harare.



Experts say that some COVID-19 deaths in Africa probably are being missed. Testing rates in the continent of about 1.3 billion people are among the lowest in the world, and many deaths of all types go unrecorded.







<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Dr-Matshidiso-Moeti-WHO-Regional-Director-for-Africa-887x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-382893" width="696" height="803" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Dr-Matshidiso-Moeti-WHO-Regional-Director-for-Africa-887x1024.jpg 887w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Dr-Matshidiso-Moeti-WHO-Regional-Director-for-Africa-260x300.jpg 260w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Dr-Matshidiso-Moeti-WHO-Regional-Director-for-Africa-693x800.jpg 693w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Dr-Matshidiso-Moeti-WHO-Regional-Director-for-Africa-768x887.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Dr-Matshidiso-Moeti-WHO-Regional-Director-for-Africa-1330x1536.jpg 1330w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Dr-Matshidiso-Moeti-WHO-Regional-Director-for-Africa-scaled.jpg 1774w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Dr-Matshidiso-Moeti-WHO-Regional-Director-for-Africa-696x804.jpg 696w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Dr-Matshidiso-Moeti-WHO-Regional-Director-for-Africa-1068x1233.jpg 1068w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Dr-Matshidiso-Moeti-WHO-Regional-Director-for-Africa-1920x2217.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px" /><figcaption>The head of the WHO for Africa. Matshidiso Moeti</figcaption></figure>



South Africa saw some 17,000 extra deaths from natural causes between early May and mid-July, 59% more than would normally be expected, according to a July report from the South African Medical Research Council. That suggests the death toll from COVID-19 could be significantly higher than the official figure, currently over 16,000, researchers say. Even so, there is wide agreement that COVID-19 fatality rates have not so far been as bad as predicted.



Why? Scientists and public health experts cite a number of possible factors, including the continent’s youthful population and lessons learned from previous disease outbreaks. African governments also had precious time to prepare due to the relative isolation of many of their citizens from airports and other places where they could come into contact with global travellers.



Some scientists also are exploring the possibility that a tuberculosis vaccine routinely given to children in many African countries might be helping reduce deaths from COVID-19.



Another theory being considered is whether prior exposure to other coronaviruses including those that cause the common cold has provided a degree of resistance in some of the very communities once thought to be most vulnerable.



“There is a lot of circumstantial evidence,” Salim Abdool Karim, a South African infectious disease specialist who has advised the government on COVID-19, told Reuters, “but there is no smoking gun.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">LESSONS LEARNED</h2>



The virus hit Africa later than other continents, giving medical personnel time to set up field hospitals, source oxygen and ventilators, and learn from improvements in treatment elsewhere.Slideshow&nbsp;( 3 images )



“We got the gift of time,” said Thumbi Mwangi, senior research fellow at the University of Nairobi’s Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases. “We had an amount of preparation that others did not.”



One reason could be that international travel is limited in many African countries, and travelling domestically can be more difficult than on other continents, Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, told a news conference on Thursday.



The continent’s governments have also battled deadly infectious diseases such as Ebola, which killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa in 2013-16. So officials took notice when the new coronavirus started spreading around the globe rapidly early this year.



Many African countries were quick to introduce screening at airports, suspend flights from heavily affected nations and enforce social distancing measures and mask wearing.



Within a week of Kenya reporting its first case, schools were shut, incoming travellers had to undergo a mandatory quarantine and large gatherings were banned. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, imposed a ban on interstate travel and a curfew. Many of its land borders had already been closed since August 2019 to cut down on smuggling, which helped fight the pandemic too.



South Africa introduced one of the world’s toughest lockdowns in late March, when the country had confirmed just 400 cases.



“Africa brought down the hammer earlier in terms of coronavirus lockdowns,” said Tim Bromfield, regional director for East and Southern Africa at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, a U.K.-based think tank.







Experts also point to the continent’s demographics.



Research has found that the risk of developing severe COVID-19 increases with age.



A 2019 United Nations report said 62% of sub-Saharan Africa’s population was under 25 and just 3% 65 or over. In the U.N.’s Europe and North America region, 28% were under 25 while 18% were age 65 and up.



Chikwe Ihekweazu, director general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, attributed his country’s relatively low case mortality rate in part to the fact that the majority of patients were between the ages of 31 and 40.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">CROSS-PROTECTION?</h2>



Scientists in several countries including South Africa are testing whether the century-old Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, widely used on the continent against tuberculosis, provides a degree of cross-protection.



BCG vaccines have been shown to protect against other viral respiratory illnesses, and a study published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in July found that countries with higher vaccination rates for tuberculosis had lower peak mortality rates from COVID-19.



ADVERTISEMENT



Studies have also started in South Africa and Zimbabwe to assess the impact of past exposure to other coronaviruses.



More than half of Africa’s urban population is concentrated in slums, where access to water for hand washing is scarce, and physical distancing is near-impossible.



Diseases spread rapidly under such conditions, but some scientists wonder whether that may have been an unexpected boon in this case. There is some evidence that T cells developed by the body’s immune system after exposure to other common cold coronaviruses could help fight off COVID-19.



“I would say that is at least a plausible explanation as to why there are different levels of resistance to the virus in different populations,” said Thomas Scriba, an immunologist and deputy director of the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative.



Others are more sceptical.



“All other regions have been exposed to coronaviruses, have poor people and slums and have received BCG vaccination,” said Humphrey Karamagi, team leader for data and analytics at the WHO’s Africa office. “We are most probably looking at a mix of multiple factors working together &#8211; and not a single magic bullet.”



For Sam Agatre Okuonzi, from the Arua Regional Referral Hospital in Uganda, the doomsday predictions were informed by entrenched prejudices, including that the continent is prone to disease.



“COVID-19 has shattered a lot of biases about disease in general but also about Africa,” he told Thursday’s briefing. “The severity of the pandemic has not played out in line with the outrageous predictions.”

Clarification on COVID-19 “hotspots” as SA moves to level 3 lockdown

How Africa fought COVID-19

<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>The Covid-19 global death toll marked yet another a grim milestone, taking more than 1 million lives.</li><li>CNBC Africa has pulled together a package of stories looking back at how the coronavirus has changed society over the last nine months. </li><li>Roughly half of the world’s total Covid-19 fatalities have been reported in only four countries — the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico.</li></ul>



The coronavirus has killed at least 1 million people across the globe, a nightmarish milestone in the world’s fight against the virus that emerged from Wuhan, China, late last year, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.&nbsp;



Roughly half of the world’s total <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/covid-19/">Covid-19</a> fatalities have been reported in only four countries — the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico, according to Hopkins data.



The U.S. reached a death toll above 200,000 people&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/22/us-coronavirus-death-toll-tops-200000-just-the-tip-of-the-iceberg-.html">last week</a>, more than any other country on the planet.&nbsp;Declared a pandemic over six months ago, the coronavirus has swept through nearly every nation and has infected more than 33 million people along the way, according to Johns Hopkins. It’s shuttered businesses and schools, wreaking havoc on global economies and leaving millions unemployed.&nbsp;



“One million is a terrible number, and I think we need to reflect on that before we start considering a second million,” Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization’s health emergencies program, told reporters on Friday. 



The new coronavirus was wreaking havoc in Asia and European nations, and a United Nations agency said in April that, even with social-distancing measures, the virus could kill 300,000 Africans this year.



In May the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that 190,000 people on the continent could die if containment measures failed. Yet as the world marks 1 million COVID-19 deaths, <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/coronavirus/2020/09/29/puzzled-scientists-seek-reasons-behind-africas-low-fatality-rates-from-pandemic/">Africa is doing much better than expected</a>, with a lower percentage of deaths than other continents.



CNBC Africa has compiled a package of stories that will run Monday and Tuesday looking back at how the coronavirus pandemic has changed health care, the economy and society itself since its discovery less than nine months ago.  Please check back here for links to these coming stories and more as they are published:



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https://www.cnbcafrica.com/news/2020/04/16/these-are-the-new-hot-spots-of-innovation-in-the-time-of-coronavirus/
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CDC coronavirus

The coronavirus has now killed more than 1 million people and upended the global economy in less than nine months

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Africa’s overburdened public health systems, dearth of testing facilities and overcrowded slums had experts predicting a disaster when COVID-19 hit the continent in February.



The new coronavirus was already wreaking havoc in wealthy Asian and European nations, and a United Nations agency said in April that, even with social-distancing measures, the virus could kill 300,000 Africans this year.



In May the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that 190,000 people on the continent could die if containment measures failed. Yet as the world marks 1 million COVID-19 deaths, Africa is doing much better than expected, with a lower percentage of deaths than other continents.



The continent’s case fatality count stands at 2.4%, with roughly 35,000 deaths among the more than 1.4 million people reported infected with COVID-19, according to Reuters data as at late Monday. In North America, it is 2.9% and in Europe 4.5%



Hard-hit countries such as Italy and Britain have recorded fatality counts of 11.6% and 9.0% respectively, compared to 1.6% for Ethiopia, 1.9% for Nigeria and 2.4% for South Africa, the continent’s worst affected country.



Hospitals in many African countries say COVID-19 admission rates are falling.



“Based on what we have seen so far it is unlikely that we are going to see anything at the scale that we are seeing in Europe &#8211; both in terms of infections and mortality,” said Rashida Ferrand, a London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine professor working at the Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals in the Zimbabwean capital Harare.



Experts say that some COVID-19 deaths in Africa probably are being missed. Testing rates in the continent of about 1.3 billion people are among the lowest in the world, and many deaths of all types go unrecorded.



South Africa saw some 17,000 extra deaths from natural causes between early May and mid-July, 59% more than would normally be expected, according to a July report from the South African Medical Research Council. That suggests the death toll from COVID-19 could be significantly higher than the official figure, currently over 16,000, researchers say. Even so, there is wide agreement that COVID-19 fatality rates have not so far been as bad as predicted.



Why? Scientists and public health experts cite a number of possible factors, including the continent’s youthful population and lessons learned from previous disease outbreaks. African governments also had precious time to prepare due to the relative isolation of many of their citizens from airports and other places where they could come into contact with global travellers.



Some scientists also are exploring the possibility that a tuberculosis vaccine routinely given to children in many African countries might be helping reduce deaths from COVID-19.



Another theory being considered is whether prior exposure to other coronaviruses including those that cause the common cold has provided a degree of resistance in some of the very communities once thought to be most vulnerable.



“There is a lot of circumstantial evidence,” Salim Abdool Karim, a South African infectious disease specialist who has advised the government on COVID-19, told Reuters, “but there is no smoking gun.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">LESSONS LEARNED</h2>



The virus hit Africa later than other continents, giving medical personnel time to set up field hospitals, source oxygen and ventilators, and learn from improvements in treatment elsewhere.



“We got the gift of time,” said Thumbi Mwangi, senior research fellow at the University of Nairobi’s Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases. “We had an amount of preparation that others did not.”



One reason could be that international travel is limited in many African countries, and travelling domestically can be more difficult than on other continents, Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, told a news conference on Thursday.



The continent’s governments have also battled deadly infectious diseases such as Ebola, which killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa in 2013-16. So officials took notice when the new coronavirus started spreading around the globe rapidly early this year.



Many African countries were quick to introduce screening at airports, suspend flights from heavily affected nations and enforce social distancing measures and mask wearing.



Within a week of Kenya reporting its first case, schools were shut, incoming travellers had to undergo a mandatory quarantine and large gatherings were banned. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, imposed a ban on interstate travel and a curfew. Many of its land borders had already been closed since August 2019 to cut down on smuggling, which helped fight the pandemic too.



South Africa introduced one of the world’s toughest lockdowns in late March, when the country had confirmed just 400 cases.



“Africa brought down the hammer earlier in terms of coronavirus lockdowns,” said Tim Bromfield, regional director for East and Southern Africa at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, a U.K.-based think tank.



Experts also point to the continent’s demographics.



Research has found that the risk of developing severe COVID-19 increases with age.



A 2019 United Nations report said 62% of sub-Saharan Africa’s population was under 25 and just 3% 65 or over. In the U.N.’s Europe and North America region, 28% were under 25 while 18% were age 65 and up.



Chikwe Ihekweazu, director general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, attributed his country’s relatively low case mortality rate in part to the fact that the majority of patients were between the ages of 31 and 40.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">CROSS-PROTECTION?</h2>



Scientists in several countries including South Africa are testing whether the century-old Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, widely used on the continent against tuberculosis, provides a degree of cross-protection.



BCG vaccines have been shown to protect against other viral respiratory illnesses, and a study published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in July found that countries with higher vaccination rates for tuberculosis had lower peak mortality rates from COVID-19.



Studies have also started in South Africa and Zimbabwe to assess the impact of past exposure to other coronaviruses.



More than half of Africa’s urban population is concentrated in slums, where access to water for hand washing is scarce, and physical distancing is near-impossible.



Diseases spread rapidly under such conditions, but some scientists wonder whether that may have been an unexpected boon in this case. There is some evidence that T cells developed by the body’s immune system after exposure to other common cold coronaviruses could help fight off COVID-19.



“I would say that is at least a plausible explanation as to why there are different levels of resistance to the virus in different populations,” said Thomas Scriba, an immunologist and deputy director of the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative.



Others are more sceptical.



“All other regions have been exposed to coronaviruses, have poor people and slums and have received BCG vaccination,” said Humphrey Karamagi, team leader for data and analytics at the WHO’s Africa office. “We are most probably looking at a mix of multiple factors working together &#8211; and not a single magic bullet.”



For Sam Agatre Okuonzi, from the Arua Regional Referral Hospital in Uganda, the doomsday predictions were informed by entrenched prejudices, including that the continent is prone to disease.



“COVID-19 has shattered a lot of biases about disease in general but also about Africa,” he told Thursday’s briefing. “The severity of the pandemic has not played out in line with the outrageous predictions.”



Additional reporting by Wendell Roelf in Cape Town and Tim Cocks in Johannesburg, MacDonald Dzirutwe in Harare, Ed McAllister in Dakar, Alexis Akwagyiram in Lagos, Katharine Houreld in Nairobi and Giulia Paravicini in Addis Ababa; Editing by Alexandra Zavis and David Gregorio

Can the coronavirus outbreak be contained? | CNBC Reports

Puzzled scientists seek reasons behind Africa’s low fatality rates from pandemic

NEW YORK (Reuters) &#8211; The United States, China and Russia fought on Thursday during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the coronavirus pandemic after U.N. chief Antonio Guterres had warned the body that if the climate crisis was approached with the “same disunity and disarray” of COVID-19, then: “I fear the worst.”



Guterres said the coronavirus was out of control as the global death toll approaches 1 million, while more than 30 million have been infected. He blamed “a lack of global preparedness, cooperation, unity and solidarity.”



“The pandemic is a clear test of international cooperation – a test we have essentially failed,” he told the 15-member body.



Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the Chinese government’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, both took veiled swipes at the United States during the virtual council meeting on global governance post-COVID-19, to which U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft responded: “Shame on each of you.”



“I am astonished and I am disgusted by the content of today’s discussion &#8230; members of the council who took this opportunity to focus on political grudges rather than the critical issue at hand,” she said.



While not naming any countries, Lavrov noted that the pandemic had deepened differences between states.



“We see attempts on the part of individual countries to use the current situation in order to move forward their narrow interests of the moment, in order to settle the score with an undesirable government or geopolitical competitors,” he said.







Long-simmering tensions between the United States and China hit the boiling point over the pandemic, spotlighting Beijing’s bid for greater multilateral influence in a challenge to Washington’s traditional leadership.



Wang called for better coordination and cooperation among key powers on Thursday.



“Major countries are even more duty-bound to put the future of humankind first, discard Cold War mentality and ideological bias, and come together in the spirit or partnership to tide over the difficulties,” he said.



‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH’



U.S. President Donald Trump is facing a Nov. 3 re-election battle as the United States is dealing with the world’s highest official number of deaths and infections from the coronavirus. Washington accuses Beijing of a lack of transparency that it says worsened the outbreak. China denies the U.S. assertions.



Craft reiterated those accusations on Thursday, echoing a call by Trump for the world body to hold China accountable.







China’s U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun rejected her accusations and said: “Enough is enough. You have created enough troubles for the world already. &#8230; The U.S. should understand that blaming others will not solve its own problems.”



The United States has announced plans to leave the Geneva-based World Health Organization after Trump accused it of becoming a puppet for China during the coronavirus pandemic. The WHO has rejected Trump’s assertion.



“At times, geopolitics have tampered cooperation and hindered our agility. The pandemic has tested the international system like never before,” said Britain’s Minister of State for South Asia and the Commonwealth, Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon. “But now is not the moment to reject international institutions.”



French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also appeared to take a stab at the United States when he said the pandemic should not be used to undermine “all the work has been done over recent decades by feminist movements for gender equality.”



“We must be on our guard, we must be watchful, particularly when it comes to protecting sexual reproductive rights,” he told the Security Council.



Trump’s administration has led a push at the United Nations against the promotion of sexual and reproductive health rights and services for women because it sees that as code for abortion. Earlier this month, the United States voted against a U.N. General Assembly resolution on the coronavirus pandemic partly because it included such language.

If world handles climate like COVID-19, U.N. chief says: ‘I fear the worst’

JOHANNESBURG/CAPE TOWN (Reuters) &#8211; From Sao Paulo to Sweden, thousands of people around the world, including priests, police, ministers and frontline workers, have posted clips of themselves dancing to South African house song “Jerusalema”.



With confirmed global coronavirus deaths nearing a grim milestone of one million, a vaccine still some time away and lockdowns and social distancing measures to curb the pandemic’s spread weighing on public life, the up-tempo gospel groove has provided a moment’s relief across borders and language barriers.



Yet 150 million YouTube views later, the song’s producer is still not sure why. Master KG told Reuters on Thursday he was in “disbelief”.



“Early this year, around January, I thought the song had reached its peak,” said Master KG, real name Kgaogelo Moagi. “And then out of nowhere the song came back.”



The “nowhere” was a group of Angolan friends, who posted themselves performing a self-invented dance routine to the song. In the video, a first group demonstrates the dance to another group, who interrupt their house chores to join-in.







From there the clip made its way to Portugal, the rest of Europe, the United States and South America under the #JerusalemaDanceChallenge tag, inspiring variations such as a group of Italian nuns in tunics and priests in robes, and nurses in full scrubs at a Swedish hospital doing the dance.



“(Now the song is) number one on Shazam. Being posted by Cristiano Ronaldo. Posted by Janet Jackson. Just a lot of amazing things. Things I’ve been dreaming of,” Moagi said.



In a televised address announcing the country was moving to the lowest level of lockdown restrictions, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa dared the entire nation to take the challenge.



Moagi said: “The music I make is for the people &#8230; It’s no longer my song, it’s a song for the world. It’s healing them and I’m blessed and honoured by that.”







In Cape Town on Thursday at the studio where blockbusters like “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Invictus” were filmed, actors and crew who have mostly been on furlough due the pandemic came to film a short feature on the dance craze.



Director Abongwe Booi said the dance challenge was good fun but also a chance to highlight the struggles of the film industry.



“So many people have been out of work and they haven’t had a chance to come together. For us to do this on a day like Heritage Day is amazing,” Booi said, referring to Thursday’s public holiday which celebrates South African heritage and cultural diversity.

shutterstock_123544153

South African hit ‘Jerusalema’ inspires people worldwide to shake off COVID-19 blues

The tourism economy has been heavily hit by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and measures introduced to contain its spread. Depending on the duration of the crisis, revised scenarios indicate that the potential shock could range between a 60-80% decline in the international tourism economy in Tourist Arrivals in South Africa increased to 62841 in June from 49481 in May of 2020, a positive outcome that portrayed a possibility to reset the tourism curve closer to pre COVID-19 outbreak. As has been an ongoing trend over the last four years, Travel and Tourism competitiveness continues to improve worldwide, and connectivity enabling—and enabled by—the industry remains on an upward path. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1110" height="730" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/tourism-1845203_1280-1110x730.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-375388" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/tourism-1845203_1280-1110x730.jpg 1110w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/tourism-1845203_1280-300x197.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/tourism-1845203_1280-820x539.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/tourism-1845203_1280-768x505.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/tourism-1845203_1280-696x458.jpg 696w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/tourism-1845203_1280-1068x703.jpg 1068w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/tourism-1845203_1280-600x395.jpg 600w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/tourism-1845203_1280.jpg 1280w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px" /></figure>



What measures are needed to build resilience and address the challenges confronting the sector pre and post COVID-19 such as sustainability, climate change, digitalisation, health crises and other external shocks and ensure local businesses and communities reap the benefits of this growth? 



Tourism is a steadily growing and economically important sector globally and locally. It makes significant contributions to job creation, export revenue, and domestic value added, and helps improve the attractiveness and well-being of places, not only as destinations to visit, but also to live, work and invest.



 Tourism Trends in 2020 outlines digitalisation and sustainability to drive the industry post Covid-19.South African tourism recovery is dependent on funding for small medium enterprise and transformation. Travel and Tourism industry has completely changed and we need to move forward, we mustn’t force to hold back, we must move forward and adapt to the digital innovation and platforms that are part of the future of tourism globally and South African economy.



 The economic recovery in Tourism sector has an important role to play in placing the South African economy on a sustainable inclusive growth trajectory. Promoting growth and development of the tourism sector and Promoting the practice of responsible tourism for the benefit of South Africa and for the enjoyment of all its residents and foreign visitors, must be the responsibility of all South Africans from promoting our cultural heritage, improving our local tourism, improving our hospitality to local and global tourists with an understanding that all our visitors play a critical role in boosting our GDP, Job Creation and Investment.



 On average, The Travel and Tourism Sector directly contributes 4.4% of GDP, 6.9% of employment and 21.5% of service exports in OECD countries. It is of vital economic, social and cultural importance, and offers real prospects for sustainable and inclusive development; however, integrated and forward looking policies are needed to ensure this growth better delivers benefits for people, places and businesses. The Tourism Sector in South Africa, directly accounted for 2.8% of real gross domestic product (GDP) and The indirect contribution of the Tourism Sector to the economy’s GDP in 2018 was at 8.2%. Transformation is a hidden challenge in the South African tourism industry and pro broad based policies are needed to rebalance the sector to portray the South African diversity.



 The future of tourism will be impacted by large-scale social, economic, political, environmental and technological changes, bringing new and often unseen challenges, threats and opportunities. These “megatrends” are slow to form, but once they have taken root, exercise a profound and lasting influence on human activities, processes and perceptions, including for tourism. Four megatrends are likely to have significant impacts and relevance for tourism: evolving visitor demand; sustainable tourism growth; enabling technologies; and travel mobility.



 The tourism sector and related industries are parts of the global economy set to be affected by a variety of megatrends. For instance, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) predicts that passenger demand over the next 20 years will be impacted by the emerging middle class in developing countries, diverging demographic outlooks, increasing liberalisation of aviation markets, and climate change (IATA, 2016). Based on feedback from member and partner countries, industry and international organisations, this chapter will explore similar trends, in relation to: Evolving visitor demand, Sustainable tourism growth, Enabling technologies, Travel mobility.



 When considering its likely evolution over the coming decades, it is clear that tourism will be transformed by large-scale social, economic, political, environmental and technological changes. While slow to form, once such “megatrends” have taken root, they exercise a profound and lasting influence on human activities, processes and perceptions. Megatrends bring new and often unseen challenges,threats and opportunities, the impacts which may vary between the economy as a whole and individual sectors.



 It is critical for both governments and industry to explore and understand the multidimensional implications of these megatrends in order to inform policy and shape the future of tourism. An in-depth discussion of such trends will better enable policy makers to bring currently unforeseen and emerging issues onto the strategic policy agenda, develop potential scenarios and policy responses, and better assist public and private actors to capitalise on opportunities and challenges as they arise. Miyelani Mkhabela is a founder and CEO of Antswisa Transaction Advisory

Recovery in tourism ? Think digital

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; AngloGold Ashanti&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/ANGJ.J">ANGJ.J</a>&nbsp;reinstated but trimmed its annual production guidance on Monday citing improved operating certainty including the expected conclusion of its sale of its South African assets.



The miner withdrew its guidance in March as the pandemic accelerated and many governments responded by restricting travel, closing borders and ordering some businesses to cease or limit operations.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1110" height="740" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/gold-is-money-2430051_1280-1110x740.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-378165" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/gold-is-money-2430051_1280-1110x740.jpg 1110w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/gold-is-money-2430051_1280-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/gold-is-money-2430051_1280-820x546.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/gold-is-money-2430051_1280-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/gold-is-money-2430051_1280-696x464.jpg 696w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/gold-is-money-2430051_1280-1068x712.jpg 1068w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/gold-is-money-2430051_1280-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/gold-is-money-2430051_1280.jpg 1280w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px" /></figure>



AngloGold, which has mines in several African countries as well as Australia and South America, said it now expected production including its South African assets of between 3.03 million ounces and 3.10 million ounces.







That is slightly lower than its February outlook which saw output of between 3.05 million and 3.30 million ounces, while capital expenditure was anticipated between $920 million and $990 million.



“The company benefited from its diversified global portfolio and careful management during the intervening period, with the impact in the first half of the year limited to approximately 3% of production and 5% of the all-in sustaining cost (AISC) during the period,” it said.



The guidance was also reinstated in anticipation of the conclusion of the sale of its South African assets to Harmony Gold&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/HARJ.J">HARJ.J</a>&nbsp;at the end of September.







Its South African assets are expected to have produced around 240,000 ounces in the nine months to Sept. 30, at an AISC of approximately $1,300 per ounce, the firm added.



Excluding the South African assets for the full year, AngloGold Ashanti said it expected production of between 2.80 million and 2.86 million ounces.

goldggg

AngloGold Ashanti reinstates trimmed 2020 output guidance

Inside Rwanda’s electronic auctioning system

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; International donors have raised $700 million &#8211; less than half the target &#8211; to purchase future coronavirus vaccines for poor countries in a global initiative to ensure eventual vaccines do not go only to rich countries, a World Health Organization official said on Thursday.



The COVAX Advanced Market Commitment has an initial target of $2 billion to buy the vaccines.



“Up to today, what has been mobilised so far is $700 million &#8230; So there is a great deal of work to be done to diversify the possible sources of funding,” Matshidiso Moeti, Africa regional director for the WHO, told an online press briefing.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1110" height="831" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Dr-Matshidiso-Moeti-WHO-Regional-Director-for-Africa-3-scaled-e1587051237581-1110x831.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-368228" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Dr-Matshidiso-Moeti-WHO-Regional-Director-for-Africa-3-scaled-e1587051237581-1110x831.jpg 1110w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Dr-Matshidiso-Moeti-WHO-Regional-Director-for-Africa-3-scaled-e1587051237581-300x225.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Dr-Matshidiso-Moeti-WHO-Regional-Director-for-Africa-3-scaled-e1587051237581-1536x1151.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Dr-Matshidiso-Moeti-WHO-Regional-Director-for-Africa-3-scaled-e1587051237581-696x521.jpg 696w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Dr-Matshidiso-Moeti-WHO-Regional-Director-for-Africa-3-scaled-e1587051237581-1068x800.jpg 1068w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px" /><figcaption>Matshidiso Moeti</figcaption></figure>



COVAX is co-led by the GAVI Vaccine Alliance, the WHO and the CEPI Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. Its aim is to deliver 2 billion doses of effective, approved COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2021.



At least eight African countries, including South Africa, Gabon, Namibia and Equatorial Guinea had agreed to self-finance access to the vaccine, Moeti said.



The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said last month the continent had started to slowly “bend the curve” of COVID-19 infections as measures like mask-wearing and social distancing slow the spread of the pandemic.

WHO says $700 million raised so far for COVID-19 vaccines initiative for poor

ZURICH/FRANKFURT (Reuters) &#8211; AstraZeneca should still know by year-end whether its experimental vaccine protects people against coronavirus, as long as it is cleared to resume trials soon, its chief executive said on Thursday amid doubts over its rollout.FILE PHOTO: A test tube labelled with the Vaccine is seen in front of AstraZeneca logo in this illustration taken, September 9, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration



Governments desperate to put an end to the COVID-19 pandemic which has caused more than 900,000 deaths and huge economic and social disruption during 2020 are pinning their hopes on a vaccine.



However British drugmaker AstraZeneca suspended late-stage trials on its potential vaccine this week after an illness in a participant in Britain who was reported to be suffering from symptoms associated with transverse myelitis, a rare spinal inflammatory disorder.



The World Health Organization (WHO) has flagged the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is being developed with the University of Oxford, as the most promising for coronavirus.



CEO Pascal Soriot said during an online event on Thursday that AstraZeneca did not yet know the diagnosis of the participant who was ill, adding that it was not clear if the volunteer had transverse myelitis and more tests were needed.



The diagnosis would be submitted to an independent safety committee and this would usually then say whether trials can be resumed, Soriot said, adding it was usual for such pauses.



“It’s very common, actually, and many experts will tell you this,” Soriot said, adding: “The difference with other vaccine trials is, the whole world is not watching them, of course. They stop, they study, and they restart.”



Shares in AstraZeneca fell on Wednesday after the trial halt raised doubts about the timeline for the vaccine’s rollout.



AstraZeneca would supply vaccines to countries at the same time to ensure a fair and equitable distribution, Soriot said, reiterating that the company was close to having capacity to produce 3 billion doses at sites set up around the world to prevent governments from restricting distribution.



With up to 60,000 people set to participate in the study program, AstraZeneca’s CEO said the volume was typical of vaccine trials and large enough to spot rare side effects.



“With this you are going to pick up very rare events.” he said, adding that a planned staggered launch, prioritizing at-risk groups, would provide further assurance for the masses that are set to be covered by government plans at a later stage.



Serum Institute of India, one of AstraZeneca’s development and production partners, said on Thursday it was joining the suspension, backtracking on remarks that it did not face any issues.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">‘DIFFICULT TO BE SURE’</h3>



Transverse myelitis cases after a vaccination have been documented before, but concrete links between the condition and vaccinations have not been established, experts said.



The U.S.-based Mayo Clinic concludes that the association so far is not strong enough to warrant limiting any vaccine.



A 2009 review in the journal Lupus of nearly 40 years of English-language publications found 37 cases of transverse myelitis associated with hepatitis B vaccines, measles-mumps-rubella, diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis and others.



The vaccines remained on the market, Stephen Evans, a professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said.



Linking such an autoimmune response to a single factor like a vaccine is problematic, he said, given the number of immunological, hormonal or environmental factors at play.



“It’s terribly difficult to be sure,” Evans said.



RBC Capital Markets analyst Bryan Abrahams cautioned the trial participant’s condition must be thoroughly investigated.



“Even a single case could possibly imply a rate or association higher in the study than what is normally observed sporadically” he wrote to investors, adding a one in 10,000 risk, if confirmed, would likely be unacceptable.



BioNTech, among the frontrunners in the vaccine race with partner Pfizer, echoed remarks by Soriot that clinical halts are a common feature of immunization trials.



“Safety is a top priority,” its CEO Ugur Sahin told Reuters.

AstraZeneca expects COVID vaccine result by year-end if trials resume

BARINGO, Kenya (Reuters) &#8211; The fresh waters of Kenya’s Lake Baringo teem with birds, fish, hippopotamuses and crocodiles and sustain tens of thousands of people. But none of them can survive in the alkaline Lake Bogoria nearby.



Now heavy rainfall and ecological destruction means the two lakes are rising and may merge.



“It will be an ecological disaster if the two lakes meet &#8230; There is only a small gap left,” said Jackson Komen, senior warden for the government-run Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) for Lake Baringo conservation area.



Baringo, which irrigates land and provides driking water, has expanded 60% to 270 square kilometres (105 square miles) in the last seven years, he said. Lake Bogoria has swollen by a quarter to 43 square kilometres.



Conservationists said the rising waters are due to combination of unusually heavy rains and the silting up of the lakes.



Tor-Gunnar Vanegen, a scientist at the Nairobi-based World Agroforestry centre, said deforestation was causing erosion on nearby Tugen hills and the soil was washing into lake.



“That siltation is causing the shallow lake to rise,” he told Reuters.



The flooding is driving farmers from their land and residents from their homes.



Three generations of Roberts grew up on Baringo’s shores but the thatched roofs of their safari camp are now forlorn islands surrounded by water. The distance between the two lakes has halved.



“It is disheartening to watch the work that was done by your father and mother, and the work we have done ourselves, being destroyed by water,” said Murray Roberts, whose father built the camp.



Farmers say their grazing has been destroyed.



“I now have to start all over at new grounds. For now I live with my son close by,” said Lechaki Parsaalach, who has lost nine acres of land and his home.

Op-Ed: Jubilee, Kanu formalise coalition as internal battles rage in Kenya

Kenyans fear ‘ecological disaster’ if two swollen lakes merge

NAIROBI (Reuters) &#8211; The World Health Organization wants to secure an initial 230 million doses of any COVID-19 vaccine for Africa, officials said Thursday, while emphasising that any vaccine in development should also be tested on the continent.



The global vaccine allocation plan, called COVAX, aims to help buy and fairly distribute deliver 2 billion doses of approved vaccines by the end of 2021.



“This &#8230; (initial batch) will cover 20% of the African population, initially prioritising those who are the front line, health care workers, then expanding to cover vulnerable groups,” Richard Mihigo, the programme area manager for WHO Africa, told an online news conference.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="600" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/shutterstock_94083223-1.jpg" alt="IMF approves immediate debt relief for 25 countries amid COVID-19 crisis" class="wp-image-367551" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/shutterstock_94083223-1.jpg 800w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/shutterstock_94083223-1-300x225.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/shutterstock_94083223-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/shutterstock_94083223-1-696x522.jpg 696w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption>IMF approves immediate debt relief for 25 countries amid COVID-19 crisis</figcaption></figure>



The scheme has nine COVID-19 vaccine candidates covering a range of technologies and scientific approaches. Some are in late-stage clinical trials and could have data available by year-end.



Only two of the potential COVID-19 vaccines are being tested in Africa, said Richard Hatchett, chief executive officer of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which co-leads the COVAX project with the WHO and the Gavi vaccines alliance.



“Testing vaccines on the continent ensures that sufficient data is generated on the safety and efficacy of the most promising vaccine candidates for the African population so they can be confidently rolled out in Africa,” he said.



John Nkengasong, the head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, told an online news conference that talks with COVAX would supplement other negotiations with nations such as China, Canada and the United States over securing access to shots.



The continent has fared better than expected, health experts say. The number of new cases fell 11% in the past four weeks, Nkengasong said.



“We are seeing an epidemiological curve that is either stabilising or decreasing, representing a sign of hope,” he said, adding that inadequate testing still means the picture is incomplete.

WHO aiming for 20% of Africa to get initial COVID jabs from access plan

ABUJA (Reuters) &#8211; Nigeria aims to have 50 mines in operation by 2023 and can make up for time lost because of the impact of COVID-19 on development of the nascent sector, the country’s mining minister said in an interview.



Africa’s largest oil producer is banking on mining to diversify its income and revive its finances following a collapse in crude prices, which earlier this year hit two-decade lows.



“The pandemic has slowed things down, but we can still catch up,” Minister of Mines Olamilekan Adegbite said.



Nigeria hopes mining will grow tenfold in five years to account for 3% of the economy and that Nigeria can process as well as mine, which generates increased profits compared with shipping raw minerals.



In particular, he said Nigeria aimed to process barite, used in drilling for oil and gas, and sell it to countries such as Ghana and South Africa, which need the mineral to exploit new oil discoveries.



In common with other African countries, Nigeria is also seeking to formalise artisanal mining, which could generate tax and royalties from gold.



Adegbite said Nigeria was encouraging small-scale miners to form cooperatives and sell at government-buying centres, where prices are closer to global values than those illegal buyers offer.



While oil prices have been weak because of the impact of the pandemic on movement and industry, which has curbed fuel demand, gold in August hit record highs.



A problem for Nigeria is that its gold lies mostly in the northwest, where, humanitarian organisations say it has helped to fuel violence attributed to armed groups.



Adegbite said security had improved and buying centres would stop artisanal miners dealing with criminals: “By weaning them off the illegal people and (making) sure they sell to government-approved centres, you take off that linkage.”



He also expects more commercial gold miners to be attracted once Thor Explorations’s gold mine in Nigeria’s southwest starts producing. Its first gold is expected in the second quarter of 2021.



Malte Liewerscheidt, vice president of London-based risk consultancy Teneo Intelligence, said the plans were likely to be undermined by “structural challenges pertaining to insecurity and infrastructure deficiencies”.

Central Bank of Nigeria cuts benchmark lending rate to 12.5%

Nigeria says can tap mineral wealth despite COVID, unrest

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe will reopen primary and secondary schools this month for students preparing to sit their final exams, six months after they were closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the government said on Tuesday.



The first students to return, on Sept. 14, will be those taking Cambridge International exams. Those taking locally administered final exams will go back two weeks later.



“The ministry (of education) is working closely with other ministries and stakeholders to guarantee the safety of pupils and staff during the examinations period,” the government said.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-899231420-594x594-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-352505" width="705" height="483" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-899231420-594x594-1.jpg 594w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-899231420-594x594-1-300x206.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-899231420-594x594-1-100x70.jpg 100w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-899231420-594x594-1-218x150.jpg 218w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 705px) 100vw, 705px" /><figcaption>Zimbabwes former army commander and newly appointed vice president General Constantino Chiwenga (L) and Zimbabwe&#8217;s president Emmerson Mnangagwa (R) sit as they attend the swearing-in ceremony in Harare, on December 28, 2017.
Zimbabwes former army commander who led a military takeover that helped end Robert Mugabe&#8217;s 37-year rule sworn in as one of the country&#8217;s two vice presidents. General Constantino Chiwenga, 61, took the oath of office in Harare, pledging to be &#8220;faithful&#8221; to Zimbabwe and to &#8220;obey, uphold and defend the constitution&#8221;.
 / AFP PHOTO / Wilfred Kajese (Photo credit should read WILFRED KAJESE/AFP via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



The education ministry had previously said it would give priority to pupils taking final exams and has hinted that other students will not return to school until 2021.



Zimbabwe has recorded about 6,500 cases of COVID-19 and 202 deaths. Despite an increase in infections in the past six weeks, most cases were mild to moderate, with a recovery rate of about 80%, the government said.



Authorities are also looking at reopening airports to support the tourism sector, the government said. The plan is to start with the resumption of domestic flights and then to restart international flights, it added, but did not give a date.

Zimbabwe tightens coronavirus lockdown in capital Harare as cases hit 203

Zimbabwe to reopen schools from September 14 for students taking final exams

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South African state companies have requested billions of rand in funding from the government to help them weather the impact of the coronavirus crisis, a finance ministry presentation to parliament showed on Tuesday.



Loss-making state companies have long been an Achilles heel for Africa’s most industrialised economy, requiring bailouts that have placed its public finances under huge strain at a time of weak economic growth and helped push its sovereign credit rating to “junk” status.



The South African Post Office had requested 4.9 billion rand ($292.87 million) in support, broadcaster SABC was seeking 1.5 billion and airports company ACSA had applied for an equity injection of 3.5 billion because of the impact of COVID-19, according to the presentation by National Treasury officials.



Ailing power utility Eskom’s financial performance was worse than budgeted for as a result of limited economic activity during the pandemic, and arms firm Denel faced the risk of entering bankruptcy protection or being liquidated, it added.



The companies did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.



Denel, which makes military equipment for South Africa’s armed forces and clients around the world, told Reuters last week that it was not planning to seek new government equity injections despite a liquidity crunch aggravated by the pandemic.



It is unclear how much funding will be issued to the state firms. South Africa’s economy is forecast to contract at least 7% this year because of the coronavirus crisis and its budget deficit could balloon to as much as 16% of GDP in the current fiscal year.



One bright spot was agricultural lender Land Bank. It had resumed interest payments to lenders from Aug 11, the presentation showed, after defaulting earlier this year and being promised a bailout in a June budget.



($1 = 16.7310 rand)

Coronavirus

COVID-19: How the pandemic has impacted Rwandan exports

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How Africa fought COVID-19

The coronavirus has now killed more than 1 million people and upended the global economy in less than nine months

Puzzled scientists seek reasons behind Africa’s low fatality rates from pandemic

If world handles climate like COVID-19, U.N. chief says: ‘I fear the worst’

South African hit ‘Jerusalema’ inspires people worldwide to shake off COVID-19 blues

Recovery in tourism ? Think digital

AngloGold Ashanti reinstates trimmed 2020 output guidance

Inside Rwanda’s electronic auctioning system

WHO says $700 million raised so far for COVID-19 vaccines initiative for poor

AstraZeneca expects COVID vaccine result by year-end if trials resume

Kenyans fear ‘ecological disaster’ if two swollen lakes merge

WHO aiming for 20% of Africa to get initial COVID jabs from access plan

Nigeria says can tap mineral wealth despite COVID, unrest

Zimbabwe to reopen schools from September 14 for students taking final exams

South African state firms request bailouts over COVID-19

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Coronavirus

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WHO says $700 million raised so far for COVID-19 vaccines initiative for poor

AstraZeneca expects COVID vaccine result by year-end if trials resume

Kenyans fear ‘ecological disaster’ if two swollen lakes merge

WHO aiming for 20% of Africa to get initial COVID jabs from access plan

Nigeria says can tap mineral wealth despite COVID, unrest

Zimbabwe to reopen schools from September 14 for students taking final exams

South African state firms request bailouts over COVID-19

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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