ABUJA (Reuters) &#8211; Nigeria’s gross revenues rose to 653.35 billion naira ($1.7 billion) in June from 517.8 billion naira in May due to higher crude and tax receipts, accountant general Ahmed Idris said, as oil prices recovered from April’s crash.



The coronavirus outbreak early this year prompted a sharp fall in oil prices, Nigeria’s main export, slashing government revenues, weakening its currency and creating a large financing gap for the country.



The global benchmark Brent LCOc1 has since recovered to about $43 a barrel from a 21-year low below $16 in April.



OPEC member Nigeria relies on crude oil sales for two-thirds of government revenue.



The government generated 42.83 billion naira from exchange rate gains, it said in a statement. Income from crude sales and value added tax (VAT) made up the bulk of gross revenues.



Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed has pushed for the central bank to unify its multiple exchange rates so that the government can generate more naira from its crude receipts.



In February, Nigeria increased VAT to 7.5% from 5% to boost revenues, seen among the lowest in the world. Lower government revenue could worsen Nigeria’s debt to revenue ratio this year from a year earlier.

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Nigeria’s revenues rise in June on higher oil, tax receipts

PARIS (Reuters) &#8211; French oil major Total has signed a $14.9 billion senior debt financing agreement for its massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Mozambique, the biggest project financing ever in Africa, it said on Friday.



The project includes the development of the Golfinho and Atum natural gas fields in the Offshore Area 1 concession, and the construction of a two-train liquefaction plant with a capacity of 13.1 million tons per annum, Total said.



Jean-Pierre Sbraire, chief financial officer of Total, said the signing, which secures the majority of the project’s total investment of $20 billion, shows financial institutions have confidence in the long-term future of LNG in Mozambique.



Mozambique LNG is one of several projects being developed in the country’s northernmost province of Cabo Delgado after one of the biggest gas finds in a decade off its coast. Together, the projects are worth some $60 billion.



Rival Exxon Mobil delayed the final investment decision on its nearby Rovuma LNG gas project due to the coronavirus pandemic, and Mozambique expects the decision next year.



Mozambique LNG’s project financing includes direct and covered loans from eight export credit agencies (ECAs), 19 commercial bank facilities, and a loan from the African Development Bank, Total said in a statement.



UK Export Finance (UKEF) was among the ECAs contributing to the financing, alongside the Export Import Bank of the United States, Italy’s SACE, the Netherlands’ Atradius, the Export Credit Insurance Corporation of South Africa, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Nippon Export and Investment Insurance, and the Export-Import Bank of Thailand.



Reuters reported last month that UKEF was planning to commit around $800 million of funding &#8211; a contribution that drew criticism from environmental campaigners who say Britain should not be funding fossil fuel projects.



Sealing the Total project financing is a win for Mozambique’s government as it tackles security challenges.



Cabo Delgado has seen an Islamist insurgency with links to Islamic State gather pace over the past year, and suspected Islamist insurgents attacked a town 60 km (37 miles) south of the gas projects late last month.

Mozambique records first COVID-19 death

Total signs $14.9 billion debt financing for huge Mozambique LNG project

WASHINGTON (Reuters) &#8211; The government of India has agreed to allow U.S. air carriers to resume passenger services in the U.S.-India market starting July 23, the U.S. Transportation Department said on Friday.



The Indian government, citing the coronavirus, had banned all scheduled services, prompting the U.S. Transportation Department in June to accuse India of engaging in “unfair and discriminatory practices” on charter air carriers serving India.



The Transportation Department said it was withdrawing an order it had issued requiring Indian air carriers to apply for authorization prior to conducting charter flights, and said it had approved an Air India application for passenger charter flights between the United States and India.&nbsp;



A group representing major U.S. airlines and the Indian Embassy in Washington did not immediately comment on Friday.



India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation said on Twitter it was moving to “further expand our international civil aviation operations” and arrangements from some flights “with US, UAE, France &amp; Germany are being put in place while similar arrangements are also being worked out with several other countries.”



“Under this arrangement,” it added, “airlines from the concerned countries will be able to operate flights from &amp; to India along with Indian carriers.”



The U.S. Transportation Department order was set to take effect next week. The Trump administration said in June it wanted “to restore a level playing field for U.S. airlines” under the U.S.-India Air Transport Agreement. The Indian government had banned all scheduled services and failed to approve U.S. carriers for charter operations, it added.



The U.S. government said in June that Air India had been operating “repatriation” charter flights between India and the United States in both directions since May 7.

U.S. passenger flights to India can resume July 23

LONDON (Reuters) &#8211; Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he hoped Britain could return to normality before Christmas, setting out a phased removal of lockdown restrictions, but warned that while he was hoping for the best, the country must also prepare for the worst.



Britain is the worst-affected country in Europe by COVID-19 with a death toll from confirmed cases of more than 45,000 but has begun to lift national lockdown restrictions as case numbers and infection rates fall.



Johnson set out the latest timetable for easing on Friday, saying that employers would be given more discretion over working from home, that larger gatherings would be tested for safety and social distancing rules might be dropped in time for Christmas.



“It is my strong and sincere hope that we will be able to review the outstanding restrictions and allow a more significant return to normality from November at the earliest – possibly in time for Christmas,” he said.



However, he stressed that the plan was conditional on success in keeping infection rates down, setting out new powers for local government to lockdown COVID-19 hotspots and extra healthcare funding.



“We’re making sure we’re ready for winter and planning for the worst. But even as we plan for the worst, I strongly believe we should also hope for the best,” he told a news conference.



The government has faced criticism over several different aspects of its response to the pandemic, including that it was too slow to impose a lockdown and failed to ramp up testing capacity quickly enough.



Johnson said that from Aug. 1 he would scrap official guidance that encouraged people to work from home and give employers the power to decide whether it was safe for workers to return.



Johnson also set out a 3 billion pound ($3.76 billion) cash boost for the state-funded health system which would be made available immediately, and permitted the use of private hospitals and temporary field hospitals would be permitted to ease the increased winter burden.



The funding announcement applies only to the English health service, with knock-on increases for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to be set out later.



The government will also increase testing capacity and flexibility, bolster its stockpiles of protective equipment and, wary of increased pressure from other seasonal illnesses, increase its annual flu vaccination programme.

london

Britain eyes normal life by Christmas, but preparing for second COVID-19 wave

LAGOS (Reuters) &#8211; Annual inflation in Nigeria rose for a 10th straight month in June, lifted by higher food and healthcare costs, the statistics office said on Friday, as the coronavirus pandemic disrupted logistics.



Inflation climbed to 12.56%, its highest level in more than two years, from 12.4% in May, the National Bureau of Statistics said.



A separate index for food, which accounts for the bulk of the inflation basket, showed a price increase of 15.18% from 15.04% in May.



Nigeria has more than 34,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 76 deaths. Most cases are in urban areas, where the brunt of price increases is felt, especially for imported drugs and food.



Nigeria’s central bank meets early next week to set interest rates.

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Nigerian inflation rises for 10 months in a row in June

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s rand was unchanged early on Friday as investors reassessed the impact of coronavirus, with infections locally and worldwide continuing to climb. At 0715 GMT the rand had not moved against the dollar, still trading at its overnight closing level of 16.7400 per dollar. The rand rallied most of last week and early this week, reaching one-month highs. But momentum has since stalled as coronavirus infections rose around the world, especially in the United States, and local cases breached 200,000. Risk demand was also weakened by data showing China consumer demand slackened and by renewed tensions between Washington and Beijing. President Donald Trump’s administration is reported to be considering banning travel to the United States by all members of the Chinese Communist Party. “The South African currency surrendered gains as risk appetite ebbed in the wake of poor data out of China, dwarfing optimism surrounding promising vaccine trial results,” said analysts at NKC African Economics. Bonds were weaker, with the yield on the 2030 government issue up 7 basis points to 9.42%.

ArcelorMittal South Africa fined R3.64 million over hydrogen sulfide emissions

South Africa’s rand flat as COVID-19 infections climb

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe’s economy is expected to shrink by 4.5% this year owing to the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and a brutal climate change-related drought, the finance minister said on Thursday.



The crucial mining sector will contract by 4%, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube added in a mid-term budget speech, although he projected that GDP would rebound to 7.4% growth in 2021.



Ncube added that inflation was expected to gradually decline to 300% by December, compared with 737.36% currently.



Zimbabwe’s economy was in a mess even before COVID-19 struck, with rampant inflation, chronic shortages of food, foreign currency and medicines, all worsened by a drought that scorched crops.



“With regards to the domestic economy, the impact of the pandemic is &#8230; lower commodity demand and&#8230; prices, reduced tourist arrivals due to travel restrictions &#8230; currency volatility, high inflation,” Ncube told parliament.



Exports, however, seemed to remain resilient, despite the COVID-19 shock, declining only slightly to $1.53 billion in first five months of this year against $1.56 billion in the same period of last year.



As is often the case, Zimbabwe’s economic crisis risks spurring renewed social unrest. The opposition is planning street protests on July 31 to demonstrate against government corruption and its handling of the economy.



The Zimbabwe dollar currency, which was re-introduced last year unbacked by any foreign or gold reserves, has plummeted, eroding wages and triggering memories of the 2008 hyperinflation in 2008 — which wiped out savings and forced the government to abandon its previous currency.



Public sector unions want U.S. dollar pay, but the government says that is impossible, offering a 50% pay rise that unions have rejected.

Zimbabwe economy to shrink by 4.5% this year on COVID-19, drought

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s rand was weaker in early trade on Thursday, pausing a recent rally to one-month highs as disappointing Chinese consumption data dampened investor hopes of a quick economic recovery from the coronavirus.



At 0730 GMT the rand was 0.47% weaker at 16.6775 per dollar from the previous session’s best of 16.5075.



Wednesday’s rally, across most emerging market assets, was spurred by progress in finding a vaccine to counter the pandemic by U.S. firm Moderna, whose experimental vaccine showed it was safe and provoked immune responses to the novel coronavirus in all 45 healthy volunteers.



But China’s unexpected drop in retail sales &#8211; for a fifth straight month &#8211; poured water on the enthusiasm and saw some investors run for cover in safe-haven assets.



“The rand is trading on the back foot as demand for the USD recovered overnight,” market economists at ETM Analytics said in a note.



“Should the market’s spotlight once again shift away from the rising coronavirus caseload and simmering US-Sino tensions, however, the local unit could have a second attempt at the 16.50/$ level.”



Bonds also weakened, with the yield on the benchmark 2030 government issue up 2 basis points to 9.38%.

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S.African rand slips as weak China data overshadows vaccine hope

BEIJING (Reuters) &#8211; China said on Thursday it will stick to the Phase 1 trade deal it reached with the United States earlier this year but warned that it will respond to “bullying” tactics from Washington, as relations continue to deteriorate.



Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying also invited U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to come to China and visit the western Xinjiang region to see that there are no human rights violations, responding to Washington’s sanctions and accusations of wrongdoing against the Uighur Muslim minorities who live there.



Relations between Beijing and Washington are at the worst in decades as the two countries clash on multiple fronts including China’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak, the new national security law in Hong Kong, trade and the accusations of human rights crimes in Xinjiang.



Washington on Tuesday removed special status designation for Hong Kong and imposed sanctions against top Chinese officials and companies over Hong Kong and Xinjiang. Beijing condemned the moves and vowed to retaliate.



The New York Times reported that the United States is considering a travel ban against all members of China’s ruling Communist Party, a move that will further strain an increasingly confrontational relationship.



Hua told reporters during a daily briefing that such a ban, if true, would be “pathetic.”



Asked whether the recent sanctions imposed by Washington will impact the trade deal, Hua told reporters that China hopes the agreement can still be implemented.



“We always implement our commitments but we know that some in the U.S. are oppressing China and bullying China,” she said. “As an independent sovereign state China must respond to the bullying practices by the U.S. side; we must say no, we must make responses and take reactive moves to it.”



Hua also called Washington’s accusations of human rights crimes against the Uighur minorities the “biggest lies of the century”.



“We welcome him (Pompeo) to travel to our country and see what the Xinjiang people’s view of him is,” she said. “I could introduce him to some Uighur friends.”

china

China says will stick with U.S. trade deal, but respond to ‘bullying’

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; A failure by South Africa to lower public debt risks triggering credit downgrades deeper into subinvestment, Fitch said on Wednesday. Debt in Africa’s most industrialized economy is set to breach 80% of gross domestic product next year as the government borrows more to bring the coronavirus pandemic under control. Fitch downgraded South Africa’s credit rating deeper into “junk” territory in April, citing the lack of a clear path towards debt stabilisation and higher economic growth. The other top ratings firms, Moody’s and S&amp;P, also rate the country at sub-investment grades. “A continued rise in government debt/GDP and failure to formulate a clear and credible path towards stabilising the government debt/GDP ratio could lead to a further downgrade in South Africa’s ‘BB’ rating, which is on Negative Outlook,” said Jan Friederich, Fitch’s head of Africa sovereign ratings. Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said in an emergency budget in June the Treasury would stick to its promise of some 230 billion rand ($13.5 billion) of spending cuts in the short term, a target set in February before the COVID-19 pandemic. “Social and political factors, including exceptionally high inequality, powerful trade unions, and deep divisions within the governing African National Congress, present significant hurdles to fiscal consolidation,” Friederich said in a research report.

Fitch Ratings

South Africa’s failure to lower debt could trigger downgrade – Fitch

NAIROBI (Reuters) &#8211; The Kenyan shilling was under slight pressure on Wednesday as a surge in demand from oil and merchandise importers weighed against scarce hard currency inflows, traders said. At 0728 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 107.15/35 per dollar, compared with 107.10/30 at Tuesday’s close.

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Kenyan shilling weakens a touch as importer demand surges

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe’s inflation was at 737.26% year-on-year in June compared to 785.55% the previous month, as prices of basic goods continue to rise beyond the reach of most citizens, Zimstat, a state statistics body, said on Tuesday.



On a month-on-month basis, inflation jumped to 31.66% from 15.23% previously. Inflation in the southern African nation is one of the highest in the world.

Zimbabwe inflation at 737.26% y/y in June – Zimstat

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) &#8211; At a centuries-old vineyard overlooked by South Africa’s Drakenstein mountain, the country’s biggest single wine exporter Distell is battling a problem of plenty.



Prestigious wines, such as Nederburg, are bottled at the vineyard in Paarl, just outside Cape Town, and shipped locally and worldwide.



But the shipping can’t keep pace with the combined impact of an abundant harvest and lockdown disruption that has led to a glut that sits maturing in French oak barrels or stored in metal vats at wine estates.



South Africa, one of the top 10 wine producers, has around 240 million litres of stock across the industry, said executives at Distell, which itself has 40 million litres.



“It is a massive problem&#8230; that could take at least two years to resolve,” Distell CEO Richard Rushton said.



He told an investor call in June the impact on prices in the industry could be severe and said the company had lost some of its listings in wine outlets abroad as exports were halted.



South Africa also banned domestic alcohol sales as part of lockdown restrictions begun in March. Early in June it allowed sales during limited trading hours, but President Cyril Ramaphosa reimposed a sales ban from July 13 as new infections surged.



Industry body Vinpro said some 3 billion rand ($177.54 million) in sales had been lost in the first nine weeks of restrictions. Exports have resumed, but there is a backlog in the Cape Town port, it said.



Rushton said Distell hoped online sales would help and it has also begun producing alcohol-based sanitisers.



Even in the best of times, managing wine stocks in finite cellar space requires thinking a few moves ahead, but not usually as many.



“When you start off with oversupply, then it’s chess from day one,” Distell’s head winemaker Niel Groenewald said.



He faces a situation unprecedented in his two decades of experience and perhaps since the founding of the Nederburg estate in 1791.

Wines of South Africa CEO: What the resumption of wine exports means for the industry

South Africa’s Distell plays chess to beat lockdown wine glut

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Creditors of loss-making South African Airways (SAA) approved a rescue plan on Tuesday which requires at least 10 billion rand ($596 million) in new funding, throwing the ball into the government’s court to come up with the cash to save the airline.



Administrator Siviwe Dongwana told a creditor meeting that the plan had been approved by 86% of voting interests.



“The practitioners welcome the approval of the business rescue plan with an overwhelming majority of those who voted. It is an important step forward for the airline and provides much-needed certainty towards a restructured SAA,” Dongwana added in a statement.



The rescue plan envisages scaling back the state-owned airline’s fleet and shedding jobs but requires the government to find at least 10 billion rand of new funds for it to work.



It is not yet clear where that money will come from.



Dongwana told the creditor meeting that the Department of Public Enterprises had told the administrators that the government would deliver a letter to them on Wednesday with a funding commitment.

Airbus_A330-200_South_African_AW_(SAA)_F-WWYL_-_MSN_1223_-_Will_be_ZS-SXX_(5838450879)

South African Airways creditors approve rescue plan

Africa needs to spend 28.6 billion-a-year until 2030 to have any hope of to closing Africa’s yawning energy gap, but it is unclear where the money will come from.



Most Africans live without electricity as most nations struggle to generate the electricity the continent’s emerging economies need. South Africa’s national power generator Eskom – with a struggling national grid putting out 40,000 MW &#8211; generates half of the continent’s electricity. Even South Africa struggles to keep the lights on and countries with tiny electricity, like Malawi, struggle even more and find it an obstacle to growth. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Nigerian Damilola Ogunbiyi, the special representative for sustainable energy foraAll and Co-Chair of United Nations-Energy, confirmed that the energy gap in Africa was huge and would need at least $28.6 billion-a-year, until 2030, to close it. She told CNBC Africa that the question was how to gather the money.



“We need everything on the table. We need public sector support and also private money to come in. There can’t be one source of money. We need to convince private investors that putting power into Africa it is an investment,” says Ogunbiyi. &nbsp;



“I think what this pandemic has taught us is that if we don’t work together, then everyone is going to suffer. &nbsp;



Ogunbiyi was encouraged greatly by the electrification programme in the country of her birth. She said five million Nigerians, in rural areas, had been connected to solar power.



“In a large scale oil energy producing nation, that is not bad,” she says

Damilola Ogunbiyi_Headshot

How we can  close the 28 billion dollar-a-year energy gap in Africa

LONDON (Reuters) &#8211; Britain’s economy could shrink by more than 14% this year and government borrowing risks approaching 400 billion pounds ($500 billion) if there is lasting damage from the coronavirus, government budget forecasters warned on Tuesday.



The Office for Budget Responsibility said its central scenario, with only moderate scarring, showed a 12.4% fall in output, with a 14.3% decline if scarring is deeper.



Under an ‘upside scenario’ &#8211; which it said was an update of the sole scenario it presented in April &#8211; output would fall by 10.6%, while government borrowing would be limited to 263 billion pounds.

The Tories have it – Boris Johnson returns to power with a stronger Brexit mandate

UK economy risks shrinking 14% this year, budget forecasters warn

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s economy will contract by more than initially projected, likely shrinking 6.9% in 2020 compared to an earlier forecast of a 4.5% contraction, ratings agency S&amp;P Global Ratings said on Monday in a report.



South Africa has the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Africa, with more than 270,000 infections, and 4,000 deaths, and is now recording the fourth-largest daily increase in new cases worldwide at more than 12,000 per day.



“The pandemic situation in the country has worsened since our previous macroeconomic update, leading to a further hit to confidence, which was already low before the pandemic, amid lack of growth and concerns about the fiscal trajectory,” the firm said.



S&amp;P along with the other two main ratings firms, Moody’s and Fitch, already rate the country’s debt at below investment status, or junk. S&amp;P cut its rating one notch to the third tier of non-investment grade, BB-, in April, with a stable outlook.



S&amp;P’s growth forecast is however more optimistic than National Treasury’s prediction of a 7.2% contraction this year. Treasury predicts debt to gross domestic product will breach 80% as government borrows more to fund its response to the pandemic.



To cushion the economic blow of the pandemic on the economy, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a 500 billion rand ($28.86 billion) relief package in April, equivalent to 10% of South Africa’s GDP.



“The sizeable fiscal package will only partially mitigate the economic toll, but coupled with lower revenues, will lead to a significant increase in government debt, further impairing public finances,” the ratings agency said.

Economy

Nigeria’s revenues rise in June on higher oil, tax receipts

Total signs $14.9 billion debt financing for huge Mozambique LNG project

U.S. passenger flights to India can resume July 23

Britain eyes normal life by Christmas, but preparing for second COVID-19 wave

Nigerian inflation rises for 10 months in a row in June

South Africa’s rand flat as COVID-19 infections climb

Zimbabwe economy to shrink by 4.5% this year on COVID-19, drought

S.African rand slips as weak China data overshadows vaccine hope

China says will stick with U.S. trade deal, but respond to ‘bullying’

South Africa’s failure to lower debt could trigger downgrade – Fitch

Kenyan shilling weakens a touch as importer demand surges

Zimbabwe inflation at 737.26% y/y in June – Zimstat

South Africa’s Distell plays chess to beat lockdown wine glut

South African Airways creditors approve rescue plan

How we can close the 28 billion dollar-a-year energy gap in Africa

UK economy risks shrinking 14% this year, budget forecasters warn

South Africa’s economy to shrink 6.9% in 2020 – S&P Global Ratings

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Economy

Nigeria’s revenues rise in June on higher oil, tax receipts

Total signs $14.9 billion debt financing for huge Mozambique LNG project

U.S. passenger flights to India can resume July 23

Britain eyes normal life by Christmas, but preparing for second COVID-19 wave

Nigerian inflation rises for 10 months in a row in June

South Africa’s rand flat as COVID-19 infections climb

Zimbabwe economy to shrink by 4.5% this year on COVID-19, drought

S.African rand slips as weak China data overshadows vaccine hope

China says will stick with U.S. trade deal, but respond to ‘bullying’

South Africa’s failure to lower debt could trigger downgrade – Fitch

Kenyan shilling weakens a touch as importer demand surges

Zimbabwe inflation at 737.26% y/y in June – Zimstat

South Africa’s Distell plays chess to beat lockdown wine glut

South African Airways creditors approve rescue plan

How we can close the 28 billion dollar-a-year energy gap in Africa

UK economy risks shrinking 14% this year, budget forecasters warn

South Africa’s economy to shrink 6.9% in 2020 – S&P Global Ratings

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