<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/40205162585_b9b3656642_b-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-580770" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/40205162585_b9b3656642_b-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/40205162585_b9b3656642_b-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/40205162585_b9b3656642_b-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/40205162585_b9b3656642_b-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/40205162585_b9b3656642_b.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /></figure>



The race to lead the African Development Bank (AfDB) picked up pace this week as the Zambian, Senegalese and Mauritanian candidates pledged to boost faster development of the world’s poorest continent.



Ex-World Bank senior official Samuel Maimbo of Zambia formally launched his campaign today and will fight it out against Senegal’s Amadou Hott, the special envoy of the bank’s Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa, and Mauritania’s Sidi OuldTah, former Director General of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa.



Since assuming leadership of the African Development Bank in 2015, Akinwumi Adesina, a former Nigerian agriculture minister whose term ends in October, has championed Africa’s agriculture as a unique investment opportunity and last week, together with the World Bank, launched an $8 billion drive to provide power to 300 million Africans.



Announcing a candidacy he said was backed by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Community for Eastern and Southern African States (COMESA), Maimbo said Africa needed bold leadership to achieve this, citing his role in helping raise a $90 billion financing package under the International Development Association replenishment.



“Africa stands at a critical juncture,” Maimbo said in a statement from Lusaka, Zambia. “We need to get one billion people to work as quickly as possible by strategically supporting the industries that will improve livelihoods and ignite prosperity on our continent.’’



The AfDB, the only African financial institution rated triple A by Moody’s, Standard &amp; Poor’s and Fitch, selects a new leader next May to replace Nigeria’s Adesina who is not eligible to run again under the bank’s constitution.



Maimbo is bidding to become the second Zambian to hold the Presidency after compatriot Wila Mungomba, who led for a single term between 1980 and 1985. Senegal’s Babacar Ndiaye succeeded him and served two terms till 1995 when Morocco’s Omar Kabbaj took over, also serving two terms. Rwanda’s Donald Kaberuka succeeded him from 2005, also for two terms before Adesina’s arrival.



South Africa, Africa’s largest economy and the bank’s third largest African shareholder after Nigeria and Egypt, initially backed its national Bajabulile Tshabalala, a former Vice President of the Bank,&nbsp;before the Presidency publicly withdrew the support and threw its weight behind Maimbo as the SADC candidate.



Tanzania’s Frannie Leautier, CEO of Kigali based Southbridge Capital and also a former Vice President of the bank, had also been tipped to be in the running but may also have fallen victim to the SADC consensus on Maimbo.&nbsp;



Maimbo says his presidency will focus on boosting Africa’s share of global trade from the current 3 percent by unifying the efforts of its 1.4 billion people, strengthening regional markets and modernizing the continent’s infrastructure and agriculture while accelerating energy access in a region where almost two thirds of the population has no access to electricity.



“Africa needs significantly higher rates of growth to successfully navigate today’s development challenges and capture tomorrow’s opportunities,” he said. “I’m ready on day one to support governments in reaching their goals. It’s time to stop talking about Africa’s potential and start realizing it.”



Maimbo’s recently served as the Vice President of Budget, Performance Review, and Strategic Planning at the World Bank where he also served as Chief of Staff to successive World Bank Presidents. The election will be held on May 29 at the bank’s headquarters in Abidjan, commercial capital of Cote D’Ivoire.

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Race to lead Africa’s top development finance institution hots up

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="5000" height="3338" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/A7M7YHTKLZMKZHKW5UBBPCVSYQ.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-580185"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Namibians queue to vote in an the extension of the presidential and national assembly elections after delays on the offical election day earlier this week in Windhoek, Namibia, November 29, 2024. REUTERS/Noah Tjijenda/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



WINDHOEK, Jan 29 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Namibia&#8217;s unemployment rate rose to 36.9% in 2023 from 33.4% in 2018, the statistics office said on Wednesday.



The country of about three million people has one of the highest official unemployment levels in the world, having overtaken neighbouring South Africa whose unemployment rate fell to 32.1% in the third quarter of 2024 after the formation of a coalition government.



Statistician General Alex Shimuafeni said that 320,442 individuals were employed in Namibia in 2023, of the total 867,247 people in the labour force.



Namibia&#8217;s unemployment rate now excludes discouraged workers, making the actual number of people without jobs higher.



The broader unemployment rate stands at 54.8%, as reported in the 2023 Labour Force report, said Tannan Groenewald, head of data and analytics at Cirrus Capital.



Namibia&#8217;s President-elect Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah in December pledged &#8220;radical shifts&#8221; to fix the country&#8217;s high levels of poverty and unemployment.



(Reporting by Nyasha Nyaungwa; Editing by Tannur Anders and Peter Graff)

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Namibia’s unemployment rate rises to 36.9%

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="720" height="534" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/BBDPQPV6XFMSXA4NZNPNRY52FM.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-579816"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">People queue to withdraw money from a bank in Harare, Zimbabwe&#8217;s capital, March 8, 2017. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



HARARE, Jan 28 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Zimbabwe&#8217;s inflation rate rose sharply in January in both U.S. dollar and local currency terms, spurred by food and housing prices.



In dollar terms inflation accelerated to 14.6% year on year after rising by 2.5% in December. On a local currency basis inflation rose to 10.5% month on month in January compared to an increase of 3.7% in December, statistics agency data showed on Tuesday.



Independent economist Prosper Chitambara said last year&#8217;s severe regional drought and additional taxes introduced this month had likely contributed to the inflation increase.



&#8220;It could be the new taxes that have taken effect this month. The huge cost is passed on to consumers. Before the next harvest season we are likely to see an upward trend of inflation as drought continues to exert inflationary pressures,&#8221; Chitambara said.



In his latest budget Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube introduced a 0.5% tax on fast food and a 10% tax on all sports betting proceeds, which took effect this month.



Another independent economist, Tony Hawkins, said U.S. dollar inflation had been &#8220;grossly understated&#8221; and authorities in the Southern African country were playing catch-up.



Zimbabwe launched a new gold-backed currency in April last year, but it was sharply devalued in September and foreign currencies like the U.S. dollar are still used for most local transactions.



Since the devaluation, the Zimbabwe Gold currency has fallen further. It was trading around 26.3 to the dollar on Tuesday, according to the central bank&#8217;s website.



(Reporting by Nyasha Chingono and Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Alexander Winning, Sfundo Parakozov and Christina Fincher)

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Zimbabwe inflation rises sharply, spurred by food and housing

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1908" height="1363" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/DPL3JG6BMVNRRNWVIDNA74R5A4.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-577510"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Zimbabwe Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube arrives to present the 2020 National Budget at Parliament Building in Harare, Zimbabwe, November 14, 2019. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



Jan 22 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Zimbabwe&#8217;s finance minister expressed concern on Wednesday that a U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization will lead to aid cuts to countries such as his that are most affected by HIV/AIDS.



President Donald Trump signed an executive order on the U.S. withdrawal after his inauguration to a second term on Monday.



Warning that a U.S. withdrawal could signal cuts in health aid to countries such as Zimbabwe, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said: &#8220;Any country with an HIV/AIDS challenge will be impacted.&#8221;



&#8220;This is a concern, a fear we are expressing,&#8221; Ncube told an online briefing from the Swiss resort of Davos, where was attending the World Economic Forum.



Zimbabwe receives over $200 million annually from the U.S. President&#8217;s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and the U.S government has given Zimbabwe over $1.7 billion since 2006 to strengthen health systems and support people living with HIV, according the U.S. embassy in Harare.



PEPFAR contributes nearly $90 million a year to support salaries and incentives for healthcare workers in Zimbabwe, in addition to funding HIV and viral load testing, prevention, cervical cancer screening and tuberculosis treatment.



Zimbabwe is struggling to fund its public health system, and the government introduced a sugar tax on beverages last year to help raise funds for cancer treatment. Another tax on fast foods was introduced this year.



&#8220;We need to scale up our funding for health. The earmarked taxes should be directed towards health as we build our capacity to fill the gap should any funding recede,&#8221; Ncube said.



(Reporting by Nyasha Chingono; Editing by Tannur Anders and Timothy Heritage)

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Zimbabwe fears US withdrawal from WHO will hit HIV/AIDS programmes

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="5000" height="3333" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/3DW6LEO47VMC3CWA77J2OKJYYU-1.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-573919"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The logo of British multinational oil and gas company Shell is displayed during the LNG 2023 energy trade show in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, July 12, 2023. REUTERS/Chris Helgren/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



LONDON, (Reuters) &#8211; Shell will write down around $400 million over an oil discovery offshore Namibia that it deemed commercially unviable in a blow to the southern African country&#8217;s efforts to become a crude producer.



Shell told Reuters that discovered oil and gas resources in offshore block PEL39 in Namibia &#8220;cannot currently be confirmed for commercial development.&#8221;



Shell and its partners, QatarEnergy and Namibia&#8217;s national oil company, first discovered hydrocarbon in block PEL39 in 2022, which together with another discovery TotalEnergies made in a nearby block sparked huge global interest in Namibia which has no oil and gas production.



Shell has drilled nine wells in the licence over the past three years, making several other discoveries.



More recently, Portuguese oil company Galp also made a major discovery in a different offshore licence.



But the British company encountered technical and geological difficulties for the development of the resources.



&#8220;While we recognise that extracting the discovered resources presents challenges, the extensive data collected shows that there remain opportunities. Together with our partners, we are continuing to explore potential commercial pathways to development, while actively looking for further exploration opportunities in Namibia,&#8221; Shell said in a statement on Thursday.



CEO Wael Sawan told analysts on Oct. 31 that Namibia&#8217;s acreage was &#8220;very challenging,&#8221; and that the lower permeability of the rock made extracting oil and gas harder.



Sources told Reuters that the offshore discoveries also had a high natural gas content, further complicating their development.



Namibia&#8217;s Ministry of Mines and Energy said in a statement on Thursday that Shell&#8217;s decision will not significantly impact Namibia&#8217;s oil and gas development.



&#8220;It is not a setback. We are positive that the remaining potential of PEL39 and other exploration campaigns will translate into commercial developments,&#8221; the ministry said.



Galp, Chevron, Rhino Resources and Azule Energy, a joint venture between Italy&#8217;s Eni and BP, are all planning to drill exploration wells in Namibia this year. TotalEnergies plans to make a final investment decision on the development of its Venus discovery by year-end.



Shell said in a trading update ahead of fourth quarter results on Jan. 30 that it expects to take an exploration write-off of around $400 million, without providing details.



It will take another $300 million write-off related mainly to exploration licences in Colombia, the company added.



(Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Sandra Maler)

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Shell writes down Namibia oil discovery in blow to country

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/https___cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com_reuters_IIYWQDB4WFNKFJIYVD4GQSNLGM-1-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-573699" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/https___cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com_reuters_IIYWQDB4WFNKFJIYVD4GQSNLGM-1-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/https___cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com_reuters_IIYWQDB4WFNKFJIYVD4GQSNLGM-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/https___cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com_reuters_IIYWQDB4WFNKFJIYVD4GQSNLGM-1-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/https___cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com_reuters_IIYWQDB4WFNKFJIYVD4GQSNLGM-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/https___cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com_reuters_IIYWQDB4WFNKFJIYVD4GQSNLGM-1.jpg 1080w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A local farmer sprays a pesticide on her maize field in Chikwawa District, Malawi March 19, 2018. REUTERS/Eldson Chagara/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



CHIKWAWA, Malawi, Jan 9 (Thomson Reuters Foundation)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Maxwell Nsona stood in the dried-out bed of the Nthumba River in Malawi&#8217;s southern Chikwawa district and recalled how this wide ribbon of footprint-studded sand turned into a raging torrent during heavy rains a decade ago.



The fear is that this could happen again as a country brought to its knees by southern Africa&#8217;s worst drought in decades braces for a rainy season that meteorologists say could bring widespread flooding and landslides.



People, animals and the very land across huge swathes of southern Africa have been depleted and desiccated with millions of people going hungry and economies faltering.



The drought has been fuelled by El Niño, a climate phenomenon that can exacerbate drought or storms &#8211; weather conditions that are made more likely by climate change.



Rain is desperately needed in Malawi, but with deliverance from drought comes danger and that is because the impending La Niña weather phenomenon, which involves the cooling of ocean surface temperatures, could bring increased rainfall, but it also threatens flooding, soil erosion and landslides.



It is not as though Nsona and his fellow farmers from Pende village have been idle either.



They have done what they can to prepare for what they know is coming in a country that regularly experiences the deadly, and ever more frequent, pendulum swing from life-threatening droughts to devastating floods.



For example, they built dykes along the river and reinforced the banks with rocks and by planting trees and other vegetation.



&#8220;We made a resolution to find a solution after floods had displaced a chief and killed three people almost 10 years ago,&#8221; said the 50-year-old father-of-three, who has lived in the region his whole life and grows maize, millet and cotton.



&#8220;We tried to redirect it back to its course using hoes and shovels &#8230; We also built a 150-metre dyke using an excavator, but it was washed away when cyclones Ana and &#8230; Freddy hit this area,&#8221; he said, explaining that two relief agencies helped them with the construction.



Cyclone Ana hit Malawi in 2022, and Freddy, one of the deadliest storms to hit the continent in two decades, ripped through Malawi just over a year later.



Another storm season has already begun, with devastating consequences.



On Dec. 14, peoples&#8217; cell phones beeped with a warning from the Department Of Disaster Management Affairs: Cyclone Chido was on its way and could bring torrential rains and flooding.



The message, sent in local languages, told people to head for the hills, if they could.



Just two days later, after laying waste to the French overseas territory of Mayotte off Africa&#8217;s east coast, Chido barrelled into Malawi, killing at least 13 people, destroying homes and leaving many communities without food, water and healthcare.



ROTTING MANGOES



Malawi declared a state of disaster in March 2024 as the drought decimated crops, leaving around 5.7 million people &#8211; 20% of the population &#8211; facing acute food insecurity.



At the end of the year, rains started in some parts of Malawi, a country where more than 80% of people depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, but these downpours have also caused problems among people who have been left with few resources as crops wilted in the fields.



In November, heavy winds and rain struck Namwera, an area in Malawi&#8217;s old capital Zomba, damaging homes and blowing the drought-resistant mangoes that people rely on for food off the trees.



In the nearby district of Machinga, which was not affected by the storm, Hanna Wethiwa, 52, was busy picking fresh mangoes from trees outside her home in Lumera village.



She cut them up and boiled them over an outside fire before adding a powdered juice, which costs around 700 Malawi kwacha ($0.4077), as two of her six children waited eagerly nearby for their meal.



Apart from mangoes, Wethiwa has been relying on wild yams and grass seeds to survive, even though there are reports of people dying from food poisoning after eating wild tubers.



&#8220;This year has been the hardest because all of our crops dried due to the drought. We started eating sorghum-like grass seeds, which we fetched from the bush,&#8221; the mother-of-seven told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.



&#8220;We dry them, pound and cook porridge, but they did not last long because every household was relying on them.&#8221;



CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL HELP



At November&#8217;s COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan, Malawi&#8217;s Vice President Michael Usi, who was also representing the Least Developed Countries (LDC) group, told delegates climate change &#8220;is not a distant abstraction&#8221;.



He said floods, droughts, and unpredictable weather patterns were disrupting lives in Malawi and threatening the well-being of future generations.



&#8220;For a country like Malawi, the consequences are not only economic, but also deeply inhumane. The catastrophe compromises food security, public health and infrastructure development, exacerbates poverty and undermines our hard-won development gains,&#8221; he said.



Although Malawi&#8217;s greenhouse gas emissions are among the lowest in the world, Usi said the country was committed to reducing them further. He also said Loss and Damage funding must be made available to vulnerable countries.



Countries at the COP29 summit adopted a $300-billion-a-year global finance target to help poorer nations cope with impacts of climate change, but those countries said it was woefully insufficient.



In the meantime, officials in Malawi must do the best they can. Like Daniel Mandala, the district disaster risk management officer for Nsanje in southern Malawi, where areas around the Shire River are prone to flooding.



He is busy preparing for coming months by reviewing the district disaster contingency plan, which includes all emergency activities ranging from preparedness, response and recovery.



&#8220;Prevention is better than cure hence the (Nsanje district) council is also warning communities to relocate to safe places before the rains reach their climax,&#8221; he said, adding that people were being urged to take weather warnings seriously.



Mandala said flooding and storms had become more frequent and intense in Nsanje over the last decade.



&#8220;It is not necessarily difficult to manage annual disasters as we already know the areas to be affected and the estimated number of households to be affected,&#8221; he said.



&#8220;The only challenge is the magnitude of the flooding, which has increased, and the reluctance of some communities to move to upland when early warnings are issued in good time.&#8221;



($1 = 1,717.0200 kwacha)



(Reporting by Charle Pensulo; Editing by Clar Ni Chonghaile and Jon Hemming)

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In parched Malawi rains promise deliverance but also danger

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1200" height="694" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/https___cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com_reuters_2RDQ23M7XBMRNLWULMA2ULYTGU.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-573616"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The Royal Dutch Shell logo is seen at a Shell petrol station in London, January 31, 2008. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



LONDON, Jan 8 (Reuters) &#8211; Shell SHEL.L will write down around $400 million over an oil discovery offshore Namibia that it deemed commercially unviable in a blow to the southern African country&#8217;s efforts to become a crude producer.



Shell&nbsp;told Reuters that discovered oil and gas resources in offshore block PEL39 in Namibia &#8220;cannot currently be confirmed for commercial development.&#8221;



Shell and its partners QatarEnergy and Namibia&#8217;s national oil company first discovered hydrocarbon in block PEL39 in 2022, which together with another discovery TotalEnergies&nbsp;TTEF.PAmade in a nearby block sparked huge global interest in the southern African country which has no oil and gas production.



Shell drilled nine wells in the licence over the past three years, making several other discoveries.



More recently, Portuguese oil company Galp also made a major discovery in a different offshore licence.



But the British company encountered technical and geological difficulties for the development of the resources.



CEO Wael Sawan told analysts on Oct. 31 that Namibia&#8217;s acreage was &#8220;very challenging,&#8221; and that the lower permeability of the rock made extracting oil and gas harder.



Sources told Reuters that the offshore discoveries also had a high natural gas content, further complicating their development.



The company said in a trading update ahead of fourth quarter results on Jan. 30 that it expects to take an exploration write off of around $400 million, without providing details.



It will take another $300 million write off related mainly to exploration licences in Colombia, the company said.



(Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Chris Reese and Nick Zieminski)

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<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="640" height="427" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/FHI2NVCH5ZJB7MSERIE6PSCJPE.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-573381"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A woman displays a selection of Kwacha notes, the national currency and money used in Zambia in Lusaka, Zambia February 27, 2024. REUTERS/Namukolo Siyumbwa/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



LUSAKA, Jan 8 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Zambia&#8217;s kwacha&nbsp;ZMW=&nbsp;has hit a series of record lows since the start of the year as a severe drought keeps the pressure firmly on the copper-producing Southern African country&#8217;s economy.



Analysts had hoped Zambia&#8217;s emergence from default early last year would have helped sentiment, but the currency is now roughly 3% below where it was before its debt restructuring deal and has fallen nearly 15% over the last six months.



It was trading at 27.95 per dollar on Wednesday, just above the latest record low of 28.05 on Tuesday.



&#8220;Zambia is in a state of severe drought, and this appears to manifest in currency weakness as the hydroelectrically dependent country faces an industrial slowdown,&#8221; Access Bank Zambia said in a research note.



&#8220;Mining companies are being forced to reduce copper production, a key foreign revenue earner,&#8221; it added.



The severe effects of El Niño caused the worst dry spell in southern Africa in a century last year, devastating crop production and forcing Zambia&#8217;s authorities to cut electricity generation on the Kariba dam, the biggest source of electricity.



The kwacha plunged when Zambia defaulted on $11 billion worth of external debt in November 2020, but saw a brief 20% jump last February when it became clear its restructuring efforts were going to be successful.



One financial analyst in Lusaka said some companies had sold dollars during Wednesday&#8217;s session in preparation for local tax payments next week, offering some support to the kwacha.



(Reporting by Chris Mfula; Writing by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Marc Jones and Christina Fincher)

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Zambia’s currency stuck at record low as drought persists

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="640" height="455" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/V3RZUHSNTJNKLBFQBJIVO57VX4.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-573325"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A Faberge emerald gemstone Emotion ring is seen at the Gemfields office in central London, November 17, 2014/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



Jan 8 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Coloured gemstone producer Gemfields&nbsp;GEMGE.L,&nbsp;GMLJ.J&nbsp;has asked the Zambian government to remove a recently re-introduced 15% export tax on emeralds to avoid hurting the sector.



The southern African country, the world&#8217;s second largest emerald producer after Colombia, re-introduced the tax on Jan.1, after it was suspended in 2019.



&#8220;The company will engage with the Zambian government to seek the re-introduction of the suspension of this export duty or to remove it from the legislation given the impact on sector



sustainability and investment attractiveness,&#8221; Gemfields said in a statement.



The Guernsey-based miner and marketer of coloured gemstones operates the Kagem emerald mine in Zambia, one of the biggest in the world. Gemfields also owns the Faberge jewellery brand and a ruby mine in Mozambique.



Kagem paid an effective 31% of its revenues to the Zambian government in the form of mineral royalty, corporation tax and dividends, the company said in 2023. Gemfields owns 75% of Kagem, with the government of Zambia holding the balance.



The Kagem mine has reported cumulative emerald sales revenue of $1.1 billion between 2009 and 2023, according to Gemfields.



(Reporting by Nelson Banya; Editing by Christina Fincher)

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Gemfields asks Zambia to reverse emerald export tax

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="507" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/download-59.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-422969" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/download-59.jpg 800w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/download-59-300x190.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/download-59-142x90.jpg 142w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/download-59-768x487.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: A car drives past a construction site of the Central Business District (CBD) in the capital Gaborone, Botswana, September 21, 2018. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



GABORONE, Dec 6 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Botswana&#8217;s economy could shrink 1.7% this year, the first contraction since the COVID-19 pandemic, mostly because of a prolonged downturn in the global diamond market, finance minister Ndaba Gaolathe said.



In February, when it presented its budget, the southern African country&#8217;s government forecast 4.2% growth in 2024 but weakness in the diamond market since late last year has hurt demand for Botswana&#8217;s key export.



Debswana, Botswana&#8217;s joint venture with De Beers, lowered its 2024 diamond production guidance by about 6 million carats to 17.9 million carats. De Beers diamond sales were down 40% in the first nine months of 2024 from the year earlier period.



Gaolathe told lawmakers on Thursday that the contraction in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) this year could be greater than 1.7% should additional risks materialise, according to a copy of his remarks sent to reporters by the finance ministry.



Those risks include further disruptions in the diamond market, the impact of a severe regional drought and defects at a major power plant.



The budget deficit is now seen at 6.75% of GDP, compared to the estimate of 2.8% given in February, Gaolathe said.



Like other southern African countries Botswana has been affected by the worst regional drought in decades, which has sapped economic growth in neighbouring Namibia and Zimbabwe.



Botswana&#8217;s central bank said on Thursday that the economy would contract in 2024 but did not say by how much.



(Reporting by Brian Benza; Writing by Tannur Anders; Editing by Alexander Winning, Kirsten Donovan)

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Botswana economy could shrink 1.7% this year, finance minister says

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="5000" height="3333" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/UF4K7PHXAZNURIYHXZYZ7KQQXA.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-562468"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Diamonds are seen during an exhibition in Gaborone, Botswana, November 23, 2015. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



GABORONE, Dec 5 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Botswana&#8217;s central bank left its main lending rate unchanged on Thursday, saying the economy was expected to operate below capacity and not generate demand-driven inflationary pressures because of a slump in the global diamond market.



The Bank of Botswana held its Monetary Policy Rate at 1.90% for the second policy meeting in a row. The rate is based on a seven-day instrument.



&#8220;The economy will contract this year primarily due to the downturn in the global diamond market and moderately recover next year,&#8221; central bank Governor Cornelius Dekop told a news conference.



The southern African country&#8217;s economy is largely dependent on the export of diamonds, and declining earnings from the precious stone have limited government spending.



The central bank also lowered its primary reserve requirement to 0% from 2.5% due to significantly reduced liquidity in the banking system.



Dekop said inflation was expected to average 2.9% in 2024 and 3.3% in 2025, compared with forecasts of 2.8% and 3.1% given at the bank&#8217;s previous monetary policy meeting in November.



The Bank of Botswana prefers inflation between 3% and 6% over the medium term. Annual inflation stood at 1.6% in October.



(Additional reporting by Bhargav Acharya; Writing by Tannur Anders; Editing by Alexander Winning, Kirsten Donovan)

UF4K7PHXAZNURIYHXZYZ7KQQXA

Botswana holds main interest rate as diamond slump saps economy

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="569" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/LIDX3QHRFJO2VGB2V5J6GAXBSI-820x569.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-561959" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/LIDX3QHRFJO2VGB2V5J6GAXBSI-820x569.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/LIDX3QHRFJO2VGB2V5J6GAXBSI-300x208.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/LIDX3QHRFJO2VGB2V5J6GAXBSI-130x90.jpg 130w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/LIDX3QHRFJO2VGB2V5J6GAXBSI-768x533.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/LIDX3QHRFJO2VGB2V5J6GAXBSI-1536x1066.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/LIDX3QHRFJO2VGB2V5J6GAXBSI-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: A general view of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)&#8217;s head office in Harare, Zimbabwe, July 17, 2024. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



HARARE, Dec 4 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Zimbabwe&#8217;s central bank said on Wednesday that its Monetary Policy Committee&nbsp;(MPC)&nbsp;had met and decided to leave its policy rate unchanged at 35%.



The bank said in a statement that the MPC wanted to maintain tight policy to anchor inflation expectations.



In September, the central bank allowed the country&#8217;s recently-launched currency Zimbabwe Gold to fall over 40% and hiked its policy rate to 35%.



The devaluation caused a sharp spike in inflation in October, when prices rose by 37.2% month-on-month in local currency terms. November&#8217;s month-on-month inflation rate slowed to 11.7%.



Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said in a budget speech last week that economic growth would accelerate next year as the southern African country recovers from a severe drought.



(Reporting by Nyasha Chingono; Writing by Alexander Winning; Editing by Kim Coghill)

A general view of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)’s head office in Harare

Zimbabwe central bank keeps policy rate at 35%

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="696" height="441" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG_6346.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-561585" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG_6346.jpeg 696w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG_6346-300x190.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG_6346-142x90.jpeg 142w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Namibia&#8217;s Vice President and SWAPO presidential candidate Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah gestures after casting her vote in the elections in Windhoek, Namibia, November 27, 2024. REUTERS/Noah Tjijenda/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



WINDHOEK, Dec 3 (Reuters) &#8211; Namibia&#8217;s ruling SWAPO party led both the presidential and parliamentary races on Tuesday, a week after voting took place in an election marred by technical challenges.



SWAPO, which has governed the southern African nation since leading it to independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990, fielded Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah as its presidential candidate. If victorious, she would become Namibia&#8217;s first female leader.



Results were initially expected a few days after the Nov. 27 poll, but voting was extended to Nov. 29 and Nov. 30 at several polling stations after some voters were unable to cast their ballots on election day due to technical difficulties and ballot paper shortages.



At 0636 GMT, the electoral commission&#8217;s election portal showed Nandi-Ndaitwah was leading the presidential race with 54.82% of the vote after 65.57% of votes had been counted.



To win the presidency, a candidate must secure over 50% of votes, failing which a run-off is required.



Namibians vote separately for members of the National Assembly, and SWAPO led the ballot with 56.38% of the 66.39% of the votes tallied.



Opposition candidate Panduleni Itula and his Independent Patriots for Change trailed a distant second, with 28.09% of the presidential vote and 19.23% of the vote for the National Assembly.



The timeline for the final result announcement was unclear.



(Reporting by Nyasha Nyaungwa; writing by Tannur Anders; editing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Lincoln Feast.)

IMG_6346

Namibia’s ruling party takes lead in election results

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GettyImages-1823067415-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-561385" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GettyImages-1823067415-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GettyImages-1823067415-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GettyImages-1823067415-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GettyImages-1823067415-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GettyImages-1823067415-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GettyImages-1823067415-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">U.S. President Joe Biden shakes hands with President Joao Lourenco of Angola during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on November 30, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



LUANDA, Dec 2 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;U.S. President Joe&nbsp;Biden&nbsp;landed in&nbsp;Angola&nbsp;on Monday for a visit focused on a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL2N3N00D4&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">U.S.-backed railway project</a>&nbsp;and on the legacy of slavery, but his decision to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AS0N3HW02C&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">pardon his son Hunter&nbsp;Biden</a>&nbsp;threatened to overshadow the official agenda.



The visit fulfils a promise to visit Sub-Saharan Africa during his presidency and aims to bolster the Lobito Corridor project, which links resource-rich Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia to the&nbsp;Angolan port of Lobito on the Atlantic Ocean.



At stake are vast supplies of minerals like copper and cobalt, which are found in Congo and are a key component of batteries and other electronics. China is the top player in Congo, which has become an increasing concern to Washington.



China signed an agreement with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AP8N3JL034&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tanzania and Zambia</a>&nbsp;in September to revive a rival railway line to Africa&#8217;s eastern coast.



&#8220;It&#8217;s going to create incredible economic opportunities here on the continent,&#8221;&nbsp;Biden&#8217;s national security spokesperson John Kirby said, speaking about the Lobito Corridor during a briefing to reporters on Air Force One during the flight to Luanda.



He said&nbsp;Biden&nbsp;would unveil additional commitments to the project during his visit, as well as to health, climate and clean energy programs.



However, reporters on the flight had more questions about the Hunter&nbsp;Biden&nbsp;pardon than they did about investment in Africa. The president&#8217;s spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre responded to them mostly by repeating Joe&nbsp;Biden&#8217;s own statement on the issue.



The president, whose term in office finishes in January, flew out of Washington shortly after pardoning his son, who had pleaded guilty to tax violations and been convicted on firearms-related charges.



Biden&nbsp;himself did not answer reporters&#8217; questions on the pardon during a brief refueling stop in the small island nation of Cape Verde, off the coast of West Africa, earlier on Monday.



During his two-day visit to&nbsp;Angola,&nbsp;Biden&nbsp;is scheduled to meet with President Joao Lourenco and the Zambian leader President Hakainde Hichilema, and to tour the national slavery museum and various facilities in Lobito.



Partly funded by a U.S. loan, the Lobito Corridor would make it faster and easier to export critical minerals towards the United States, which has been widely seen as a way to divert some of those resources from China.



&#8220;There is no Cold War on the continent. We&#8217;re not asking countries to choose between us and Russia and China,&#8221; Kirby said.



&#8220;We&#8217;re simply looking for reliable, sustainable, verifiable investment opportunities that the people of&nbsp;Angola&nbsp;and the people of the continent can rely on, because too many countries have relied on spotty investment opportunities and are now racked by debt,&#8221; he said.



The Lobito project is backed by global commodities trader Trafigura, Portuguese construction group Mota-Engil&nbsp;MOTA.LS&nbsp;and railway operator Vecturis. The U.S. Development Finance Corporation has provided a $550 million loan to refurbish the 1,300-kilometer (800-mile) rail network from Lobito to Congo.



(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Chris Reese)

President Biden Meets With Angolan President Goncalves Lourenco At White House

Start of Biden’s visit to Angola overshadowed by son’s pardon

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="5000" height="3560" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/62G224WUNFIBRLU2K6S7VS3YFE.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-559717"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Zimbabwe&#8217;s Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube stands with a briefcase at the Parliament Building in Mt Hampden on the day he presents the 2024 National Budget, Harare, Zimbabwe November 30, 2023.REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



HARARE, Nov 28 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Zimbabwe&#8217;s government expects economic growth to accelerate to 6% in 2025 from 2% this year, helped by improved agricultural output and power generation as the country recovers from a severe drought, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said on Thursday.



Ncube added in a budget speech that the budget deficit was seen at 0.4% of gross domestic product next year versus 1.4% this year.



Like other countries in southern Africa, Zimbabwe&#8217;s economy was dealt a blow by an El Nino-induced drought which depressed food production and hydroelectric power supply.



Weaker lithium and platinum prices also weighed on its mining sector.



Ncube told lawmakers in parliament that the agriculture sector was projected to grow 12.8% in 2025 following a 15.0% contraction this year, while mining growth is seen accelerating to 5.6% next year from 2.3% in 2024.



Zimbabwe&#8217;s long-running currency problems persisted in 2024 as policymakers dumped the Zimdollar in April and replaced it with the ZiG, or Zimbabwe Gold, that has also slumped since its launch.



Ncube said without elaborating further that the government would next year seek to encourage greater acceptance of the ZiG by a sceptical public, who still use foreign currencies like the dollar for the bulk of local transactions.



(Reporting by Nyasha Chingono in Harare;Additional reporting by Tannur Anders and Bhargav Acharya in Johannesburg;Editing by Alexander Winning, Kirsten Donovan)

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Zimbabwe sees 2025 growth rebound after this year’s drought

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="5000" height="3386" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/HUSJFCPJYBNIFPI5TQLV3BAP7A.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-559556"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A protester holds a machete and a saw near burning barricades during a &#8220;national shutdown&#8221; against the election outcome, at Luis Cabral township in Maputo, Mozambique, November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



JOHANNESBURG, Nov 27 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;The governments of the United States, Britain, Canada, Norway, and Switzerland on Wednesday jointly condemned the escalating violence against civilians in Mozambique, a southern African nation currently embroiled in weeks of post-election protests.



&#8220;We call on the Government of Mozambique to uphold the role of security forces to protect the people of Mozambique,&#8221; the countries said in a joint statement.



Public outrage has surged after last month&#8217;s disputed election results, which sparked protests from opposition supporters.



The opposition is contesting what they say is a fraudulent victory by Frelimo, the party that has governed Mozambique since 1975.



The election result saw Frelimo extend its five-decade rule with its candidate, Daniel Chapo, succeeding President Filipe Nyusi to become Mozambique&#8217;s fifth president since its independence from Portugal.



Footage obtained by Reuters and shared on social media on Wednesday showed an armoured vehicle ploughing through a crowd of protesters in the capital, Maputo, hitting a woman.



In response to the incident, Mozambique&#8217;s army released a statement expressing deep regret over the accident, saying that the vehicle that was part of a properly marked convoy &#8220;accidentally ran over a citizen&#8221;.



The embassies of the five countries have called for an investigation into the incident.



Local monitoring group Plataforma Decide said last week at least 67 people were killed due to the unrest between mid-October and mid-November.



(Writing by Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Bate Felix and Sandra Maler)

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US, Britain and others condemn escalating violence in Mozambique

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1080" height="721" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/JYU723U4DNP4BBHG4FOIPPB3UQ.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-559182"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">amibia&#8217;s President Nangolo Mbumba greets presidential candidate Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah of Namibia&#8217;s ruling party SWAPO, at a rally ahead of the upcoming elections in Windhoek, Namibia, November 24, 2024. REUTERS/Noah Tjijenda/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



WINDHOEK, Nov 27 (Reuters) &#8211; Namibians go to the polls on Wednesday to elect a new president and parliament in what could be a tough election for the ruling SWAPO party, which is seeking to extend its 34-year rule.



SWAPO has governed the southern African nation since leading it to independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990. Its presidential candidate, Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, would be the country&#8217;s first female leader if she wins.



Political analysts say that high unemployment, inequality and corruption allegations have led to disenchantment with the ruling party, especially among youth, but that longstanding loyalty to SWAPO among older and rural voters could help it pull through.



&#8220;It&#8217;s the most tense election since independence,&#8221; said Henning Melber, an associate at The Nordic Africa Institute and a longtime SWAPO member, who said that for the first time, he sees a possibility it could lose.



&#8220;The degree of frustration is really high.&#8221;



Leading the pack of 14 opposition candidates is dentist-turned-politician Panduleni Itula, who came in second in the last election in 2019.



Namibia is currently led by interim president Nangolo Mbumba, who took over in February after former president Hage Geingob died but is not running.



To be elected president, a candidate must get more than 50% of votes, otherwise there will be a second round of voting.



Namibians vote separately for the National Assembly.



About 1.4 million people are registered to vote in the sparsely populated country of around 3 million, according to the electoral commission. Results are expected within a few days.



(Writing by Nellie Peyton; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Southern Africa

Race to lead Africa’s top development finance institution hots up

Namibia’s unemployment rate rises to 36.9%

Zimbabwe inflation rises sharply, spurred by food and housing

Zimbabwe fears US withdrawal from WHO will hit HIV/AIDS programmes

Shell writes down Namibia oil discovery in blow to country

In parched Malawi rains promise deliverance but also danger

Shell writes down Namibia oil discovery in blow to country

Zambia’s currency stuck at record low as drought persists

Gemfields asks Zambia to reverse emerald export tax

Botswana economy could shrink 1.7% this year, finance minister says

Botswana holds main interest rate as diamond slump saps economy

Zimbabwe central bank keeps policy rate at 35%

Namibia’s ruling party takes lead in election results

Start of Biden’s visit to Angola overshadowed by son’s pardon

Zimbabwe sees 2025 growth rebound after this year’s drought

US, Britain and others condemn escalating violence in Mozambique

Namibia votes with ruling party seeking to extend 34-year rule

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Southern Africa

Race to lead Africa’s top development finance institution hots up

Namibia’s unemployment rate rises to 36.9%

Zimbabwe inflation rises sharply, spurred by food and housing

Zimbabwe fears US withdrawal from WHO will hit HIV/AIDS programmes

Shell writes down Namibia oil discovery in blow to country

In parched Malawi rains promise deliverance but also danger

Shell writes down Namibia oil discovery in blow to country

Zambia’s currency stuck at record low as drought persists

Gemfields asks Zambia to reverse emerald export tax

Botswana economy could shrink 1.7% this year, finance minister says

Botswana holds main interest rate as diamond slump saps economy

Zimbabwe central bank keeps policy rate at 35%

Namibia’s ruling party takes lead in election results

Start of Biden’s visit to Angola overshadowed by son’s pardon

Zimbabwe sees 2025 growth rebound after this year’s drought

US, Britain and others condemn escalating violence in Mozambique

Namibia votes with ruling party seeking to extend 34-year rule

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