JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; The South African rand firmed against the globally hobbled dollar early on Friday ahead of the country’s credit review announcement by ratings agency Moody’s later in the day.
The rand was 0.85 percent stronger at 14.5100 per dollar at 0650 GMT, having closed in New York at 14.6350.
The rand is expected to trade between 14.3500 and 14.7000 to the dollar on Friday, NKC African Economics wrote in a note.
Moody’s is the last of the top rating agencies to have Pretoria’s long-term foreign-currency debt in investment grade.
South Africa’s stable outlook on its credit rating means there is little chance of a downgrade, Moody’s said on Sept. 13, but a commitment to fiscal consolidation at the October budget would be key to maintaining the positive rating.
The rand was supported by the slightly-better-than-expected South African manufacturing production data for August.
Globally, the U.S. dollar traded at its lowest level this month against its major peers on Friday as declining U.S. treasury yields and further losses on Wall Street soured sentiment. [FRX/]
In fixed income, the yield on the benchmark government bond due in 2026 fell 1 basis points to 9.255 percent.
Stocks are due open firmer at 0700 GMT, with the JSE securities exchange’s Top-40 futures index up 1.10 percent.
Reporting by Nomvelo Chalumbira; Editing by Ed Stoddard

South African rand firms against US dollar ahead of country’s credit review

LUANDA (Reuters) &#8211; Angola has secured $2 billion in Chinese financing from the China Development Bank for infrastructure projects on President João Lourenço’s first visit to Beijing, Angola’s state newspaper Jornal de Angola reported on Wednesday.
Details of the terms of the financing were not released. The finance ministry did not immediately respond to a request to confirm the information.
China is increasingly flexing its financial muscle in Africa, funding massive infrastructure projects across the continent.
Angola, Africa’s second largest oil producer, is in the process of trying to diversify its economy since a fall in the price of crude in 2014 plunged it into recession. Inflation is running at more than 20 percent per year and at least one in five of workers are jobless.
Lourenço, who took power a year ago after the 38-year rule of Jose Eduardo dos Santos, has promised to oversee an “economic miracle” by opening up the country to foreign investment and prioritising sectors such as agriculture and tourism. So far growth has remained sluggish.
Investors are increasingly concerned by Angola’s growing debt burden, which the government said earlier this year will rise to $77.3 billion, or 70.8 percent of GDP, by the end of 2018. Of that, around $21.5 billion was already owed to China before Lourenço’s visit there.
Reporting by Stephen Eisenhammer; Editing by Ed Stoddard and Peter Graff

What you need to know about Angola securing a $2 billion infrastructure financing from China

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; The World Bank and IMF have endorsed Zimbabwe’s road map to clear more than $2 billion in foreign arrears at a meeting in Indonesia on Wednesday, the finance minister said, adding that the lenders had also backed his two-year economic recovery plan.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has promised to revive the struggling economy, pay foreign debts that the country has defaulted on since 1999 and restore ties with West after becoming a pariah under Robert Mugabe’s near four-decade rule.
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube, who is attending the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings in Bali, Indonesia, said in a statement his plans to clear the arrears to the World Bank, African Development Bank and European Investment Bank had been accepted.
“All the cooperating partners and creditors present uniformly expressed their support for Zimbabwe and its arrears clearance Road Map,” Ncube said.
The lenders and Western donors also urged Ncube to “judiciously” implement his two-year economic recovery plan announced last Friday.
Ncube’s plan will see cuts on spending and the government’s wage bill and privatisation of loss-making state-owned firms.
Zimbabwe, which adopted the U.S. dollar after hyperinflation left its own currency worthless in 2009, is gripped by acute shortages of cash dollars. Prices of basic goods and medicines have risen in the last few days.
Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by James Macharia

World Bank, IMF support Zimbabwe’s plans to clear more than $2 billion in foreign arrears, what you need to know

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s state-owned rail service PRASA has lost around 636 million rand ($42.5 million) over the past three and a half years due o deliberate train fires, parliament heard on Tuesday.
Most of the fires have occurred in the Western Cape province, which accounted for 71 percent or 451 million rand in damages, a report from the Passenger Rail Agency SA showed as it rolls out drones, armoured vehicles and extra manpower in a bid to halt the wave of arson.
The report did not suggest the reasons for the deliberate sabotage, although poor and late services have at times been enough for frustrated passengers to set trains alight.
South Africa has the continent’s largest railway network, but it has been plagued by mismanagement and under-investment that has seen train use dwindle despite it being the cheapest form of public transportation.
“Commuter service is at its lowest performance levels of all time and is characterised by declining passenger numbers, from 543 million paying passenger trips in 2013/14 and 269 million in 2017/18,” PRASA wrote in a regular performance update to parliament’s transport committee.
PRASA also faces having its operating licence revoked by the regulator after a collision between two trains injured at least 320 people last week.
PRASA approached the courts for an interim order to lift the suspension of the safety permit imposed by the Rail Safety Regulator (RSR) and the matter is due to heard on Oct. 11.
($1 = 14.9393 rand)
Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Ed Stoddard and Alison Williams

Deliberate train fires in this African country are costing state owned rail service $42.5 million

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s top anti-graft body said it would investigate whether the finance minister breached ethics guidelines over a state pension fund investment, piling pressure on Nhlanhla Nene as he faced questions about his future.
The office of the Public Protector said on Tuesday it would look into a complaint by the main opposition Democratic Alliance party about the investment, carried out when Nene was chairman of the fund and deputy finance minister.
There was no immediate comment from the minister who was due to travel to an International Monetary Fund meeting in Indonesia. He has in the past denied any wrongdoing connected to investments by the Public Investment Corporation fund.
On Monday, the rand initially sank more than one percent on a newspaper report that Nene had asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to sack him.
Business Day newspaper said the minister made the request after acknowledging in a hearing that he had visited the Gupta family, friends of former leader Jacob Zuma accused of unfairly winning state contracts.
Both Zuma and the Guptas have denied any wrongdoing.
Nene, who publicly apologised for not previously reporting the visits to the Gupta brothers, has not made any statements confirming or denying the report by Business Day newspaper.
The president’s spokeswoman told Reuters his office was not aware of any such request from Nene.
Asked repeatedly at a media event in Cape Town whether Nene still enjoyed his confidence and what the future might hold for the finance minister, President Ramaphosa made light of the questions and pretended there was something wrong with his hearing.
“I am hard of hearing. I actually have go to an ear (specialist) &#8230; see you later,” he said.
The rand later recovered some ground on Monday was flat in the morning session on Tuesday.
Additional reporting by Nomvelo Chalumbira and Ed Stoddard in Johannesburg; Editing by Andrew Heavens; Writing by James Macharia

South Africa’s finance minister to be investigated by country’s anti-graft body, what you need to know

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s MTN Group shares rose as much as 2.55 percent after the Nigerian central bank governor said on Sunday the bank may reduce the amount it has ordered the telecoms firm to repatriate as part of an ongoing disagreement.
MTN and the central bank are in a dispute over the transfer of $8.1 billion of funds which the bank said the company had sent abroad in breach of foreign-exchange regulations. At 0837 GMT shares in MTN were up 2.03 percent to 85.50 rand.
Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by James Macharia

MTN shares rise as Nigeria’s central bank could reduce amount it ordered the company to repatriate

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South African Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene has asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to remove him after he admitted to visiting the home of the Gupta brothers, friends of scandal-plagued former leader Jacob Zuma, Business Day said on Monday, sending the rand lower.
Nene has become a divisive figure after testimony he gave at an inquiry into allegations of corruption by the Guptas, in which he admitted to the previously undisclosed visits. He made a public apology about the matter on Friday.
Zuma and the Guptas, who face numerous allegations of using their friendship for mutual self-enrichment, have consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Business Day cited unidentified government sources as saying that Nene made the request to Ramaphosa at the weekend. Nene did not answer calls for comment.
“Government sources said Nene approached Ramaphosa after the highly negative public reaction to his apology to South Africans on Friday for the meetings with the Gupta family when he served under Zuma,” the South African newspaper said.
It said the issue was likely to be raised at a meeting of the ruling African National Congress party later on Monday.
The rand fell more than one percent on the report.
Treasury spokesman Jabulani Sikhakhane referred Reuters to the presidency for comment. Ramaphosa’s spokeswoman Khusela Diko did not respond to phone calls.
Nene is a key ally of Ramaphosa, who reappointed him finance minister in a cabinet reshuffle shortly after he became president earlier this year.
Ramaphosa has made clean governance and the kick-starting of an economy mired in recession top priorities.
Several ministers and government officials have been implicated in the widening graft scandals around the Guptas.
One common theme that has emerged is visits to the family’s sprawling Johannesburg property, which is why there has been public anger regarding Nene’s revelations.
Nene has also been praised by commentators for standing up to Zuma.
He told the inquiry he was fired by Zuma in December 2015 for blocking deals that would have benefited the Guptas, particularly a $100 billion nuclear power deal with Russia that could have crippled Africa’s most developed economy.
But Nene’s opponents say he was involved in corrupt deals with the Guptas when he was deputy finance minister and head of the state pension fund. He denies ever helping the Guptas.
Opposition parties have called for his resignation.
Reporting by Ed Stoddard, Alexander Winning and Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by Joe Brock

Rand drops as South Africa’s finance minister asks Ramaphosa to remove him

By Genevieve Jozaffe-Naidoo, Training Management and Organisational Development (TMOD) Manager
Care is a verb at Continental Tyre South Africa, which is why the company has consistently been named a Top Employer in South Africa.
It is critical for all employees to know and understand how wealth is created and distributed within the organisation.
Equally, every employee needs to appreciate their individual contribution towards common goals. To this end, our leadership team has established line-of-sight for each employee. 
Growth and profitability can only be achieved through shared purpose and values (Trust, Passion to Win, For One Another and Freedom to Act), coupled with employees’ talents, motivation and willingness to learn.
Our values unify how we engage and challenge our actions, results, successes and opportunities. Trust and transparency talk to just some of the lived values of our leadership team – sacrificing short-term gains for long-term growth. The leadership team have committed their time, efforts and minds being of service down the line to create “one Continental”.
Over the past few years, there has been significant investment in building our people capability. Hosting development programmes aimed at enhancing critical skills was just one of the interventions we undertook.
2018 has certainly challenged our business. This year – in the spirit of building capability – business sustainability and humanising the scoreboard has been our priority. Political and economic uncertainty, both locally and globally, has created added pressure to deliver affordable, quality products consistently. These challenges have brought us full circle to our values.
Our people have responded well to these challenging times. Dialogues and joint action planning define our culture, with various platforms accommodating multi-faceted conversations. We are motivated to change our lived experiences by creating alliance and value, striving always to be an attractive and progressive employer.
Participating in the Top Employer awards has been of tremendous use in raising our awareness on policy, process and practice. Additionally, it has added value to our brand. Continental Tyre South Africa’s 70-year presence in South Africa is evidence of our leadership and learning agility. Our organisation is fully geared toward shaping our future in motion.
OUR PEOPLE, OUR CULTURE, OUR FUTURE.
&nbsp;
Content supplied by Continental Tyre South Africa

How Continental Tyre’s values are creating value

ABUJA (Reuters) &#8211; MTN has received a counterclaim from Nigeria’s central bank to its request for an order to stop the bank forcing it to repatriate $8.1 billion it claims was illegally sent out of the country, the South African telecom’s lawyer said on Friday.
MTN has received the central bank’s response to its court filing, Wole Olanipekun said, adding that MTN will file a reply to the bank’s claim.
The central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in August ordered MTN and its lenders to bring back the funds which it alleged the company had sent abroad in breach of foreign exchange regulations.
“MTN had gone to court, sued the central bank and the attorney general. The central bank has filed a response and a counter claim, meaning that nobody can resort to self-help in the matter any longer,” Olanipekun told Reuters.
“With this development everybody has now surrendered &#8230; the greviances to the court. Everybody has to wait for the decision of the court.”
CBN spokesman Isaac Okorafor said: “Although there’s a case in court, the CBN is aggressively engaging MTN and the banks and I’m hopeful that an amicable resolution will soon be achieved.”
Reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Jan Harvey and Emelia Sithole-Matarise

Nigeria’s central bank responds to MTN with a counterclaim, what you need to know…

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s net foreign reserves fell to $42.227 billion in September from $42.35 billion in August, the Reserve Bank said on Friday.
Gross reserves, however, rose to $50.394 billion from $49.848 billion , the central bank data showed.
The forward position, which represents the central bank’s unsettled or swap transactions, fell to $1.41 billion in September from $2.319 billion in the previous month.
Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by Joe Brock

South Africa’s net foreign reserves drop to $42.227 billion, what you need to know…

<div id="attachment_319520" style="width: 430px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-319520" class="wp-image-319520" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/michele.jpg" alt="" width="420" height="630" />‘For too long we’ve had robotic expectations of human performance.  It’s about time we hand over the mundane tasks to robots, so we can focus on work that inspires us’ -Michaela Voller</div>
This content was supplied by Dimension Data 
 
Seventy two percent of our workforce today is made up of millennials. A generation looking to 
government, as well as to corporates to solve societal problems.  Overwhelmed employees need work that inspires them and enables them to make a difference in society.
To be a Top Employer and to attract and retain our talent and that of the future, means we need to create an environment built on empathy, wellbeing, one that provides coaching and mentoring, where careers are transformed into experiences.
For too long we’ve had robotic expectations of human performance. It’s about time we hand over the mundane tasks to robots, so we can focus on work that inspires us. A successful organisation of the future must become a data-led social enterprise, treating employees fairly, transparently and in an unbiased manner – says Dimension Data Middle East and Africa HR Executive Michaela Voller.
Voller says they need to reimagine how they will operate and transform Dimension Data to be fit for the future, and have begun their journey of transformation. They have adopted a Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) methodology to allow them to scale lean and agile work practices, and are moving towards agile workspaces to support this.  ‘Our aim is to provide a more efficient service to our clients through this collaborative approach’.
We recently launched a new way of working through our global HRIS platform – Workday, continues Voller. We needed to improve the employee experience with tools that provide real-time transparent information, and enable employees to manage their own careers. Our employees can set performance objectives and get feedback on their progress from various peers at any time. They can in turn ‘give feedback’ and recognise their peers for great work. They can also showcase their careers by sharing their career history, competencies and aspirations, and can map their learning journey through our integrated learning platform, making them more accessible for promotional opportunities.
We also launched a new on-boarding experience – continues Voller. We decided to digitise induction as part of our broader digitisation journey, through a mobile application to ensure a social experience to on boarding. By digitising the knowledge transfer on the platform, we’ve managed to create time and space for human connections through conversations.
Dimension Data is also integrating robotics into their organisation. As one example, our bot ‘Pippa’ screens thousands of CV’s, cutting out the bias nature of candidate selection currently performed by HR departments – explains Voller.
These are massive mind set shifts and we are encouraging and empowering our people to consider these changes and make this a success in our business. Our transformation journey is not nearly over, as we look forward to further exciting challenges ahead.
In our world today, change after all is the only thing we can be sure of.

This is why Dimension Data is among the top employers

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene said on Wednesday he was fired by former president Jacob Zuma for refusing to approve contracts that would financially benefit the Gupta family, friends of Zuma accused of corruption.
Nene, who was giving testimony at a judicial inquiry into influence-peddling, said the main reason he was he was sacked was for rejecting a proposed plan to build a fleet of nuclear power plants. The project could have cost up to $100 billion.
Zuma and the Gupta family deny allegations they colluded to inappropriately divert state funds.
Reporting by Mfuneko Toyana; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Toby Chopra

#StateCaptureInquiry: Zuma fired me for refusing to approve Gupta deals – Nhlanhla Nene

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; KPMG South Africa said on Wednesday it was looking for a new chief executive from outside the company to restore the auditor’s reputation after a corruption scandal that saw it lose several major clients.
Current Chief Executive Nhlamulo Dlomu, was promoted from within the company after a clear out of management last year due to work done for a company owned by the Gupta family &#8211; friends of former president Jacob Zuma who were accused of influencing the award of government contracts..
During Dlomu’s tenure KPMG South Africa has cut hundreds of jobs and shut regional offices to cope with the loss of business after South Africa’s auditor general, in April, said it would terminate all government contracts with the firm.
The Guptas and Zuma have denied any wrongdoing and KPMG has said it found no evidence it had acted illegally.
“Given the scale of the reputational challenges facing both KPMG and the industry, the board has decided that a new chief executive from outside the firm, with strong industry experience, will optimise prospects of rebuilding trust,” KPMG said in a statement.
Dlomu will remain at the company, taking on a newly created global role focusing on ethical leadership and organisational culture change.
The new CEO will be recruited externally, KPMG said, adding that in the interim, its South Africa Chairman Wiseman Nkuhlu will serve as an executive chair.
More than a dozen private companies, including Barclays Africa, one of KPMG’s biggest clients, have dropped the auditor after a public backlash in South Africa over the role of the auditor in the high-profile Gupta saga.
Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Joe Brock and Elaine Hardcastle

KPMG South Africa looks for new CEO to restore reputation after corruption scandal

LUSAKA (Reuters) &#8211; Zambia will abolish Value Added Tax (VAT) and replace it with a non-refundable sales tax in April, Finance Minister Margaret Mwanakatwe said on Monday, a move likely to help the government boost revenue collection and bring down mounting debt.
Mwanakatwe said the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) would finalise audits of all outstanding VAT refund claims and collect any unpaid taxes before making the change.
“Sales tax is coming on April 1. We do not have a manufacturing base. There is no value addition,” Mwanakatwe said at a post-budget meeting with business people.
In her budget speech on Friday, Mwanakatwe said Zambia will introduce new mining duties and increase royalties to help tackle debt.
The International Monetary Fund has put on hold talk about an aid package due to Zambia’s debt levels which it describes as unsustainable.
ZRA said in July it had paid out 4.2 billion kwacha ($338.7 million) in VAT refunds, including 2.5 billion kwacha to the mining companies in Africa’s second-largest copper producer.
Analyst Chibamba Kanyama of the Economics Association of Zambia said the introduction of sales tax would boost revenue collection.
“The major thing is that it will stop the refunds. The government will also collect more revenue because there will be less cheating as tax will be on the final product,” Kanyama said.
Mwanakatwe said the government remained committed to settling the verified VAT refund claims accumulated before changing the law.
Zambia has been withholding some money owed to mining companies in tax refunds because the correct documentation has not been provided.
Mwanakatwe also said a study to determine the cost of providing electricity by state-owned Zesco Ltd, which was due to be completed this year, would finish in April next year.
“We are currently procuring somebody from the UK to come and do the study. We have said it must be done by April,” she said.
($1 = 12.4000 Zambian kwachas)
Reporting by Chris Mfula; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky

Zambia is planning to introduce sales tax, what you need to know

By Andrew Amoils, Head of Research at NW Wealth
A new report from AfrAsia Bank and New World Wealth reviews the top spending habits of the wealthy in Africa.
Prime property trends:
Prime residential property is a popular asset class for Africa’s wealthy, especially luxury apartments, homes of residential estates and beachfront villas. The most expensive cities for prime residential property in Africa are ranked below.
City (ranked in US$ per square meter): 
• Cape Town (Bantry Bay and Clifton): $6 100 
• Durban (Lagoon Drive in Umhlanga): $2 900 
• Johannesburg (Central Sandton) : $2 800 
• Nairobi: $1 900 
• Marrakesh: $1 800 
• Tangier: $1 800 
• Mombasa: $1 700 
• Luanda: $1 700 
• Casablanca: $1 500 
• Accra: $1 200 
• Lagos: $1 100 
• Abidjan: $1 000 
• Alexandria: $1 000 
• Maputo: $900 
• Cairo: $900 
• Kampala: $800
Note: Figures for Dec 2017. Refers to the US$ price of a prime 200-400 square meter apartment/villa in best part of each city/town. For our purposes Durban includes Umhlanga.
As reflected, South African cities dominate the above list. It should, however, be noted that residential prices in South Africa are coming under strain as the threat of land redistribution begins to sink in. The ongoing drought in Cape Town has also had a negative impact on prices.
Luxury travel destinations:
The report also reviews the top travel destinations for the wealthy in Africa.
South Africa is the main luxury tourist destination in Africa. Major SA destinations for wealthy people include: Kruger Park area, Cape Town, Umhlanga and Franschhoek.
Major destinations for them in the rest of Africa include: Mauritius, Seychelles, Marrakech in Morocco, Casablanca in Morocco, Cairo in Egypt, the Serengeti in Tanzania, Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt, the Masai Mara in Kenya, Livingstone in Zambia and the Okavango Swamps in Botswana. Gorilla safaris in the Virunga Mountains and the Bwindi Forest (Uganda) are also popular.
Popular hotels for wealthy people visiting Africa include: La Mamounia in Morocco, the Four Seasons in Seychelles and the 12 Apostles Hotel &amp; Spa in Cape Town.
Popular game lodges for them include: Ngorongoro Crater Lodge in Tanzania, the Royal Livingstone in Zambia, Cottar’s 1920s Safari Camp in Kenya and Singita in South Africa.
Luxury clothing &amp; accessories:
Items commonly found in the wardrobe of a HNWI in Africa are listed below (ranked by average price in US$): 
• Patek Philippe watch: $25 000 
• Breguet watch: $20 000 
• Vacheron Constantin watch: $15 000 
• Ulysse Nardin watch: $13 000 
• Franck Muller watch: $11 000 
• Rolex watch: $10 000 
• Breitling watch: $6 000 
• Tag watch: $5 000 
• Louis Vuitton handbag: $3 000 
• Prada handbag: $2 200 
• Gucci handbag: $2 200 
• Dolce &amp; Gabbana dress: $2 000 
• Christian Louboutin shoes: $1 300 
• Zegna suit: $1 200 
• Canali suit: $1 200 
• Georgio Armani suit: $1 200 
• Burberry handbag: $1 000 
• Paul Smith suit: $900 
• Jimmy Choo shoes: $700 
• Hugo Boss suit: $700 
• Ferragamo shoes: $600 
• Prada shoes: $500 
• Gucci shoes: $500 
• Paul Smith shoes: $400 
• Gucci sunglasses: $300 
• Prada sunglasses: $300 
• Ray-Ban sunglasses: $200
Other interesting findings from the report: 
• Safest countries in Africa: Mauritius, Botswana and Namibia. 
• Top African country by average wealth per person: Mauritius at $32,700. 
• Top African country by total wealth: South Africa at $722 billion. 
• Top African city by total wealth: Johannesburg at $276 billion (includes Sandton).
All figures in US$ terms.

What are the top spending habits of the wealthy in Africa?

By Professor Landry Signé, David M. Rubenstein Fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program and Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institution, distinguished fellow at Stanford University’s Center for African Studies, World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and author of “Innovating Development Strategies in Africa: The Role of International, Regional and National Actors.”
How to unlock the manufacturing and industrialization potential in Africa? The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed the Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa (IDDA III, 2016-2025) but the gap between the tremendous potential of the sector and the actual performance remains monumental. In order to help bridge the gap and offer business and policy leaders with Africa’s biggest opportunities and perspectives in the sector, the Brookings’s Africa Growth Initiative has just released a report entitled The potential of manufacturing and industrialization in Africa: Trends, opportunities, and strategies.
In fact, among policymakers and scholars alike, a robust manufacturing sector is broadly understood as a fundamental path to economic growth and development. The most recent illustration is the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in March 2018, a single market for goods and services in Africa that aims to unlock manufacturing potential and facilitate industrialization, driving sustainable growth and jobs among other objectives. The key boon of manufacturing is that it absorbs large swaths of workers and places them into productive and decent paying jobs. Throughout history, this exact recipe has transformed the United States, United Kingdom, France, Japan, and Germany into some of the world’s wealthiest nations. Most recently, a new age of industrialization has helped push China into one of the world’s fastest-growing economies boasting the largest middle class, with other Southeast Asian countries following closely behind. These are all examples of how industrialization can generate rapid structural change, drive development, and alleviate poverty and unemployment.
However, this narrative seems to exclude many African nations. Despite their manufacturing potential and promising trajectories, most African countries have remained relatively dearth of factories. This limited industrial development represents a missed opportunity for economic transformation and quality employment generation that alleviates poverty.
The silver lining is the potential. Business-to-business spending in manufacturing in Africa is projected to reach $666.3 billion by 2030, $201.28 billion more than that it did in 2015. Irene Yuan Sun, author and consultant, considers Africa to be “the world’s next great manufacturing center”, potentially capturing part of the 100 million labor-intensive manufacturing jobs that will leave China by 2030. This trend creates a huge opportunity for the continent, not only for countries such as South Africa, Egypt, and Nigeria (all regional outperformers in the Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index), but also for newer players such as Ethiopia, Morocco, Rwanda, and others (all of whom have recently adopted policies enabling manufacturing and industrial development).
Today, leaders are increasingly realizing that manufacturing is a major factor in helping Africa achieve their goals of successfully reaching the next stage of economic development. The African Union has put the sector front and center in its Agenda 2063. African governments are seeking new and innovative ways to attract investment and nurture industry, implementing strategies that involve targeted investment in infrastructure, improved regional integration, and the establishment of special economic zones (SEZs) for priority subsectors.
However, in order to reach its manufacturing and industrial potential, much needs to be done by the public and private sectors to increase Africa’s economic complexity, diversity, competitiveness, and productivity. This report explores some of the key structural constraints that have prevented Africa’s manufacturing sector from maturing and from launching the same kind of economic modernization process witnessed in other developing regions. It also conducts a cross-national comparison of the manufacturing sector in Africa, providing illustrative examples of countries that are experiencing four unique trajectories of industrial development, and identifying specific opportunities in each country based on the size and level of competitiveness of their manufacturing markets. Finally, with special attention to current major transformations, the report draws conclusions about the future of the manufacturing sector in Africa.
The report ultimately offers business leaders an accessible overview of Africa’s biggest opportunities in the manufacturing sector, discussing trends and perspectives by 2030. It provides policymakers with some options likely to attract private investors, accelerate manufacturing and industrial development, and contribute to growth and poverty alleviation, facilitating the fulfillment of the SDGs and the African Union’s Agenda 2063. While policy solutions are likely to differ across countries, manufacturing will be central to Africa’s ability to meet its development goals.

OpEd: How to unlock the manufacturing and industrialization potential in Africa

PRETORIA (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s new mining charter will require holders of mining rights to raise the level of black ownership to at least 30 percent from 26 percent within five years, Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe said on Thursday.
The charter is part of an affirmative action drive that aims to reverse decades of black people’s exclusion from the mainstream economy under apartheid.
Agreeing a new version of the charter is crucial to securing further investment in the mining industry in the world’s top platinum producer and bolstering President Cyril Ramaphosa’s pledge to revitalise the economy.
The third version of the charter, which sets out required levels on black ownership and other targets for mining companies, has been delayed for years amid wrangling with the industry in decline.
Mantashe, speaking to journalists, said least 20 percent of the 30 percent stake of black ownership would be in the hands of businesspeople with the other 10 percent being granted free to communities and qualifying employees.
The 30 percent target was widely expected as it had been in drafts of the third charter but investors and the industry were waiting for the final breakdown.
Reporting by Patricia Aruo; Writing by Ed Stoddard; Editing by Tiisetso Motsoeneng, Richard Balmforth

Southern Africa

South African rand firms against US dollar ahead of country’s credit review

What you need to know about Angola securing a $2 billion infrastructure financing from China

World Bank, IMF support Zimbabwe’s plans to clear more than $2 billion in foreign arrears, what you need to know

Deliberate train fires in this African country are costing state owned rail service $42.5 million

South Africa’s finance minister to be investigated by country’s anti-graft body, what you need to know

MTN shares rise as Nigeria’s central bank could reduce amount it ordered the company to repatriate

Rand drops as South Africa’s finance minister asks Ramaphosa to remove him

How Continental Tyre’s values are creating value

Nigeria’s central bank responds to MTN with a counterclaim, what you need to know…

South Africa’s net foreign reserves drop to $42.227 billion, what you need to know…

This is why Dimension Data is among the top employers

#StateCaptureInquiry: Zuma fired me for refusing to approve Gupta deals – Nhlanhla Nene

KPMG South Africa looks for new CEO to restore reputation after corruption scandal

Zambia is planning to introduce sales tax, what you need to know

What are the top spending habits of the wealthy in Africa?

OpEd: How to unlock the manufacturing and industrialization potential in Africa

Why South Africa’s new mining charter is keeping its 30 percent black ownership target

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OpEd: How to unlock the manufacturing and industrialization potential in Africa

Why South Africa’s new mining charter is keeping its 30 percent black ownership target

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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