<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)

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Botswana holds main interest rate as diamond slump saps economy

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1080" height="755" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/ZIJ3HNNBURIB3GCTMDH2DSOPEQ.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-562383"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">People queue in front of the South African Airways (SAA) counters at Cape Town International Airport, amid SAA pilots planning to strike following a deadlock in pay rise negotiations, in Cape Town, South Africa, December 5, 2024. REUTERS/Esa Alexander</figcaption></figure>



JOHANNESBURG, Dec 5 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;South African Airways said it had cancelled flights to Perth and Sao Paulo on Thursday after receiving confirmation from the SAA Pilots Association that they planned to strike following a deadlock in pay talks.



The company decided to cancel the Perth and Sao Paulo routes last night after being told the strike planned for Thursday would go ahead, Khaya Buthelezi, the airline&#8217;s senior manager of corporate relations, told Reuters.



&#8220;That&#8217;s the decision we took last night since we could not find partner airlines that we can transfer our customers to, it became clear that those two routes must be cancelled,&#8221; he said.



Early on Thursday, there were no disruptions to domestic flights and routes across Africa as the airline had made contingency plans, he said.



Some pilots were seen picketing outside the SAA office at the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, Buthelezi said.



The SAA Pilots Association (SAAPA) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.



SAAPA&#8217;s initial demand proposed in May was for a 30% increase in pilot salaries, which was subsequently reduced to 15.7%, including associated benefits, SAA said in a statement earlier this week.



The company&#8217;s interim Chief Executive Officer John Lamola said in that statement that the demand for a 15.7% pay rise would trigger the company&#8217;s decline into bankruptcy.



The airline has offered an 8.46% pay increase backdated to April.



The national carrier was on the verge of being liquidated before it entered a form of bankruptcy protection in 2019.



(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov, Editing by Bhargav Acharya and Jane Merriman)

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South African Airways cancels some flights as pilots go on strike

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="461" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/107354835-1704471188107-gettyimages-1902360932-CZECH_CRYPTO-820x461.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-562379" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/107354835-1704471188107-gettyimages-1902360932-CZECH_CRYPTO-820x461.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/107354835-1704471188107-gettyimages-1902360932-CZECH_CRYPTO-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/107354835-1704471188107-gettyimages-1902360932-CZECH_CRYPTO-160x90.jpeg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/107354835-1704471188107-gettyimages-1902360932-CZECH_CRYPTO-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/107354835-1704471188107-gettyimages-1902360932-CZECH_CRYPTO-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/107354835-1704471188107-gettyimages-1902360932-CZECH_CRYPTO.jpeg 1858w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A neon sign indicates that Bitcoin is accepted inside the venue of the Paralelni Polis project, an organization combining art, social sciences and modern technology, in Prague, Czech Republic, on Friday, Jan. 5, 2024. Milan Jaros | Bloomberg | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



The price of bitcoin soared past the long-awaited $100,000 benchmark for the first time ever late Wednesday evening.



The flagship cryptocurrency was last higher by more than 4% at $103,544.00, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier, it rose as high as $103,844.05. Bitcoin is now up more than 140% in 2024 and 48% since the election.



The move came hours after President-elect Donald Trump announced plans to nominate Paul Atkins as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, fulfilling perhaps his most important campaign promise to the crypto industry: to replace Gary Gensler, who has become something of a villain in crypto for the agency’s regulation-by-enforcement approach to the industry under his leadership.



It’s a day of celebration for longtime bitcoin investors, who have held on for dear life, or “HODL’d” through several of the cryptocurrency’s boom and bust cycles, during which government and financial institutions remained dismissive — and even hostile — toward the asset class.



That’s largely because of the cryptocurrency’s anti-establishment roots. The original idea for Bitcoin was proposed at the height of the 2008 financial crisis: a “peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution,” its founder, Satoshi Nakamoto, wrote in the Bitcoin Whitepaper.



In recent years, however, the industry has demonstrated the value of bitcoin to much of the institutional investing world. BlackRock, Fidelity, Invesco and others launched the first spot bitcoin ETFs at the beginning of this year — bitcoin’s “IPO” moment — and the growing demand for them by institutions has helped drive the price higher. In November, Rick Wurster, the incoming CEO of Charles Schwab, said the firm is preparing to enter spot crypto trading, pending regulatory changes expected in the next Trump administration.



On Wednesday, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said bitcoin is “just like gold only it’s virtual, it’s digital,” speaking at the DealBook conference. He further clarified that “people are not using it as a form of payment, or as a store of value” and that “it’s not a competitor for the dollar, it’s really a competitor for gold.”



“We’re witnessing a paradigm shift. After four years of political purgatory, bitcoin and the entire digital asset ecosystem are on the brink of entering the financial mainstream,” Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Digital, told CNBC.



Bitcoin had been widely expected to reach the landmark $100,000 level since the U.S. presidential election. However, excited investors sent bitcoin closer to this mark much sooner than initially anticipated; it rose as high as $99,849.99 on Nov. 22. There is much hope that President-elect Trump will deliver on several pro-crypto initiatives in the year ahead – including the establishment of a national strategic bitcoin reserve or stockpile, no taxes on crypto transactions and opening up the crypto public equity markets with more IPOs.



“Over the long term, I’m bullish,” Novogratz added. “It won’t be a straight line up, and investors should always consider taking gains off the table. But, with a pro-crypto administration about to take charge in the U.S., it’ll be hard for the rest of the world not to take notice.”

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Bitcoin tops $100,000 as monster 2024 rally reaches new heights

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1080" height="721" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/I7IV7WCMLBKQBBJ2HO44Y2YBEI.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-562344"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A woman uses a donkey cart to transport a barrel of water in drought affected areas in Higlo Kebele, Adadle woreda, Somali region of Ethiopia, in this undated handout photograph. Michael Tewelde/World Food Programme/Handout via REUTERS/ File Photo</figcaption></figure>



LONDON, (Reuters) &#8211; Multilateral lender Climate Investment Funds will back a $500 million plan to help drought-prone Ethiopia restore degraded land, protect its forests and bolster food security, it said on Wednesday.



CIF&#8217;s board said it had agreed a $37 million investment from its Nature, People, and Climate programme that it expects to mobilise $492 million in co-financing from other investors, including the World Bank and African Development Bank.



Most Ethiopians live in rural areas and rely on agriculture yet more than half of the country is experiencing some level of land degradation and around 11 million hectares are in danger of turning into desert, CIF said.



The funding is expected to help restore more than 320,000 hectares of wild Arabica coffee forests, farmlands, and rangelands in the Amhara, Oromia, South Ethiopia, and Somali regions and create an online registry of the country&#8217;s forests.



&#8220;This programme is really trying to get at how climate change and land degradation are undermining the livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers and pastoralists in Ethiopia,&#8221; said Paul Hartman, the lead for CIF&#8217;s nature programmes.



As well as helping reduce poverty and increase economic sustainability, the plan, created by the government, aims to increase agricultural productivity and improve food security.



As countries gather in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh for global talks on the issue of land degradation, Hartman said it was important for countries to weave the issue through their plans to combat climate change and biodiversity loss.



While around half the money targeted by Ethiopia had already been allocated by co-investors to projects, the rest would likely come from private and philanthropic investors in the months ahead, Hartman added.



Projects to receive funding will include those focused on afforestation and reforestation, regeneration of soil health and water conservation, and sustainable farming.



(Reporting by Simon Jessop; Editing by Christina Fincher)

I7IV7WCMLBKQBBJ2HO44Y2YBEI

Climate Investment Funds board backs $500 mln Ethiopia nature plan

<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/QB6JRHKB7ZP6ZHQH64RWM3XN7A-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-562084" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/QB6JRHKB7ZP6ZHQH64RWM3XN7A-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/QB6JRHKB7ZP6ZHQH64RWM3XN7A-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/QB6JRHKB7ZP6ZHQH64RWM3XN7A-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/QB6JRHKB7ZP6ZHQH64RWM3XN7A-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/QB6JRHKB7ZP6ZHQH64RWM3XN7A-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/QB6JRHKB7ZP6ZHQH64RWM3XN7A-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">U.S. President Joe Biden stands with Angolan Minister of Transport Ricardo Daniel Sandao Queiros Viegas de Abreu, during a visit to the Lobito Port Terminal to receive a briefing on the Lobito Atlantic Railway, in Lobito, Angola, December 4, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz</figcaption></figure>



LOBITO, Angola, Dec 4 (Reuters) &#8211; U.S. President Joe Biden met African leaders in the Angolan port of Lobito on Wednesday to advance a plan to extend a railway that could channel critical minerals from Congo and Zambia to the West via Lobito, and counter Chinese clout in the region.



As things stand, China is the main foreign player in Democratic Republic of Congo&#8217;s mining sector, which exports minerals considered critical for batteries and other industrial components key to transitioning away from fossil fuels.



The United States has provided a $550 million loan to support the&nbsp;Lobito&nbsp;venture, which involves refurbishing an existing railway through Angola and extending it into Congo&#8217;s mining heartland as part of the first phase.



No date has been given for its completion yet, while a second phase that would link Lobito to Zambia via a new railway line is still at the preparation stage, with an aim to break ground in 2026according to Washington.



The presidents of Angola, Congo and Zambia and the vice president of Tanzania joined Biden for a summit in Lobito on the last day of his first and only trip to Africa as president.



Biden and Congo&#8217;s Felix Tshisekedi affirmed their commitment to promoting investment and peace to allow the central African nation to make the most of its vast mineral wealth, according to a note from the White House issued after the two met.



Biden and Zambian counterpart Hakainde Hichilema also met to discuss the Zambian component of the Lobito project and other issues.



&#8220;This corridor is of vital importance to opening up our countries, to opening up our regions, the continent, and truly the global economy,&#8221; Hichilema said. &#8220;This project is a huge opportunity for investment, for trade.&#8221;



&#8220;The presidents underscored their conviction,&#8221; a White House statement said, &#8220;that countries should not be held back from investing in their development by the need to service unsustainably high debt, and together committed to continue advocating for reform.&#8221;



In June, Zambia&#8217;s international bondholders voted through their part of a $13.4 billion debt restructuring deal, making Zambia the first to complete a full-blown rework under the G20-led &#8220;Common Framework&#8221; architecture.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-china-factor">THE CHINA FACTOR</h2>



The Lobito Atlantic Railway concession, awarded in 2022 to a consortium of Western companies, has been presented as a win against China, as Washington is increasingly concerned about the Chinese grip on critical minerals, including Congo&#8217;s vast reserves of copper and cobalt.



The second phase of the project&nbsp;envisions extending the Lobito corridor&nbsp;railway&nbsp;through&nbsp;Zambia and connecting it to&nbsp;Tanzania&#8217;s Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam.



The U.S. has funded feasibility studies&nbsp;for the second phase, but&nbsp;critics say it&nbsp;could&nbsp;offer&nbsp;China&nbsp;a rival route&nbsp;eastwards, undermining the entire project from Washington&#8217;s perspective.



After Donald Trump is sworn in as U.S. president in January, Washington is expected to take a harsher line with China and some officials have questioned whether U.S. support for the eastern route will continue.



Trump will likely back at least parts of the Lobito project and remain a close partner to Angola when he returns to the White House, according to two officials who served under the previous 2017-21 Trump administration.



The details relating to the funding and construction of the second phase of the project are still in question.



The Lobito project is backed by global commodities trader Trafigura, Portuguese construction group Mota-Engil and railway operator Vecturis. There is no date yet for its completion.



A senior U.S. official said on Tuesday that the Lobito project could be completed by the end of the decade, without providing further details.



The U.S. Development Finance Corporation has provided the $550 million loan to refurbish the 1,300-km (800-mile) rail network from Lobito to Congo.



U.S. officials announced&nbsp;fresh&nbsp;financing&nbsp;for the first phase of the venture&nbsp;this week through the Development Finance Corporation worth $600 million for projects including solar, minerals and telecommunications.



Biden pledged lasting U.S. engagement with Africa on the continent&#8217;s own terms as he met with his Angolan counterpart Joao Lourenco in Luanda on Tuesday. Biden&#8217;s trip delivered on a promise to visit Africa, but came only weeks before his presidency ends.



Despite his repeated pledges to be &#8220;all in on Africa&#8221;, U.S. influence in Africa has declined during his term in office. Washington has lost a military base in the Sahel region and made little progress breaking China&#8217;s commercial dominationin minerals seen as critical to national security.



Angola has long nurtured close ties with China and Russia but has recently moved closer to the West. Itaims to expand its collaboration with the United States on security and military initiatives, Lourenco said during Biden&#8217;s visit on Tuesday.



(Reporting by Jessica Donati and Trevor Hunnicutt; editing by Timothy Heritage, Estelle Shirbon and Mark Heinrich)

U.S. President Joe Biden vistis the Lobito Port Terminal

Biden meets African leaders in Angola to advance Lobito railway project

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="5000" height="3485" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/SMGPRUOGTVKQFGJ7HDZKUUAZQQ.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-558475"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Shoppers stand at a Pick n Pay store at the Dobson Point Shopping Centre, in Soweto, South Africa, March 19, 2024. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



Dec 4 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;South Africa&#8217;s consumer confidence slipped one point in the fourth quarter, although retail sales during the festive season are still expected to be their best levels last seen in 2019, a survey showed on Wednesday.



The consumer confidence index (CCI), sponsored by First National Bank (FNB) and compiled by the Bureau for Economic Research (BER), edged down to minus 6 points in the reported period from minus 5 a quarter ago.



A marked depreciation in the rand exchange rate along with higher petrol prices and trade uncertainties following the re-election of Donald Trump as U.S. president affected consumer confidence in the quarter.



Still, a rise in consumer spending due to lower inflation and interest rate cuts points to a festive season as strong as pre-pandemic levels.



&#8220;A string of favorable developments has seen consumer confidence riding much higher since the second quarter of 2024, including the formation of a government of national unity, the termination of load-shedding, a substantial deceleration in inflation, two interest rate cuts and the implementation of the two-pot retirement system,&#8221; said FNB Chief Economist Mamello Matikinca-Ngwenya.



(Reporting by Yamini Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

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S.African consumer confidence drops, but signals strong festive season

<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-1775386539-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-561978" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GettyImages-1775386539-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GettyImages-1775386539-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GettyImages-1775386539-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GettyImages-1775386539-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GettyImages-1775386539-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GettyImages-1775386539-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">ACCRA, GHANA &#8211; NOVEMBER 04: A man takes a photo of a banner with the picture of Mahamudu Bawumia ahead of the declaration of the winner of the presidential primaries on November 4, 2023 in Accra, Ghana. Mahamudu Bawumia, the vice president of Ghana, beat three rivals to secure the ruling party’s candidacy (Photo by Ernest Ankomah/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



ACCRA, Dec 4 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Public frustration over Ghana&#8217;s economic travails, including high prices and a dearth of jobs, has dominated the run-up to Saturday&#8217;s general election, which will likely test the nation&#8217;s longstanding democratic credentials.



Support for outgoing President Nana Akufo-Addo and his ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) party has sunk in his second term amid the West African nation&#8217;s worst economic crisis in a generation, along with cost-of-living protests and turmoil in its vital cocoa and gold industries.



Indeed, the clamour for change has tipped the presidential and legislative race firmly in favour of opposition leader John Dramani Mahama and his National Democratic Congress party, polls show, though voter patience with the political process is running low.



&#8220;The country is ruined. I will vote but I don&#8217;t think it will change anything,&#8221; said 18-year-old high school graduate Emmanuel Kwaku Jr, who will be casting his ballot for the first time.



An October survey by pan-African research group Afrobarometer found 82% of Ghanaians felt the country was headed in the wrong direction and less than half expected change for the better in the next year.



&#8220;We have the trappings of democracy: we do the elections every four years, yet the dividends &#8230; are low,&#8221; said Abena Tekyiwaa Manuh, senior fellow of the Accra-based Centre for Democratic Governance (CDD). &#8220;That&#8217;s dangerous.&#8221;



Ghana&#8217;s commitment to two-term limits for presidents and largely peaceful transfers of powers have increasingly made it an outlier in a region swept by coups and constitutional shenanigans in recent years.



But whoever wins the election will be under pressure to deliver on campaign promises to improve the livelihoods of citizens, or the largely youthful population could begin to wonder if democracy is overrated, said Manuh and two western diplomats.



&#8220;We see a lot of anger among the youth, a sense of hopelessness but also a sense of change. If that doesn’t happen at the elections, what will happen?&#8221; asked one of the diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity.



&#8220;There is growing concern Ghana’s peace and democracy is fragile.&#8221;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-tricky-phase">A &#8216;TRICKY PHASE&#8217;</h2>



Twelve candidates are vying for the presidency, with Mahama and the ruling party&#8217;s Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia seen as the main contenders.



Both have vowed to turn the page on economic instability since 2020 that saw inflation soar above 50%, the International Monetary Fund wade in with a $3 billion bailout, and a mass restructuring of Ghana&#8217;s debts.



Polls open for the 18.7 million registered voters at 0700 GMT and close at 1700, with legislative results due by early on Monday and presidential results by Tuesday, although trends often allow the outcome to be called early.



The vote results period &#8220;is going to be a tricky phase&#8221; as tensions may rise due to low trust in institutions, including the electoral commission, said Jonas Claes, elections lead for the EU delegation in Ghana.



Mahama and his party have repeatedly questioned the commission&#8217;s ability to deliver credible elections, alleging voter roll irregularities and other issues.



Bawumia and the ruling NPP say the allegations show Mahama is preparing to reject the results if they do not go his way.



&#8220;I don&#8217;t think widespread violence is to be expected, but it&#8217;s difficult to be 100% sure,&#8221; Claes said.



(Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Ghana’s Ruling Political Party Holds Presidential Primaries

Discontent runs high as Ghana readies to vote on Saturday

<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-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="461" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/108070539-1733239543660-gettyimages-2187495843-AFP_36PB2LJ-1-820x461.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-561728" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/108070539-1733239543660-gettyimages-2187495843-AFP_36PB2LJ-1-820x461.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/108070539-1733239543660-gettyimages-2187495843-AFP_36PB2LJ-1-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/108070539-1733239543660-gettyimages-2187495843-AFP_36PB2LJ-1-160x90.jpeg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/108070539-1733239543660-gettyimages-2187495843-AFP_36PB2LJ-1-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/108070539-1733239543660-gettyimages-2187495843-AFP_36PB2LJ-1-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/108070539-1733239543660-gettyimages-2187495843-AFP_36PB2LJ-1.jpeg 1858w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Police stand guard in front of the main gate of the National Assembly in Seoul on December 3, 2024, after South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol declared emergency martial law. South Korea President Yoon on December 3 declared emergency martial law, saying the step was necessary to protect the country from “communist forces” amid parliamentary wrangling over a budget bill.&nbsp; Jung Yeon-je | Afp | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



South Korean stocks dropped in the U.S. on Tuesday after President Yoon Suk Yeol invoked emergency powers and declared martial law, raising fear of instability in the world’s 13th largest economy.



The iShares MSCI South Korea ETF, which tracks more than 90 large and mid-sized companies in South Korea, tumbled as much as 7% to hit a 52-week low. The ETF cut losses to about 2.4% after lawmakers in the South Korean National Assembly voted to overturn Yoon’s martial law decree early Wednesday morning in Seoul.



Korea Electric Power’s American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) dropped 5%, and Korean e-commerce giant Coupang shed 6%. KT Corporation, formerly Korea Telecom, saw shares fall 3%. Posco, a South Korean steel manufacturer, declined more than 6%.



Within three hours of Yoon declaring martial law late Tuesday night, 190 out of the 300 National Assembly lawmakers gathered to overturn the emergency martial law.



The president accused opposition parties of sympathizing with North Korea and controlling parliament. Yoon did not specify how martial law — a temporary rule by military authorities in a time of emergency — would affect governance and democracy in the country.



“The Administration is in contact with the ROK government and is monitoring the situation closely,” said the White House National Security Council in a statement to NBC News.



Under the martial law declaration, all political activities and acts that “incite social disorder” are prohibited. This is the first time since 1980 a South Korean leader has issued a martial law declaration.



The Korea Exchange announced it would hold an emergency meeting “to prepare response measures” and&nbsp; later decide whether the market would open on Wednesday, according to local media reports.



The U.S. dollar jumped 1.9% against the South Korean won Tuesday.

108070539-1733239543660-gettyimages-2187495843-AFP_36PB2LJ

South Korean stocks rocked in U.S. trading after martial law declared

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2048" height="1333" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/ULFSMF35VNITNPEOTI7CQNT7FU-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-483474" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/ULFSMF35VNITNPEOTI7CQNT7FU-scaled.jpg 2048w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/ULFSMF35VNITNPEOTI7CQNT7FU-300x195.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/ULFSMF35VNITNPEOTI7CQNT7FU-820x534.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/ULFSMF35VNITNPEOTI7CQNT7FU-138x90.jpg 138w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/ULFSMF35VNITNPEOTI7CQNT7FU-768x500.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/ULFSMF35VNITNPEOTI7CQNT7FU-1536x1000.jpg 1536w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">File photo: A man looks at an item before buying at a spaza shop in Thembisa, on the East Rand, in South Africa, August 2, 2023. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko/File photo</figcaption></figure>



PRETORIA, Dec 3 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;South Africa&#8217;s economy unexpectedly&nbsp;shrank&nbsp;in the third quarter of this year&nbsp;as a drought caused&nbsp;a big drop in agricultural production,&nbsp;but analysts said they expected a return to modest growth in the coming quarters.



Data from Statistics South Africa showed gross domestic product (GDP) fell 0.3% in seasonally-adjusted quarter-on-quarter terms, whereas economists polled by Reuters had predicted an expansion of 0.5%.



Agriculture, forestry and fishing&nbsp;contracted 28.8%&nbsp;quarter on quarter,&nbsp;primarily due to field crops.



&#8220;Maize and soy account for about 70% of field crops and we know they have had a difficult quarter due to drought,&#8221;&nbsp;statistician Joe&nbsp;de Beer told a&nbsp;news conference.



Southern Africa has faced&nbsp;its&nbsp;worst drought in decades this year, hurting economic output across the region.



De Beer said the contraction in agriculture had pulled economic growth into negative territory.



&#8220;If we for a moment ignore the agricultural contraction&#8230; then you end up with a GDP figure of 0.4%, which is very much closer to what we&#8217;ve seen from consensus estimates,&#8221; he said.



Capital Economics analyst David Omojomolo said in a research note that the downside surprise could encourage the South African Reserve Bank to continue with its monetary easing cycle.



Razia Khan, chief economist for Africa and the Middle East at Standard Chartered, said the outlook for Africa&#8217;s most industrialised economy remained positive despite the third-quarter contraction.



&#8220;This does not alter our big picture outlook,&#8221; she said, highlighting that mining, manufacturing and construction all grew in the latest quarter.



Of the 10 industries tracked by Stats SA, only four contracted, a presentation by the agency showed.



South Africa&#8217;s third-quarter GDP grew 0.3% on a year-on-year basis, also worse than the 1.2% growth predicted by economists.



(Reporting by Kopano Gumbi; Additional reporting by Tannur Anders; Editing by Alexander Winning and Sharon Singleton)

A man looks at an item before buying at a spaza shop

South African economy unexpectedly shrinks due to drought

<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/2024/09/TE3RFSDQENJTFFYC6SW6PIPCBE-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-529685" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/TE3RFSDQENJTFFYC6SW6PIPCBE-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/TE3RFSDQENJTFFYC6SW6PIPCBE-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/TE3RFSDQENJTFFYC6SW6PIPCBE-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/TE3RFSDQENJTFFYC6SW6PIPCBE-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/TE3RFSDQENJTFFYC6SW6PIPCBE-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/TE3RFSDQENJTFFYC6SW6PIPCBE-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters building is seen ahead of the IMF/World Bank spring meetings in Washington, U.S., April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



ACCRA, Dec 2 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved the third review of Ghana&#8217;s $3 billion lending programme, unlocking an immediate disbursement of about $360 million, the&nbsp;IMF said Monday.



&#8220;Ghana&#8217;s performance under the IMF-supported program has been generally satisfactory. All quantitative performance criteria and indicative targets for the third review were met,&#8221; the IMF said in a statement.



The&nbsp;country&#8217;s finance minister, Mohammed Amin Adam,&nbsp;earlier on Monday told Reuters the review had been approved.



The West African gold and cocoa producer has been recovering from the impact of its 2022 debt default and is set to hold a presidential and parliamentary election on Dec. 7.



&#8220;With three successful IMF reviews in a row, it shows the determination of the government to turn the economy to winning ways. We have demonstrated uncharacteristic discipline in fiscal management,&#8221; Amin told Reuters.



&#8220;We appreciate the enormous work we still have to do, and we will do everything for the benefit of our people,&#8221; he added.



The IMF board approved Ghana&#8217;s current lending programme in May of last year, and the arrangement expires in 2026.



Ghana&#8217;s debt restructuring is expected to lower its debt owed to bondholders by $4.7 billion and provide cash flow relief worth $4.4 billion during the period of the IMF programme.



(Reporting by Maxwell Akalaare Adombila; writing by Anait Miridzhanian and Duncan Miriri; editing by Mark Heinrich and Deepa Babington)

FILE PHOTO: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters building is seen ahead of the IMF/World Bank spring meetings in Washington

IMF approves third review of Ghana’s $3 billion programme

<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-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="526" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/RQ6Y27JM7RJZXG4XPHIK3JJ37I-820x526.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-499905" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/RQ6Y27JM7RJZXG4XPHIK3JJ37I-820x526.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/RQ6Y27JM7RJZXG4XPHIK3JJ37I-300x192.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/RQ6Y27JM7RJZXG4XPHIK3JJ37I-140x90.jpg 140w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/RQ6Y27JM7RJZXG4XPHIK3JJ37I-768x493.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/RQ6Y27JM7RJZXG4XPHIK3JJ37I-1536x985.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/RQ6Y27JM7RJZXG4XPHIK3JJ37I-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Naspers&#8217; logo is pictured on a smartphone in this illustration taken, December 4, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



JOHANNESBURG, Dec 2 (Reuters) &#8211; South African technology investor Naspers said on Monday its Prosus e-commerce subsidiary plans more listings after last month&#8217;s Indian IPO of Swiggy, as it posted a 74% jump in half-year core earnings.



Naspers said the aim is for Amsterdam-listed Prosus, which holds international investments including a 24.3% stake in Chinese software and gaming giant Tencent 0700.HK, to deliver profit of $400 million and revenue of $6.2 billion, in the financial year to the end of March, 2025.



&#8220;We had strong growth and strong profitability across the portfolio and we&#8217;re quite confident that we&#8217;re going to keep this growth rate,&#8221; Fabricio Bloisi, CEO of Naspers and Prosus said in an earnings call.



The $400 million forecast in adjusted earnings before interest, tax (EBIT) is a large improvement on the $38 million in the previous financial year at Prosus.



Prosus hopes to list PayU next year and other Indian investments, including e-commerce startup meesho and online jewellery retailer Bluestone, in the next 18 months, it said.



There are many more potential listings in India even after the 18 month target, added Ervin Tu, Naspers and Prosus group chief investment officer.



The company identified one future potentials as Captain Fresh, a seafood company from India.



The e-commerce portfolio includes food delivery firms iFood of Brazil and Delivery Hero&nbsp;DHER.DE, online marketplaces such as OLX, educational software firms such as SkillSoft and Stack Overflow, and payments companies such as India-focused PayU.



Naspers said its core headline earnings for continuing operations rose to $1.5 billion in the six months ended Sept. 30, up from $866 million, while Prosus reported core headline earnings of $3.5 billion, up from $2 billion.



Group revenue rose by 23% to $3.4 billion, while adjusted EBIT swung to a profit of $36 million from a loss of $121 million as its e-commerce business turned profitable.



Consolidated e-commerce revenue at Prosus grew by 26% to $3 billion, driven by continued strong revenue growth in payments and fintech, e-tail and food delivery, Naspers said.



E-commerce adjusted EBIT swung to a profit of $181 million, from a loss of $36 million.



(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Jason Neely and Alexander Smith)

FILE PHOTO: Illustration shows smartphone with Naspers’ logo

South Africa’s Naspers plans more IPOs in next 18 months after Swiggy success

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="5000" height="3334" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/47PRCOI25FKKNHQMNP6BLNRXJQ.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-561163"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">People at the Agbogbloshie market look on, as supporters of Ghana&#8217;s main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), gather in Accra, Ghana, November 28, 2024. REUTERS/Francis Kokoroko </figcaption></figure>



DABALA, Ghana, Dec 2 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;After serving in Ghana&#8217;s police force for over three decades, pensioner Emmanuel Amey-Wemegah had a clear retirement plan: invest part of his pension benefits in government bonds, complete the construction of his house, and buy a car.



All was going according to plan until Jan. 6, 2023, when he received a call from his bank that Ghana was restructuring bonds he held.



&#8220;I started sweating,&#8221; said Amey-Wemegah, 63, recalling the uncertainty and fear that gripped him and other bondholders.



The retired chief inspector is one of thousands of Ghanaian private, corporate and foreign investors whose investments in government securities were restructured in 2023 for Ghana to obtain a three-year, $3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout to deal with its worst economic crisis in a generation.



As over 18 million Ghanaians prepare to vote in a presidential election on Dec. 7, Amey-Wemegah&#8217;s plight reflects the economic anxiety gripping many in the West African country &#8211; the world&#8217;s number two cocoa producer. Jobs, education, and infrastructure are also key issues.



During the current authorities&#8217; tenure, Ghana&#8217;s economy buckled under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, higher global interest rates and years of excessive borrowing.



Public debt rose from 63% of GDP in 2019 to 92.7% in 2022, the cedi currency suffered rapid depreciation, while inflation peaked above 54%, hitting consumers and forcing businesses to reduce operations.



The government&#8217;s mountain of domestic debt meant that there was no alternative to an IMF deal without restructuring local holdings, something experts said was unprecedented in Africa.



A domestic debt restructuring launched in December 2022 required holders to exchange old bonds for new ones with lower yields and longer maturities.



&#8220;Some of us didn&#8217;t realize exactly what the consequences were,&#8221; Amey-Wemegah told Reuters in his Dabala home in southeastern Ghana, where citations for his meritorious service decorate the walls.



&#8220;They stole our money. I was sad and devastated,&#8221; he said, describing how the restructuring squeezed his income.



He cannot afford to fuel or service his car, and now prioritises spending on his medications.



Businesses have also struggled. An Accra-based start-up consultancy firm which requested anonymity, said its 2 million Ghanaian cedis ($130,718) has been held up in the restructuring, straining liquidity and forcing it to cut jobs.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-frustration-with-ruling-party">FRUSTRATION WITH RULING PARTY</h2>



The election is set to be a contest between Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia, representing the ruling New Patriotic Party, and former President John Dramani Mahama of the main opposition National Democratic Congress.



Mussa Dankwa of Accra-based Global InfoAnalytics said polls show most Ghanaians are struggling with a cost-of-living crisis, making it a key influence on the election.



Voters like Amey-Wemegah and the owner of the consultancy said their challenges with the debt restructuring would inform who they vote for.



&#8220;We&#8217;ve gone to the IMF 17 times,&#8221; said Amey-Wemegah, referring to Ghana&#8217;s fund-assisted bailouts since independence in 1957. &#8220;None of those past governments introduced haircuts. Why is it that this government decided to introduce it. Why?&#8221;



Others, like rice-miller Julius Kwadzo Ameku, are dissatisfied with the authorities&#8217; economic performance more broadly.



Ameku, whose firm operates in southeastern Volta region, said the ruling party&#8217;s initiatives to boost agricultural production had failed and he hoped opposition leader Mahama would usher in positive change.



&#8220;All we need is proper irrigation and flexible loans or grants. The gold, oil and others won&#8217;t take us anywhere,&#8221; he said.



($1 = 15.3000 Ghanaian cedi)



(Editing by Bate Felix and Angus MacSwan)

47PRCOI25FKKNHQMNP6BLNRXJQ

Ghana’s economic crisis looms over impending elections

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="552" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/108051586-17296890292024-10-23t105709z_1019049937_rc2aqaac1wbu_rtrmadp_0_russia-brics-820x552.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-561143" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/108051586-17296890292024-10-23t105709z_1019049937_rc2aqaac1wbu_rtrmadp_0_russia-brics-820x552.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/108051586-17296890292024-10-23t105709z_1019049937_rc2aqaac1wbu_rtrmadp_0_russia-brics-300x202.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/108051586-17296890292024-10-23t105709z_1019049937_rc2aqaac1wbu_rtrmadp_0_russia-brics-134x90.jpeg 134w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/108051586-17296890292024-10-23t105709z_1019049937_rc2aqaac1wbu_rtrmadp_0_russia-brics-768x517.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/108051586-17296890292024-10-23t105709z_1019049937_rc2aqaac1wbu_rtrmadp_0_russia-brics-1536x1034.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/108051586-17296890292024-10-23t105709z_1019049937_rc2aqaac1wbu_rtrmadp_0_russia-brics-scaled.jpeg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Officials, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, attend the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 23, 2024.&nbsp; Alexei Danichev | Reuters</figcaption></figure>



MOSCOW, Dec 2 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;The Kremlin said on Monday that any U.S. attempt to compel countries to use the dollar would backfireafter&nbsp;U.S. President-elect Donald Trump&nbsp;threatened to&nbsp;impose tariffs on BRICS countries if they created their own currency.



Trump on Saturday demanded that BRICS member countries commit to not creating a new currency or supporting another currency that would replace the United States dollar, saying they would otherwise face 100% tariffs.



The BRIC grouping initially included Brazil, Russia, India and China, but has since expanded to take in other countries. The grouping does not have a common currency, but long-running discussions on the subject have gained some momentum after the West imposed sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine.



Asked about Trump&#8217;s comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov&nbsp;said the dollar was losing its appeal as a reserve currency for many countries,&nbsp;a trend he said was&nbsp;gathering pace.



&#8220;More and more countries are switching to the use of national currencies in their trade and foreign economic activities,&#8221; Peskov told reporters.



If Washington resorted to &#8220;economic force&#8221; to compel countries to use the dollar it would backfire, he predicted.



&#8220;If the U.S. uses force, as they say economic force, to compel countries to use the dollar it will further strengthen the trend of switching to national currencies (in international trade),&#8221; said Peskov.



&#8220;The dollar is beginning to lose its appeal as a reserve currency for a number of countries.&#8221;



Dollar dominance — the outsized role of the U.S. dollar in the world economy — has in fact been strengthened of late, thanks to the robust U.S. economy, tighter monetary policy and heightened geopolitical risks, even as economic fragmentation has boosted a push by BRICS countries to shift away from the dollar into other currencies.



A study by the Atlantic Council&#8217;s GeoEconomics Center this year showed that the U.S. dollar remains the world&#8217;s primary reserve currency, and neither the euro nor the so-called BRICS countries have been able to reduce global reliance on the dollar.



(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Alexander Marrow/Anastasia Teterevleva; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

108051586-17296890292024-10-23t105709z_1019049937_rc2aqaac1wbu_rtrmadp_0_russia-brics

Kremlin says Trump threat to BRICS nations over US dollar will backfire

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1800" height="1200" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/VFKU2JNBTBIDVNPMOMLDRAUIO4.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-560171"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Pedestrians walk in front of Ghana&#8217;s central bank building in Accra, Ghana, November 16, 2015. REUTERS/Francis Kokoroko/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



ACCRA, Nov 29 (Reuters) &#8211; Ghana&#8217;s central bank kept its main interest rate GHCBIR=ECI at 27.00% on Friday, as food price increases drove consumer inflationGHCPIY=ECI higher for the second month in a row.



While inflation has eased considerably over the year, the pace of deceleration showed some sluggishness since the last monetary policy committee meeting, the central bank said.



&#8220;Inflation projections show a slightly elevated profile driven by high and unstable food prices,&#8221; the bank said in a statement.



Year-on-year inflation in the West African economy, which is set to hold a general election on Dec. 7, edged up to 22.1% in October from 21.5% in the previous month.



The bank said it now expected inflation to reach its medium-term target of 6% to 10% in the fourth quarter of 2025, shifting forward from an earlier forecast that it would reach that goal in the third quarter.



Ghana, which is the world&#8217;s second largest cocoa producer, defaulted on most of its $30 billion external debt in 2022 after years of overstretched borrowing.



It is now close to fully emerging from the default after a long debt restructuring process.



President Nana Akufo-Addo&#8217;s government secured a 3-year, $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund in 2023 and is now on the final lap of a painful process required for the money to be disbursed.



Commercial banks have accumulated enough capital buffers to withstand the effects of the external debt restructuring, the central bank said on Friday.



The International Monetary Fund&#8217;s executive board is set to meet on Dec. 2 to approve the third review of Ghana&#8217;s $3 billion programme, which will unlock a $360 million loan tranche.



(Reporting by Maxwell Akalaare Adombila and Christian Akorlie; Writing by Anait Miridzhanian and Duncan Miriri; Editing by Kevin Liffey, William Maclean)

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Ghana’s economic crisis looms over impending elections

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Ghana central bank holds policy rate on inflation concerns

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