<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="460" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/NVA6CYPSJ5JMNHNLN2RMZ3D64I-820x460.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-409510" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/NVA6CYPSJ5JMNHNLN2RMZ3D64I-820x460.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/NVA6CYPSJ5JMNHNLN2RMZ3D64I-300x168.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/NVA6CYPSJ5JMNHNLN2RMZ3D64I-140x80.jpg 140w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/NVA6CYPSJ5JMNHNLN2RMZ3D64I-768x431.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/NVA6CYPSJ5JMNHNLN2RMZ3D64I.jpg 960w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>A self-armed local looks for looters inside a supermarket following protests that have widened into looting, in Durban, South Africa July 13, 2021, in this screen grab taken from a video. Courtesy Kierran Allen/via REUTERS</figcaption></figure>



JOHANNESBURG, July 14 (Reuters) &#8211; Crowds looted shops and offices in South Africa on Wednesday, defying government calls to end a week of violence that has killed more than 70 people and wrecked hundreds of businesses.



The unrest, the worst in South Africa for years, also disrupted hospitals struggling to cope with a third wave of COVID-19 and forced the closure of a refinery.



Protests triggered by the jailing of ex-president Jacob Zuma for failing to appear at a corruption inquiry last week have widened into looting and an outpouring of general anger over the hardship and inequality that persist 27 years after the end of apartheid.



Shopping malls and warehouses have been ransacked or set ablaze in several cities, mostly in Zuma&#8217;s home in KwaZulu-Natal province, and the financial and economic center Johannesburg and surrounding Gauteng province..



Overnight it spread to two other provinces &#8211; Mpumalanga, just east of Gauteng, and Northern Cape, police said.



A Reuters photographer saw several shops being looted in the town of Hammersdale, Kwazulu-Natal, on Wednesday. Local TV stations meanwhile showed more looting of shops in South Africa&#8217;s largest township Soweto, and in the Indian Ocean port city of Durban.



Soldiers have been sent onto the streets to help outnumbered police contain the unrest and order was being restored in some places on Wednesday, such as the northern Johannesburg township of Alexandra, local TV reported.



The National Hospital Network, representing 241 public hospitals already under strain from Africa&#8217;s worst COVID-19 epidemic, said it was running out of oxygen and drugs, most of which are imported through Durban, as well as food.



Staff in affected areas were unable to get to work, it said, worsening shortages caused by a third wave of infections.



&#8220;The impact of the looting and destruction is having dire consequences on hospitals,&#8221; it said. &#8220;And the epicentre of the pandemic is within the affected provinces currently under siege.&#8221;



South Africa&#8217;s largest refinery SAPREF in Durban has been temporarily shut down, an industry official said on Wednesday.



The poverty and inequality fuelling the unrest has been compounded by severe social and economic restrictions aimed at curbing COVID-19. The United Nations in South Africa expressed concern that disruptions to transport for workers from the riots would make things even worse.



&#8220;This will exacerbate&#8230;joblessness, poverty and inequality,&#8221; it said in a statement.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-economic-damage">ECONOMIC DAMAGE</h2>



The rand was hovering around three-month lows in early trade on Wednesday, a retreat for what had been one of the best performing emerging market currencies during the pandemic, and government bonds were slightly weaker.



Zuma, 79, was sentenced last month for defying a court order to give evidence at an inquiry investigating high-level looting during his nine years in office until 2018.



He also faces trial in a separate case on charges including corruption, fraud, racketeering and money laundering. The former president pleaded not guilty in court in May. His foundation said on Tuesday that violence would continue until his release.



The national prosecuting authority has said it will punish those caught looting or destroying property, a threat that so far has done little to deter them. Security forces say they have arrested more than 1,200 people.



Though triggered by Zuma&#8217;s jailing, the unrest reflects growing frustration at failures by the ruling African National Congress to address inequality decades after the end of white minority rule in 1994 ushered in democracy.



Roughly half the population lives below the poverty line, according to the latest government figures from 2015, and growing joblessness since the pandemic has left many desperate. Unemployment stood at a new record high of 32.6% in the first three months of 2021. 



(Additional reporting by Rogan Ward in Hammersdale, Wendell Roelf in Cape Town, Promit Mukherjee, Alexander Winning and Tim Cocks in Johannesburg, Writing by Tim Cocks, Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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South African crowds rampage overnight, defying calls for end to violence, looting

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/101678327-187917928.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-409506" width="740" height="416" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/101678327-187917928.jpg 740w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/101678327-187917928-300x169.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/101678327-187917928-140x80.jpg 140w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /><figcaption>Nassim Nicholas Taleb, New York University professor and author Jerome Favre | Bloomberg | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Nassim Nicholas Taleb has reversed his stance on bitcoin.



The author of “The Black Swan” said in a recent&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fooledbyrandomness.com/BTC-QF.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">paper</a>&nbsp;that the largest cryptocurrency by market cap has failed to satisfy the notions of it as a currency without government, as a hedge against inflation and as a safe haven investment.



“Few assets in financial history have been more fragile than bitcoin,” he said.



Taleb had previously spoken more favorably on bitcoin, particularly on its potential to help people circumvent capital controls in markets that rely on them to manage their exchange rates. He called it “the first organic currency” in the foreword of “The Bitcoin Standard” in 2018 and “an insurance policy” against government control over currency.



In his recent paper, “Bitcoin, Currencies, and Fragility,” published in late June, Taleb, a probability researcher and former longtime quantitative trader, says bitcoin is worth “exactly zero” partly because it requires a sustained amount of interest to maintain it.



By contrast, “gold and other precious metals are largely maintenance free, do not degrade over an historical horizon, and do not require maintenance to refresh their physical properties over time,” he said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-volatility-as-a-key-characteristic">Volatility as a key characteristic</h2>



Bitcoin was created in 2008 and has always been notoriously volatile, though the Covid-19 pandemic year is the first time it has experienced such extreme volatility in the face of a global economic crisis.



Taleb noted that in March 2020 bitcoin dropped further than the stock market and recovered with it “upon the massive injection of liquidity.” That’s “sufficient evidence that it cannot remotely be used as a tail hedge against systemic risk,” he said.



He said bitcoin tends to respond to liquidity and that it’s unclear what would happen if the internet experienced even a regional outage, particularly if it took place during a financial collapse.



Taleb noted bitcoin “has maintained extremely high volatility” of between 60% and 100% “throughout its life,” though that doesn’t mean a cryptocurrency can’t “displace fiat” — that is, money backed by the government that issues it but not backed by a physical commodity such as gold.



“It is indeed desirable to have at least one real currency without a government,” he wrote in his paper. “But the new currency just needs to be more appealing as a store of value by tracking a weighted basket of goods and services with minimum error.”



People also conflate the success of bitcoin as a digital currency with the success of bitcoin as a speculative investment. To be a currency would require it to have some stability and usability, Taleb said.



Taleb is&nbsp;distinguished professor of risk engineering at New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering and a scientific advisor for Universa Investments. &nbsp;



The price of <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/quotes/btc=x">bitcoin</a> was about $32,000 Tuesday morning and has been hovering between $32,000 and $36,000 for about a month, after briefly touching $40,000 in mid-June.



Cryptocurrency exchange data shows bitcoin trading fell more than 40% in June of this year, according to CryptoCompare. In the same month, the price of bitcoin hit a monthly low of $28,908.



Still, June volume ranks in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/12/cryptocurrency-trading-volume-plunges-as-interest-wanes-following-bitcoin-price-drop.html">the top five months of volume recorded ever</a>, according to Kaiko data.

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‘Black Swan’ author Nassim Taleb says bitcoin is worth zero and fails as a currency and a hedge

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="502" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/32FTKYZ5B5IQTPL5TS7LBR6FHA-820x502.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-409449" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/32FTKYZ5B5IQTPL5TS7LBR6FHA-820x502.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/32FTKYZ5B5IQTPL5TS7LBR6FHA-300x184.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/32FTKYZ5B5IQTPL5TS7LBR6FHA-131x80.jpg 131w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/32FTKYZ5B5IQTPL5TS7LBR6FHA-768x470.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/32FTKYZ5B5IQTPL5TS7LBR6FHA.jpg 960w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>People queue to buy food at a supermarket with most stores staying closed as protests continue following imprisonment of former South Africa President Jacob Zuma in Hillcrest, South Africa, July 13, 2021. REUTERS/Rogan Ward</figcaption></figure>



JOHANNESBURG, July 13 (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa&#8217;s rand dropped to a three-month low on Tuesday and local and hard currency bonds suffered as violent protests over economic hardship and inequality rippled across the country.



Crowds clashed with police and ransacked or set ablaze shopping malls, with dozens of people reported killed as grievances unleashed by the jailing of ex-president Jacob Zuma boiled over into the worst violence in years.



The protests rattled financial markets in the continent&#8217;s most industrialised economy, with the rand dropping as much as 1.8% to 14.67 against the dollar, its lowest level since mid-April. The currency has lost nearly 3% since Friday close and wiped out almost all gains enjoyed since the start of 2021, with currency&#8217;s volatility gauges hitting multi-week highs.



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="block-64be6bc4-a613-4aca-bc36-fc965a436949">Watch: Foreign investors react to unrest in SA</h3>


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Yields on 10-year local government bonds broke above 9% for the first time since late June. Longer-dated sovereign dollar-denominated bonds lost nearly 1 cent in the dollar while the cost of insuring exposure to the country&#8217;s debt climbed to near-two month highs.



Wall Street bank Citi said it had cut its exposure to both bonds and FX on the back of the spreading violence.



&#8220;Following a couple of days of heightened social unrest in South Africa, it is time to take a step back and reflect on the causes and consequences of the current noise,&#8221; said Citi&#8217;s Luis Costa, predicting the events might have further to run and could have &#8220;important consequences&#8221; for the government under President Cyril Ramaphosa, without elaborating.



Initially sparked by last week&#8217;s arrest of Zuma, the protests have widened into looting and an outpouring of general anger as the economy struggles to emerge from the damage wrought by Africa&#8217;s worst COVID-19 epidemic and as unemployment rates have soared to a record high of 32.6%.



Equity markets also suffered with the all share index down 0.3%, sharply underperforming the MSCI global emerging market index which jumped 1%.



<div class="wp-block-group"><div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow">
<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-peter-armitage-on-where-to-find-value-in-sa-markets">Peter Armitage on where to find value in SA markets</h3>


</div></div>



Nervous investors dumped property and retail stocks directly damaged by the looters, with the property index dropping 2.55% and Vukile Property Fund tumbling more than 7%.



SA Corporate said on Tuesday four out of 11 retail shopping centres that had been looted had suffered extensive damage.



Massmart, majority-owned by U.S. Walmart Inc , led the decliners, falling 7.53% as looters continued to ransack its Game and Makro stores, as well as warehouses.



&#8220;Economically sensitive sectors are taking a hit and with property companies, investors are trying to work out which ones are the most affected,&#8221; Sanlam Private Wealth&#8217;s Portfolio Manager Greg Katzenellenbogen said.



&#8220;We have a double whammy of the pandemic as well as now the unrest in the country.&#8221;



(Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Nqobile Dludla, additional reporting by Marc Jones and Tom Arnold in London; Writing by Karin Strohecker; Editing by Alison Williams)

South African Economy As Inflation Rate Rises For First Time In 2017

South African rand sinks to 3-month low, bonds drop on violent protests

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="502" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/32FTKYZ5B5IQTPL5TS7LBR6FHA-820x502.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-409449" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/32FTKYZ5B5IQTPL5TS7LBR6FHA-820x502.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/32FTKYZ5B5IQTPL5TS7LBR6FHA-300x184.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/32FTKYZ5B5IQTPL5TS7LBR6FHA-131x80.jpg 131w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/32FTKYZ5B5IQTPL5TS7LBR6FHA-768x470.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/32FTKYZ5B5IQTPL5TS7LBR6FHA.jpg 960w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>People queue to buy food at a supermarket with most stores staying closed as protests continue following imprisonment of former South Africa President Jacob Zuma in Hillcrest, South Africa, July 13, 2021. REUTERS/Rogan Ward</figcaption></figure>



JOHANNESBURG, July 13 (Reuters) &#8211; South African farmers have been hit by days of unrest and looting as trucks carrying produce are prevented from delivering to markets, threatening food supplies, industry officials said.



Crowds have this week clashed with police and ransacked shopping malls, with dozens reported killed as grievances unleashed by last week&#8217;s jailing of former president Jacob Zuma boiled over into the worst violence in years.



Some of the country&#8217;s major highways have been closed off.



&#8220;Farmers have already had major losses because they cannot get their products to local markets and to shops,&#8221; Christo van der Rheede, executive director at the country&#8217;s main agricultural body AgriSA, said.



One of AgriSA&#8217;s farmers has already reported the loss of 3 million rand ($205,333) of perishable produce that could not be transported, van der Rheede said.



All sugar mills in Kwazulu-Natal &#8211; the main sugar growing area and one of the provinces hardest hit by the unrest &#8211; have closed after cane trucks were hijacked, mills threatened and cane farms set alight, said South African Canegrowers Chief Executive Thomas Funke.



&#8220;Around 300,000 tonnes of cane to date has been burnt. This is roughly 180 million rand of grower revenue,&#8221; said Funke.



Sugar producer Tongaat Hulets said its mills and refinery were also closed.



Citrus growers Association Chief Executive Justin Chadwick said citrus exports had also been halted, with trucks unable to use the main arterial roads to the Durban port, where more than half of the citrus is exported.



South Africa is the world&#8217;s second largest exporter of fresh citrus after Spain.



President Cyril Ramaphosa warned on Monday that disruption to supply chains could lead to food and medicine shortages in the coming weeks.



The impact was already being seen in Durban. On Tuesday, consumers stood in queues at a few supermarkets that remained open to buy basics.



In some areas, where supermarkets remained closed, panic was setting in over food supplies.



&#8220;All the shops are closed. We are going to run out of bread soon,&#8221; said Neli Zulu, a resident of Pietermaritzburg, another area badly affected by the unrest.



($1 = 14.6104 rand) 



(Reporting by Tanisha Heiberg Additional reporting by Zandi Shabalala Editing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Mark Potter)

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South Africa unrest hits farming, threatens food supply

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Peter Armitage, CEO of Anchor Capital joins CNBC Africa to unpack the company’s strategy and asset allocation for the third quarter of 2021.

SA equities: Where to find value

By Chijioke Ohuocha
ABUJA, July 13 (Reuters) &#8211; Nigeria expects to receive nearly 8 million additional doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of August, including from a U.S. government donation, the head of its primary care agency said on Tuesday.
Faisal Shuaib, head of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), said Nigeria exhausted its initial supply of nearly 4 million shots last week and aims to resume vaccinations within weeks, when the new doses arrive.
Nigeria expects delivery of 3.924 million doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca shots from global vaccine-sharing scheme COVAX by the end of July or early August, Shuaib said, and an additional 3.93 million doses of either Pfizer/Biotech or Moderna, donated by the U.S. government via COVAX, in August.
The White House last month outlined a plan to share 55 million U.S. COVID-19 vaccine doses globally via COVAX.
Nigeria, Africa&#8217;s most populous nation, recently detected the highly contagious Delta variant, while the governor of its commercial centre, Lagos state, warned that it was on the verge of a third wave of infections.
The 3.92 million Oxford/AstraZeneca doses Nigeria received in March from COVAX covered a small fraction of its 200 million citizens, and Shuaib, in an Abuja press briefing, urged citizens to abide by &#8220;non-pharmaceutical&#8221; measures, such as mask wearing and social distancing, to stem the spread of the virus until fresh doses arrived.
He said Nigeria expects another 3.577 million doses of Pfizer/Biotech or Moderna from COVAX in the third quarter, as well as 29.85 million Johnson &amp; Johnson shots purchased via the African Union, though he did not say when these would arrive.
Shuaib said Nigeria recorded 14,550 of mild to moderate adverse reactions to the vaccines but no fatalities linked to the shots.
(Reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha, editing by Libby George and Steve Orlofsky)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Click For Restrictions &#8211; https://agency.reuters.com/en/copyright.html
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Nigeria expects nearly 8 mln more COVID-19 vaccines by end-August -official

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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation last night asking for law and order to prevail. However pocketed looting continued and as some places intensified. Arson and more serious criminality increased and the army was deployed but sufficient control has not been established. CNBC Africa is joined by Peter Montalto, Head of Capital Markets Research at Intellidex and Tilman Kolb, Emerging Markets Analyst, UBS Global Wealth Management CIO.

Here’s how foreign investors

Here’s how foreign investors, markets are reacting to the unrest in SA

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The Nigerian Exchange Group has listed Guaranty Trust Holding Company following the delisting of Guaranty Trust Bank.

Nigeria’s Guaranty Trust Holding Company lists on NGX

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Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva says the assent of the Petroleum Industry Bill by President Muhammadu Buhari will see an end to the controversial petrol subsidies. This comes as Nigeria celebrates its 50-year membership of the oil producer club, OPEC. Meanwhile, Nigerians are expecting the June inflation report this week and the second quarter GDP data later this month. Joining CNBC Africa for a discussion on how best Nigeria can achieve a sustainable growth trajectory post Covid-19 are; Andrew Nevin, Chief Economist at PwC Nigeria and Tilewa Adebajo, CEO of CFG Advisory.

How Nigeria’s economy can grow sustainably post-COVID

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The World Bank says South Africa&#8217;s growth could reach 4.1 per cent this year, rebounding from a record crash this year. But could it grow faster? The bank&#8217;s Lead Economist for South Africa Wolfgang Fengler joins CNBC Africa for more.

World Bank: SA needs to embrace entrepreneurship to drive post-COVID-19 recovery

World Bank: Why SA should embrace entrepreneurship to drive post-COVID-19 recovery

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South African president Cyril Ramaphosa called in the army to quell violent protests and looting in the trade hubs of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng earlier today.

SA businesses call for law and order amid violent incidents of looting

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After months of deadlock that turned violent at times, Somalia&#8217;s political leaders agreed to hold a long-delayed presidential election on October 10. A National Security Practitioner from the federal government of Somalia, Samira Gaid joins CNBC Africa for more.

Somalia to hold indirect elections in October

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As countries in Africa grapple with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Presidency of Cote d’Ivoire and the World Bank plan to host a high-level meeting this week where 21 African presidents are expected to attend. The focus of the meeting will be the importance of an ambitious 20th replenishment of the International Development Association. Abdourahmane Cisse, Secretary General of the Presidency of Cote d’Ivoire joins CNBC Africa for more.

African leaders unite to support IDA20 replenishment

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="553" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/VQW6KUZTJJKQVKM2ROHMBZ4SIY-820x553.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-409188" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/VQW6KUZTJJKQVKM2ROHMBZ4SIY-820x553.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/VQW6KUZTJJKQVKM2ROHMBZ4SIY-300x202.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/VQW6KUZTJJKQVKM2ROHMBZ4SIY-119x80.jpg 119w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/VQW6KUZTJJKQVKM2ROHMBZ4SIY-768x518.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/VQW6KUZTJJKQVKM2ROHMBZ4SIY.jpg 960w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Patients receive oxygen outside the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH) ward, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria January 22, 2021. REUTERS/Seun Sanni</figcaption></figure>



LAGOS, July 12 (Reuters) &#8211; Nigeria&#8217;s Lagos state faces a &#8220;potential third wave&#8221; of coronovirus infections, its governor said in a statement.



He warned of fines or even imprisonment for those who break rules to contain the virus and said Lagos state would step up its vaccination campaign, following the detection of the highly infectious Delta variant in an incoming traveller.



Nigeria, Africa&#8217;s most populous nation, has not been as hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic as other parts of the continent, with just over 168,000 cases and 2,124 deaths confirmed since the outbreak began.



But Nation Centre for Disease Control officials last week confirmed that they had detected the Delta variant, putting officials nationwide on alert. The NCDC did not say when the infected traveller had arrived.



&#8220;From the beginning of July, we started to experience a steep increase in the number of daily confirmed cases, with the test positivity rate going from 1.1% at the end of June 2021 to its current rate of 6.6% as at 8th of July 2021,&#8221; Lagos state governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said in a statement. &#8220;The rapid increase within a week gives great cause for concern.&#8221;



Lagos state, home to the commercial capital, has been the epicentre of Nigeria&#8217;s COVID-19 pandemic. It has confirmed 60,366 cases since the outbreak began &#8211; nearly 36% of the country&#8217;s total.



There are self-isolation requirements for all incoming passengers, and arrivals from red-list countries Brazil, India, South Africa, and Turkey, must quarantine in a government facility.



But Sanwo-Olu said that 15% of Lagos state arrivals from red-list nations had absconded, while authorities could not reach 18% of other incoming passengers.



He warned of sanctions including fines, imprisonment and deportation for rule breakers, and said Lagos state was &#8220;exploring all avenues possible&#8221; to increase vaccine access.



Just 1% of Lagos state residents have received two doses of vaccines against the novel coronavirus. 



(Reporting by Libby George; editing by Barbara Lewis)

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Nigeria’s Lagos state faces “potential third wave” of COVID-19

July 12 (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa&#8217;s rand tumbled on Monday as violence broke out after the jailing of former President Jacob Zuma, while most emerging market stocks and currencies appeared to have stabilized after losses last week.



The rand sank more than 1% to a low of 14.3658 to the dollar, leading losses across emerging market currencies. Violence over Zuma&#8217;s 15-month prison term spread to Johannesburg over the weekend, resulting in property damage and road closures.



Zuma, who was given the sentence for defying a court order to cooperate with an inquiry into corruption during his tenure, is set to challenge it during a hearing on Monday.



South African stocks fell 0.6%. The rand is still the top-performing emerging market currency this year, trading more than 2% higher.



South Africa extended tight COVID-19 restrictions by another 14 days as it grapples with a damaging third wave of COVID-19 infections, particularly of the more contagious Delta variant. The move could upset an otherwise steady economic recovery in the country.



Broader emerging market currencies traded steady after logging losses last week. MSCI&#8217;s index of currencies rose 0.1%, recovering from a 0.4% loss last week.



But concerns over the rapid spread of the Delta variant are likely to cap any gains this week, with upcoming U.S. inflation data also expected to curb sentiment.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><a href="https://product.datastream.com/dscharting/gateway.aspx?guid=440cfb66-98ea-41dc-b0d6-78810bec240f&amp;action=REFRESH"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://product.datastream.com/dscharting/gateway.aspx?guid=440cfb66-98ea-41dc-b0d6-78810bec240f&amp;action=REFRESH" alt="native" width="492" height="574"/></a><figcaption>Emerging market stocks recovered slightly from steep losses last week, with MSCI&#8217;s index of stocks rising about 0.5%.</figcaption></figure></div>



Investors also digesting the implications of a reserve requirement rate (RRR) cut in China from last week, which analysts say could imply a slowing economic recovery.



&#8220;EM FX came under great pressure last week as broad risk off sentiment hit global markets… The Chinese RRR cut helped risk sentiment recover on Friday, but this is likely to remain short-lived if the delta variant continues to spread,&#8221; analysts at Brown Brothers Harriman wrote in a note.



Commodity-linked currencies extended their losses as the spread of the Delta variant threatened to weigh on demand.



Russia&#8217;s rouble lost 0.6% as oil prices dipped, while softer gold and base metal prices weighed on the rand. The rouble had lagged its peers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa last week, falling 1.7%.



Emerging market stocks recovered slightly from steep losses last week, with MSCI&#8217;s index of stocks rising about 0.5%.

World map with charts and graphs as symbols of global finance

Civil unrest, virus woes see South African rand drop over 1%

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="571" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/32950016828_766da87a55_k-820x571.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-408417" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/32950016828_766da87a55_k-820x571.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/32950016828_766da87a55_k-300x209.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/32950016828_766da87a55_k-115x80.jpg 115w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/32950016828_766da87a55_k-768x534.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/32950016828_766da87a55_k-1536x1069.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/32950016828_766da87a55_k.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>President Cyril Ramaphosa attends Basic Education Lekgotla, 21 Jan President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses the 3rd Basic Education Lekgotla at Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg. (Photo: GCIS)</figcaption></figure>



JOHANNESBURG, July 11 (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa extended tight COVID-19 rules on Sunday for another 14 days, maintaining restrictions that include a ban on gatherings, a curfew from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. and a prohibition on the sale of alcohol.



The country, the worst-hit on the African continent in terms of <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/current-affairs/2021/07/09/in-numbers-coronavirus-update-covid-19-in-africa-2/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">recorded cases and deaths</a>, is in the grip of a third wave of infections driven by the more infectious Delta coronavirus variant.



&#8220;Our health system countrywide remains under pressure,&#8221; President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a televised address to the nation.



Early this month South Africa recorded a new record of over 26,000 daily cases, stretching hospitals to breaking point.



Ramaphosa moved the country to the fourth level of a five-tier restriction scale in late June as infections climbed, promising to review the restrictions after two weeks.



On Sunday he said the cabinet had decided to maintain &#8220;adjusted alert level 4&#8221; <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/south-africa-to-tighten-covid-19-restrictions-for-14-days/">for another 14 days</a>, although restaurants would be able to serve food on their premises again subject to strict health protocols. Gyms would also be allowed to reopen under certain conditions.



Ramaphosa added that a government advisory committee was working on how soon to bring <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/south-africa-approves-chinas-sinovac-covid-19-vaccine-for-domestic-use-health-ministry/">Sinovac&#8217;s CoronaVac vaccine</a> into the COVID-19 immunisation programme.



So far the vaccine campaign has been slow, with 4.2 million doses administered out of a population of 60 million, but officials are hoping to ramp up daily vaccinations to at least 300,000 by the end of August.



Ramaphosa said the African Union and European Union had reached an agreement for local pharmaceutical company Aspen to deliver more than 17 million Johnson &amp; Johnson vaccine doses to South Africa and other African countries over the next three months.



<a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/stop-hoarding-covid-vaccines-south-africas-ramaphosa-tells-rich-countries/">Read: South African leader Ramaphosa urges rich countries to stop ‘hoarding’ vaccines</a>



Aspen is sourcing vaccine ingredients from J&amp;J to package them in South Africa, a process known as fill and finish.



Ramaphosa said his country was negotiating for the drug substance to be produced locally, &#8220;so that we have a fully-owned African vaccine manufactured on African soil&#8221;. 



(Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by Peter Graff)

President Cyril Ramaphosa attends Basic Education Lekgotla, 21 Jan President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses the 3rd Basic Education Lekgotla at Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg. (Photo: GCIS)

South Africa extends tight COVID-19 restrictions for another 14 days

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Cryptocurrency is playing a major role in the financial system, and more and more central banks are looking at the feasibility of digital currencies. People are calling for more regulation in the space, as fraudsters seem to be having their way. So, what is the impact of blockchain in financial governance? Monica Singer, South Africa Lead at Consensys spoke with CNBC Africa for more.

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Newsletter

South African crowds rampage overnight, defying calls for end to violence, looting

‘Black Swan’ author Nassim Taleb says bitcoin is worth zero and fails as a currency and a hedge

South African rand sinks to 3-month low, bonds drop on violent protests

South Africa unrest hits farming, threatens food supply

SA equities: Where to find value

Nigeria expects nearly 8 mln more COVID-19 vaccines by end-August -official

Here’s how foreign investors, markets are reacting to the unrest in SA

Nigeria’s Guaranty Trust Holding Company lists on NGX

How Nigeria’s economy can grow sustainably post-COVID

World Bank: Why SA should embrace entrepreneurship to drive post-COVID-19 recovery

SA businesses call for law and order amid violent incidents of looting

Somalia to hold indirect elections in October

African leaders unite to support IDA20 replenishment

Nigeria’s Lagos state faces “potential third wave” of COVID-19

Civil unrest, virus woes see South African rand drop over 1%

South Africa extends tight COVID-19 restrictions for another 14 days

Is digital currency the end of fiat money?

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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