Thatcher-Loving Nigeria Candidate Plans to Overhaul Economy

January 31, 2019

By Paul Wallace and Dulue Mbachu   Presidential hopeful would float naira, sell state oil firm  Abubakar’s policies are opposed by President Muhammadu Buhari In Nigeria’s personality-driven politics, there’s usually little differentiating presidential aspirants in terms of ideology or economic policy. Not any more. Atiku Abubakar, the 72-year-old main opposition candidate in next month’s vote, […]

AfDB scales up industrialization pace on the continent, delivers improved business access to finance, skills, energy

Adesola AfolabiMay 24, 2018

The African Development Bank (AfDB) said it has scaled up industrialization pace on the continent as it has delivered improved business access to transport, energy and skills in the past year. The development bank made the disclosure Thursday in its Annual Development Effectiveness Review (ADER) released at the Bank’s annual meetings in Busan, South Korea. […]

Verve, UBA partner to support Zambia’s subsidy disbursement programme

Businessam StaffMarch 31, 2018

Verve International has signed a partnership agreement with the United Bank for Africa to deliver cost-effective prepaid cards to farmers under the Zambian Ministry of Agriculture’s FISP programme. It was gathered that as part of the partnership deal, UBA will issue Verve prepaid cards in the next season of the Farmers Input Support Programme, an […]

Namibia GDP growth seen accelerating to 2.2% this year- finance minister

Businessam StaffFebruary 9, 2018

Calle Schlettwein, Namibia’s finance minister said on Friday that the country’s economic growth is expected to accelerate to 2.2 percent this year from an estimated 1.6 percent growth in 2016, supported by higher commodity prices. “We expect improvement due to rising commodity prices although some of the revenue increases might be offset by an (unfavourable) exchange […]

South African rand, bank stocks rally on hopes of Ramaphosa victory

Businessam StaffDecember 18, 2017

South African assets rallied early Monday as investor hopes grew that pro-reform candidate Cyril Ramaphosa was likely to have secured a victory in the ruling ANC’s knife-edge leadership contest. According to Financial Times (FT) report, the rand suffered a bumpy start to the day as it became clear that the vote would go down to […]

World Bank cuts down Kenya growth outlook over credit, spending

December 7, 2017

The World Bank lowered its economic growth forecasts for Kenya as delays in spending cuts, weak credit extension, and political uncertainty curb expansion prospects. East Africa’s biggest economy may grow 4.9 percent this year, the slowest pace since 2011, the Washington-based lender said in a report released Thursday. That compares with an April forecast of […]

End in sight for year-long ‘dry spell’ of cashless economy in Zimbabwe

Businessam StaffNovember 29, 2017

Some Zimbabweans were able to withdraw U.S. dollars from automated teller machines this week for the first time in about a year as hard currency started trickling back into the economy following Robert Mugabe’s ouster as president. Banks, according to Bloomberg’s report, had stopped stocking ATMs about a year ago as a severe cash shortage […]