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IMF sets date to review Ghana’s $600 million loan

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According to an email from a spokeswoman on Monday, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) executive board is scheduled to convene on Friday to deliberate on the initial assessment of Ghana’s $3 billion rescue loan plan.

If the review is approved by the board, a $600 million payout will be made. Once a meeting date has been set, these permissions are typically considered formalities.

Africanewswatch.com reported last week that the meeting took place on the same day that the nation that produces oil, gold, and cocoa came to an agreement to restructure $5.4 billion in official creditor debt, citing three people with direct knowledge of the situation.

Ghana wants to use the Common Framework, a debt restructuring framework established by the G20 countries during the COVID-19 conference, to restructure $20 billion of its external debt, which would amount to almost $30 billion by the end of 2022. It aims to reduce $10.5 billion in payments that are expected to be made between 2023 and 2026.

The Official Creditor Committee, which is co-chaired by China and France, has some members who are still “going through their internal procedures,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters at a regular news briefing on Monday.

“Recently, China encouraged all parties to overcome technical difficulties and narrow differences and finally led all parties to reach a basic consensus on Ghana’s debt settlement plan… on January 8,” Ning said via statement.

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Food prices drive second straight monthly hike in Nigeria’s inflation

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According to official statistics released on Friday, Nigeria’s inflation rate increased for the second consecutive month in October, rising to 33.88% in annual terms from 32.70% in September, mostly as a result of increasing food costs.

In an attempt to boost economic development and strengthen public finances, President Bola Tinubu devalued the naira and reduced subsidies, which caused inflation to spike in the second half of last year.

As the effects of the naira devaluation started to lessen in July of this year, a slew of hikes in the price of petroleum and devastating floods that destroyed crops once again exacerbated pricing pressures, making the greatest cost-of-living crisis in decades worse in Africa’s most populous country.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, price increases for basics such as rice, maize, bread, potatoes, and cooking oil prompted food inflation to surge from 37.77% in October to 39.16% year over year.

This year, more than 1.5 million hectares of agriculture have been damaged by torrential rain and floods in 29 of Nigeria’s 36 states, leaving millions hungry and displacing large numbers of people.

In an effort to curb inflation, the central bank has raised interest rates five times this year. On November 26, it is expected to make its final rate decision of the year.

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MTN financial report reveals drop in group service revenue

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Due to operational difficulties in Sudan and the depreciation of the Nigerian naira, MTN Group, Africa’s largest telecom provider, announced on Thursday an 18.5% decline in service revenue for the third quarter that concluded on September 30.

With 288 million users in 17 African regions, MTN said that its group service revenue dropped from 156.3 billion rand ($6.99 billion) in the same quarter of the previous year to 127.4 billion rand.

Despite stating that “the naira was less volatile on a sequential basis in Q3 than in preceding quarters,” the business reported a 48.7% decline in MTN Nigeria’s income due to the currency’s depreciation.

Due to a stronger Ugandan shilling than the previous year, Uganda’s largest contributor, MTN South Africa (MTN SA), expanded by a meagre 3.3%.

Due to “subscriber registration regulations in Nigeria and a decline in users in Sudan, where the conflict has displaced millions of people,” the business reported that its subscriber base increased by 1.6% to 288 million.

Given the higher demand in Nigeria despite the legal obstacles, MTN plans to increase its capital expenditures, which it expects would total between 28 and 33 billion rand for the entire year.

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