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South Africa to withdraw from emergency reserves to reduce growing debt

Published

9 months ago

February 21, 2024

South Africa’s National Treasury announced on Wednesday that the government would take $8 billion over the following three years from emergency reserves kept at the central bank in order to curb the country’s growing debt.

The most industrialised economy in Africa has not expanded significantly in over ten years, as the state budget has been increasingly consumed by escalating debt servicing expenses.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana stated during the presentation of the 2024 budget that the unconventional decision to remove 150 billion rand ($7.93 billion) from the Gold and Foreign Exchange Contingency Reserve Account (GFECRA) would not jeopardise the solvency of the central bank and would instead leave ample reserves to withstand shocks to the currency rate.

The Treasury stated that GFECRA, which records gains and losses on the nation’s foreign exchange reserve operations, has a balance of more than 500 billion rand, which is greater than likely reserve losses due to rand appreciation.

The next fiscal year, which ends in March 2025, will give the government 100 billion rand; the next two years, it will receive 25 billion rand each.

Duncan Pieterse, the director general of Treasury, informed reporters that the government was essentially substituting more costly borrowing with the reserve account.

Investor confidence regarding the government’s financial needs led to a minor increase in the rand and a strengthening of the nation’s sovereign dollar bonds.

A general election scheduled for May 29th is approaching, and given the dire state of the economy, it is possible that the ruling African National Congress party may lose its legislative majority for the first time since apartheid ended thirty years ago.

Related Topics:Emergency reserve Featured South Africa

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VenturesNow

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

Published

2 days ago

November 17, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

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.

VenturesNow

MTN financial report reveals drop in group service revenue

Published

3 days ago

November 17, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

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.