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Zimbabwe’s Zimplats to peg workforce job cuts at 1%

Published

4 months ago

April 11, 2024

Zimplats’ CEO, Alex Mhembere, said on Wednesday that the firm would cut its staff by 1% and make other cost cuts to get through the sharp drop in platinum group metal (PGM) prices.

In March, Zimbabwe’s biggest platinum producer said it was giving voluntary job cuts to try to keep costs down as sales dropped. Southern African PGM miners, like Impala Platinum, Sibanye Stillwater, and Anglo American Platinum (parent company of Zimplats), have all had to cut costs and thousands of jobs because metal prices fell over the past year because of weak auto production and worries about a slowdown in the world economy.

“Through these current headwinds, we are only going to reduce our people by 1% of the total labour complement of 8,000 people that we have,” Mhembere told a PGM mining conference in Johannesburg.

Job cuts were “not the only lever that can sustain the business”, he said. The company wants to keep making about 600,000 PGM ounces a year, and Mhembere said that one way they plan to do that is by increasing production.

He said that Zimplats was cutting back on spending for its $1.8 billion, 10-year growth plan that was announced in 2021. He also said that the company would have “little capital” in its next fiscal year, which begins in July.

“We’re going to spend less. We will only be focusing on our replacement capital expenditure, stay-in-business capex and very little on growth capex,” Mhembere said.

Mhembere said that Zimplats didn’t think that Zimbabwe’s new gold-backed currency, which replaced the Zimbabwe dollar that was destroyed by inflation last week, would hurt their business.

“It is not a threat to us. We operate in United States dollars. This is a local currency and it will not affect our business,” he said.
In November, Reuters reported that Zimbabwean miners, who make a lot of money from exports, would see their profits drop almost 15% in 2024. Half of them are expected to report losses.

The country in southern Africa is famous for having a lot of gold, lithium, and platinum group metals (PGMs). A report from the Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines called Mining Prospects for 2024 said that the mining industry’s income and profit will be hurt by a mix of global and local forces in 2024.

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Nigeria has received $10.9 billion multi-sector investments from AfDB— Official

Published

4 days ago

July 23, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Nigeria has received $10.9 billion from the African Development Bank (AfDB), comprising $4.9 billion in public and private sector initiatives.

AfDB Director-General of the West Africa Region, Lamin Barrow, said the bank’s Nigeria funding approvals total $10.9 billion since it started operations.

Barrow made the revelation at the Second Interactive Session and Workshop on Developing Bankable Business Proposals/Business Plans for Youths in Agriculture in Abuja on Monday.

It was part of the bank’s 60th anniversary celebrations with stakeholders. Nigeria is the AfDB’s largest shareholder, and the bank’s relationship with it has grown, Barrow said.

The AfDB invests in Nigeria’s energy, power, transport, water, and sanitation infrastructure.

“Over the last 60 years, the Bank has grown into a trusted partner and the continent’s premier development financial institution.

“Our cooperation with Nigeria has expanded over the years, especially considering that Nigeria is the largest shareholder.

“Since it started operations in the country, cumulative financing approvals have reached 10.9 billion dollars and our portfolio currently stands at 4.9 billion dollars supporting projects in the public and private sectors,” he said.

After taking office eight years ago, AfDB President Dr Akinwumi Adesina prioritized the High 5—Power, Feed, Industrialize, Integrate, and Improve Africa’s quality of life—Barrow added. He said these were accelerators for achieving the SDGs and Agenda 2063 ambitions. The projects and programs supported during this time have reportedly affected over 400 million individuals.

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Analysts expect Egypt’s economy to rise 4.0% in 2024/25

Published

4 days ago

July 23, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

A recent study that sampled seventeen economists by Reuters has predicted slower economic growth for Egypt in April after a $8 billion IMF accord in March.

The median projection for GDP growth in the fiscal year starting July 1 was 4%, down from 4.35% in April and 4.15% in January.

The poll predicted the GDP grew 2.9% in the fiscal year ending June 30. This is below their April and January predictions of 3% and 3.5%. Poll: 2025/26 growth should rise to 4.99%.

After the IMF agreement, Capital Economics’ James Swanston predicted slower growth due to tighter fiscal and monetary policies and a weaker pound.

“The overall net impact is that economic growth will be weaker this fiscal year, but there are reasons to be more optimistic on GDP growth from FY2025/26 onward,” Swanston said.

Egyptian tourism and Suez Canal revenue have slowed due to the Gaza crisis, which has cut Egypt’s foreign revenue by more than half.

Egypt’s planning ministry predicted 4.2% growth in 2024/25 on June 2. Analysts expect the Egyptian pound to fall to 49.50 per dollar by June 2025 and 52.50 by June 2026.

Before dropping it in March 2024, the central bank kept the pound at 30.85 per dollar. It’s roughly 48.40 per dollar.

The survey forecast 20.5% headline inflation in 2024/25 and 12.05% in 2025/26. In June, inflation dropped to 27.5% from a record high of 38.0% in September, exceeding the central bank’s objective of 5%-9%.

The analysts expect the central bank’s overnight lending rate to drop to 21.25% by June 2025 and 15.25% by June 2026.

Foreign money shortages have slowed the Egyptian economy. However, a $24 billion real estate transaction with the UAE in late February, a significant currency devaluation, and a $8 billion IMF accord in early March have mitigated that.