JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s main stock index slumped more than 2 percent on Friday as jittery investors continued to pull out of the market after Wednesday’s shock dismissal of the finance minister.
Banks, which are most at risk if South Africa’s credit rating is downgraded in the wake of the removal of Nhlanhla Nene, led the decliners, with Barclays Africa plummeting nearly 20 percent.
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by James Macharia)
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African President Jacob Zuma’s sacking of his respected finance minister in favour of a relative unknown has shocked investors and emboldened critics who say the 73-year-old is driving the economy to ruin.
Even some supporters of the African National Congress (ANC), Nelson Mandela’s erstwhile liberation movement that has ruled since the end of apartheid in 1994, expressed dismay about Wednesday’s appointment of a Zuma loyalist to the crucial post.
Zuma gave no details as to why on Wednesday he dismissed Nhlanhla Nene, who has overseen the Treasury for just under two years, other than to say he had “done well… during a difficult economic climate”.
Markets reacted unambiguously, with the rand plunging to a record low against the dollar, losing just over five percent since Nene was removed. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s banking index lost 13.5 percent on Thursday.
New Finance Minister David van Rooyen acknowledged he had taken on “a colossal assignment”.
Local media speculated this week that Nene might be on the chopping block after he rebuked Dudu Myeni, the chairwoman of state-owned South African Airways and a close ally of Zuma, for mismanaging a 1 billion rand ($67 million) deal with Airbus.
Myeni is executive chairwoman of Zuma’s charitable trust, the Jacob Zuma Foundation.
The main opposition party went on the attack. “It is clear that if you stand up to Zuma, you don’t stick around,” Mmusi Maimane, leader of the Democratic Alliance, told Reuters. “Zuma has reached new heights as a leader who puts himself ahead of his country and the economy.”
Zuma’s office did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. The ANC said in a statement it “notes and respects” the president’s decision.
“TOO MUCH CORRUPTION”
The sacking and the financial fallout hit a raw nerve with some ordinary South Africans. “With the rand getting battered like this, firing Nene is not the right move,” said Dominic Ratau, a 74-year-old pensioner and lifelong ANC loyalist, expressing his dissatisfaction with Zuma.
“I’ve been an ANC supporter because of the older generation who were running the party. But this guy is leading the country to disaster. He’s allowed too much corruption.”
Nene’s reluctance to rubber-stamp an ambitious plan to build a number of nuclear power stations to ease severe electricity shortages, a project that might cost as much as $100 billion, is also seen as contributing to his downfall.
His successor van Rooyen is an ANC lawmaker who sits on parliament’s finance committee.
Van Rooyen said he would implement policies aimed at creating favourable investment conditions after he was sworn in. “Mine is a colossal assignment coming at a time when the global economic outlook is not favourable, more especially for emerging markets,” van Rooyen said.
Many economists have questioned van Rooyen’s ability to steady an economy being hammered by the collapse in prices of South Africa’s commodity exports that range from coal to gold, and raised concerns that public spending could spiral out of control.
Credit agency Fitch downgraded South Africa last Friday, leaving the continent’s most sophisticated economy just one notch about “junk” status, and said on Thursday Nene’s firing “raised more negative than positive questions”.
A Reuters poll on Wednesday showed analysts expect the economy to grow just 1.4 percent this year and 1.6 percent next, 0.1 percentage points lower than last month’s forecasts.
WHO’S NEXT?
Nene’s removal has raised speculation about more casualties within Zuma’s team, after the axing in September of mining minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi, who investors said had done a decent job in a tough but crucial portfolio.
South Africa is gearing up for important local elections next year where the ANC is expected to be run close by the Democratic Alliance in urban areas, including the economic hub of Johannesburg. The countryside remains an ANC stronghold.
Significant erosion of ANC control in metropolitan powerbases could strengthen Zuma’s opponents, especially if South Africans blame him for the floundering economy.
“Zuma’s power is becoming more brittle and his lines of support stretched thinner and thinner,” said political analyst Nic Borain. “He is engaging in actions that parts of his party find repulsive and there is a point beyond which a system under stress can quickly unravel as the connections snap.”
A #ZumaMustFall Twitter campaign kicked off within hours of Zuma’s announcement, echoing one earlier this year calling for the removal of colonial-era statues.
SCANDAL
Zuma, a polygamous Zulu traditionalist with little formal schooling, has been beset by scandal throughout his career. In 2005 he was charged with raping a woman he knew to HIV-positive, but was found not guilty when the court ruled the sex was consensual.
Last year, the Public Protector, the top anti-corruption watchdog, ruled that he had “benefited unduly” from a 246 million rand state-funded security upgrade to his private home that included a swimming pool and amphitheatre.
Despite this, he has maintained his authority and standing in the ANC. His presidential term ends in 2019. Were he to be forced out early, his ex-wife and African Union head Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, and deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa, are the front-runners to succeed him.
(By Joe Brock and Ed Cropley. Additional reporting by Nqobile Dludla and Mfuneko Toyana; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by James Macharia and David Stamp)
African nations brought a unified agenda to the Paris climate conference, making clear they are willing to take aggressive steps to fight global warming but need international support to make significant cuts in pollution.
Africa is highly motivated. Ironically, it is the least polluting of the world’s continents, but it has suffered some of the most severe effects so far – drought in some regions and severe flooding in others.
As the Paris conference drew to a close, key issues of vital interest to Africa were under debate, including the allocation of responsibility for reducing carbon emissions between rich and poor countries as well as how to finance clean-energy improvements and repair damage already done.
“African countries have demonstrated greater ambition in cutting their emissions than the high-emitting nations,” Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank, said. Forty-seven of 53 African countries had completed plans to cut emissions by an October deadline, he said.
Alassane Ouattara, President of Côte d’Ivoire, said his country has set a goal of reducing greenhouse emissions by 28 percent by 2030 by increasing renewable sources, reforestation and development of carbon neutral agriculture.
Morocco recently increased its goal to increase renewables from 42 percent in 2020 to 52 percent in 2030.
At the same time, numerous African nations made clear that they would need international support to make good on their pledges.
Sudan, for example, pledged to “reach 20% renewable share in the power mix by 2030… Aims to raise forest area to 25% of Sudan by 2030… Pledge conditional on international support.”
Yemen pledged a 1 percent cut in emissions by 2030 without international support or by 14 percent cut if international support was forthcoming.
Adesina said Africa needs an international investment of $55 billion a year up to 2030 to create a more efficient energy sector that uses more renewable resources for power. He said the African Development Bank would contribute $5 billion in financing, which will represent 40 percent of its total investments.
The United Nations has estimated it will take more than $93 billion a year for the world’s 48 poorest, least developed countries, including 34 in Africa, to put their action plans into effect.
Of more than $60 billion that has been committed so far, less than a third goes to the poorest countries, according to a November 2015 report by the International Institute for Environment and Development.
African leaders also stressed the need for financial help to confront losses climate change has already wrought in their countries.
The United Nation’s Adaptation Fund “must be reinforced to support the losses and damages suffered by developing countries,” Denis Sassou Nguesso, President of Congo, said, echoing comments of many African leaders.
Currently, the negative effects include drought in South African, Mozambique, Botswana and Zimbabwe as well as heavy rains, landslides and flooding in Burundi, Nigeria, and Somalia.
The Great Green Wall aims to cultivate more forested land in Africa to fight the effects of climate change.
Adesina and other African leaders also pointed to the opportunities – both economic and environmental – that significant climate change work could unleash.
For example, the continent has significant capacity to produce wind and solar power, as well as potential geothermal power.
African forests have the potential to absorb tons of carbon emissions and reforestation efforts are under way to grow forest stock.
Among the efforts unveiled at the Paris conference is the African Restoration Initiative, a coalition of African countries and donors who seek to restore 250 million acres of degraded or deforested land by 2030.
As their development accelerates, African nations also are poised to benefit from clean industrialization, tapping technologies that have emerged in the past decade rather than relying heavily on older, carbon-hungry machinery.
“Industrialized countries will have to retrofit older infrastructure to harness the sector’s vast potential. Africa, however, is not married to any technological platform and is ready to leapfrog to these new, efficient and more sophisticated technologies,” Carlos Lopes, executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, said at the Paris conference.
As Africa looks ahead to the challenges and opportunities of climate change, Adesina of the African Development Bank contrasted its position today with that of the last climate conference.
“A decade ago, at COP 11 in Montreal in 2005, Africa had no common position and no common negotiators,” he said. “This year, at COP 21, it has a Conference of African Heads of State on Climate Change; it has an expert team of about 200 climate negotiators; it has a clearly outlined position on the negotiations; and it has a well-articulated collective work program to support low-carbon and climate-resilient development on the continent.”
ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria’s government has agreed the immediate payment of 407 billion naira ($2.1 billion) owed to fuel importers under a subsidy scheme, the finance ministry said on Wednesday.
Africa’s biggest oil producer imports most of its gasoline requirement because of its dilapidated refining system, which President Muhammadu Buhari is keen to revive.
Firms bringing in subsidised imports have struggled to finance their purchases with low dollar availability and shrinking credit lines.
Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun has approved the payment of 407 billion naira for “subsidy claims to oil marketers”, said Marshall Gundu, a spokesman for her ministry.
“The president has directed that payments be made immediately in order to bring to a quick end the lingering fuel crisis,” said Gundu.
Fears of a fuel scarcity prompted Nigerians to resort to panic-buying in the last few weeks, forming long queues at petrol stations in major cities.
Some of the money to be paid to importers dates back to 2014 and this is the first significant payment since Buhari came to power in May.
A severe fuel crisis crippled the country in May because of a standoff between importers and the outgoing administration led by Buhari’s predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, over whether their debts would be honoured.
Buhari, who kept the petroleum portfolio for himself, does not want to phase out the costly and fraud-ridden subsidy scheme just yet, putting him at variance with members of his own party, the All Progressives Congress, and his minister of state for oil.
($1 = 198.9700 naira)
(Reporting by Camillus Eboh; Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Gareth Jones)
SAN PEDRO, Ivory Coast (Reuters) – The early arrival of intense seasonal Harmattan winds in Ivory Coast’s cocoa growing regions have raised concerns among exporters, who were already harbouring doubts over the size and quality of this season’s main crop in the world’s top producer.
The Harmattan’s dry, dusty winds blow down from the Sahara each year and can, when strong, lead to reduced bean size. The prolonged overcast conditions they create also make it difficult for farmers to properly dry and ferment harvested cocoa, reducing quality.
Farmers reported the arrival of the seasonal phenomenon in Ivory Coast’s growing regions in early December, weeks earlier than expected.
“Output was already down. We already knew that. But the fact the Harmattan has arrived so early and is so strong is really going to complicate the overall picture for the harvest,” said the director of an Abidjan-based export company.
Following a strong start to the 2015/16 season, arrivals to ports in Abidjan and San Pedro have declined gradually in recent weeks and fell behind last year’s levels according to exporters’ most recent estimates.
In San Pedro, Ivory Coast’s main export hub for cocoa, exporter warehouses visited by Reuters were half-full.
“Arrivals will increase a bit but will remain below last year’s volumes. We’ll have 50,000 to 60,000 tonnes per week until January and around 30,000 tonnes in January,” said a San Pedro-based purchases manager.
Ivory Coast brought in a record harvest of around 1.8 million tonnes last season. However, the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) already predicted in October a global supply deficit of around 96,000 tonnes this season, partly on the back of a significant drop in Ivorian production.
Exporters said that if the currently harsh Harmattan conditions persist, or even worsen, that deficit could grow.
“If this carries on, we risk an even greater impact on the harvest, but on quality as well,” said a second exporter.
The bulk of Ivory Coast’s cocoa is produced during the October-to-March main crop, with the most intense harvesting typically taking place in November and December.
“The Harmattan’s effects will be harsh from December until the end of January and that will clearly have an impact on bean quality. We worry about high (free fatty acid) content and poor fermentation during that period,” a third exporter said.
(By Ange Aboa. Editing by Joe Bavier; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya’s central bank governor has yet to complete six months in the job but he has done what few of his country’s officials ever achieve: he has made people feel their money is safe in his hands.
This is less because of Patrick Njoroge’s success in stabilising the plummeting shilling and more to do with his shunning the fleet of luxury cars and the plush villa that come with the post, the kind of perks widely seen as motivating most public servants.
In Africa, people are more used to “Big Men”, who are in office for personal gain. Kenyans use the term “eating” to describe how officials and their kin gorge from the trough of public funds, until they have to hand over to the next guy.
In a nation where many live in villages without mains electricity or proper roads, members of parliament are paid about $94,000 annually, dwarfing the average Kenyan’s $1,290 a year.
“The ‘Big Man’ syndrome – in which the only way to show who I am is by flaunting all the possessions that I have – is kind of dangerous,” said Njoroge, 54, a member of Opus Dei, a Catholic group that encourages those who join to live saintly lives in their everyday work.
For much of an interview with Reuters at the central bank on Tuesday, the Yale-educated banker who was appointed in June rattled off explanations of how monetary policy was anchoring inflation, steadying a currency that was “dropping like a stone” and laying the basis for sustained economic growth.
But he politely and carefully fielded questions about what he called his “simple life”, which has fascinated Kenyans more used to a daily diet of stories about corruption in high office.
“At least we can trust him because he is not there for personal gain,” said James Mwangi, 27, a car salesman, chatting over a beer in a Nairobi bar. “I believe our money is safe.”
When parliament grilled the former International Monetary Fund adviser for the job, questioners focused mostly on his celibacy – a commitment a fellow Opus Dei member says he made on joining the group – and other aspects of his lifestyle.
“The perception that he can’t be bought and, yes, turning down the perks was impressive to Kenyans,” said John Githongo, one of Kenya’s most prominent anti-corruption campaigners.
But Githongo said it was too early to judge his policies. “He’s ex-IMF, not an institution associated with success in Africa,” Githongo said, referring to the Washington-based body’s reputation among critics for pushing liberalising policies in Africa that they say hurt the poor the most.
PROMPT ACTION
Yet Njoroge has won praise from many in Kenya’s finance community. “The tone he has set has been remarkable,” said Aly Khan Satchu, a private investor and financial analyst.
As well as raising interest rates to curb inflation expectations and helping to stabilise the currency, he ordered the liquidation of a small bank and put another lender, mid-tier Imperial Bank, into receivership when massive fraud was uncovered. He did this less than four months into the job.
“Flexibility, being nimble is essential,” the governor said.
When tight monetary policies appeared to starve smaller banks of funds after the Imperial Bank case, the governor reversed course by providing the money markets with more funding, a move welcomed for its promptness.
“Policy makers here … tend not to adjust quickly enough,” said Satchu, alluding to Njoroge’s predecessor who was blamed in 2011 for failing to raise rates quickly enough as inflation rocketed to almost 20 percent and the shilling plunged.
Heavy rains sent food prices soaring and pushed Kenyan inflation to 7.32 percent in November, but it remains within the government’s preferred band. Njoroge said core inflation was slipping, which suggested the headline rate would fall.
“I wish I could say something about controlling the weather,” said the governor.
He joined thousands on a rainy day last month for Mass celebrated by Pope Francis on his first tour of Africa, which began in Nairobi. Njoroge enjoyed one privilege of office: he was in a tent with dignitaries, not under the open skies.
But he has shunned other benefits. Entitled to a Range Rover, Mercedes and VW Passat as governor, Njoroge turns up at events in the cheapest, the VW. “Why not stick to one car?” the governor said, without mentioning the model.
Instead of moving into the governor’s official residence in Nairobi’s smart Muthaiga district, he lives with other members of Opus Dei and donates a portion of his salary to charity, said Andrew Ritho, who works in Opus Dei’s communications office in Kenya.
“You live the way you want to live,” Njoroge said. “Whether the people see it or not, that is secondary.”
(By Edmund Blair and Duncan Miriri. Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Giles Elgood)
A profile of Fatima Beyina-Moussa, CEO of ECAir.
The African aviation market is becoming one of the most significant in the world thanks to its growing middle class, which now makes up over 35% of the population. African air traffic is growing by 5.2% per year. Fatima Beyina-Moussa is 41 and a mother of 2 children. Ask her if she dreamed of being the CEO of an airline and changing the African airline industry and you will elicit a hearty laugh from Ms. Beyina-Moussa. The quick and honest answer is an emphatic “No”. She mentions several other things she dreamed of and the academic track that she trained in, but none of them involve air transportation and helping lead a revolution in travel by air in Africa.
Born in Dakar, Senegal, where her father, Pierre Moussa, studied and taught at the University of Dakar in the area of planning and development alongside Prof. Samir Amin, Fatima’s thoughts on her path in life mirrored her father’s career more than anything. Pierre Moussa was born in Owando, located in northern Congo-Brazzaville, in 1941. He is considered a man gentle in nature, married, and a father of 4 children including Fatima.
Pierre Moussa, Ms. Beyina-Moussa’s father, is an economist by training and a politician in the Congolese government. He started his government career in 1978 as Secretary-General of Planning. President Denis Sassou Nguesso promoted Moussa to Minister of Planning in 1979, the same year he joined the Central Committee of the Congolese Labour Party (PCT). The PCT selected Moussa as Secretary for Planning and the Economy in 1984. He climbed to the role of Minister of Planning and Finance in August of 1987. Moussa is considered “the regime’s economist”, and joined the PCT Political Bureau in 1989, taking on the responsibility for planning and the economy; he was promoted to Minister of State for Planning and the Economy in the Congolese government in 1989. Pierre Moussa is now President of CEMAC, the Commission of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa. His 5-year term appointment was announced at the 11th Summit of CEMAC Heads of State in 2012 at Brazzaville.
Fatima has inherited much from her father, including the role of an economist and interest in development and planning. Her post-secondary school education has focused on economics and finance, primarily in Canada, where she received her Bachelor’s degree from the prestigious HEC Montreal. She then received her MBA from the University of Ottowa, pursuing specialized studies in the USA and France as well. Not only is she keenly aware of issues in Africa, but she is also aware of how Africa interfaces with the rest of the world. As a black African woman, Beyina-Moussa is a pioneer in her field, and her actions and opinions are followed with much interest. As she takes the pulse of modern Africa as one of its business leaders, she is also someone that drives that pulse with her ideas and decisions.
Beyina-Moussa started her career as a consultant at Ernst & Young in the Congo. She advanced to the role of a consultant at the official Bank of Central African States (BEAC), then moved to New York City, working for the United Nations Environment United for Development (UNDP). Her rise, professionally, was quick but not entirely unexpected. In the Congo, she took on the job as an advisor to the economy and to reform the Congolese Ministry of Finance, Budget and Public Portfolio. Beginning in 2007, she worked on establishing a national air carrier to advance the Congo’s transportation industry and its economy. Success has been quick and in 2011, Fatima Beyine-Moussa was appointed Director/CEO of the national airline of the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Congo Airlines (ECAir). Shortly after her hiring as CEO of ECAir, Fatima was selected as a member of the Executive Committee of African Airlines Association (AFRAA) in 2012. In November 2014, Beyine-Moussa was appointed Chairwoman AFRAA and recently completed her 1-year term at the 47th General Assembly of AFRAA from November 8th-10th, 2015 in Brazzaville.
Fatima Beyina-Moussa is embracing her role as a favorite and influential daughter of Africa. She has plans and a clear view of how she wants Africa to evolve now and in the future. One that she is fervently working on now is travel between cities and countries within Africa. Currently, it can be easier to fly out of the continent, take a connection in Dubai or Paris, and fly back into Africa. Beyina-Moussa is working on a plan to avoid this and make travel within Africa easier and more beneficial for airlines and passengers. Connections between African countries are insufficient, and there are not enough round trips, making travel difficult. With Beyina-Moussa working on this, it is without doubt a job that will get done. In her words, “We have only just begun.”
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa is laying the groundwork in case it needs to import as much as 4 million tonnes of maize after successive seasons of drought threaten the crop in Africa’s top producer of the grain, which is usually a net exporter.
Siyabonga Gama, chief executive of Transet, South Africa’s state-run ports and rail company, told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday the company’s talks with the industry indicated that 4 million tonnes was the “worst-case scenario”.
“The rail side is not the issue. We have the capacity there to absorb that much maize,” he said.
He said South Africa’s ports were designed mostly to export grain rather than import it, but this hurdle could be overcome.
“The issue is the import silo capacity so there are a few things that we will need to tweak. It could still be done.”
Other industry scenarios see a need to import perhaps 2.5 million tonnes or even as little as 700,000 tonnes, depending on rainfall patterns for the rest of the season.
The outlook is not good as an El Nino weather system is exacerbating a scorching start to the growing season, following drought conditions in the previous one which shrivelled the crop by a third to 9.94 million tonnes, the lowest since 2007.
This is helping to fuel inflation in Africa’s most advanced economy as the white variety of maize is a staple that provides much of South Africa’s caloric intake.
South Africa’s central bank has repeatedly voiced its concern this year about the impact of drought and food prices on the inflation outlook.
The March maize contract climbed over 2 percent to an all-time high of 3,662 rand ($247) a tonne on Tuesday after forecast rain over the weekend in the western part of the maize belt failed to meet expectations.
The December contract is fetching 3,705 rand a tonne, up 75 percent so far in 2015 and within striking distance of its record high of 4,000 rand reached last year, according to Thomson Reuters data.
“Initial indications are that it is going to be a very big import year. We will firm up the actual demand by January or February and we will have a plan at the correct time,” Gama said.
He said aside from the main grain facilities at the ports of Durban and East London, South Africa can also use Port Elizabeth and Cape Town and could even use Richards Bay, mostly used for coal exports, in a pinch.
(By Ed Stoddard. Editing by James Macharia and David Evans)
DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – Rising food prices pushed Tanzania’s year-on-year inflation rate to 6.6 percent in November from 6.3 percent the previous month, the statistics office said on Tuesday.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said month on month inflation rose by 0.8 percent in November from an increase of 0.1 percent in October.
“The increase of the inflation rate in the year to November was mainly caused by faster rises in the price of food items such as rice, maize, meat, fish, beans… and sweet potatoes,” Ephraim Kwesigabo, a director at state-run National Bureau of Statistics, told a news conference.
The food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation rate increased to 11.2 percent in the year to November from 10.2 percent in October.
(Reporting by Fumbuka Ng’wanakilala; Editing by Drazen Jorgic)
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Australian-listed South32 plans to cut 447 jobs at a South African manganese mine, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Monday, in the latest in a slew of layoffs in the embattled industry.
The union, which is the country’s largest mining labour body, said it had received notice from South32 that the company planned to cut the jobs and called on the mines ministry to “intervene to halt” to prevent the layoffs.
NUM said over 1,000 workers are employed at the Hotazel mine in Kuruman, about 550 km (341 miles) south east of Johannesburg.
South32 spokeswoman Lulu Letlape said the company was consulting with employees through unions on job cuts. Voluntary redundancies and early retirements were being considered to minimize the impact on workers, she said.
South32 produces manganese, silver, nickel and coking coal, some of the industrial mainstays that have been hardest hit globally in the wake of China’s economic slowdown.
South32, which was spun off from BHP Billiton in May, said its review of its South African manganese operations would be completed by December and said its mines were unlikely to restart until January.
Mining companies in South Africa are under pressure from rising costs and falling prices, forcing companies to close shafts and cut jobs to survive, angering unions, which have opposed the layoffs.
(Reporting by Zandi Shabalala; Editing by James Macharia and Louise Heavens)
