Anglophone West Africa

Nigeria

• According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria has spent $1.0tn on iron and steel imports in the last nine months. Interesting, the government pumped N21.3bn into the moribund Ajaokuta Steel Complex between 2016 and 2022, according to data collected from the appropriation bills from the Budget Office of the Federation (2016-2022).
• According to the Federal Ministry of Power, the recent one-day strike by workers of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) crashed Nigeria’s power generation to 43MW from a peak of 4,829.5MW. TCN workers took to strike action to protest unpaid entitlement and low promotion of principal managers.
• According to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the combined bank borrowings by oil firms operating in the downstream and upstream subsectors of the Nigerian oil and gas industry increased by 4.4% to print at 5.9tn in H1-2022 (vs N5.7tn as at Dec-2021). Notably, operators in the downstream, natural gas and crude oil refining subsector owed banks N4.3tn, while operators in the upstream and services subsectors owed banks N1.7tn.
• According to the International Trade Centre (ITC), a total of $11.0bn was spent on importing plastics, pharmaceuticals, and sugar into the country between 2020 and 2021. To give more context, $1.8bn was spent on sugar imports, $4.2bn on pharmaceutical products and $5.0bn on plastic products from countries like China, India, US, and Brazil, among others.
• Reports from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority and the Nigerian Customs Service revealed that a total of N865.2bn worth of Crude oil was recovered in Aug-2022.

 Ghana

• According to the Vice President of Ghana, Mahamudu Bawumia, an automated tax clearance certificate portal will be introduced in October 2022 by the Domestic Tax Revenue Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) as part of its efforts to enhance the government’s revenue mobilisation drive.
• Furthermore, the self-service would allow prospective taxpayers to file their tax returns and immediately receive tax clearance certificates on their mobile phones.
• According to the German Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Daniel Krull, during the photovoltaic Plant commissioning at Kaleo in the Nadowli-Laleo District, the German government has so far committed a total of €37.8m towards the development of the first utility-scale PV plant in Ghana.
• According to the Ghana Enterprise Agency, the agency has begun national stakeholder engagement for the second phase of the Covid-19 response grant to provide liquidity and support to enable SMEs to adjust and grow out of the Covid-19 crisis in selected sectors of the economy.
• In addition, the second phase of the programme is under the Ghana Economic Transformation Project, with an additional grant size of $5.0mn. would intensely focus on Ghanaian export and export-oriented firms within the small and medium enterprise category.

 
Francophone West Africa

Ivory Coast

• According to Bloomberg, Ivorian Cocoa farmers have started harvesting farm produce in preparation for the new season in October. However, harvest yields are expected to reduce as increasing fertiliser costs have affected the farmers  
• According to Bloomberg, Ivory Coast Cocoa arrivals were 9254 Tons for Aug 15- Aug 21 vs 16,708 tons in the prior year. This shows a 44.6% y/y decline. However, since the season started, arrivals have remained flat y/y at 2.4mn tons.
• The United States Agricultural Department forecasted that 600,000 metric tons of ivory coast’s oil palm would be produced this year, a 4.0% increase, on the back of better seed varieties.

 Senegal

• According to media reports, the Senegalese government will receive $47.0mn from the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) to rehabilitate the Orofonde-Nguidilone road.

 
East Africa

Kenya

• In a letter to the nation’s petroleum ministry, oil marketers in Kenya revealed that the FG owes the companies $542.0mn for fuel supplied in the past three months. The marketers warned of fuel shortages in the coming weeks 
• The Central Bank of Kenya reports that mobile money transactions rose 17.0% y/y in H1-2022 to Ksh3.84tn. In addition, mobile money accounts increased by 3.7% y/y to 70.3mn within the same period.
• According to the Central Bank of Kenya, the overseas remittances of the nation fell 5.1% y/y in July versus +6.6% in June.

 Uganda

• TotalEnergies, via its website, revealed that the first oil rig for the Tilenga project is ready for shipment from Guanghan, China. The FG of Uganda iterated further that the oil company is on track to commence drilling by year-end.
• According to reports from the finance ministry, the country’s trade deficit climbed 22.0% m/m to print at $339.0mn in June. Imports rose 12.0% m/m to $710.1mn while exports were $371.1mn +4.0% m/m.
• According to media reports, Uganda has cancelled the emergency import of about 60MW of power from Kenya because its Isimba Power plant has become fully operational.
• According to media reports, insurers in the country have recorded an 18.5% growth in gross written premiums to settle at Shs 711.6bn in H1-2022.

 Tanzania

• The nation is requesting bids to construct the 367km Uvinza-Gitega line that will extend the standard gauge railway to Burundi.
• According to the National Statistics Office, tourist arrivals have increased by 62.7% y/y to 742,133 in the first seven months of 2022. In addition, the government has invested in a $6.3mn broadband project to boost tourist numbers at Mount Kilimanjaro

Mozambique

• The World Bank has formalised its resumption of direct budgetary support to Mozambique with a $300mn, three-year package, six years after the budgeting freeze caused by the tuna bond scandal.
• According to Bloomberg, Mozambique is poised to ship its first cargo of liquefied natural gas overseas. The LNG tanker, British Mentors, is set to arrive Aug. 24 at a new floating terminal.

 
Southern Africa

South Africa

• According to Statistics South Africa, the country’s headline inflation accelerated to a 13-year high at 7.8% y/y in Jul-2022, from 7.4% in Jun-2022.  This is the third consecutive rise due to mounting underlying price pressures on food, transport, and electricity.
• Notably, core inflation, which excludes the prices of food, non-alcoholic drinks, fuel and energy, quickened to 4.6% y/y, the highest in more than four years, breaching the midpoint of the central bank’s target range of 3.0% to 6.0%.
• In addition, South Africa’s producer prices printed at 18.0% y/y in Jul-2022 (up 180bps compared to Jun-2022), more than economists’ projections of 17.5%. On a monthly basis, prices rose by 2.2% (vs 2.1% in June) owing to contributions from rubber and plastic products, machinery and computing equipment, among others.
• According to the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity’s (PMBEJD) Household Affordability Index for Aug-2022, the general workers in South Africa may underspend on food by at least 46.8% due to rising costs of the average household food basket, electricity and transport against a national minimum wage that does not match the cost of living.
• The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recommended that South Africa overhaul its tax regime to fund economic-growth-enhancing reforms and reduce inequality now that it has reached the limits of budget adjustments that were aimed at reducing fiscal deficits and reining in debt.

Angola

• The Angolan authorities have begun counting ballots in the nation’s closest elections between incumbent Joao Lourenco and opposition Adalberto Costa. The election, which was conducted on the 24th of August 2022, is the fifth election since the country gained independence in 1975.
• According to National Electoral Commission, the ruling party’s candidate, Joao Lourenco, has 52.1% of the votes, while the opposition, Adalberto Costa, has received 42.98% of the total votes.
• The Central Bank of Angola is considering cutting its benchmark rate as inflationary pressures slow, and its currency appreciates at the fastest pace in decades. Last month, the apex bank kept its benchmark rate at 20.0% for a sixth consecutive meeting since Feb-2022, aided by the Kwanza’s 22.0% YTD (as of Jul-2022) gain against the dollar.
• The Angolan General Tax Administration announced a new option for paying VAT in instalments. This option allows the value of a VAT settlement note to be split automatically into up to five instalments without changing the payment date.

Zambia

• According to the Central Statistical Office of Zambia, the country’s headline inflation rate slowed to 9.8% y/y in Aug-2022 from 9.9% in the previous month, as the growth in food costs eased (11.3% y/y vs 12.0% y/y in Jun-2022). However, non-food inflation accelerated to 7.8% from 7.2% the previous month. On a monthly basis, consumer prices were up 0.3%, following a  0.4% increase in the last month.
• In addition, Zambia’s trade surplus widened by 68.2% to ZMW3.7bn in Jul-2022 from ZMW2.2bn in Jun-2022 for the second consecutive month due to weak exports in the country against the rising cost of imports.

 Zimbabwe

• According to the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZIMVAC), the rural livelihood assessment results for 2022 estimate that 38.0% of the country’s rural population consisting of 3.8mn people, will experience food insecurity between Jan to Mar-2023.
• According to the Energy Minister, Soda Zhemu, Zimbabwe’s power utility paid Zambia’s Zesco $6.4mn to facilitate imports and boost the power supply in the country.

 
Central Africa

Cameroon

• According to the nation’s statistics agency, consumer prices rose 6.0% y/y in July. Food and non-alcoholic beverage prices rose +13.8% y/y. Transport prices rose 3.0% y/y.
• The Cameroonian government will offer an additional CFA franc of 200.0bn of debt to finance development projects in the 2022 budget.
• According to a report from the National Cocoa Coffee Office (ONCC), in the 2021-22 cocoa campaign, the nation processed 86.9 tons of beans out of the total output of 295.2 tons, a 29.5% processing level, less than its 50.0% target.