Kaimana Consulting

Zambia is investigating the 2007 sale of a 49 percent stake in state-owned Zanaco Bank to Netherlands lender Rabobank , in yet another case that could see a reversal of a deal involving foreigners, Reuters reported.

President Michael Sata has chipped away at several deals made during the administration of his predecessor Rupiah Banda, after being elected in September on a promise to fight corruption.

On 29 January, Justice Minister Sebastian Zulu said a government commission would determine whether the sale of Zanaco was legal and met privatisation requirements. Read full story here.

South Sudan has fully shut down oil output in a row with Sudan over export transit fees and will only restart after a broader deal on issues including border security and the disputed region of Abyei, its oil minister said on 29 January, according to Reuters.

South Sudan took about three-quarters of Sudan’s oil output when it seceded in July, but still needs pipelines running through its northern neighbour to export its crude. The two have not agreed on a transit fee.

The new nation said on January 20 it would shut down production after Khartoum started confiscating some oil in lieu of what it said were unpaid fees.  Read full story here.

Late and insufficient rains in parts of Southern Africa at the end of 2011 have raised concerns that the region could face a period of drought, lean harvests and food shortages after several years of bumper crops. Although we do not believe that a crisis is imminent, we assess the risks posed by poor rains at both a regional and country level in Business Monitor Online and in our weekly Emerging Markets Monitor magazine.

There are three channels through which Southern African economies could be hurt, if the region experiences the wrong kind of weather: Inflation, Economic Activity and Monetary Policy.    In our article, we analyse how the above factors will affect the economies of Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.  Read BMI’s report here.

Ivory Coast’s $2.3 billion bond hit two-month highs on 12 January, boosted by speculation that the country’s finance minister may detail payments of missed debt coupons at upcoming meetings in Europe, Reuters reported.

An Ivory Coast delegation led by finance minister Charles Koffi Diby will travel to London and Paris this month for meetings with creditors, Ivory Coast officials said.

Ivory Coast advisers Lazard will host a meeting for bondholders on Jan 23, a Lazard spokesman said.  Diby, who said in November that the country will resume payments starting with the June 30, 2012 coupon, will address the meeting. Lazard did not give details of the agenda.  Read the full story here.

Nigeria’s main oil union said on 12 January it would shut down output from Africa’s biggest oil producer on 15 January if the government did not reverse its decision to remove popular fuel subsidies, Reuters reported.

Tens of thousands of Nigerians have been protesting up and down Africa’s most populous nation for four straight days in protest against the axing of the petrol subsidy, which more than doubled the price to around 150 naira per litre.

“PENGASSAN shall be forced to go ahead and apply the bitter option of ordering the systematic shutting down of oil and gas production with effect from … 0000 hours of Sunday January 15 (2300 GMT on Saturday January 14), if the federal government of Nigeria fails to yield to the popular agitation of Nigerians on her unacceptable approach to fuel subsidy removal,” the oil union said in a statement. Read the full story here.

South Sudan, born six months ago in great jubilation, is plunging into a vortex of violence. Bitter ethnic tensions that had largely been shelved for the sake of achieving independence have ruptured into a cycle of massacre and revenge that neither the American-backed government nor the United Nations has been able to stop, The New York Times reports.

The United States and other Western countries have invested billions of dollars in South Sudan, hoping it will overcome its deeply etched history of poverty, violence and ethnic fault lines to emerge as a stable, Western-friendly nation in a volatile region. Instead, heavily armed militias the size of small armies are now marching on villages and towns with impunity, sometimes with blatantly genocidal intent. Read full story here.

Mozambique’s central bank kept its key lending rate steady at 15 percent on 10 January as it aims to keep growth and inflation projections in site, Reuters reported.

“The decision is taking into account the macroeconomic targets set for the year 2012, including GDP growth of 7.5 percent and inflation of 5.6 percent, and the risk factors associated with medium-term projections of inflation,” the bank said in a statement.

One person was killed and about 20 injured in a stampede on 10 January by students trying to register at the University of Johannesburg, reflecting desperate demand for higher education among the poor in Africa’s largest economy, Reuters reported.

Thousands of potential applicants had lined up for days for about 800 slots at the university, most of them from poor families but who had scored high enough on national exams to be considerated for higher education.

The application process has been open for weeks but many poor students do not have Internet access and could not apply online. The crush was caused by students pushing their way into offices on the final day for applications, university officials said. Read full story here.

Nigerians took to the streets on 10 January in growing numbers on the second day of protests against a sharp increase in petrol prices, piling pressure on President Goodluck Jonathan to reverse his removal of fuel subsidies, Reuters reported.

Africa’s biggest oil producer on January 1 scrapped subsidies on imports of motor fuel, which many citizens see as their only welfare benefit, more than doubling the price of petrol to about 150 naira a litre. Tens of thousands demonstrated in cities across Africa’s most populous nation. The protests were bigger than on 09 January in Nigeria’s largest city Lagos and in the capital Abuja and were on par with the previous day in other major cities.  Read full story here.

Global brewer SABMiller said it would be interested in acquiring the African brewing operations of French group Castel as the two announced on 09 January they were strengthening their links in Africa, Reuters reported.

SABMiller and privately owned Castel reached a strategic alliance in 2001 whereby SABMiller took a 20 percent stake in the Paris-based group’s beer and soft drinks operations in Africa, and Castel acquired a 38 percent stake in SABMiller’s Africa subsidiary.

The two agreed mutual pre-emptive rights over each others’ beverage operations in Africa, whereby each has first rights to buy each others’ operations if put up for sale, and SABMiller said these rights had now been “clarified and amplified”. Read full story here.