Electron Native

Morocco’s Royal Air Maroc or RAM is seeking a state loan guarantee to pay for June expenses as it struggles with $5 million in daily losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to its chief executive officer, Abdelhamid Addou. Royal Air Maroc Source : Morocco World News The loan will help state-owned airline maintain its cashflow to meet financial commitments, Addou explains in a letter to RAM staff. The lockdown imposed by Morocco having closed down all flights and imposed a lockdown to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. Addou adds that RAM staff should brace for further austerity measures after salary and spending cuts that helped it uphold its financial commitments in March, April and May. “This is the worst crisis in our history,” he said after RAM’s traffic plunged by 60% in March and 100% in April. The company must adapt to new travel requirements and regulations caused by the pandemic, he said, adding that it could take three years to return RAM’s ...

Nigeria’s Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba, says that the nation’s economy will get N2 Trillion stimulus in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the fall in oil prices.   Prince Clem Agba Source : Sahel Standard He has also disclosed that the government will explore ways of supporting the airlines in the country, saying that the aviation sector loses N21 billion monthly due to the present pandemic. Speaking at a webinar, Agba adds that the Economic Sustainability Committee had outlined five broad policy objectives with which to deal with the problems. According to him, “Of the $2.5 billion facilities from the World Bank, about $1 billion of it will be going to the States as loans. These are concessionary loans. Mr. President has already approved N850 billion loan from domestic capital market. “He has also approved $150 million to be taken from the Sovereign Wealth Account in support of Federation Account Allocation Commi...

A survey has shown that South African private sector activity fell to a new record low in April, as seen on Wednesday. This is due to a nationwide coronavirus lockdown and closure of companies.   Source : Bloomberg, South African Manufacturing Plant Markit’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) dipped to 35.1 in April from 44.5 in March. This is its lowest level since the survey began in 2011. The figure was below the 50 level that separates expansion from contraction for the 12th month in a row. Africa’s most developed economy is now in its sixth week of a strict lockdown aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel virus, which has infected over 6,000 South Africans and killed 123. Although, the lockdown has been partially eased since Friday, allowing some sectors to operate under specific conditions, the economy, which is already in recession, is still expected to take a massive hit. The National Treasury had on Monday ...

1. Fellow Nigerians, 2. From the first signs that Coronavirus, or COVID-19 was turning into an epidemic and was officially declared a world-wide emergency, the Federal Government started planning preventive, containment and curative measures in the event the disease hits Nigeria. 3. The whole instruments of government are now mobilized to confront what has now become both a health emergency and an economic crisis. 4. Nigeria, unfortunately, confirmed its first case on 27th February 2020. Since then, we have seen the number of confirmed cases rise slowly. 5. By the morning of March 29th, 2020, the total confirmed cases within Nigeria had risen to ninety-seven. 6. Regrettably, we also had our first fatality, a former employee of PPMC, who died on 23rd March 2020. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family in this very difficult time. We also pray for quick recovery for those infected and undergoing treatment. 7. As of today, COVID-19 has no cure. Scientists around the...