Electron Native

The World Bank has agreed to grant $7 million to Zimbabwe to help it fight the new coronavirus outbreak. Zimbabwe is more than $1.2 billion in arrears to the World Bank, African Development Bank and European Investment Bank, making it normally ineligible for funding or debt forgiveness from global lenders.   Zimbabwe’s finance minister, Mthuli Ncube. Souce : Voice of America, The World Bank spokesman said that while Zimbabwe and other countries indebted to the lender could not access regular financing, they could get money from its trust funds to fight the coronavirus that has slowed down the global economy. The lender explained that, “The bank’s senior management has underlined the need for additional trust fund financing to ensure that Zimbabwe and the small group of other countries in arrears can receive support as part of our global effort to help countries respond to the COVID-19 crisis.”  Zimbabwe will get $5 million from the World Bank’s global financi...

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...