Electron Native

Mauritius’s economy is expected to contract by between 7.5% and 15% in 2020 due to the effects of the coronavirus, which have hit its tourism, manufacturing, and transport sectors, the central bank governor said on Friday.   Bank of Mauritius Governor Harvesh Seegolam said in a statement that these sectors, alongside information and communications, business and administrative activities, and wholesale and storage, made up almost 40% of gross domestic product. The bank had in March forecast growth of 2.6% to 2.8% this year. “The contraction in output this year will be severe,” Seegolam said. Mauritius has 334 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, 322 recoveries and 10 deaths. It has suspended international passenger travel, restricted movement on the island, and allowed only essential businesses to stay open. Seegolam said tourism, another important sector, had also slumped and that in April and May alone, the sector had lost 12 billion rupees in foreign exchange...

However, Mr Museveni did not mention any time frame with the comment. But latest available data from the country’s statistics’ office states that in 2017 Uganda earned $2 billion from tourism, an increase from $1.7 billion the previous year. President Museveni adds that the Ugandan economy would also lose the $1.3 billion sent home each year by Ugandans in diaspora as many would be out of work because of the global economic aftershocks of the lockdown. Last month, the International Monetary Fund reported that Uganda’s tourism earnings would fall by 54% in the 2019/20 (July-June) fiscal year, and decline by 52% in 2021. The IMF almost cut its forecast for economic growth in Uganda for the financial year ending in June to 3.3% and projects 3.7% growth in the following fiscal year. In the year ended June 2019, the economy grew 6.5%. Tourism is one of Uganda’s main revenue earners as the east African country attracts visitors to her Savannahs and game reserves to watch...

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 ...

Facebook and a consortium of African and global telecom firms have agreed a deal to build one of the world’s largest underwater or subsea cable networks. This will boost Internet availability across three continents, it focus on Africa, Middle East and some parts of Europe they said in a joint statement on Thursday. 2Africa Source: Tech Africa The partners in this project are South Africa’s MTN GlobalConnect and Mauritius-based infrastructure provider WIOCC are partners in the project, along with China Mobile International, French telecoms major Orange SA, Saudi Arabia’s stc, Telecom Egypt, and Vodafone. The project, called 2Africa, aims to build 37,000 kilometres of subsea cable infrastructure which will directly connect countries around the African coast to Europe and the Middle East, according to its website. The network will have a design capacity of up to 150 terabytes per second (Tbps) on key parts of the system, according to the site . The 11 new cables rolled ...

Nigeria’s The Debt Management Office informed the investing public his on its website on Wednesday, adding that a total of N33bn was offered while it recorded a total subscription of N165.56bn. The treasury bills were auctioned across 91-day, 182-day and 364-day tenors.   Debt Management Office, Nigeria. Source : Tribune Online. A total of N4.38bn was offered on the 91-day; N12.92bn for the 182-day tenor, and N16.5bn was offered on the 364-day tenor. The 91-day and 182-day tenors got total subscriptions of N22.33bn and N41.19bn respectively, while the 364-day tenor received N102.03bn subscription. Total allotments of N19.78bn, N40.09bn and N82.88bn were made on the 91-day, 182-day and 384-day tenors respectively. The bid rates in percentage were 1.3900-6.6398, 1.9400-7.4800, and 2.8000-12.8000, while the stop rates in percentage were given as 2.5000, 2.8500 and 3.8400 for the 91-day, 182-day and 364-day tenors respectively. According to the DMO, all...

South Africa’s National Treasury says it will table a new budget on June 24 to ratify plans for a 500 billion rand ($27 billion) stimulus package aimed at easing the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak. National Treasury, Republic of South Africa. Source : CNBC. The statements explain that,“A revised fiscal framework will also be presented, to account for substantial revenue losses emanating from the economic shock of the pandemic and subsequent lockdown.” President Cyril Ramaphosa mentioned the rescue package in late April. It equates to 10% of GDP and includes higher welfare and unemployment grants as well as support for businesses.

Foreign investors in Nigeria have being assured that their investments are safe. The Governor gave this assurance, Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele. Central Bank of Nigeria Source : Wikipedia According to the punch The assurance is part of a statement from the CBN on Sunday. Emefiele assured investors interested in repatriating their funds from the country of the safety of their money, despite the drop in the revenue from crude oil. He noted that the CBN had put in place measures to ensure an orderly transfer of funds for those that might be interested in doing so. He said, “The foreign exchange available would be devoted to strategic importation or service obligations that are the priority. “The CBN, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, is committed to galvanising the manufacturing sector in a bid to reset the economy.” Recalling a similar situation that occurred in 2015 over declining revenue, Emefiele said that the...