<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="533" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2023-02-20T071054Z_2_LYNXMPEJ1J04X_RTROPTP_3_NIGERIA-ELECTION-VOTERS.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423217" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2023-02-20T071054Z_2_LYNXMPEJ1J04X_RTROPTP_3_NIGERIA-ELECTION-VOTERS.jpg 800w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2023-02-20T071054Z_2_LYNXMPEJ1J04X_RTROPTP_3_NIGERIA-ELECTION-VOTERS-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2023-02-20T071054Z_2_LYNXMPEJ1J04X_RTROPTP_3_NIGERIA-ELECTION-VOTERS-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2023-02-20T071054Z_2_LYNXMPEJ1J04X_RTROPTP_3_NIGERIA-ELECTION-VOTERS-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Chigozie Obi, 25-year-old artist and first-time voter, poses for a portrait in her studio in Lagos, Nigeria February 15, 2023. When asked about her expectations from the forthcoming elections, Chigozie said: &#8220;My hopes are for my candidate who I&#8217;m supporting to win but also, I&#8217;m expecting the voting process to be stressful because it is my first time.&#8221; REUTERS/Temilade Adelaja</figcaption></figure>



LAGOS, Feb 20 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;First-time voter Amanda Iheme has made up her mind on her choice for Nigeria&#8217;s next president &#8211; and it won&#8217;t be a candidate from the two main political parties.



Like many younger Nigerians, the 30-year-old clinical psychologist sat out previous elections because she thought the candidates were out of touch and assumed the vote would be rigged.



She was tired of facing the same choice year after year, between two rich men who had been in politics for longer than she has been alive.



On Saturday, that choice is on the table again. But this time round there is a third contender who has been doing well in opinion polls and has made a point of trying to reach voters like Iheme looking for an alternative.



The two main candidates from established movements vying to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari are 70-year-old Bola Tinubu, of the governing All Progressives Congress, and 76-year-old Atiku Abubakar, for the main opposition People&#8217;s Democratic Party.



&#8220;I don&#8217;t wanna vote for either of them, but we have Peter Obi who &#8230; is a sign of hope for many of us,&#8221; Ihema said.



Voter turnout among the under-35s was just 46% in the last election in 2019, a jolting figure in a country where people that age make up more than two-thirds of the population.



That could be about to change. A poll last week commissioned by Nigerian civil society group the Anap Foundation found that 82% of under 35-year-olds said they would definitely vote this year.



The electoral commission has added more than 9.5 million new names to the voter register &#8211; three-quarters of them below the age of 35.



For Iheme, it was not just the choice of a third candidate that made all the difference. She says the political weather started to shift with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N2RF3GW&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mass protests</a>&nbsp;in 2020 against endemic police brutality.



That burst of activism forced the government to shut down one of the police force&#8217;s most notorious units, a concrete change.



&#8220;We are starting to realise that we do have some control over our voices and our vote,&#8221; she said during an interview at her one-bedroom apartment in Ebute Metta, a low-income Lagos neighbourhood dotted with rusting rooftops on the oceanfront.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-obi-dients">THE &#8216;OBI-DIENTS&#8217;</h2>



At 61, Obi of the self-styled insurgent Labour Party is hardly a spring chicken. And as a former governor of southeastern Anambra state and running mate to Abubakar in 2019, he&#8217;s not exactly an outsider.



But his active social media campaign and promises to break with Nigeria&#8217;s gerontocratic past have endeared him to many younger voters.



At least four polls have put Obi ahead of his rivals.



Iheme runs a private practice and would be considered fortunate by many. But she complains about erratic power supplies, high inflation, bad roads, police harassment, official red tape,&nbsp;corruption and widespread insecurity.



Obi has been quick to tap into such frustrations, speaking to voters directly on Twitter and Instagram &#8211; channels that his older rivals have so far not used.



The young and tech-savvy, first-time voters rallying around Obi call themselves&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N2ZV37D&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the &#8220;Obi-dients&#8221;</a>&nbsp;&#8211; a somewhat incongruous choice for an anti-establishment movement.



The former banker has promised jobs, skills training and funding to young Nigerians, but so too have Tinubu and Atiku.



It is a question of who is more &#8220;honest and reliable&#8221;, said Obi supporter Emmanuel Ndukwe, a 25-year-old University of Lagos linguistics student.



&#8220;If we get it wrong this time, we might have to wait another eight years,&#8221; Ndukwe said, as the thudding rhythm of Afrobeats pop played in the background at a rally for Obi in Lagos.



If Obi loses, Ndukwe said he would join the wave of skilled Nigerians leaving the country in its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3113MZ&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">perpetual brain drain</a>.



Some of Obi&#8217;s backers were prominent in the 2020 protests that ended with security forces opening fire on unarmed demonstrators.



Others are just tired of the old ways of doing things.



Nineteen-year-old Kiruba Akilewa was among the crowd at a Tinubu rally in Abuja &#8211; but told Reuters he was only there because someone had given him a free bus ride and cash to attend. A spokesperson for Tinubu&#8217;s campaign said it was common for parties to provide &#8220;logistics&#8221; for supporters.



&#8220;Forget that I&#8217;m here,&#8221; Akilewa said, as he stood in front of a huge Tinubu banner. &#8220;With the present situation in this country, I will honestly vote for Peter Obi.&#8221;



(Additional Reporting by Seun Sanni in Lagos and Abraham Achirga in Abuja; Writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Tim Cocks, Alexandra Zavis and Andrew Heavens)

Chigozie Obi, 25-year-old artist and first-time voter, poses for a portrait in her studio in Lagos

How Nigeria’s presidential election is galvanizing young voters

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="592" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1234493050-1-820x592.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423201" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1234493050-1-820x592.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1234493050-1-300x217.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1234493050-1-125x90.jpg 125w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1234493050-1-768x554.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1234493050-1-1536x1109.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1234493050-1-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">General view of the flag of Kenya at Shiokaze Park on the fourteenth day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan. Picture date: Friday August 6, 2021. (Photo by Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



NAIROBI, Feb 17 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Kenya may opt to issue a Eurobond with a different tenor to manage next year&#8217;s maturity of a $2 billion, 10-year bond, the director of its debt management office told Reuters on Friday.



Markets are keenly watching how the East African nation will manage the large maturity after the government&#8217;s debt-servicing costs shot up in recent years and its currency&nbsp;KES=&nbsp;weakened significantly against the dollar in the past three years.



&#8220;There is a likelihood that we may issue an instrument that is not of the same tenor,&#8221; Haron Sirima said, adding it would be structured in two or three tranches, depending on the advice received from bankers.



Such a move could give Kenya more flexibility to attract different investors and smooth out future maturities.



The bond&nbsp;US491798AE43=TE&nbsp;is trading with a yield of 11%, having come off a peak of 22% in July last year. It was trading with a yield of 6-7% when it was issued nine years ago.



The Kenyan shilling has depreciated 29% to 125.50 per dollar since the bond was issued, prompting concerns among market participants and government officials.



&#8220;We may not want to see such huge maturities in the future. It poses a risk. $2 billion is significant,&#8221; Sirima said.



The government is about to conclude a deal to raise $600 million from a syndicate of banks, details of which were not disclosed, he said, part of the planned $900 million commercial borrowing for this financial year to the end of June.



A third of the amount has already been raised.



Kenya&#8217;s debt-to-GDP ratio could fall significantly if the country sticks to the fiscal consolidation path set out by the government, Sirima said.



Public debt stood at 60% of GDP at the end of last year, the ministry of finance said, citing a debt sustainability analysis prepared by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.



&#8220;Public debt sustainability indicators are projected to begin improving in 2026 after settlement of major maturities,&#8221; the ministry said in a debt management strategy published this week.



Total debt could fall below the ideal threshold of 55% of GDP by then, the Treasury said in the document. Although Kenya is classified by the IMF and the World Bank as at a high risk of debt distress, its debt load is sustainable, the ministry said.



(Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Mark Potter)

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games – Day Fourteen

Kenya may issue different tenor Eurobond to manage upcoming maturity

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="573" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ESPJM6XOS5JBBLQ2RIDD6VIKBU-820x573.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423193" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ESPJM6XOS5JBBLQ2RIDD6VIKBU-820x573.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ESPJM6XOS5JBBLQ2RIDD6VIKBU-300x210.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ESPJM6XOS5JBBLQ2RIDD6VIKBU-129x90.jpg 129w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ESPJM6XOS5JBBLQ2RIDD6VIKBU-768x537.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ESPJM6XOS5JBBLQ2RIDD6VIKBU-1536x1074.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ESPJM6XOS5JBBLQ2RIDD6VIKBU-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov gets ready to leave Cape Town harbour en route to Durban where it is scheduled to do naval exercises with the South African and Chinese navies, in Cape Town, South Africa, February 15, 2023. REUTERS/Nic Bothma</figcaption></figure>



JOHANNESBURG, Feb 17 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;South Africa was due to launch a joint naval exercise with Russia and China on Friday, a move it is calling routine but which has fuelled domestic criticism and fears the drills will endanger important relations with Western partners.



<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AJ8N32302O&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">World powers</a>&nbsp;are&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N34Q5II&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">vying for influence</a>&nbsp;in Africa amid deepening global tensions resulting from the war in Ukraine and an increasingly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AK7N32P02K&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">aggressive Chinese posture</a>&nbsp;towards self-ruled Taiwan.



Some African nations are steadfastly refusing to take sides as they seek to benefit from the diplomatic tug-o-war. But analysts said hosting the 10-day Mosi II exercise, which coincides with the one-year anniversary of Moscow&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, is a risky strategy.



&#8220;These exercises are going to be a lightning rod,&#8221; said Steven Gruzd, of the South African Institute of International Affairs.



South Africa says it maintains a neutral stance on the Ukraine conflict and abstained from voting on a U.N. resolution last year condemning Russia.



Pointing to similar exercises it&#8217;s held with other international partners, including one with France in November, it has rejected criticism.



&#8220;South Africa, like any independent and sovereign state, has a right to conduct its foreign relations in line with its &#8230; national interests,&#8221; South Africa&#8217;s defence ministry said last month.



But six South Africa-based diplomats &#8211; all from NATO or EU countries &#8211; told Reuters they condemned the exercise.



&#8220;It&#8217;s not right, and we told them that we do not approve,&#8221; one said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">NOT WELCOME?</h2>



Russia&#8217;s own actions have stoked the controversy.



It has deployed a frigate armed with a new generation of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N33P20B&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hypersonic cruise missile</a>&nbsp;called the Zircon.



President Vladimir Putin has called the weapon, which can travel at more than five times the speed of sound, &#8220;unstoppable&#8221;. And Russia&#8217;s TASS news agency reported this month that the frigate would perform a training launch during the exercise.



&#8220;I&#8217;m not sure South Africa really realises the potential backlash,&#8221; Gruzd said.



Russia&#8217;s defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment, and South Africa&#8217;s National Defence Force has denied the TASS report. But outrage among those opposed to Russia&#8217;s deployment in South African waters persists.



Last weekend, the vessel carrying the Zircon docked in Cape Town, emblazoned on its flanks with the letters Z and V &#8211; symbols Russia uses to promote the war in Ukraine.



&#8220;Cape Town will not be complicit in Russia&#8217;s evil war,&#8221; Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis wrote on Twitter, declaring the vessel unwelcome in the city.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-historical-ties">HISTORICAL TIES</h2>



South Africa&#8217;s governing African National Congress has long-standing ties to Moscow, which supported its struggle against a racist apartheid regime that many Western states considered a Cold War ally.



&#8220;Russia&#8217;s, and to a lesser degree China&#8217;s, posture as an anti-colonial ally still resonates in much of Africa, even if others may now view it as ancient history,&#8221; said Cobus van Staden of the China-Global South Project.



As Russia and China now seek to build new international coalitions, he said that history is coming to the fore in Africa where some nations are keen for alternatives to Western hegemony.



South Africa, for example, greatly values its place within the BRICS bloc alongside Russia, China, India and Brazil, and supports Beijing&#8217;s plans to expand membership and increase its clout.



There is a risk, however, of Pretoria&#8217;s foreign policy aims undermining its economic interests.



&#8220;Some companies have asked us if it is still safe to engage with South Africa for business,&nbsp;because they fear possible consequences,&#8221; one European ambassador told Reuters.



China is now Africa&#8217;s top bilateral trading partner, but the EU is by far the largest market for South African exports.



Two-way trade with the EU amounted to around $53 billion last year, according to South African data, compared to a little over $750 million with Russia.



Domestic critics of South Africa&#8217;s push to deepen ties with Russia and China say that economic reality alone should be enough to give the government serious pause.



&#8220;It is a slap in the face of our trading partners to be this clearly on the side of Russia on the anniversary of the invasion,&#8221; said Kobus Marais, who heads the opposition Democratic Alliance&#8217;s defence portfolio.



&#8220;We&#8217;re the useful idiots.&#8221;



(Reporting by Carien du Plessis; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov leaves Cape Town harbour

South Africa’s naval exercise with Russia, China raises Western alarm

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ATIHVWJXXFJVDDTFHMR7LIZRGY-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423189" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ATIHVWJXXFJVDDTFHMR7LIZRGY-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ATIHVWJXXFJVDDTFHMR7LIZRGY-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ATIHVWJXXFJVDDTFHMR7LIZRGY-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ATIHVWJXXFJVDDTFHMR7LIZRGY-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ATIHVWJXXFJVDDTFHMR7LIZRGY.jpg 960w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">People stand in a market in Gusau, Zamfara, Nigeria, February 8, 2023. REUTERS/Temilade Adelaja</figcaption></figure>



GUSAU, Nigeria, Feb 17 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Bandits spraying villages with bullets, killing residents and setting buildings ablaze. Rampant cattle rustling and clashes between farmers and herders. Mass kidnappings for ransom.



These are among the litany of challenges confronting Sa&#8217;idu Ahmad, an electoral officer tasked with organising voting for Nigeria&#8217;s next president and members of parliament on Feb. 25 in the northwestern state of Zamfara.



The violence is so bad in some areas that 606 polling centres serving 287,373 voters &#8211; nearly a fifth of the state&#8217;s total &#8211; have been identified as &#8220;not reachable&#8221; and arrangements are being made for people to vote in larger towns, Ahmad said.



&#8220;We can&#8217;t build a separate polling unit for each person,&#8221; he said, adding that he hoped local leaders or business people would hire trucks to help votes reach safer polling stations.



Nigeria&#8217;s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N32V27A&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">election next week</a>&nbsp;marks nearly a quarter century of democracy in Africa&#8217;s most populous nation, which in previous decades had become a byword for coups and military misrule.



In some ways, it stands to be one of its most credible polls yet, thanks to an increasingly professional electoral commission and measures to curb fraudulent practices rife in many previous elections, such as serial voting and ballot-box stuffing.



A law enacted last year provides for electronic voting machines and smart card readers to confirm voters are registered in a central database. Results from any polling centre where the ballots cast exceed the registered voters will not be counted.



But in places where armed groups have killed, robbed and displaced thousands, the violence risks casting doubt on the credibility of the vote and, in the areas hit worst by insecurity, on whether it can take place at all.



Analysts warn that the rampant violence will need to be dealt with quickly by whoever replaces President Muhammadu Buhari to pull Nigeria back from the brink of becoming a failed state that could destabilise the wider West African region.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-spreading-violence">SPREADING VIOLENCE</h2>



When Buhari came to power in 2015 in what was judged to be Nigeria&#8217;s fairest election to date, many hoped the retired major general would crack down on armed groups, just as he had in the early 1980s as the country&#8217;s military head of state.



Instead, violence that had mostly been confined to the northeast has spread, leaving swathes of Nigeria outside the control of its stretched security forces and forcing thousands of farmers to abandon their crops in the midst of a food crisis.



Militants behind a 13-year-old Islamist insurgency in the northeast are threatening to kill those who vote in areas they control. Industrial-scale banditry and kidnapping have displaced thousands from their voting constituencies in the northwest.



In December, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said its staff and facilities had been attacked at least 50 times since the last poll in 2019, mostly in the rebellious southeast, where a motley crowd of secessionist militants, oil thieves, pirates and armed gangs allied to politicians roam.



&#8220;Security is one of the main promises that Buhari&#8217;s victory was based on. People hoped he was going to use (his military) experience to solve this problem,&#8221; said Malik Samuel, Abuja-based researcher at the Institute for Security Studies.



&#8220;That has not come to fruition &#8230; the result is there for everyone to see.&#8221;



The election pits former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) against Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi, who defected from the PDP to the smaller Labour Party.



At least three opinion polls show Obi to be ahead, but much may depend on voter turnout. The latest Stears poll put Obi ahead but suggested Tinubu would win if turnout was low.



All three main candidates have promised to tackle insecurity with more personnel and better technology, while being thin on details. Abubakar and Obi have also touted dialogue with militant groups.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">&#8216;THREATENED BY BANDITS&#8217;</h2>



When gunmen on motorbikes raided Nasarawa Mai Fara, a village on a sandy outcrop surrounded by scorched hills on the edge of the Sahara desert, Ahmadu Garkuwa and his neighbours fought back with homemade hunting rifles.



The bandits looted granaries, stole cows and money, gunned down 37 people &#8211; including five of Garkuwa&#8217;s male relatives &#8211; and abducted 16 others, the 27-year-old farmer said. Garkuwa said he managed to flee on foot, under fire from the assailants.



Since then, he has lived with relatives in Gusau, the main city in Zamfara, whose sand-strewn streets dotted with sparse trees have been relatively free of violence.



But food is so scarce he said he often has to forage with his two wives for leaves to make soup for their eight children.



Garkuwa is one of many people who say they cannot risk returning to their home towns to cast their ballots where they are registered to vote.



&#8220;My life has been threatened by bandits. I hardly escaped them, and they are still looking for me. How can I go and vote?&#8221; he said outside the windowless, concrete bungalow where he now lives, smoke from a charcoal fire wafting over his face.



Nigeria has 3.2 million internally displaced, according to government data.



The electoral commission has promised they will be able to vote but concedes it has only made provisions for those in designated camps, which are mostly in the northeast.



Many of the displaced stay in the homes of relatives or volunteers &#8211; authorities do not have exact figures &#8211; and will have to brave going home, or sit this election out.



Many of the 200,000 people displaced by attacks in northern Kaduna state over the past six years may not be able to vote, for example, the International Crisis Group said in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/west-africa/nigeria/311-mitigating-risks-violence-nigerias-2023-elections" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a report</a>&nbsp;this month.



Neither will many of the 1.8 million displaced since 2018 in north-central Benue state, where feuds between farmers and herder persist, the think-tank said.



INEC said on Monday that 240 polling centres&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL4N34T3HS&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">will not be used</a>&nbsp;because of insecurity, mostly in northeastern Taraba state, where Islamists have carried out attacks, and southeastern Imo state, a hotbed of separatist and gang violence.



In Zamfara, the police say there has been recent progress in arresting gang leaders and disrupting weapons supplies.



&#8220;You cannot wipe out insecurity 100%,&#8221; Zamfara police spokesman Mohammed Shehu said. &#8220;But I want to assure you the security forces will ensure peace and security around all the polling units so that the public can vote without fear.&#8221;



FACTBOX-Nigeria&#8217;s election: when is the vote and what&#8217;s at stake?<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N32V27A&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



EXPLAINER-What is at stake for investors in Nigeria&#8217;s election?<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N34O7E9&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



Nigeria won&#8217;t use 240 new polling units due to insecurity<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL4N34T3HS&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



Frustrated Nigerians &#8216;flee&#8217; abroad in punishing pre-election brain drain<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3113MZ&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



(Ahmed Kingimi reported from Gusau and Tim Cocks from Johannesburg; Additional reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe in Lagos; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Alexandra Zavis and David Clarke)

ATIHVWJXXFJVDDTFHMR7LIZRGY

Insecurity threatens Nigeria’s democracy as voters elect a new president

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="615" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1244870555-820x615.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423185" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1244870555-820x615.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1244870555-300x225.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1244870555-120x90.jpg 120w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1244870555-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1244870555-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1244870555-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">PRODUCTION &#8211; 11 November 2022, Kenya, Busia: Hilda Obali checks a delivery of cassava ready for shipment. For a long time, traditional crops such as cassava or the fonio variety of grain were considered poor people&#8217;s food in Africa. However, due to the climate crisis and rising prices for food imports, the indigenous species are experiencing a renaissance. (to dpa &#8220;Starvation millet and tropical potato: Africa&#8217;s ways out of the hunger crisis&#8221;) Photo: David Renke/dpa (Photo by David Renke/picture alliance via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



NAIROBI, Feb 17 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Deepening security and food crises are likely to dominate the agenda when heads of state convene in Ethiopia&#8217;s capital Addis Ababa this weekend, Feb. 17-19, for the annual African Union (AU) summit.



Armed conflict from West Africa&#8217;s Sahel to the Horn of Africa in the east and the impacts of droughts and floods have driven ever more Africans from their homes, with the number of displaced people south of the Sahara Desert rising more than 15% over the past year, according to United Nations figures. The U.N. estimates 44 million people were displaced in 2022 up from 38.3 million people at the end of 2021.



AU Peace and Security Commissioner Bankole Adeoye is expected to try to rally support for a proposal for new financing of security operations from the United States, African Union members and the European Union, two diplomats told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.



Financing has been a perennial challenge for AU initiatives like its peacekeeping mission in Somalia. In 2020, the AU postponed plans to start financing security operations from a new fund until 2023 because it had received less than half of the targeted $400 million.



Heads of state will also be briefed on fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and the security situations in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Sudan, which all experienced military takeovers in 2021 and 2022, the two diplomats said.



Bankole and a spokesperson for the Peace and Security Council did not respond to requests for comment.



Another major subject of discussion is expected to be worsening hunger in several regions, which has been driven by armed conflict and extreme weather that scientists have linked to fossil fuel-driven climate change.



Somalia is on the verge of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AJ8N31P01G&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">famine</a>&nbsp;after five failed rainy seasons, with hundreds of thousands of people suffering catastrophic food shortages.



In addition to leaders from the 55 AU members states, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and European Council President Charles Michel will attend the summit.



African leaders will advocate for permanent seats for the continent on the U.N. Security Council and among the G20 group of large economies, according to a draft of the summit&#8217;s conclusions.



They will also adopt a series of protocols aimed at accelerating full implementation of Africa’s new free trade area, under which trading officially began in 2021.



(Reporting by Giulia Paravicini; Editing by Aaron Ross and Aurora Ellis)

Cassava production in Kenya

Security and food crises expected to dominate African Union summit

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GettyImages-1131648857-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-420854" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GettyImages-1131648857-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GettyImages-1131648857-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GettyImages-1131648857-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GettyImages-1131648857-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GettyImages-1131648857-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GettyImages-1131648857-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Ken Ofori-Atta, Ghana&#8217;s finance minister, pauses during a Bloomberg Television interview in London, U.K., on Wednesday, March 20, 2019. Ghana, which this week raised $3 billion through debt sales and was contemplating 100-year bonds, will work with the market to determine the tenure of its next issuance, Ofori-Atta said. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



ACCRA, Feb 16 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Substantive discussions with Ghana&#8217;s external bondholders are due to start in the next few weeks, the country&#8217;s Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta told parliament on Thursday.



Embattled Ghana has to restructure its debt to secure a $3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout, which Ofori-Atta said the government hoped to secure in March.



Around 85% of eligible bondholders&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N34U07Z&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">registered</a>&nbsp;for a long-delayed domestic debt exchange programme this week after several extensions and revisions to the terms.



The government must now get commitments from its external creditors to a debt restructuring to secure IMF executive board approval for the rescue package.



&#8220;We have started the process of negotiating in good faith with our commercial creditors through preliminary discussions and exchange of information,&#8221; Ofori-Atta said.



The commercial creditor committee had committed to assessing Ghana&#8217;s request for debt relief by the end of February, he said.



At the end of November, a third of Ghana&#8217;s 575.7 billion cedi ($48.4 billion) debt was domestic, according to the central bank, while external debt was $29.2 billion.&nbsp;The country&nbsp;owes about $13 billion to international bondholders.



&#8220;We hope our commercial creditors will understand our desire to negotiate with our bilateral creditors softer terms than the ones we anticipate to propose to them, as a speedy process with the bilateral creditors is needed to pave the way for the discussion with private creditors,&#8221; Ofori-Atta said.



Ghana, where a deep economic crisis has seen inflation and the government&#8217;s debt servicing costs spiral, has requested a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N34T54B&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bilateral debt restructuring</a>&nbsp;under the Common Framework, a process set up during the COVID-19 pandemic by the Group of 20 leading economies.



&#8220;We made it known that we expect the (bilateral) creditor committee to be formed in an expeditious way&#8230; to ensure that we are able to go to the Fund&#8217;s board in March,&#8221; Ofori-Atta said, of the meeting, co-hosted by the Paris Club of creditor nations, where the request was presented.



&#8220;We are also approaching major creditors like India and China to ensure that our discussions with the Paris Club is accelerated.&#8221;



China is Ghana&#8217;s biggest bilateral creditor with $1.7 billion of debt, while Ghana owes $1.9 billion to Paris Club members, according to data from the Institute of International Finance (IIF).



(Reporting by Bate Felix and Christian Akorlie; Writing by Sofia Christensen and Rachel Savage;Editing by James Macharia Chege and Christina Fincher)

Ghana Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta Interview

Ghana talks with external bondholders due in a few weeks

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="574" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/RD75A4JLHJPALK6RQZPORSSRVA-1-820x574.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423174" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/RD75A4JLHJPALK6RQZPORSSRVA-1-820x574.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/RD75A4JLHJPALK6RQZPORSSRVA-1-300x210.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/RD75A4JLHJPALK6RQZPORSSRVA-1-129x90.jpg 129w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/RD75A4JLHJPALK6RQZPORSSRVA-1-768x537.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/RD75A4JLHJPALK6RQZPORSSRVA-1-1536x1074.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/RD75A4JLHJPALK6RQZPORSSRVA-1-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">South African President Cyril Ramaphosa speaks during his 2023 state of the nation address in Cape Town, South Africa, February 9, 2023. REUTERS/Esa Alexander/Pool</figcaption></figure>



JOHANNESBURG, Feb 16 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday defended his decision to appoint a minister to try to end crippling power cuts, rejecting criticism the role would cause confusion in government.



State utility Eskom is implementing the worst power outages on record, constraining the country&#8217;s economic growth prospects. That prompted Ramaphosa to declare a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N34P6XH&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&#8220;state of disaster&#8221;</a>&nbsp;and say he would appoint a new Minister of Electricity last week.



Some lawmakers said the appointment would add a layer of bureaucracy as Eskom is overseen by the public enterprises minister while the energy minister is responsible for procuring additional power generation capacity.



Ramaphosa told parliament some people had suggested the appointment will &#8220;result in turf wars amongst the ministers who deal with energy and Eskom&#8221;.



&#8220;This is not the case,&#8221; he said, responding to a debate by lawmakers on his State of the Nation Address.



&#8220;(The power crisis) requires the undivided attention of a political principal who does not need to split their time and energies among different important responsibilities,&#8221; he added.



South Africa has previously invoked disaster management law to address the COVID-19 pandemic and flooding in its KwaZulu-Natal province.



Ramaphosa said declaring a &#8220;state of disaster&#8221; would remove unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles to urgently adding power capacity to the grid.



Creaking coal-fired power stations, corruption in coal supply contracts, criminal sabotage and failure to relax regulation to enable private providers to swiftly bring renewable energy online have left South Africa with a deep power&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N347066&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">deficit</a>.



(Reporting by Anait Miridzhanian and Alexander Winning; Editing by James Macharia Chege and Barbara Lewis)

South Africa’s Ramaphosa delivers state of the nation address

South Africa’s Ramaphosa defends electricity minister appointment

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/47CLWWOLNVIXLLFUCDIG4I2H3M-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-414446" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/47CLWWOLNVIXLLFUCDIG4I2H3M-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/47CLWWOLNVIXLLFUCDIG4I2H3M-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/47CLWWOLNVIXLLFUCDIG4I2H3M-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/47CLWWOLNVIXLLFUCDIG4I2H3M-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/47CLWWOLNVIXLLFUCDIG4I2H3M.jpg 960w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Nigeria&#8217;s President Muhammadu Buhari speaks during a plenary session at the start of the Paris Peace Forum, in Paris, France, November 11, 2021. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes</figcaption></figure>



ABUJA, Feb 16 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Nigeria&#8217;s President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday gave approval to the central bank to extend the deadline to turn in old banknotes by another 60 days after cash shortages stoked anger ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections next week.



Nigeria&#8217;s central bank decided last year to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N32J3VS&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">start circulating</a>&nbsp;newly designed 1,000 ($2.17) 500 and 200 naira notes. The deadline to turn in old notes has already been extended once to Feb. 10, after which they would no longer have been legal tender.



But the new notes have been in short supply, leading to long queues and chaotic scenes at banks across the country. Most of Nigeria&#8217;s economy is still informal and many people use cash for transactions because they do not have bank accounts.



Buhari said in a television broadcast that old 200 notes would continue to circulate in the economy alongside new 1,000, 500 and 200 notes until April 10.



But the old 1,000 and 500 notes could only be swapped at the central bank and &#8220;designated points&#8221;, he said.



The comments contrasted with last week&#8217;s Supreme Court interim ruling that said all old notes&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N34O2QQ&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">remain legal tender</a>&nbsp;until it hears a challenge brought by some state governments.



Buhari defended the initiative saying it would lead to greater transparency in financial transactions, curb money laundering and reduce money supply in the economy.



&#8220;Notwithstanding the initial setbacks experienced, the evaluation and feedback mechanism set up has revealed that gains have emerged from the policy initiative,&#8221; said Buhari.



Some politicians have criticised the timing ahead of Feb. 25 elections, as campaigns are funded by mostly hard to trace cash.



Local media reported on Thursday that some angry citizens had vandalised cash dispensing machines at some banks in southern Nigeria as they protested the cash shortages.



(Reporting by Felix Onuah in Abuja and MacDonald Dzirutwe in Lagos; Writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe and Nellie Peyton; Editing by Alexander Winning)

47CLWWOLNVIXLLFUCDIG4I2H3M

Nigeria’s Buhari grants 60-day extension to turn in old banknotes

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="518" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/HMQQXQQ5CBKVHDRM6CDBAV35IQ-820x518.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-421972" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/HMQQXQQ5CBKVHDRM6CDBAV35IQ-820x518.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/HMQQXQQ5CBKVHDRM6CDBAV35IQ-300x189.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/HMQQXQQ5CBKVHDRM6CDBAV35IQ-143x90.jpg 143w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/HMQQXQQ5CBKVHDRM6CDBAV35IQ-768x485.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/HMQQXQQ5CBKVHDRM6CDBAV35IQ.jpg 960w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Customers are seen at an outlet of South Africa&#8217;s MTN Group at the Mall of the South in Johannesburg, South Africa, November 4, 2022. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko</figcaption></figure>



JOHANNESBURG, Feb 15 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;MTN Group&nbsp;MTNJ.J&nbsp;will invest $1 billion in Ghana over the next five years, the mobile operator said on Wednesday, after the government&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL4N34J331&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">exempted its Ghanaian unit</a>&nbsp;from tax claims worth about $773 million.



The investment comes on the heels of the Ghana Revenue Authority&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL4N34J331&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">exempting</a>&nbsp;the company&#8217;s bill for back taxes earlier this month after the incident&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N34C4XA&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sparked</a>&nbsp;a diplomatic reaction by the South African foreign minister.



The tax claim was initially issued after the revenue authority audited the company for the years 2014 to 2018 and inferred that it under declared its revenue by about 30% during the period.



MTN Chief Executive Officer Ralph Mupita said the company was committed to investing in Ghana despite short-term headwinds.



&#8220;To be sure, macro-economic conditions are very challenging in the near term. That said we are focused on the medium and long term and we are seeing growth,&#8221; he said in a statement.



MTN intends to invest the amount in 5G technology which it believes would spur faster growth across sectors, he said.



One of the largest economies in Africa, Ghana is reckoning with its worst economic crisis in a generation as capital outflows, a crushing debt-service burden and rapid currency depreciation wreak havoc on government and household finances.



Its consumer inflation slowed slightly to 53.6% year-on-year in January from a more than two-decade high of 54.1% in the previous month, data showed earlier on Wednesday.



(Reporting by Nellie Peyton and Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Promit Mukherjee, Kirsten Donovan)

HMQQXQQ5CBKVHDRM6CDBAV35IQ

MTN commits to $1 bln Ghana investment after government scraps tax claim

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="586" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/P2AMS7WZ45ITZNPP3TTUQPOGGE-820x586.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423144" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/P2AMS7WZ45ITZNPP3TTUQPOGGE-820x586.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/P2AMS7WZ45ITZNPP3TTUQPOGGE-300x214.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/P2AMS7WZ45ITZNPP3TTUQPOGGE-126x90.jpg 126w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/P2AMS7WZ45ITZNPP3TTUQPOGGE-768x549.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/P2AMS7WZ45ITZNPP3TTUQPOGGE-1536x1097.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/P2AMS7WZ45ITZNPP3TTUQPOGGE.jpg 1908w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Zimbabwe Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube arrives to present the 2020 National Budget at Parliament Building in Harare, Zimbabwe, November 14, 2019. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



HARARE, Feb 15 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Zimbabwe&#8217;s creditors will meet on Feb. 23 as the country takes steps towards clearing more than $6 billion of arrears on its foreign debt, finance minister Mthuli Ncube told Reuters on Wednesday.



About 17 countries from the Paris Club of creditor nations will attend, as well as the World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB) and European Investment Bank, to discuss progress on economic and governance reforms, including compensation to white former farmers, Ncube said.



Zimbabwe, which has suffered periods of hyperinflation in the past 15 years, had over $14 billion in external debt as of September, according to finance ministry data. Due to its arrears, it has not received loans from lenders such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank for more than two decades.



The meeting agenda &#8220;is part of what is needed for us to walk through the road towards arrears clearance,&#8221; Ncube said. &#8220;It has really begun in earnest, so I am pleased we are at this stage and we are making very good progress.&#8221;



He did not confirm if the meeting was virtual, in-person or a hybrid.



The creditors first met on Dec. 1, facilitated by AfDB president Akinwumi Adesina and former Mozambique president Joaquim Chissano.



Ncube said in October the government had begun making&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N31G086&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&#8220;token payments&#8221;</a>&nbsp;to the multilateral lenders and planned to do so to its Paris Club creditors as well.



The IMF said after a visit to Zimbabwe in December that the country would need durable reforms and a clear path to restructuring its debt, including clearing the $6 billion of arrears, before it could receive Fund money.



Annual inflation fell to 229.8% in January from 243.8% in December, prompting the central bank to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N34I515&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cut interest rates</a>&nbsp;by 50 percentage points to 150%.



(Reporting by Nyasha Chingono; Writing by Rachel Savage; Editing by Mark Potter)

FILE PHOTO: Zimbabwe Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube arrives to present the 2020 National Budget at Parliament Building in Harare

Zimbabwe creditors to meet Feb. 23 over arrears clearance, says finance minister

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="615" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/UQS2USKFNRPKPHKPOEX6IT5BUM-820x615.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423140" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/UQS2USKFNRPKPHKPOEX6IT5BUM-820x615.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/UQS2USKFNRPKPHKPOEX6IT5BUM-300x225.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/UQS2USKFNRPKPHKPOEX6IT5BUM-120x90.jpg 120w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/UQS2USKFNRPKPHKPOEX6IT5BUM-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/UQS2USKFNRPKPHKPOEX6IT5BUM-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/UQS2USKFNRPKPHKPOEX6IT5BUM-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Supporters of All Progressives Congress (APC) wear traditional attire with APC branding during a campaign rally in Abuja, Nigeria, February 11, 2023. REUTERS/Abraham Achirga</figcaption></figure>



LAGOS/ABUJA, Feb 15 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Too stylish for political party T-shirts and caps, some fashionistas in Nigeria are donning the colours and faces of their preferred candidates for a presidential election this month on designer outfits.



Ahead of the Feb. 25 vote, political rallies and campaign events have become catwalks for colourful printed fabrics twisted into elaborate dresses, tunics and headscarves.



For many, it is also an opportunity to wear elegant spins on traditional dress rather than more casual, Western-style clothes most city dwellers use for work and daily life.



Opposition Labour Party (LP) youth leader Kennedy Ahanotu attended an event in Lagos in a white tunic known as a &#8220;babban riga&#8221;, which means flowing gown in local Hausa.



He wore an LP-emblazoned, green, red and white version of a traditional hat and held a wooden walking stick that is often used as an accessory among Hausa men.



&#8220;You can see the stick here which means I am a full Lagosian by virtue of this campaign in Lagos,&#8221; said Ahanotu.



At a rally of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party in capital Abuja, women in dark sunglasses and green head wraps staved off the heat with silky fabric in APC colors mounted into fans.



Fatima Suleiman, a personal assistant to the minister of Nigeria&#8217;s federal capital territory, wore a black hat that is part of traditional outfits worn by the Gbagyi ethnic group.



The hat was embroidered with the symbol of a broken shackle Suleiman said represented &#8220;Asiwaju&#8221;, the Yoruba word for leader that has become the nickname of APC candidate Bola Tinubu.



&#8220;This is our official regalia for APC presidential campaign council,&#8221; she explained. &#8220;That is why I am looking probably this colourful.&#8221;



(Reporting by Abraham Achirga in Abuja and Vining Ogu in Lagos; Writing by Sofia Christensen; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Supporters of All Progressives Congress (APC) wear traditional attire with APC branding during a campaign rally in Abuja

Fashion meets politics at Nigeria election campaign events

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1243740012-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423134" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1243740012-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1243740012-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1243740012-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1243740012-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1243740012-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1243740012-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Natascha Viljoen, chief executive officer of Anglo American Platinum Ltd., during the Joburg Mining Indaba in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. The annual meeting of mining executives and stakeholders will take place Oct. 5-6. Photographer: Michele Spatari/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Feb 15 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;South African miner Anglo American Platinum Ltd (Amplats)&nbsp;AMSJ.J&nbsp;said on Wednesday Chief Executive Officer Natascha Viljoen would be stepping down next year to join U.S.-based Newmont Corporation&nbsp;NEM.N&nbsp;as its chief operating officer.



Viljoen, who has been the CEO of the world&#8217;s biggest platinum group metal miner since April 2020, will continue to serve as the chief until completion of her 12-month notice period, Amplats said in a statement.



Amplats board chairman Norman Mbazima said the process to nominate Viljoen&#8217;s successor is underway.



&#8220;While I have identified the next phase of my career, my commitment to delivering our clear objectives during this year is as firm as ever, beginning, of course, with keeping our people safe, every day,&#8221; Viljoen said.



A process engineer, Viljoen was group head of processing at Anglo American Plc, before her appointment to head Amplats. She has also held leadership roles at AngloGold and was the general manager of Klipspruit Colliery, which was previously owned by global mining giant BHP&nbsp;BHP.AX.



(Reporting by Nelson Banya; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

Key Speakers at Joburg Mining Indaba

Amplats CEO Viljoen to step down, join Newmont as COO

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="546" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/XQD7AXQBARMS5DGKDEXUIHJQ3E-820x546.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423110" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/XQD7AXQBARMS5DGKDEXUIHJQ3E-820x546.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/XQD7AXQBARMS5DGKDEXUIHJQ3E-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/XQD7AXQBARMS5DGKDEXUIHJQ3E-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/XQD7AXQBARMS5DGKDEXUIHJQ3E-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/XQD7AXQBARMS5DGKDEXUIHJQ3E-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/XQD7AXQBARMS5DGKDEXUIHJQ3E-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Euro, Hong Kong dollar, U.S. dollar, Japanese yen, pound and Chinese 100 yuan banknotes are seen in this picture illustration, January 21, 2016. REUTERS/Jason Lee/Illustration/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Officials from China, India, Saudi Arabia and Group of Seven nations will participate in a first virtual meeting of a new sovereign debt roundtable on Friday,&nbsp;the International Monetary Fund said&nbsp;on Monday,&nbsp;confirming an earlier Reuters report.



The roundtable will also include officials from countries that have requested debt treatments under the Group of 20 common framework &#8211; Ethiopia, Zambia and Ghana &#8211; as well as middle-income countries such as Sri Lanka, Suriname and Ecuador, which have faced their own debt crises,&nbsp;three&nbsp;sources&nbsp;had earlier said.



The meeting will be co-chaired by the&nbsp;IMF, the World Bank and India, the current leader of the Group of 20, and comes a week before G20 finance officials are due to gather in Bengaluru, India, from Feb. 23-25.&nbsp;An in-person meeting of the roundtable expected on Feb. 25 and a formal launch is planned at the IMF-World Bank spring meetings in April.



Brazil, which will lead the G20 next year, is also taking part, one of the sources said.



An IMF spokesperson confirmed the first roundtable meeting would take place on Friday, and said more details would be released in the near future.



&#8220;The objective is to bring together key stakeholders involved in sovereign debt restructuring, from traditional creditors from advanced economies, to new creditors like China, Saudi Arabia, India, as well as the private sector and debt countries to address the current shortcomings,&#8221; they said.



The roundtable will include the Paris Club of official creditors and private sector participants &#8211; the Institute of International Finance (IIF), the International Capital Markets Association and two private-sector financial institutions that have asked not to be identified, one of the sources said.



Creation of the body comes amid growing frustration about the slow pace of discussions on debt relief for Zambia, which first requested help two years ago. Organizers say the roundtable could help resolve issues in principle and will not focus on Zambia or other individual cases.



Officials hope to resolve China&#8217;s concerns about cutoff dates to protect new financing from debt restructuring by the end of the year, one of the sources said.



G7, International Monetary Fund and World Bank officials have long pushed for faster and broader efforts to deliver debt relief to heavily indebted nations to avoid cuts in social services that they fear could tip off social unrest.



U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and other G7 officials see China, now the world&#8217;s largest sovereign creditor, as the main stumbling block for quicker work on debt treatments. They are also pushing for agreement by G20 members on expanding the common framework to include middle-income countries.



Eric LeCompte, executive director of the Jubilee USA Network, a coalition of religious, development and advocacy groups, said support for the matter was growing among other countries. But China’s opposition &#8211; and that of Russia &#8211; remained significant a “stumbling block,” he said.



“The majority of countries support expanding these policies to middle-income countries, but China is the biggest challenge,” LeCompte said, adding that Europe had gone through a similar period of reluctance on debt relief in the 1990s, but eventually came around.



Also on the agenda will be China&#8217;s repeated calls for World Bank and other multilateral development banks to participate in debt reductions &#8211; a proposal firmly rejected by U.S. officials, who argue that those lenders already offer highly concessional loans and grants to countries in crisis.



(Reporting by Andrea Shalal in Washington; editing by Karin Strohecker, Chizu Nomiyama, Leslie Adler and Lincoln Feast.)

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: Euro, Hong Kong dollar, U.S. dollar, Japanese yen, pound and Chinese 100 yuan banknotes are seen in this picture illustration

China, U.S. to participate in first meeting of new debt roundtable on Feb. 17

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/GVVD7RTPANKEHJR4J5T4JRVGHA-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-422301" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/GVVD7RTPANKEHJR4J5T4JRVGHA-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/GVVD7RTPANKEHJR4J5T4JRVGHA-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/GVVD7RTPANKEHJR4J5T4JRVGHA-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/GVVD7RTPANKEHJR4J5T4JRVGHA-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/GVVD7RTPANKEHJR4J5T4JRVGHA.jpg 960w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A man trades U.S. dollars for Ghanaian cedis at a currency exchange office in Accra, Ghana, June 15, 2015. Picture taken June 15. REUTERS/Francis Kokoroko</figcaption></figure>



ACCRA, Feb 14 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;The Ghanaian finance ministry said on Tuesday its domestic debt exchange programme (DDEP) had closed on Feb. 10 with more than 80% participation of eligible bonds, taking it a step closer to securing a $3 billion International Monetary Fund bailout.



This follows&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N34N2VE&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">five extensions</a>&nbsp;of the scheme&#8217;s deadline, as the West African nation fought to secure participation of 80% while holdouts persisted despite several revisions to the original December offer.



In a statement, the ministry said participation had exceeded 80% without giving further details.



&#8220;The government is &#8230; grateful for the overwhelming participation of all bondholders. Your support and contributions have gotten your country much closer to securing the IMF programme,&#8221; it said.



&#8220;The alternative of not executing the DDEP would have brought grave disorder in the servicing of our national debt and exacerbated the current economic crisis.&#8221;



Ghana is fighting its way out of a generational economic crisis by hiking interest rates at record speed, cutting spending, and restructuring its local and foreign debt to secure the IMF funds.



In January it became the fourth nation to apply to the common framework platform, an initiative of Group of 20 major economies launched in 2020 to streamline debt restructuring efforts for poorer countries.



Its bilateral lenders are discussing the formation of an official&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N34T1SU&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">creditor committee</a>, a first step needed to engage in debt relief talks, sources told Reuters on Monday.



(Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Kim Coghill)

GVVD7RTPANKEHJR4J5T4JRVGHA

Ghana says domestic debt swap closed with over 80% participation

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="507" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/64ZH7HNPQNPYPHJMSDJW55C7GA-2-820x507.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423097" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/64ZH7HNPQNPYPHJMSDJW55C7GA-2-820x507.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/64ZH7HNPQNPYPHJMSDJW55C7GA-2-300x186.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/64ZH7HNPQNPYPHJMSDJW55C7GA-2-145x90.jpg 145w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/64ZH7HNPQNPYPHJMSDJW55C7GA-2-768x475.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/64ZH7HNPQNPYPHJMSDJW55C7GA-2-1536x950.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/64ZH7HNPQNPYPHJMSDJW55C7GA-2-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">South African bank notes featuring images of former South African President Nelson Mandela (R) are displayed next to the American dollar notes in this photo illustration in Johannesburg August 13 2014. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



The South African rand slid on Monday, after ratings agency Moody&#8217;s flagged risks from crippling power cuts and as the dollar advanced on investor bets that the U.S. Federal Reserve would keep monetary policy tight for longer.



At 1010 GMT, the rand traded at 18.0050 against the dollar , about 0.6% weaker than its closing level on Friday and breaking above 18 to the dollar for the first time since November, 2022.



On Friday Moody&#8217;s said in an issuer comment on South Africa: &#8220;the (power) blackouts&#8217; effect on businesses, consumer sentiment and investment will weaken the country&#8217;s already subdued economic growth prospects and threaten social and political stability&#8221;.



There have been scheduled electricity outages on every day this year, after a record number of days with outages in 2022.



Last week President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national



&#8220;state of disaster&#8221;



over the power shortages, giving the government additional powers including permitting emergency procurement procedures.



The dollar was up 0.1% against a basket of global currencies on Monday, with market attention firmly pinned on Tuesday&#8217;s U.S. consumer price report and its implications for the Fed&#8217;s interest rate trajectory.



No major South African economic data releases were due on Monday, but South Africa&#8217;s latest consumer price report is due on Wednesday when retail sales figures will also be published.



The Johannesburg Stock Exchange&#8217;s All-share index was up 0.4%. The government&#8217;s benchmark 2030 bond was slightly weaker, with the yield rising 5.5 basis points to 9.920%. 



(Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Ed Osmond)

Photo illustration of South African bank notes displayed next to the American dollar notes in Johannesburg

South African rand slides as Moody’s flags risks, dollar gains

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="615" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/KS7KDAMAYJPMJOIVQWNTTBVP5Q-820x615.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423086" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/KS7KDAMAYJPMJOIVQWNTTBVP5Q-820x615.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/KS7KDAMAYJPMJOIVQWNTTBVP5Q-300x225.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/KS7KDAMAYJPMJOIVQWNTTBVP5Q-120x90.jpg 120w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/KS7KDAMAYJPMJOIVQWNTTBVP5Q-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/KS7KDAMAYJPMJOIVQWNTTBVP5Q-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/KS7KDAMAYJPMJOIVQWNTTBVP5Q-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Branded T-shirts and baseball caps with images of Nigerian presidential candidates are displayed at a shopping center in Abuja, Nigeria February 2, 2023. REUTERS/Abraham Achirga/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



JOHANNESBURG, Feb 13 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Voters in Nigeria go to the polls on Feb. 25 and international investors are cautiously hopeful that whoever is elected as the next president of Africa&#8217;s largest and most populous economy will be more market-friendly than the current government.



While there are also parliamentary elections, the focus is on the presidency. With incumbent Muhammadu Buhari not on the ballot, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3435RW&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">main contenders</a>&nbsp;are ruling party veteran&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N2XV3J2&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bola Tinubu</a>, former vice president&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N30Z2HO&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Atiku Abubakar</a>, and third party candidate&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N2ZV37D&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Peter Obi</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-are-main-issues-for-investors">WHAT ARE MAIN ISSUES FOR INVESTORS?</h2>



Multiple exchange rates, widespread insecurity and low oil production due to massive crude theft are all problems that worry investors. Another focus is soaring fuel subsidy costs that devour government revenues and drive up debt.



Reform of the foreign exchange market is the number one concern for international equity investors, said Steve Pollicino of U.S. brokerage Auerbach Grayson, adding that uncertainty over how long it takes to get money out of Nigeria was a big deterrent.



&#8220;No investor&#8217;s going to want to buy into a market where you can&#8217;t sell stock and get your money out,&#8221; he said.



Foreign investors held 16% of shares on Nigeria&#8217;s stock exchange last year, sharply down from 58% in 2014, Nigerian Exchange Group data showed.



Removing petrol subsidies, which cost&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N345450&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$10 billion in 2022</a>, is also key but a &#8220;hard sell&#8221;, said Babatunde Ojo, emerging markets equities portfolio manager at Harding Loevner.



&#8220;This is the short-term pain you have to take in a long-term game,&#8221; he said.



Strong and clear regulation is important for international oil and gas companies, which are pivoting to cleaner gas, said Amaka Anku, head of Eurasia Group&#8217;s Africa practice.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">WHAT ABOUT NIGERIA&#8217;S DEBT?</h2>



Nigeria&#8217;s debt-to-GDP ratio is low compared to countries with similar credit ratings. However, its debt servicing burden is among the highest globally according to ratings agency Fitch. In 2022, the federal government spent 96.3% of its revenues paying interest, the IMF&nbsp;<a href="https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2023/02/07/pr2334-nigeria-imf-executive-board-concludes-2022-article-iv-consultation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said recently.</a>



Abubakar plans to seek &#8220;debt forgiveness&#8221;, while Obi has&nbsp;<a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/PeterObi/status/1622518130223218690" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;creditors will be &#8220;engaged for debt restructuring and possible cancellation /forgiveness&#8221;.



&#8220;I believe that he used that word in a very liberal sense that is not the same sense that the markets give to that word,&#8221; Carlos de Sousa, an emerging market debt portfolio manager at Vontobel, said of Obi&#8217;s use of the word &#8220;restructuring&#8221;.



&#8220;If the question is, &#8216;Is Nigeria&#8217;s debt sustainable today?&#8217; Absolutely yes, nobody has any doubt about that. Is it in a sustainable path? No it is not,&#8221; said de Sousa.



The next president will need to ramp up government revenues from a very low base to make debt manageable and provide citizens with services, said de Sousa, noting that none of the major candidates had pledged to raise taxes.



Many investors, however, were cautiously optimistic that Nigeria would see improvements, whoever wins on Feb. 25.



&#8220;President Buhari has set such a low bar,&#8221; said de Sousa. &#8220;It&#8217;s really not difficult to do things better.&#8221;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">DO INVESTORS HAVE A PREFERRED CANDIDATE?</h2>



Few investors expressed a strong preference for who wins. All three main candidates propose variations of similar policies &#8211; FX reform, fuel subsidy removal or phase-out and boosting the economy.



A peaceful outcome is key for Nigeria which has suffered violence around elections in recent decades.



If Tinubu emerges as the winner, there would likely be &#8220;a smoother transition,&#8221; said Joe Delvaux, a portfolio manager at Amundi, which holds Nigerian sovereign bonds.



A victory for Atiku would probably mean more uncertainty as power shifts, said Delvaux. Many analysts see Atiku as more pro-business.



&#8220;If you have a candidate like Peter Obi coming in, the challenge will be that (the) machinery isn&#8217;t there,&#8221; said Delvaux. &#8220;So I cannot judge what capacity will be there on implementation.&#8221;



Nigeria&#8217;s interest payment strains Nigeria&#8217;s interest payment strains&nbsp;<a href="https://tmsnrt.rs/3X2W8it" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://tmsnrt.rs/3X2W8it</a>



(Reporting by Rachel Savage, Additional reporting by Libby George in London and Rodrigo Campos in New York, Editing by MacDonald Dzirutwe, Karin Strohecker and Christina Fincher)

FILE PHOTO: Branded T-shirts and baseball caps with images of Nigerian presidential candidates are displayed at a shopping center in Abuja

What is at stake for investors in Nigeria’s election?

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="533" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/download-60.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423083" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/download-60.jpg 800w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/download-60-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/download-60-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/download-60-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Zambia&#8217;s Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane attends the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington, U.S., October 15, 2022. REUTERS/James Lawler Duggan</figcaption></figure>



Feb 13 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Zambia&#8217;s finance minister rejected a call from China for the World Bank and other multilateral lenders to join a restructuring of the country&#8217;s debt and warned that delays were holding up the economy, the Financial Times reported on Monday.



In an interview with the newspaper, Situmbeko Musokotwane said that &#8220;time is of the essence&#8221; to finish a restructuring of about $13 billion of external debt this year and signalled that China&#8217;s demand was a distraction from talks for reducing the loans.



&#8220;Discussions at higher levels like those just make our situation worse, because what we are looking for is urgent solutions, not discussions that may drag out the matter,&#8221;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/b136a36b-5822-4647-8efe-67fc18b00ea3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the report</a>&nbsp;quoted Musokotwane as saying.



The People&#8217;s Bank of China and the Ministry of Finance both did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.



Zambia became the first African country to default in the COVID-19 era in 2020, but the restructuring of its external debts of almost $15 billion with creditors including China and Eurobond holders has been greatly delayed.



Government data showed Zambia owed Chinese creditors nearly $6 billion of the total of $17 billion external debt at the end of 2021.



U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and other Group of Seven have grown increasingly frustrated about what they see as foot-dragging by China in moving forward on debt rescheduling for countries seeking help. China, for its part, argues that multilateral institutions should also be required to accept reductions in the debt they are owed.



(Reporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim Coghill &amp; Simon Cameron-Moore)

Reuters

How Nigeria’s presidential election is galvanizing young voters

Kenya may issue different tenor Eurobond to manage upcoming maturity

South Africa’s naval exercise with Russia, China raises Western alarm

Insecurity threatens Nigeria’s democracy as voters elect a new president

Security and food crises expected to dominate African Union summit

Ghana talks with external bondholders due in a few weeks

South Africa’s Ramaphosa defends electricity minister appointment

Nigeria’s Buhari grants 60-day extension to turn in old banknotes

MTN commits to $1 bln Ghana investment after government scraps tax claim

Zimbabwe creditors to meet Feb. 23 over arrears clearance, says finance minister

Fashion meets politics at Nigeria election campaign events

Amplats CEO Viljoen to step down, join Newmont as COO

China, U.S. to participate in first meeting of new debt roundtable on Feb. 17

Ghana says domestic debt swap closed with over 80% participation

South African rand slides as Moody’s flags risks, dollar gains

What is at stake for investors in Nigeria’s election?

Zambia rejects China’s call for World Bank to join its debt restructuring – FT

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Reuters

How Nigeria’s presidential election is galvanizing young voters

Kenya may issue different tenor Eurobond to manage upcoming maturity

South Africa’s naval exercise with Russia, China raises Western alarm

Insecurity threatens Nigeria’s democracy as voters elect a new president

Security and food crises expected to dominate African Union summit

Ghana talks with external bondholders due in a few weeks

South Africa’s Ramaphosa defends electricity minister appointment

Nigeria’s Buhari grants 60-day extension to turn in old banknotes

MTN commits to $1 bln Ghana investment after government scraps tax claim

Zimbabwe creditors to meet Feb. 23 over arrears clearance, says finance minister

Fashion meets politics at Nigeria election campaign events

Amplats CEO Viljoen to step down, join Newmont as COO

China, U.S. to participate in first meeting of new debt roundtable on Feb. 17

Ghana says domestic debt swap closed with over 80% participation

South African rand slides as Moody’s flags risks, dollar gains

What is at stake for investors in Nigeria’s election?

Zambia rejects China’s call for World Bank to join its debt restructuring – FT

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