World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim issued the following statement on the devastating levels of food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa and Yemen: Famine is a stain on our collective conscience. Millions of lives are at risk and more will die if we do not act quickly and decisively.
&#8220;We at the World Bank Group stand in solidarity with the people now threatened by famine. We are mobilizing an immediate response for Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen. Our first priority is to work with partners to make sure that families have access to food and water,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;We are working toward a financial package of more than $1.6 billion to build social protection systems, strengthen community resilience, and maintain service delivery to the most vulnerable. This includes existing operations of over $870 million that will help communities threatened by famine. I am also working with our Board of Directors to secure the approval of new operations amounting to $770 million, funded substantially through IDA’s Crisis Response Window.&#8221;
The World Bank Group will help respond to the immediate needs of the current famine, but it is important to recognize that famine will have lasting impacts on people’s health, ability to learn, and earn a living. The World Bank will continue to work with communities to reclaim their livelihoods and build resilience to future shocks.
The Bank is working closely with the UN and other partners in all areas of its response. &#8220;We know that resolution to this acute crisis will not be possible without all humanitarian and development actors working together. We call on the international community to respond robustly and quickly to the UN global appeal for resources for the famine,&#8221; President Jim Yong Kim said. &#8220;To prevent crises in the future, we must invest in addressing the root causes and drivers of fragility today and help countries build institutional and societal resilience.”
Background
A famine means that a significant part of the population has no access to basic food, suffers from severe malnutrition, and death from hunger reaches unprecedented levels. Children under five are disproportionately affected. A famine can affect the well-being of a whole generation. Famine was officially declared on February 20 in South Sudan, impacting approximately 100,000 people, and there is a credible risk of other famines in Yemen, Northeast Nigeria, and other countries.
Ongoing conflicts and civil insecurity are further intensifying the food insecurity of millions of people across the region, and there is already widespread displacement and other cross-border spillovers. For instance, food insecurity in Somalia and famine in South Sudan are accelerating the flow of refugees into Ethiopia and Uganda. The UN estimates that about 20 million people in Nigeria, South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen are on the “tipping point” of famine. Drought conditions also extend to Uganda and parts of Tanzania. The last famine was declared in 2011 in Somalia during which 260,000 people died.

World Bank Group President calls for urgent action on hunger crisis

Women graduating from university in developed markets in 2020 could be the first generation to close the gender pay gap in their professional lifetimes, according to new research from Accenture that covers South Africa and other countries.
The report, “Getting to Equal 2017,” reveals that, within decades, the pay gap could close if women take advantage of three career equalisers and if business, government and academia provide critical support.
With these changes, the pay gap in developed markets could close by 2044, shortening the time to pay parity by 36 years. In developing markets, the changes could cut more than 100 years off the time to reach pay parity, achieving it by 2066 and for South Africa specifically by 2041 closing the gap at a faster rate than developing markets shortening the time to pay parity by 52 years.
“The future workforce must be an equal workforce. The gender pay gap is an economic and competitive imperative that matters to everyone, and we must all take action to create significant opportunities for women and close the gap more quickly,” said Gale Shabangu, Inclusion and Diversity lead at Accenture in South Africa.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-91382 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Accenture-gender-pay-gap.png" width="1262" height="626" />
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Accenture’s research found that, globally, a woman earns an average $100 for every $140 a man earns. Adding to this imbalance is the fact that women are much less likely than men to have paid work (50 percent and 76 percent, respectively). This contributes to a “hidden pay gap” that increases the economic inequities between men and women: for every $100 a woman earns, a man earns $258, the research shows while for South Africa this translates to: for every $100 a woman earns, a man earns $191.
The research also identifies several critical factors that affect a woman’s ability to achieve equal pay as early as university. Female undergraduates are currently less likely than their male counterparts to choose an area of study that they believe offers high earning potential (31 percent vs. 39 percent for South Africa) or aspire to senior leadership positions (53 percent vs. 64 percent locally). Additionally, only 53 percent of young women (vs. 71 percent of men) in South Africa adopt new technologies quickly and are also much slower in taking up coding and computing courses.
The report, which builds on Accenture’s 2016 research on closing the gender gap in the work place, offers three powerful accelerators to help women close the pay gap:
<ul>
<li>Digital fluency – the extent to which people use digital technologies to connect, learn and work</li>
<li>Career strategy – the need for women to aim high, make informed choices, and manage their careers proactively</li>
<li>Tech immersion – the opportunity to acquire greater technology and stronger digital skills to advance as quickly as men</li>
</ul>
Applying these career accelerators, combined with support from business, government and academia, could boost women’s income by 2030 by $3.9 trillion globally and $47.2b in South Africa enabling the country to reach parity in 2041.
“Gender equality is an essential element of an inclusive workplace, and this extends to pay,” said Pierre Nanterme, Accenture’s chairman and CEO. “Business, government and academia all have an important role to play in closing the gap. Collaboration among these organisations is key to providing the right opportunities, environments and role models to lead the way for change.”
Methodology 
Accenture surveyed more than 28,000 women and men, including undergraduates, in 29 countries. The sample included equal representation of men and women, representing three generations (Millennials, Gen X and Baby Boomers) across all workforce levels at companies of varying size. The margin of error for the total sample was approximately +/- 0.6 percent.
Survey data was analysed using econometric modelling to identify drivers of pay equality and career advancement and then combined with published data on education, employment, leadership and research from the World Bank, the OECD, World Economic Forum and the UN to then explore the potential impact of measures to improve equality. The pay gap calculations are based on Accenture’s economic model, which takes into account the lower percentage of women than men in paid work.
Countries included in the full study were Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greater China (includes Hong Kong and Taiwan), India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States. Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates also participated in the survey.

Three critical accelerators to closing the gender pay gap for Class of 2020

Democratization in Africa 
On Thursday, 19 November 1863, during the Gettysburg Address, US President Lincoln defined democracy as a “government of the people, by the people, and for the people”. The method in which the people take part in this form of government is at the ballot box by voting in elections. Therefore, elections serve as the hallmark (but not the only way) of the practice of democracy in democratic systems.
Democratization has swept across the African continent since the end of colonialism, in the late 1950’s – from Ghana’s first presidential elections on 27 April 1960, to South Africa’s in 27 April 1994, and then to Nigeria’s first elections in 27 February 1999.
The Economist Intelligence Unit has revealed, in a <a href="http://www.eiu.com/Handlers/WhitepaperHandler.ashx?fi=Democracy-Index-2016.pdf&amp;mode=wp&amp;campaignid=DemocracyIndex2016">report</a>, the different categories of democratic systems across the world for the year 2016. Of the 19 full democracies in the world, one of them is an African country &#8211; Mauritius; of the 57 flawed democracies in the world, 7 are from Africa and include Cape Verde, South Africa, Namibia; of the 40 hybrid democracies, 14 are from Africa and include Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria. The United States went from being a full democracy to being categorized as a flawed democracy in the 2016 report.
Excerpts from an Interview with Professor Jega (former chairman of INEC)
In a recent interview with <a href="http://www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/people/attahiru-muhammadu-jega">Professor Attahiru Muhammadu Jega</a> the former chairman of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), who oversaw the 2011 and the 2015 general elections in Nigeria. He is the current and the inaugural Africa Initiative for Governance Visiting Fellow of Practice at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government. He had the following to say about overseeing what was considered a widely applauded electoral process in Nigeria’s elections in what is, arguably, Africa’s giant nation.
Jega said the key message he emphasised while being at the helm of INEC was, “credible elections are the business of everybody, not only the work of an electoral commission, and all hands had to be on deck in order to deliver credible elections”. He acknowledged that the 2007 Nigerian elections were considered to be “the worst elections in the history of [the] country”. He further said that INEC engaged with civil society organisations, who had previously advocated for electoral reforms in Nigeria after the 2007 elections. Jega recognized and credited “the partnership with credible civil society organisations [as being] to a large extent responsible for the success of the 2011 as well as the 2015 general elections”.
When asked about the backdrop upon which he executed his mandate at INEC – given the loss of public confidence in the electoral process following the 2007 elections as well as the general public’s cynicism towards the electoral system in the country, Jega said, “a lesson they learnt quite early at INEC was that success would only be predicated on open and transparent conduct and gaining the confidence of all stakeholders”. He said, “The INEC [they] came into in June 2010 had a very negative image of being an electoral commission that was not considered as transparent […] and too cosy with the incumbent government”. He emphasised that it was a “herculean task for [his team in INEC] to clean the [commission] of that negative image”.
Whether there is a relationship between democracy and economic growth in Africa’s context, Jega said, “Most African countries have embraced democracy. There is a clear link (by scholars and theorists of democratization) between democracy and development. But what is constraining development in [some countries in] Africa is the poor conduct of elections – the lack of integrity in the way in which elections are conducted. The multiplicity of irregularities that characterize the conduct of elections in countries like Nigeria, which are diverse, is obstructive of the desires of development […]”. His advice to African countries that will be conducting elections in 2017: Kenya, Liberia, Rwanda and Angola is to bring integrity to the conduct of elections.
To the incumbent governments, he said: “Electoral Commissions are not just any government agency that can be incorporated in the incumbent regime’s governing agenda – they should be relatively independent and well-financed and given the freedom to organize and conduct elections with integrity”. As regards Jega’s advice to Electoral Commissions, he advised on the importance of focus despite criticism from both incumbent governments and the oppositions. He also advised on the significance of careful planning and the “meticulous implementation of their plans as well as the creation of a level playing field for all contestants and all political parties involved”.
The tenure of Jega, as the head of INEC was not without public opposition and controversy, with some politicians questioning some of his decisions. When Jega was specifically asked about the public incident when he was called “tribalistic” and “partial”, this is what Jega had to say: “The work of chairman of an electoral commission in a country like Nigeria, which is diverse and large, and also has a lot of religious and ethnic mobilisation brought into the conduct of elections, is very challenging”.
He noted the significant opposition he faced when he announced the decision to make use of the card-reader technology into the elections, and said: “Having accepted the job, I had to prepare my mind as to how to withstand the challenges which came with the job. When politicians from both sides, the government side and the opposition side are criticizing you, then you know you must be doing something right”. He said, however, that he knew that elections with integrity were difficult to achieve but not impossible.
When he was asked on whether he would run for elected office in Nigeria, he responded with a “No”. He said, “For now he will continue his work as an academic”.
Conclusion: Democracy &amp; Economic Policy
Scholars have <a href="http://voxeu.org/article/do-elections-developing-countries-improve-economic-policy">shown</a> that there is a correlation between conducting credible elections and economic policy in developing countries. In a study by the same scholars, it was concluded that the extent to which economic policy serves to improve is based on the frequency of elections – the more the better; it was also noted, however, that if such elections are of low-quality the fewer the elections the better – as low-quality elections “<a href="http://voxeu.org/article/do-elections-developing-countries-improve-economic-policy">may actually worsen policy</a>”.
The importance of competitive elections with integrity serve as the crux of a functioning and healthy democracy, where the electorate can hold their governments to account and where governments are disciplined to develop economic policy and improve good governance.
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Is there a relationship between democracy and economic growth?

In response to today’s announcement that the South African government has decided to revoke its notice to the UN of its intention to withdraw from Rome Statute, Amnesty International’s Africa Director for Research and Advocacy, Netsanet Belay said: “This formal revocation of the notice of withdrawal from the ICC presents yet another opportunity for the government of South Africa to rethink its decision to thwart the pursuit of justice. While the international community appears indifferent to mass atrocities committed with impunity around the world, it is even more important today that South Africa reclaims its position as a champion of African victims of crimes under international law.
 
&#8220;It remains to be seen if this revocation means a shift in Government’s intention to withdraw from the ICC or rather a temporary step to comply with the High Court decision and exhaust domestic procedures before formalising its withdrawal.
 “If the Government’s revocation of its withdrawal becomes permanent, it means the nation follows the lead of Gambia which also revoked its withdrawal from the Rome Statute recently.
 
“We urge South Africa to align itself with the majority of African states that have unequivocally rejected calls for withdrawal and stood firm in their support for the ICC.”
 
Amnesty International has today submitted a briefing to the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services in response to the call for public comment on the proposed Implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Repeal Bill. Click here to download the briefing.
 
Background
 
The news of South Africa revoking its notification of withdrawal from the Rome Statute follows a decision by the North Gauteng High Court two weeks ago which held, in a case brought by the opposition Democratic Alliance, that the government’s action in withdrawing from the ICC without consulting Parliament was unconstitutional and invalid, and which ordered the government to revoke its withdrawal.
The government had officially deposited its instrument of withdrawal from the ICC with the United Nations on 19 October 2016. 
On 16 February 2017, Gambia also revoked its withdrawal from the Rome Statute.
 
The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation today received a briefing by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development on the High Court ruling on the ICC withdrawal and subsequent revocation.

South Africa: Revocation of withdrawal from the ICC a chance to rethink thwarting pursuit of justice

On Monday, March 6, small protests about plans to change the rations system for bread broke out in Egypt. By Tuesday, the number of protesters had swelled to hundreds in multiple cities across the country.
Security forces were uncharacteristically calm in their dealings with the protesters – mainly, perhaps, because many were elderly women – and ended up handing out free loaves of bread in some areas rather than suppressing the demonstrations with force.
These are the first significant protests directly related to the recent surge in prices brought about by economic reforms. They had been expected and more could follow.
The main gripe of the protesters was a change to the number of loaves allocated to each family using ration cards.
According to Reuters, there are two cards issued to the public. The normal plastic smart cards allow each family to buy five subsidised loaves of bread each day. There are also temporary paper cards issued to people waiting to receive the smart cards.
Bakers are authorised to sell bread at subsidised rates to customers with these temporary cards, but the government announced last week that the ration for them would be decreased from five loaves to three.
This move was meant to reduce the misuse of the temporary cards – bakers saying they sell more than they really do in order to benefit off of the subsidy.
Supply Minister Ali Moselhy apologised to citizens who had not received their bread due to the change and assured Egyptians that “every citizen has a right to bread.”
Videos posted online showed crowds blocking tram lines and railway tracks in the cities of Alexandria and Desouk. Protests also took place in Giza and the Minya governorate.
Understandably, the protests mostly took place in working class neighbourhoods, where the rising price of goods has had the biggest effect on livelihoods.
These protests come at a critical time for Egypt. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is in the process of appraising the progress made on the reform agenda as part of the decision to release a second disbursal of the $12bn loan.
Although the IMF’s delegation has been postponed until April, any adverse effects of further protests, such as the slowdown of further reform implementations, poses significant risk to the loan programme and may prompt the IMF to freeze the second loan tranche – as was the case with Tunisia where the IMF has usually been rather lenient.
With the country having limited room to manoeuvre, this is likely not the first episode of rationalising food subsidies or inflationary reform action.
This forms part of the government’s aim to replace poorly targeted subsidies with programmes that directly support poor households.
There has been declining trend in riots and protests during President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s time in office.
Analysts have ascribed the decline to the ratcheting up of repression against civil society and a general disengagement with politics. However, as 2011 and 2013 showed, the situation can change rapidly.
Mr Sisi is undoubtedly aware of this. The prompt apology by Mr Moselhy and the soft approach taken by the police show that he knows to handle the situation with care.
The situation warrants close watching as Mr Sisi’s popularity is low and the effects of the austerity measures are likely to persist for some time yet.
In 2011, protesters chanted “bread, freedom, social justice.” Bread was their first demand.

Egypt – Bread, freedom, social justice

Australia&#8217;s FAR Ltd, a partner in an oilfield off Senegal, on Thursday said the project could start producing before 2021, earlier than previously touted, and at a higher rate than flagged before.
Operator Cairn Energy Plc and FAR released updates this week following drilling on their latest well, SNE-5, which will help the companies and their new partner, Woodside Petroleum, delineate reservoirs and finalise how to develop the SNE field.
One of two reservoirs tested yielded a better-than-expected flow of oil, while the other was in line with expectations, said FAR Chief Executive Cath Norman.
<blockquote>&#8220;What it means is we can apply a much higher recovery factor to that unit, and that will have an impact on the resources of the field,&#8221; she told Reuters in an interview.</blockquote>
The companies expect to come up with a joint estimate of the field&#8217;s reserves around June or July, Norman said. FAR currently estimates SNE holds 640 million barrels of proved and probable reserves.
Cairn, FAR and Woodside had all said they expected to start producing some time between 2021 and 2023, using a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.
Norman said the timing of first oil &#8220;probably&#8221; could be brought forward, but that would depend on the targeted production rate for the field, currently estimated at 100,000 to 120,000 barrels per day by Cairn and 140,000 bpd by FAR.
&#8220;There are FPSOs, for example, in abundance coming out of Brazil at the moment,&#8221; she said.
&#8220;If we need to cater for, say, 200,000 barrels of production a day, then we&#8217;re going to need to customise them in some way, so it really depends on what the final development concept looks like.&#8221;
FAR&#8217;s share price has fallen about 30 percent over the past year, with Norman saying the market had failed to recognise the potential of the field.
Cairn Chief Executive Simon Thomson told analysts on Wednesday that the firm was working towards handing over operation of the field to Woodside, which bought out ConocoPhillips&#8217; stake in the project late last year.
(Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Joseph Radford)
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Australia’s FAR says Senegal oilfield could start earlier than expected

Old Mutual is on track to complete its break-up into four parts by the end of 2018, although improvements to IT systems at its UK asset management unit could take longer and cost more than expected, the chief executive said on Thursday.
The Anglo-South African financial services group is splitting itself up into its four main businesses because it says regulatory change has made it too complex to run the disparate group in its current form.
The firm said in August 2016 that a new platform for Old Mutual Wealth would cost 450 million pounds ($547.07 million) and be completed around the end of 2018.
&#8220;This is a very, very complex new build of a replacement platform &#8230; these projects tend to take longer and cost more than one would like&#8221;, chief executive Bruce Hemphill told Reuters by phone, though he added he didn&#8217;t think any changes to costs or timing would delay the group&#8217;s separation plans.
The firm said in a trading statement it planned to give more detail on the platform upgrade within the next two months.
Old Mutual plans to dual-list its UK asset management and African emerging markets businesses in London and Johannesburg and cut stakes in its U.S. asset management division and South Africa&#8217;s Nedbank. It has already started selling its stake in OM Asset Management (OMAM) down to 51 percent.
It has also said it is open to offers for its businesses, amid speculation of private equity bidders for some of them.
Hemphill said the break-up plans had &#8220;sparked a lot of interest,&#8221; without giving more detail.
Eamonn Flanagan, analyst at Shore Capital, said &#8220;the news that the UK platform transformation is expected to take longer and cost more is not going to be taken well&#8221;, but reiterated his buy rating on the stock after stronger than expected results.
Old Mutual posted a slightly above-forecast 2016 adjusted operating profit of 1.67 billion pounds, up 1 percent from a year earlier, helped by a focus on costs in a volatile political and economic environment.
The profit compares with 1.61 billion pounds in a company-supplied consensus forecast.
The group also said it appointed former South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel as chairman of its emerging markets business, following a review which means a greater focus on sub-Saharan Africa.
Old Mutual shares were trading at 225.8 pence at 0850 GMT, down 1.4 percent and compared with an 0.5 percent drop in the FTSE 100 index.
Old Mutual said it would pay a final dividend of 3.39 pence and total dividend of 6.06 pence, down 32 percent from a year ago.
(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; Editing by Jane Merriman and Edmund Blair)

Old Mutual break-up on track for 2018 despite UK tech issues: CEO

Cyclone Enawo, a massive tropical storm packing winds up to 300 km per hour (185 mph), killed at least five people when it slammed into the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar, officials said on Wednesday.
Enawo made landfall on the vanilla-producing northeastern coast on Tuesday morning, destroying roads and cutting off lines of communication to the Antalaha district that has a population of 230,000 people.
By late Wednesday it had been downgraded from an intense tropical cyclone to a tropical storm with winds gusting up to 130 kph as it headed towards the capital Antananarivo.
Even as it was 100 km away from the city it was causing major disruption. The streets were deserted as people stayed indoors. Prime Minister Olivier Mahafaly ordered companies to let employees stay home to avoid the danger of rising water and landslides.
About 500 people took shelter in a sports hall after the Andriantany canal, which drains waste water from the city, overflowed.
As of 8 p.m. (1700 GMT) five people had been confirmed killed and seven injured, the national office of risk management said. An estimated 22,000 people were either displaced or had their property damaged by what was one of Madagascar&#8217;s worst storms in years.
Emergency assistance including tents, food and small boats was ready to be sent to the affected areas once the storm cleared, Prime Minister Mahafaly told reporters in his office.
&#8220;We will do our best with our own resources but we will make an emergency declaration if necessary, if the damage will be significant,&#8221; he said.
(Writing by Duncan Miriri and Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
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Cyclone kills at least five people as it slams into Madagascar

Zambia&#8217;s electricity costs will be the &#8220;defining issue&#8221; for the mining sector this year and beyond, Chamber of Mines President Nathan Chishimba said on Thursday.
The southern African country, which is a major copper producer, is struggling to maintain power supplies as a severe drought has caused levels to drop in the Kariba Dam which generates much of the nation&#8217;s electricity.
Zambia&#8217;s Finance minister Felix Mutati said in this year&#8217;s budget speech that the government planned to raise electricity tariffs to reflect production costs by the end of this year.
Chishimba said mining companies were in talks with the government on the higher tariffs but declined to disclose any further details.
&#8220;At present, the cost of producing electricity in Zambia is not known, as the last study was done &#8230; 10 years ago, in 2007. However, a new study, funded by the African Development Bank, is expected to commence in the course of 2017,&#8221; Chishimba told journalists.
Chishimba said proposed electricity tariffs at Zambia&#8217;s newest power projects were more than 20 percent above global benchmarks established by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
&#8220;What this suggests is that Zambia’s electricity is not being produced efficiently by global standards, or there is a lack of transparency around the way in which tariffs are calculated,&#8221; Chishimba said.
Zambia needed a revitalised, reformed power sector able to deliver cost-efficient, competitively priced electricity to grow the economy, he said.
Zambia&#8217;s copper production rose to 770,000 tonnes last year from 711,000 tonnes in 2015 but below the target of 1 million tonnes largely due to restricted power supply, Chishimba said.
(Reporting by Chris Mfula; Editing by Jane Merriman)

Zambia’s power costs “defining issue” for mining -chamber of mines

Sanlam Ltd, South Africa&#8217;s biggest life insurer, reported a 6 percent decline in annual profit on Thursday, dragged down by unfavourable currency moves and weaker returns from the equity market.
Normalised headline earnings, a key profit measure that strips out certain one-off items, came in at 8.4 billion rand ($638.79 million), or 408.5 cents per share, in the year to end-December 2016, compared with 8.8 billion rand, or 432.5 cents per share, a year earlier.
Insurers in Africa&#8217;s most advanced economy have been bulking up their presence elsewhere in Africa to offset slowing growth at home, but the continent&#8217;s prospects have been dealt a blow by a collapse in commodity prices.
&#8220;We expect the challenging operating environment and economic climate to persist in 2017,&#8221; Sanlam Chief Executive Ian Kirk said in a statement.
Sanlam has operations in 11 African countries, India and Malaysia.
($1 = 13.1498 rand)
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
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South African insurer Sanlam posts 6 pct fall in FY profit

South African drugmaker Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd reported a 6 percent rise in first-half profit on Thursday, helped by the results of a recently acquired portfolio of medicines from AstraZeneca.
Aspen, the biggest generic drugmaker in the southern hemisphere, said normalised headline earnings per share rose to 692 cents in the six months ended December 2016, from 656 cents a year earlier.
Headline EPS is the main profit measure in South Africa and strips out certain one-off items.
Aspen said the results were largely boosted by the $770 million acquisition of marketing rights to a portfolio of anaesthetics from AstraZeneca in September last year.
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
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South Africa’s Aspen posts 6 pct rise in H1 profit

South Africa&#8217;s biggest lender by value, FirstRand, reported a 14 percent rise in half-year profit on Thursday, helped by a strong showing at its auto finance unit.
FirstRand said headline EPS totalled 212 cents in the six months ended December, compared with 185 cents a year earlier.
Headline EPS, which strips out certain one-off items, is the main measure of profit in South Africa.
Wesbank, its auto finance business, posted a 9 percent rise in earnings, outpacing a 2 and 3 percent growth in retail and investment banking units, respectively, FirstRand said.
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by Sunil Nair)
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South Africa’s FirstRand H1 profit up on auto finance boost

Botswana will cut corporate tax by up to 77 percent for investors in a mining town southeast of the capital, the trade and industry minister said on Tuesday, part of a package to attract them to a region hit by the collapse of BCL Mine.
BCL Mine was put under provisional liquidation in October last year resulting in close to 8,000 jobs being lost in the Selebi-Phikwe region of 50,000 people.
Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Vincent Seretse said the measures include fiscal incentives, government off-take, provision of land and a one-stop service centre.
The fiscal incentives include five percent corporate tax for the first five years, 10 percent corporate tax thereafter and zero customs duty on imported raw materials.
Corporate tax in Botswana stands at 22 percent while companies in manufacturing and financial services and those registered in the Innovation Hub pay 15 percent corporate tax.
(Writing by Tiisetso Motsoeneng, editing by David Evans)

Botswana seeks to attract investors to mining town with tax cut

By Mfuneko Toyana
South Africa&#8217;s economy contracted 0.3 percent quarter-on-quarter in the final three months of last year as mining and manufacturing output shrank, the statistics agency said on Tuesday, putting credit ratings at risk.
Africa&#8217;s most industrialised economy faces the risk of being downgraded to junk status owing to weak economic growth after it got a reprieve last year. S&amp;P and Fitch’s ratings are one level above junk status, with Moody’s two notches above.
Poor economic growth has stymied revenue collection, and there is no major turnaround imminent with the Treasury expecting growth of just 1.3 percent this year, well short of the government&#8217;s target of 5 percent annual growth.
The rand briefly trimmed gains against the dollar, and was trading at 12.9675 at 1100 GMT after touching a session high of 12.9300 earlier.
<blockquote>&#8220;The decline was largely driven by lower production in mining and manufacturing. The primary sector is continuing to show a declining trend,&#8221; said Michael Manamela, chief director for national accounts at Statistics South Africa.</blockquote>
The mining sector fell 11.5 percent in the quarter, while manufacturing was down 3.1 percent.
As well as struggling with a volatile political environment, South Africa has been plagued by falling commodity prices and a chronically high unemployment rate.
On a year-on-year basis, the economy grew at 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter, unchanged from the previous quarter.
After growing 0.4 percent quarter-on-quarter in the three months to September, the economy shrank by 0.3 percent in the quarter to December, the statistics agency said. The figure lagged the 0.5 percent growth expected by economists polled by Reuters.
The economy grew by 0.3 percent in 2016 versus 1.3 percent in 2015.
Fiscal consolidation will remain difficult,&#8221; Standard Chartered Bank&#8217;s Chief Africa Economist Razia Khan said, adding the economy was not growing enough to make a positive difference to key credit metrics.
<blockquote>&#8220;Debt ratios still look troubled. Nothing can be taken for granted. South Africa needs greater economic momentum, but it remains unclear what might drive that,&#8221; Khan said.</blockquote>
Capital Economics Africa economist John Ashbourne said in a note the data fell slightly short of what was expected &#8220;but the worst is now behind us.&#8221; He said underlying figures support the view that growth would pick up faster than most expect in 2017.
A survey showed on Friday that private sector activity remained in growth territory for a sixth straight month in February as businesses saw a small rise in new orders, leading them to increase output and employment.
(Writing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by James Macharia and Ken Ferris)

South Africa’s economy contracts in fourth quarter as mining & manufacturing slip

Ghana&#8217;s President Nana Akufo-Addo said on Monday the country had run out of excuses for failing to end poverty and corruption, 60 years after it became the first in sub-Saharan Africa to win independence from colonial rule.
Akufo-Addo said Ghana must not sacrifice its environment as it pursues development, in an anniversary speech delivered in the capital where Kwame Nkrumah became the country&#8217;s founding president after Britain departed.
Akufo-Addo beat his predecessor John Mahama in December and his advisors say he must implement his election promises quickly to retain the support of voters who have ejected the government of the day three times since 2000. [L5N1GF3LG]
He has vowed to stabilize national finances, help create private sector jobs, cut taxes and promote development with a dam in every village and a factory in every district. Last month, he appointed a special prosecutor for corruption cases.
<blockquote>&#8220;We assumed &#8230; rapid economic development would follow the political freedom that we had won. Sadly, the economic development that was meant to accompany our freedom has still not materialised,&#8221; Akufo-Addo said.</blockquote>
&#8220;The challenge before us is to build our economy and generate a prosperous &#8230; and dignified life for the mass of our people. Hard work, enterprise, creativity, discipline and a consistent and effective fight against corruption in public life will bring the transformation that we seek,&#8221; he said.
Ghana&#8217;s independence in 1957 was a milestone in the struggle against colonial rule under nations including France, Britain, Belgium, Portugal and the Netherlands, opening the floodgates to independence by most of the continent. [L5N1FV4Q1]
Nkrumah&#8217;s support for liberation across the continent and African unity inspired other leaders, some of whom thought his socialist vision of development could be a template for the rest of the continent.
But the economy floundered and Nkrumah was toppled in a 1966 coup that was followed by several others. Ghana has held six peaceful elections since 1992 but its leaders say the country of 27 million has yet to live up to its promise.
Ghana has avoided corruption scandals on a scale seen in Kenya and Nigeria but many voters say graft is a growing problem. Its per capita gross national income stood at $250 in 1966 and $1,480 in 2015, according to World Bank data.
(Editing by Tim Cocks and Jon Boyle)
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No excuses for Ghana poverty 60 years after independence: president

Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) halted production at Nigeria&#8217;s Bonga oil field on March 4 for maintenance that will last at least a month.
SNEPCo said in a statement that Bonga, which has capacity to produce 225,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil and 150 million standard cubic feet (scf) of gas, is expected to resume production at at some point in April, without giving further details.
Market sources had expected work on the field because there were no exports planned in March, compared with typical exports of roughly 200,000 barrels per day (bpd). Bonga produced an average of 192,500 bpd of oil in 2015, according to the latest annual data from Nigerian state oil company NNPC.
(Reporting By Libby George; Editing by David Goodman)

Shell Nigeria shuts Bonga oil field for at least a month

The Competition Commission of South Africa has referred car carrier company Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd for a prosecution to the Tribunal for colluding on a tender for transportation of Toyota vehicles.
The Commission referred Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd (“K-Line”), a Japanese company operating in South Africa, to the Competition Tribunal for price fixing, market division and collusive tendering involving the transportation of Toyota vehicles from South Africa to Europe, the Mediterranean Coast of North Africa and the Caribbean Islands.
This follows the investigation by the Commission which found that K-Line, Mitsui O.S.K Lines Ltd (MOL), Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha Ltd (NYK), and Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics AS (WWL) fixed prices, divided markets and tendered collusively in respect of the shipment of Toyota vehicles from South Africa to Europe, North Africa, and the Caribbean Islands.
This conduct contravenes section 4(1)(b)(i),(ii) &amp; (iii) of the Competition Act 89 of 1998, as amended. The Commission’s investigation found that from at least 2002 to 2013 K-Line, MOL, NYK and WWL colluded on a tender issued by Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) to transport Toyota vehicles abroad from South Africa by sea.
The Commission found that K-Line, MOL, NYK and WWL agreed on the number of vessels that they were to operate on the South Africa to Europe routes at agreed intervals or frequencies. It also found that K-Line, MOL, NYK and WWL agreed on the freight rates that they were to charge TSAM for the shipment of Toyota vehicles.
In 2015, NYK and WWL admitted to colluding on this tender and settled with the Commission. NYK, also a Japanese company, paid an administrative penalty of R103 977 927.00. WWL, a Norwegian company, paid an administrative penalty of R95 695 529.00. MOL, another Japanese company, was not fined as it was first to approach the Commission and cooperated. MOL, NYK and WWL will cooperate with the Commission in prosecuting K-Line.
The Commission is seeking an order from the Tribunal declaring that K-Line, MOL, NYK and WWL contravened section 4(1)(b)(i),(ii) &amp; (iii) of the Act as well as an order declaring K-Line to be liable for payment of an administrative penalty equal to 10% of its annual turnover.
“South Africa is a strategic hub for the trade of goods in and out of the Southern African region. Any cartel by shipping lines in this region results in inflated prices for cargo transportation. Cartels of this nature increase the costs of trading in the region and render the region uncompetitive in the world markets. Such cartels have the effect of significantly derailing the economic growth of the region”, said the Commissioner of the Competition Commission Tembinkosi Bonakele.

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