<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="720" height="480" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/TRHNNI2YLFOJPALOZ2PBBVSKJ4.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-599361"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Lara Warner, Group Chief Risk Officer of Credit Suisse, speaks during the Milken Institute&#8217;s 22nd annual Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., April 29, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



ZURICH, March 19 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Switzerland&#8217;s finance ministry has fined Lara Warner, former compliance chief of collapsed lender Credit Suisse, 100,000 Swiss francs ($114,000), according to a Swiss government order seen by Reuters on Wednesday.



The bank executive failed to notify Switzerland&#8217;s anti-money laundering authorities of a suspicious 2016 transaction for 7.9 million francs handled by Credit Suisse and involving the finance ministry of Mozambique.



The case related to the $1.5 billion-plus &#8220;tuna bond&#8221; scandal that triggered a default crisis in Mozambique, the order said.



Warner, who worked at Credit Suisse between 2015 and 2021, is challenging the fine and assumed the charges would be dismissed in court, her lawyer told Reuters.



&#8220;The decision not to file a money laundering report was not made by Ms. Warner,&#8221; her lawyer said in a statement.



Credit Suisse was bought in 2023 by rival UBS&nbsp;UBSG.S&nbsp;in a government-engineered takeover.



The bank subsequently settled the Mozambique case out of court.



($1 = 0.8774 Swiss francs)



(Reporting by Ariane Luthi. Editing by Mark Potter)

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Switzerland fines former Credit Suisse executive over Mozambique case

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="720" height="489" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CQHIQM5JBJKV7LZU74FVH3XHBU.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-593756" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CQHIQM5JBJKV7LZU74FVH3XHBU.jpg 720w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CQHIQM5JBJKV7LZU74FVH3XHBU-300x204.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CQHIQM5JBJKV7LZU74FVH3XHBU-133x90.jpg 133w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Buyers examine bales at the start of the tobacco selling season, in Harare, Zimbabwe, March 30, 2022. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo</figcaption></figure>



HARARE, March 5 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Zimbabwe expects tobacco sales, its biggest agricultural export, to increase by 21% this year as the country recovers from last year&#8217;s drought, its agriculture minister said on Wednesday.



Africa&#8217;s top tobacco producer expects sales of the crop to rebound to 280 million kilograms this year after plummeting to 230.9 million kilograms in 2024 following an El Nino-induced drought, agriculture minister Anxious Masuka said.



Despite lower production in 2024, tobacco was the second biggest export commodity for Zimbabwe last year, only behind gold, earning a record $1.3 billion.



Zimbabwe&#8217;s tobacco farmers sell their crop at auction floors and to contracting companies, which then export it, mostly to China.



The projected 2025 sales are still below the record high of 296 million kilograms registered in 2023, according to sector regulator Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board.



(Reporting by Nelson Banya and Philimon Bulawayo; Editing by Christina Fincher)

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Zimbabwe expects tobacco sales to rise 21% in 2025

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="640" height="447" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/DPARTCVLZBNRTKXZ7HOYLUHI2E.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-590673"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Chief Executive Officer at De Beers Group, Al Cook and Botswana&#8217;s Minister of Mineral and Energy, Bogolo Kenewendo, meet for talks on a diamond deal at the Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town, South Africa February 3, 2025. REUTERS/Esa Alexander/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



GABORONE, Feb 25 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Botswana&#8217;s government on Tuesday signed a long-delayed 10-year diamonds sales agreement with Anglo American&nbsp;AAL.L&nbsp;unit De Beers adding a possible extension period of five more years to the provisional pact.



Under the final deal, the share of Botswana&#8217;s state-owned Okavango Diamond Company (ODC) in the production of Debswana &#8211; its 50-50 joint venture with De Beers &#8211; will reach 40% at the end of the agreement, revised from a provisional 50%.



ODC&#8217;s allocation could, however, rise to 50% during the proposed five-year extension period, according to a joint statement by Botswana&#8217;s government and De Beers.



During the first five years, ODC will sell 30% of Debswana&#8217;s output, up from 25% previously.



The provisional agreement reached with Botswana&#8217;s previous government had ODC&#8217;s allocation reaching 50% at the end of the 10-year pact.



Negotiations over the deal started in 2018 and an agreement announced in 2023 was never formally signed.



Botswana&#8217;s President Duma Boko, who swept to power last October, made signing the deal with De Beers a priority.



The deal is critical for the southern African country since its economy is largely dependent on the export of diamonds.



&#8220;We have us a good deal and we trust that it will carry us into the future. To the people of Botswana, this agreement is about you, about the jobs it will create,&#8221; Boko said at a signing ceremony in the capital Gaborone.



Under the agreement, Debswana&#8217;s mining licences, which were due to expire in 2029, will be extended until 2054.



Botswana&#8217;s government says the economy contracted last year because of a prolonged downturn in the global diamond market.



Declining demand and a supply glut, the rising popularity of lab-grown diamonds and a shift by younger consumers away from the precious stone, have all weighed on rough diamond prices.



However, the government hopes the economy will rebound this year because of an improvement in the global diamond market and a better performance of other sectors.



(Additional reporting by Nelson Banya and Bhargav Acharya; Writing by Sfundo Parakozov and Tannur Anders; Editing by Alexander Winning and Tomasz Janowski)

DPARTCVLZBNRTKXZ7HOYLUHI2E

Botswana, De Beers sign long-delayed diamonds deal

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="640" height="413" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/7TDBYVGF5ROF7KBJVB2XWAWXVQ.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-590625"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The logo of Galp is displayed at a petrol station in Ronda, Spain February 14, 2025. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



LISBON, Feb 25 (Reuters) &#8211; Portuguese oil company Galp GALP.LS said on Tuesday it had found significant presence of light oil and gas condensate in a fifth well in Namibia&#8217;s Mopane field, opening up new exploration opportunities that are sending its shares sharply higher.



Galp&#8217;s Mopane offshore discovery was initially estimated to hold at least 10 billion barrels of oil and gas equivalent.



The company drilled four wells there in 2024 to explore and appraise a first hub in the northwest area of the Mopane complex, and a fifth well last month, this time in the field&#8217;s southeast area.



It said in a statement that the new well, Mopane-3X, 18 km (11.18 miles) away from the first, targeted two stacked prospects &#8211; AVO-10 and AVO-13 &#8211; and a deeper sand at 1,200 metre water depth.



&#8220;Preliminary data confirms light oil and significant gas condensate columns between AVO-10, and light oil columns in AVO-13 and the deeper sand, in high-quality sandstones,&#8221; it said, also pointing to high pressure and permeability as well as low oil viscosity.



Galp shares were up 7% in morning trading and leading gains on the pan-European Stoxx 600 index&nbsp;.STOXX.



Jefferies said in a research note that the well should de-risk the 10 billion boe resource estimate for the Mopane Complex and support the case for a multi-Floating Production Storage and Offloading development.



Galp is looking to sell half of its 80% stake in Mopane&#8217;s Petroleum Exploration Licence 83 to a player who would become its operator, although it has said it is in no rush.



(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves and Joao Vicente Mauricio; editing by David Evans)

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Galp’s new well in Namibia’s Mopane finds more oil, shares rise

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 24 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Google&nbsp;GOOGL.O&nbsp;could be required to pay up to 500 million rand ($27.29 million) a year in compensation to South African media outlets after the country&#8217;s competition watchdog found the tech giant guilty of anti-competitive practices, while Meta&nbsp;META.O&nbsp;and X also face fines.



In provisional findings from a probe into market activities, released on Monday, South Africa&#8217;s Competition Commission said that&nbsp;Google&#8217;s algorithm distorts competition between news media organisations insofar as it overrepresents global news media in South Africa for search and top stories and underrepresents local language and community media.



&#8220;This inequity has materially contributed to the erosion of the media in South Africa over the past 14 years and will continue to do so unless remedied,&#8221; the watchdog&#8217;s report said.



To remedy this, it recommended that&nbsp;Google&nbsp;compensate the South African news media by 300 million to 500 million rand annually for a three to five-year period, &#8220;whilst putting in place changes to search that will sustainably create shared value with the media through increases in referral traffic.&#8221;



The watchdog will publish a final report later this year, with all parties concerned given until April&nbsp;7&nbsp;to submit evidence to support their case.



Google&nbsp;said that it will review the report in detail but disagreed with the claim that it has taken disproportionate value from publishers.



&#8220;In 2023, our products like&nbsp;Google&nbsp;Search and News generated an estimated 350 million rand in referral traffic value for South African publishers while we earned less than 19 million rand from ads displayed next to news queries,&#8221;&nbsp;Google&nbsp;said in a statement.



&#8220;Alongside this, we have invested in products, training and partnerships to support publishers and the broader news ecosystem, and will continue to do so.&#8221;



On social media companies, the Competition Commission recommended Meta-owned Facebook and X stop &#8220;deprioritising South Africa news media posts with links&#8221; in the home feed, For You and Lastestfeed algorithm and restore referral traffic to the media.



It wants Meta and&nbsp;Google&#8217;s YouTube to improve the ability of news media to monetize their content on these platforms through increases in revenue share.



If all these companies fail to implement these remedies within six months after the final report, a 5-10% digital advertising tariff or levy will be imposed, according to the report.



Meta was not immediately available for comment.



The remedies only apply to the South African operations of these companies, the Commission said.



($1 = 18.3215 rand)



(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Susan Fenton)

65GOX4BM3RI3VORRYQ5THS3W6M

Google, Meta face penalties for anti-competitive behaviour towards South African news media

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="531" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/4OOZWTKIY5LIFJQATNM7KMQ4T4-820x531.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-496289" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/4OOZWTKIY5LIFJQATNM7KMQ4T4-820x531.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/4OOZWTKIY5LIFJQATNM7KMQ4T4-300x194.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/4OOZWTKIY5LIFJQATNM7KMQ4T4-139x90.jpg 139w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/4OOZWTKIY5LIFJQATNM7KMQ4T4-768x497.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/4OOZWTKIY5LIFJQATNM7KMQ4T4-1536x994.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/4OOZWTKIY5LIFJQATNM7KMQ4T4-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A building of the Bank of Botswana is seen in the capital Gaborone in Botswana, in this November 26, 2015 file photo. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko</figcaption></figure>



GABORONE, Feb 20 (Reuters) &#8211; Botswana&#8217;s central bank kept its monetary policy rate unchanged for the third meeting in a row at 1.90% in a decision announced on Thursday.



Inflation in the Southern African country quickened to 2.5% year on year in January, from 1.7% a month earlier.



The Bank of Botswana prefers inflation between 3% and 6% in the medium term.



Botswana&#8217;s economy is largely dependent on the export of diamonds, with a sharp downturn in global demand for the precious stone triggering an economic contraction last year.



But the government hopes the economy will rebound this year because of an improvement in the global diamond market and a better performance in other sectors.



(Reporting by Brian Benza; Additional reporting by Bhargav Acharya; Writing by Sfundo Parakozov; Editing by Alexander Winning)

File photo of building of the Bank of Botswana in the capital Gaborone in Botswana

Botswana central bank holds key rate for third consecutive meeting

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="539" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/YWWKJYXNFNKNXNNTA7PVQVR7QU-1-820x539.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-542871" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/YWWKJYXNFNKNXNNTA7PVQVR7QU-1-820x539.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/YWWKJYXNFNKNXNNTA7PVQVR7QU-1-300x197.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/YWWKJYXNFNKNXNNTA7PVQVR7QU-1-137x90.jpg 137w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/YWWKJYXNFNKNXNNTA7PVQVR7QU-1-768x505.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/YWWKJYXNFNKNXNNTA7PVQVR7QU-1.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A logo of the Bank of Namibia is seen at the company&#8217;s headquarters in Windhoek, Namibia, February 24, 2017. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



WINDHOEK, Feb 12 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Namibia&#8217;s central bank cut its main interest rate for the fourth straight monetary policy meeting, saying its projections showed inflation would remain well-contained and there was room to support the economy.



The Bank of Namibia reduced its repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.75%, after cutting by the same margin at its previous three policy meetings.



Annual inflation in the Southern African country fell to 3.2% in January from 3.4% in December. The central bank said in a statement on Wednesday that inflation was expected to average 4.0% this year.



Other reasons it gave for lowering the repo rate included the relatively high level of domestic real interest rates and adequate foreign reserves.



The bank forecast 2025 economic growth of 4.0%, higher than last year&#8217;s growth of 3.5%, but it said risks to the economic outlook had grown given global trade restrictions.



&#8220;We need to watch trade wars, &#8230; and see what the impact thereof is on the Namibian economy,&#8221; said Bank of Namibia Governor Johannes !Gawaxab.



Namibia&#8217;s economy is closely tied to that of its neighbour South Africa, and its currency is pegged 1:1 to the rand.



!Gawaxab said relations between South Africa and the United States under President Donald Trump would have a profound impact on Namibia.



Trump last week signed an executive order cutting U.S. financial assistance to South Africa over its land policy and genocide case against Washington&#8217;s ally Israel at the International Court of Justice.



South Africa has defended itself, saying the executive order &#8220;lacks factual accuracy and fails to recognise South Africa&#8217;s profound and painful history of colonialism and apartheid&#8221;.



(Reporting by Nyasha Nyaungwa; Writing by Tannur Anders; Editing by Alexander Winning)

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Namibia central bank cuts key rate for fourth meeting in a row

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="640" height="427" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/RXHBRIN7LJNSFFFWOTPXXEJNUY-1.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-582810"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The TotalEnergies logo sits on the company&#8217;s headquarter skyscraper in the La Defense business district in Paris, France, March 24, 2022. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



PARIS, Feb 5 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;TotalEnergies&nbsp;TTEF.PA&nbsp;CEO Patrick Pouyanne said on Wednesday that financing from the United States for its $20 billion Mozambique LNG project is expected to be approved in coming weeks, with other credit agencies to follow in the months after.



The company is waiting for loan re-approvals from the United States, UK and Dutch export credit agencies before lifting a force majeure on the project that has been in place since 2021.



Speaking to journalists after reporting fourth-quarter earnings, Pouyanne said he expected a prior loan approval to be restored fairly quickly under the Trump administration.



He added that the project completion date would need to be pushed back to 2029-2030, from a previously planned 2027.



The U.S. Export-Import Bank had previously agreed a $4.7 billion loan for the project but it needs to be re-approved, after construction on the project was frozen in 2021 due to violent unrest in the northern Cabo Delgado region near the project site — before any disbursements were made.



Pouyanne said that Britain, which has pledged around $800 million to $1 billion, is looking to see if it has a legal right to exit, but noted it had already signed a contract on the financing.



&#8220;I am waiting to see how they will explain it to us,&#8221; he said.



(Reporting by Benjamin Mallet and America Hernandez. Writing by Dominique Patton; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

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TotalEnergies CEO says US financing for Mozambique LNG project expected in coming weeks

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/40205162585_b9b3656642_b-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-580770" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/40205162585_b9b3656642_b-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/40205162585_b9b3656642_b-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/40205162585_b9b3656642_b-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/40205162585_b9b3656642_b-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/40205162585_b9b3656642_b.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /></figure>



The race to lead the African Development Bank (AfDB) picked up pace this week as the Zambian, Senegalese and Mauritanian candidates pledged to boost faster development of the world’s poorest continent.



Ex-World Bank senior official Samuel Maimbo of Zambia formally launched his campaign today and will fight it out against Senegal’s Amadou Hott, the special envoy of the bank’s Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa, and Mauritania’s Sidi OuldTah, former Director General of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa.



Since assuming leadership of the African Development Bank in 2015, Akinwumi Adesina, a former Nigerian agriculture minister whose term ends in October, has championed Africa’s agriculture as a unique investment opportunity and last week, together with the World Bank, launched an $8 billion drive to provide power to 300 million Africans.



Announcing a candidacy he said was backed by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Community for Eastern and Southern African States (COMESA), Maimbo said Africa needed bold leadership to achieve this, citing his role in helping raise a $90 billion financing package under the International Development Association replenishment.



“Africa stands at a critical juncture,” Maimbo said in a statement from Lusaka, Zambia. “We need to get one billion people to work as quickly as possible by strategically supporting the industries that will improve livelihoods and ignite prosperity on our continent.’’



The AfDB, the only African financial institution rated triple A by Moody’s, Standard &amp; Poor’s and Fitch, selects a new leader next May to replace Nigeria’s Adesina who is not eligible to run again under the bank’s constitution.



Maimbo is bidding to become the second Zambian to hold the Presidency after compatriot Wila Mungomba, who led for a single term between 1980 and 1985. Senegal’s Babacar Ndiaye succeeded him and served two terms till 1995 when Morocco’s Omar Kabbaj took over, also serving two terms. Rwanda’s Donald Kaberuka succeeded him from 2005, also for two terms before Adesina’s arrival.



South Africa, Africa’s largest economy and the bank’s third largest African shareholder after Nigeria and Egypt, initially backed its national Bajabulile Tshabalala, a former Vice President of the Bank,&nbsp;before the Presidency publicly withdrew the support and threw its weight behind Maimbo as the SADC candidate.



Tanzania’s Frannie Leautier, CEO of Kigali based Southbridge Capital and also a former Vice President of the bank, had also been tipped to be in the running but may also have fallen victim to the SADC consensus on Maimbo.&nbsp;



Maimbo says his presidency will focus on boosting Africa’s share of global trade from the current 3 percent by unifying the efforts of its 1.4 billion people, strengthening regional markets and modernizing the continent’s infrastructure and agriculture while accelerating energy access in a region where almost two thirds of the population has no access to electricity.



“Africa needs significantly higher rates of growth to successfully navigate today’s development challenges and capture tomorrow’s opportunities,” he said. “I’m ready on day one to support governments in reaching their goals. It’s time to stop talking about Africa’s potential and start realizing it.”



Maimbo’s recently served as the Vice President of Budget, Performance Review, and Strategic Planning at the World Bank where he also served as Chief of Staff to successive World Bank Presidents. The election will be held on May 29 at the bank’s headquarters in Abidjan, commercial capital of Cote D’Ivoire.

SM Headshot 1

Race to lead Africa’s top development finance institution hots up

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="5000" height="3338" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/A7M7YHTKLZMKZHKW5UBBPCVSYQ.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-580185"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Namibians queue to vote in an the extension of the presidential and national assembly elections after delays on the offical election day earlier this week in Windhoek, Namibia, November 29, 2024. REUTERS/Noah Tjijenda/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



WINDHOEK, Jan 29 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Namibia&#8217;s unemployment rate rose to 36.9% in 2023 from 33.4% in 2018, the statistics office said on Wednesday.



The country of about three million people has one of the highest official unemployment levels in the world, having overtaken neighbouring South Africa whose unemployment rate fell to 32.1% in the third quarter of 2024 after the formation of a coalition government.



Statistician General Alex Shimuafeni said that 320,442 individuals were employed in Namibia in 2023, of the total 867,247 people in the labour force.



Namibia&#8217;s unemployment rate now excludes discouraged workers, making the actual number of people without jobs higher.



The broader unemployment rate stands at 54.8%, as reported in the 2023 Labour Force report, said Tannan Groenewald, head of data and analytics at Cirrus Capital.



Namibia&#8217;s President-elect Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah in December pledged &#8220;radical shifts&#8221; to fix the country&#8217;s high levels of poverty and unemployment.



(Reporting by Nyasha Nyaungwa; Editing by Tannur Anders and Peter Graff)

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Namibia’s unemployment rate rises to 36.9%

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="720" height="534" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/BBDPQPV6XFMSXA4NZNPNRY52FM.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-579816"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">People queue to withdraw money from a bank in Harare, Zimbabwe&#8217;s capital, March 8, 2017. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



HARARE, Jan 28 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Zimbabwe&#8217;s inflation rate rose sharply in January in both U.S. dollar and local currency terms, spurred by food and housing prices.



In dollar terms inflation accelerated to 14.6% year on year after rising by 2.5% in December. On a local currency basis inflation rose to 10.5% month on month in January compared to an increase of 3.7% in December, statistics agency data showed on Tuesday.



Independent economist Prosper Chitambara said last year&#8217;s severe regional drought and additional taxes introduced this month had likely contributed to the inflation increase.



&#8220;It could be the new taxes that have taken effect this month. The huge cost is passed on to consumers. Before the next harvest season we are likely to see an upward trend of inflation as drought continues to exert inflationary pressures,&#8221; Chitambara said.



In his latest budget Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube introduced a 0.5% tax on fast food and a 10% tax on all sports betting proceeds, which took effect this month.



Another independent economist, Tony Hawkins, said U.S. dollar inflation had been &#8220;grossly understated&#8221; and authorities in the Southern African country were playing catch-up.



Zimbabwe launched a new gold-backed currency in April last year, but it was sharply devalued in September and foreign currencies like the U.S. dollar are still used for most local transactions.



Since the devaluation, the Zimbabwe Gold currency has fallen further. It was trading around 26.3 to the dollar on Tuesday, according to the central bank&#8217;s website.



(Reporting by Nyasha Chingono and Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Alexander Winning, Sfundo Parakozov and Christina Fincher)

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Zimbabwe inflation rises sharply, spurred by food and housing

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1908" height="1363" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/DPL3JG6BMVNRRNWVIDNA74R5A4.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-577510"/><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>



Jan 22 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Zimbabwe&#8217;s finance minister expressed concern on Wednesday that a U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization will lead to aid cuts to countries such as his that are most affected by HIV/AIDS.



President Donald Trump signed an executive order on the U.S. withdrawal after his inauguration to a second term on Monday.



Warning that a U.S. withdrawal could signal cuts in health aid to countries such as Zimbabwe, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said: &#8220;Any country with an HIV/AIDS challenge will be impacted.&#8221;



&#8220;This is a concern, a fear we are expressing,&#8221; Ncube told an online briefing from the Swiss resort of Davos, where was attending the World Economic Forum.



Zimbabwe receives over $200 million annually from the U.S. President&#8217;s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and the U.S government has given Zimbabwe over $1.7 billion since 2006 to strengthen health systems and support people living with HIV, according the U.S. embassy in Harare.



PEPFAR contributes nearly $90 million a year to support salaries and incentives for healthcare workers in Zimbabwe, in addition to funding HIV and viral load testing, prevention, cervical cancer screening and tuberculosis treatment.



Zimbabwe is struggling to fund its public health system, and the government introduced a sugar tax on beverages last year to help raise funds for cancer treatment. Another tax on fast foods was introduced this year.



&#8220;We need to scale up our funding for health. The earmarked taxes should be directed towards health as we build our capacity to fill the gap should any funding recede,&#8221; Ncube said.



(Reporting by Nyasha Chingono; Editing by Tannur Anders and Timothy Heritage)

DPL3JG6BMVNRRNWVIDNA74R5A4

Zimbabwe fears US withdrawal from WHO will hit HIV/AIDS programmes

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="5000" height="3333" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/3DW6LEO47VMC3CWA77J2OKJYYU-1.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-573919"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The logo of British multinational oil and gas company Shell is displayed during the LNG 2023 energy trade show in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, July 12, 2023. REUTERS/Chris Helgren/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



LONDON, (Reuters) &#8211; Shell will write down around $400 million over an oil discovery offshore Namibia that it deemed commercially unviable in a blow to the southern African country&#8217;s efforts to become a crude producer.



Shell told Reuters that discovered oil and gas resources in offshore block PEL39 in Namibia &#8220;cannot currently be confirmed for commercial development.&#8221;



Shell and its partners, QatarEnergy and Namibia&#8217;s national oil company, first discovered hydrocarbon in block PEL39 in 2022, which together with another discovery TotalEnergies made in a nearby block sparked huge global interest in Namibia which has no oil and gas production.



Shell has drilled nine wells in the licence over the past three years, making several other discoveries.



More recently, Portuguese oil company Galp also made a major discovery in a different offshore licence.



But the British company encountered technical and geological difficulties for the development of the resources.



&#8220;While we recognise that extracting the discovered resources presents challenges, the extensive data collected shows that there remain opportunities. Together with our partners, we are continuing to explore potential commercial pathways to development, while actively looking for further exploration opportunities in Namibia,&#8221; Shell said in a statement on Thursday.



CEO Wael Sawan told analysts on Oct. 31 that Namibia&#8217;s acreage was &#8220;very challenging,&#8221; and that the lower permeability of the rock made extracting oil and gas harder.



Sources told Reuters that the offshore discoveries also had a high natural gas content, further complicating their development.



Namibia&#8217;s Ministry of Mines and Energy said in a statement on Thursday that Shell&#8217;s decision will not significantly impact Namibia&#8217;s oil and gas development.



&#8220;It is not a setback. We are positive that the remaining potential of PEL39 and other exploration campaigns will translate into commercial developments,&#8221; the ministry said.



Galp, Chevron, Rhino Resources and Azule Energy, a joint venture between Italy&#8217;s Eni and BP, are all planning to drill exploration wells in Namibia this year. TotalEnergies plans to make a final investment decision on the development of its Venus discovery by year-end.



Shell said in a trading update ahead of fourth quarter results on Jan. 30 that it expects to take an exploration write-off of around $400 million, without providing details.



It will take another $300 million write-off related mainly to exploration licences in Colombia, the company added.



(Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Sandra Maler)

3DW6LEO47VMC3CWA77J2OKJYYU

Shell writes down Namibia oil discovery in blow to country

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/https___cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com_reuters_IIYWQDB4WFNKFJIYVD4GQSNLGM-1-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-573699" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/https___cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com_reuters_IIYWQDB4WFNKFJIYVD4GQSNLGM-1-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/https___cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com_reuters_IIYWQDB4WFNKFJIYVD4GQSNLGM-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/https___cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com_reuters_IIYWQDB4WFNKFJIYVD4GQSNLGM-1-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/https___cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com_reuters_IIYWQDB4WFNKFJIYVD4GQSNLGM-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/https___cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com_reuters_IIYWQDB4WFNKFJIYVD4GQSNLGM-1.jpg 1080w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A local farmer sprays a pesticide on her maize field in Chikwawa District, Malawi March 19, 2018. REUTERS/Eldson Chagara/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



CHIKWAWA, Malawi, Jan 9 (Thomson Reuters Foundation)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Maxwell Nsona stood in the dried-out bed of the Nthumba River in Malawi&#8217;s southern Chikwawa district and recalled how this wide ribbon of footprint-studded sand turned into a raging torrent during heavy rains a decade ago.



The fear is that this could happen again as a country brought to its knees by southern Africa&#8217;s worst drought in decades braces for a rainy season that meteorologists say could bring widespread flooding and landslides.



People, animals and the very land across huge swathes of southern Africa have been depleted and desiccated with millions of people going hungry and economies faltering.



The drought has been fuelled by El Niño, a climate phenomenon that can exacerbate drought or storms &#8211; weather conditions that are made more likely by climate change.



Rain is desperately needed in Malawi, but with deliverance from drought comes danger and that is because the impending La Niña weather phenomenon, which involves the cooling of ocean surface temperatures, could bring increased rainfall, but it also threatens flooding, soil erosion and landslides.



It is not as though Nsona and his fellow farmers from Pende village have been idle either.



They have done what they can to prepare for what they know is coming in a country that regularly experiences the deadly, and ever more frequent, pendulum swing from life-threatening droughts to devastating floods.



For example, they built dykes along the river and reinforced the banks with rocks and by planting trees and other vegetation.



&#8220;We made a resolution to find a solution after floods had displaced a chief and killed three people almost 10 years ago,&#8221; said the 50-year-old father-of-three, who has lived in the region his whole life and grows maize, millet and cotton.



&#8220;We tried to redirect it back to its course using hoes and shovels &#8230; We also built a 150-metre dyke using an excavator, but it was washed away when cyclones Ana and &#8230; Freddy hit this area,&#8221; he said, explaining that two relief agencies helped them with the construction.



Cyclone Ana hit Malawi in 2022, and Freddy, one of the deadliest storms to hit the continent in two decades, ripped through Malawi just over a year later.



Another storm season has already begun, with devastating consequences.



On Dec. 14, peoples&#8217; cell phones beeped with a warning from the Department Of Disaster Management Affairs: Cyclone Chido was on its way and could bring torrential rains and flooding.



The message, sent in local languages, told people to head for the hills, if they could.



Just two days later, after laying waste to the French overseas territory of Mayotte off Africa&#8217;s east coast, Chido barrelled into Malawi, killing at least 13 people, destroying homes and leaving many communities without food, water and healthcare.



ROTTING MANGOES



Malawi declared a state of disaster in March 2024 as the drought decimated crops, leaving around 5.7 million people &#8211; 20% of the population &#8211; facing acute food insecurity.



At the end of the year, rains started in some parts of Malawi, a country where more than 80% of people depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, but these downpours have also caused problems among people who have been left with few resources as crops wilted in the fields.



In November, heavy winds and rain struck Namwera, an area in Malawi&#8217;s old capital Zomba, damaging homes and blowing the drought-resistant mangoes that people rely on for food off the trees.



In the nearby district of Machinga, which was not affected by the storm, Hanna Wethiwa, 52, was busy picking fresh mangoes from trees outside her home in Lumera village.



She cut them up and boiled them over an outside fire before adding a powdered juice, which costs around 700 Malawi kwacha ($0.4077), as two of her six children waited eagerly nearby for their meal.



Apart from mangoes, Wethiwa has been relying on wild yams and grass seeds to survive, even though there are reports of people dying from food poisoning after eating wild tubers.



&#8220;This year has been the hardest because all of our crops dried due to the drought. We started eating sorghum-like grass seeds, which we fetched from the bush,&#8221; the mother-of-seven told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.



&#8220;We dry them, pound and cook porridge, but they did not last long because every household was relying on them.&#8221;



CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL HELP



At November&#8217;s COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan, Malawi&#8217;s Vice President Michael Usi, who was also representing the Least Developed Countries (LDC) group, told delegates climate change &#8220;is not a distant abstraction&#8221;.



He said floods, droughts, and unpredictable weather patterns were disrupting lives in Malawi and threatening the well-being of future generations.



&#8220;For a country like Malawi, the consequences are not only economic, but also deeply inhumane. The catastrophe compromises food security, public health and infrastructure development, exacerbates poverty and undermines our hard-won development gains,&#8221; he said.



Although Malawi&#8217;s greenhouse gas emissions are among the lowest in the world, Usi said the country was committed to reducing them further. He also said Loss and Damage funding must be made available to vulnerable countries.



Countries at the COP29 summit adopted a $300-billion-a-year global finance target to help poorer nations cope with impacts of climate change, but those countries said it was woefully insufficient.



In the meantime, officials in Malawi must do the best they can. Like Daniel Mandala, the district disaster risk management officer for Nsanje in southern Malawi, where areas around the Shire River are prone to flooding.



He is busy preparing for coming months by reviewing the district disaster contingency plan, which includes all emergency activities ranging from preparedness, response and recovery.



&#8220;Prevention is better than cure hence the (Nsanje district) council is also warning communities to relocate to safe places before the rains reach their climax,&#8221; he said, adding that people were being urged to take weather warnings seriously.



Mandala said flooding and storms had become more frequent and intense in Nsanje over the last decade.



&#8220;It is not necessarily difficult to manage annual disasters as we already know the areas to be affected and the estimated number of households to be affected,&#8221; he said.



&#8220;The only challenge is the magnitude of the flooding, which has increased, and the reluctance of some communities to move to upland when early warnings are issued in good time.&#8221;



($1 = 1,717.0200 kwacha)



(Reporting by Charle Pensulo; Editing by Clar Ni Chonghaile and Jon Hemming)

https___cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com_reuters_IIYWQDB4WFNKFJIYVD4GQSNLGM

In parched Malawi rains promise deliverance but also danger

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1200" height="694" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/https___cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com_reuters_2RDQ23M7XBMRNLWULMA2ULYTGU.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-573616"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The Royal Dutch Shell logo is seen at a Shell petrol station in London, January 31, 2008. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



LONDON, Jan 8 (Reuters) &#8211; Shell SHEL.L will write down around $400 million over an oil discovery offshore Namibia that it deemed commercially unviable in a blow to the southern African country&#8217;s efforts to become a crude producer.



Shell&nbsp;told Reuters that discovered oil and gas resources in offshore block PEL39 in Namibia &#8220;cannot currently be confirmed for commercial development.&#8221;



Shell and its partners QatarEnergy and Namibia&#8217;s national oil company first discovered hydrocarbon in block PEL39 in 2022, which together with another discovery TotalEnergies&nbsp;TTEF.PAmade in a nearby block sparked huge global interest in the southern African country which has no oil and gas production.



Shell drilled nine wells in the licence over the past three years, making several other discoveries.



More recently, Portuguese oil company Galp also made a major discovery in a different offshore licence.



But the British company encountered technical and geological difficulties for the development of the resources.



CEO Wael Sawan told analysts on Oct. 31 that Namibia&#8217;s acreage was &#8220;very challenging,&#8221; and that the lower permeability of the rock made extracting oil and gas harder.



Sources told Reuters that the offshore discoveries also had a high natural gas content, further complicating their development.



The company said in a trading update ahead of fourth quarter results on Jan. 30 that it expects to take an exploration write off of around $400 million, without providing details.



It will take another $300 million write off related mainly to exploration licences in Colombia, the company said.



(Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Chris Reese and Nick Zieminski)

https___cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com_reuters_2RDQ23M7XBMRNLWULMA2ULYTGU

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="640" height="427" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/FHI2NVCH5ZJB7MSERIE6PSCJPE.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-573381"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A woman displays a selection of Kwacha notes, the national currency and money used in Zambia in Lusaka, Zambia February 27, 2024. REUTERS/Namukolo Siyumbwa/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



LUSAKA, Jan 8 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Zambia&#8217;s kwacha&nbsp;ZMW=&nbsp;has hit a series of record lows since the start of the year as a severe drought keeps the pressure firmly on the copper-producing Southern African country&#8217;s economy.



Analysts had hoped Zambia&#8217;s emergence from default early last year would have helped sentiment, but the currency is now roughly 3% below where it was before its debt restructuring deal and has fallen nearly 15% over the last six months.



It was trading at 27.95 per dollar on Wednesday, just above the latest record low of 28.05 on Tuesday.



&#8220;Zambia is in a state of severe drought, and this appears to manifest in currency weakness as the hydroelectrically dependent country faces an industrial slowdown,&#8221; Access Bank Zambia said in a research note.



&#8220;Mining companies are being forced to reduce copper production, a key foreign revenue earner,&#8221; it added.



The severe effects of El Niño caused the worst dry spell in southern Africa in a century last year, devastating crop production and forcing Zambia&#8217;s authorities to cut electricity generation on the Kariba dam, the biggest source of electricity.



The kwacha plunged when Zambia defaulted on $11 billion worth of external debt in November 2020, but saw a brief 20% jump last February when it became clear its restructuring efforts were going to be successful.



One financial analyst in Lusaka said some companies had sold dollars during Wednesday&#8217;s session in preparation for local tax payments next week, offering some support to the kwacha.



(Reporting by Chris Mfula; Writing by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Marc Jones and Christina Fincher)

FHI2NVCH5ZJB7MSERIE6PSCJPE

Zambia’s currency stuck at record low as drought persists

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="640" height="455" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/V3RZUHSNTJNKLBFQBJIVO57VX4.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-573325"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A Faberge emerald gemstone Emotion ring is seen at the Gemfields office in central London, November 17, 2014/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



Jan 8 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Coloured gemstone producer Gemfields&nbsp;GEMGE.L,&nbsp;GMLJ.J&nbsp;has asked the Zambian government to remove a recently re-introduced 15% export tax on emeralds to avoid hurting the sector.



The southern African country, the world&#8217;s second largest emerald producer after Colombia, re-introduced the tax on Jan.1, after it was suspended in 2019.



&#8220;The company will engage with the Zambian government to seek the re-introduction of the suspension of this export duty or to remove it from the legislation given the impact on sector



sustainability and investment attractiveness,&#8221; Gemfields said in a statement.



The Guernsey-based miner and marketer of coloured gemstones operates the Kagem emerald mine in Zambia, one of the biggest in the world. Gemfields also owns the Faberge jewellery brand and a ruby mine in Mozambique.



Kagem paid an effective 31% of its revenues to the Zambian government in the form of mineral royalty, corporation tax and dividends, the company said in 2023. Gemfields owns 75% of Kagem, with the government of Zambia holding the balance.



The Kagem mine has reported cumulative emerald sales revenue of $1.1 billion between 2009 and 2023, according to Gemfields.



(Reporting by Nelson Banya; Editing by Christina Fincher)

Southern Africa

Switzerland fines former Credit Suisse executive over Mozambique case

Zimbabwe expects tobacco sales to rise 21% in 2025

Botswana, De Beers sign long-delayed diamonds deal

Galp’s new well in Namibia’s Mopane finds more oil, shares rise

Google, Meta face penalties for anti-competitive behaviour towards South African news media

Botswana central bank holds key rate for third consecutive meeting

Namibia central bank cuts key rate for fourth meeting in a row

TotalEnergies CEO says US financing for Mozambique LNG project expected in coming weeks

Race to lead Africa’s top development finance institution hots up

Namibia’s unemployment rate rises to 36.9%

Zimbabwe inflation rises sharply, spurred by food and housing

Zimbabwe fears US withdrawal from WHO will hit HIV/AIDS programmes

Shell writes down Namibia oil discovery in blow to country

In parched Malawi rains promise deliverance but also danger

Shell writes down Namibia oil discovery in blow to country

Zambia’s currency stuck at record low as drought persists

Gemfields asks Zambia to reverse emerald export tax

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Advertise With Us

Southern Africa

Switzerland fines former Credit Suisse executive over Mozambique case

Zimbabwe expects tobacco sales to rise 21% in 2025

Botswana, De Beers sign long-delayed diamonds deal

Galp’s new well in Namibia’s Mopane finds more oil, shares rise

Google, Meta face penalties for anti-competitive behaviour towards South African news media

Botswana central bank holds key rate for third consecutive meeting

Namibia central bank cuts key rate for fourth meeting in a row

TotalEnergies CEO says US financing for Mozambique LNG project expected in coming weeks

Race to lead Africa’s top development finance institution hots up

Namibia’s unemployment rate rises to 36.9%

Zimbabwe inflation rises sharply, spurred by food and housing

Zimbabwe fears US withdrawal from WHO will hit HIV/AIDS programmes

Shell writes down Namibia oil discovery in blow to country

In parched Malawi rains promise deliverance but also danger

Shell writes down Namibia oil discovery in blow to country

Zambia’s currency stuck at record low as drought persists

Gemfields asks Zambia to reverse emerald export tax

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