Business & Tech News
IMF Assessing Audit in Senegal: According to a statement by the International Monetary Fund IMF on Wednesday, the international organisation had deployed a team in Senegal to start assessing the implications of data revisions resulting from a government audit of the previous and current IMF-supported programs. An audit of Senegal’s finances that was ordered by newly elected President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, showed last month that the deficit at the end of 2023 stood at over 10% of GDP, compared with the 5% deficit the previous government had reported. President Faye had previously stated that, “The authorities we replaced lied to the country and lied to partners, falsifying figures,” Faye, who swept into power in a landslide election victory this past April, amid public anger against the previous administration of former president Macky Sall, has now fulfilled his promise of audits into the previous government’s handling of its financial affairs. Senegal’s current administration has since been in discussion with the IMF to take corrective measures.
More Meta Layoff’s: Meta has begun laying off employees across various departments, including WhatsApp, Instagram, and Reality Labs, according to people familiar with the matter. While mass layoffs do not seem to be on the cards, there have been several smaller job cuts that appear to coincide with reorganizations of specific teams or divisions that reports indicate are aligned to longer term strategies. This includes moving some teams to different locations, and moving some employees to different roles. This new round of layoffs follows a small series of job cuts in the company’s Reality Labs division earlier this year. Meta has had several job cutting periods in recent years when it laid off 11,000 employees in 2022, following a downturn in the company’s growth coming out of the covid pandemic, and was followed by further 10000 jobs cut in 2023. So far no layoffs have been noted in Meta’s African offices.
Japan’s Exports Shrink: Exports from Japan fell for the first time in 10-months in September, according to the latest trade data released today. This is a concern for policymakers as any prolonged weakness in global demand may complicate the central bank’s path to exit years of ultra-easy monetary policy. September exports were down -1.7% year-on-year compared to a forecast +0.5% growth. Imports however rose by +2.1% year-on-year in September while China-bound shipments from Japan were down -7.3% year-on-year. Liberia and South Africa are the largest export destinations for Japanese products in Africa with an estimated $2,62 billion Yen in exports to Liberia and $2,5 billion in exports to South Africa recorded in 2023.
Market News
Markets: Indices all clawed back some gains yesterday, with the NASDAQ up by 0,07%, the S&P 500 0,47% up and the Dow Jones closing 0,79% up. The Nikkei closed -0,69% down today at 38911, after lower than expected export numbers were released, while the Hang Seng is currently -0,16% down at 20286.
Currencies: The US Dollar is currently trading at 1.085 against the Euro, at 1,298 against the Pound, and at 149.59 against the Yen. The rand has weakened slightly and is currently trading at R17.68 to the US dollar.
Commodities:
- Gold prices are trading upwards again in early trade today, and currently trading at $2,681
- Platinum prices have maintained above the $1000 mark and is at $1002 currently, with Palladium also maintaining at yesterday’s prices at $1023
- Brent crude continues to trade softer and is currently trading at $73.92 with WTI trading downwards at $70.11 currently.
- Cocoa prices have lost momentum, and is currently slightly down and trading at 5738 pounds, after breaching the 5800 level yesterday.
(All prices quoted at 09H00 CAT)
Other News in Africa Today
Nigerian Fuel Truck Explosion Disaster: An estimated 147 people, including children, have been killed and multiple people injured when an overturned gasoline tanker truck exploded in flames while people were attempting to scoop up fuel escaping from the crashed vehicle on Wednesday. The accident occurred late at night around midnight in Majiya town, Nigeria. The tanker’s driver is believed to have lost control of the vehicle while traveling on a highway. According to police spokesperson Lawan Adam, residents had rushed to the scene and were scooping up fuel, “sparking a massive inferno,” he said. Deadly tanker accidents are common in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, where traffic regulations are not strictly enforced in many places and there is a lack of an efficient railway system to transport cargo. It is also common for people to salvage fuel with cups and buckets to take home after such accidents. The practice has become more common because of soaring fuel prices, which have tripled since the start of last year as the government ended costly gas subsidies.
African National Congress Members Charged with Fraud: Seven suspects – including two executive members of the Gauteng provincial government, and the former African Nation Congress (ANC) spokesperson Pule Mabe and his wife, have been charged with fraud in a South African court. The defendants appeared in court yesterday following an investigation into a 27 million rand ($1.6m) government tender scam. Investigations had revealed that five years ago the provincial government in Gauteng signed a contract with a company named Enviro-Mobi for waste management services. Enviro-Mobi however did not disclose that it had links to ex-ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe, who was a Member of Parliament at the time.
Ex Zimbabwe Farmers to be Compensated: Zimbabwean Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube says that the Zimbabwean government will compensate local and foreign white farmers who lost land and property more than 20 years ago in farm seizures, without compensation, that were intended to redress some of the wrongs of colonialism. An estimated 4,000 white farmers lost their homes and large areas of farm land when the Black-majority country’s then-president, Robert Mugabe, launched the national redistribution program in 2000, often with violent actions and loss of lives. At a meeting with international diplomats yesterday (16 Oct), Ncube stated that his government had approved 441 applications for compensation worth $351.6 million from local white farmers and 94 applications from foreigners worth $196.6 million. The catch for the farmers is that only 1%, or $3.5 million, will be paid in cash to local farmers who lost land. The balance, according to Ncube, will be settled via the issuance of Zimbabwean treasury bonds. Zimbabwe, once called the bread basket of Africa, has become a country struggling with food shortages with Zimbabwean authorities declaring that the country was in a nationwide state of disaster in April 2024. Figures showed that 57 per cent of people in “rural” parts of the country are set to be food insecure between January and March 2025 – a peak hunger period
