“The World Bank has received an official request from the Egyptian authorities to support their economic program,” Inger Andersen, World Bank vice president for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement.

Egypt said last month it would seek a $500 million loan from the World Bank and another $500 million from the African Development Bank to help it plug a budget gap widened by a year of political and economic turmoil.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick announced last year that the development lender would make $4.5 billion available over 24 months for Egypt.

Egypt is also in talks with the International Monetary Fund on a possible $3.2 billion loan to help stabilize its economy. The fund has said any agreement would need broad political support as the country prepares for elections, in which Egypt’s ruling army would transfer power to civilians.

Reuters.

Inflation is expected to decline in 2012 while risks to the economy stem from high global oil costs that could fuel imported inflation and bouts of insecurity, the government wrote in a letter to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“During 2012, reflecting an improved business climate that will be accompanied by increased private investment, economic growth should accelerate to 4.8 percent, with a slightly declining, albeit relatively high, inflation rate,” it said in the letter dated December 19 but made public late on Wednesday.

“Exports of coffee and other agricultural products should increase strongly and offset the expected increase in imports, in particular petroleum products.”

The government estimates Burundi’s economy grew 4.2 percent in 2011. Year-on-year inflation eased to 14.9 percent in December but the price of essential commodities threaten to add pressure to the rate.

Burundi is enjoying relative peace since emerging from a decade-long civil war, but attacks on civilians and security forces have risen, raising fears of a fresh rebellion.

Its economy is heavily dependent on agriculture revenues, in particular from tea and coffee.

“The government plans to limit the effects of the global crisis on the Burundian economy by adopting a more flexible exchange rate policy combined with prudent fiscal and monetary policies,” the letter said.

Reuters.

The report is expected to be adopted as policy by the African National Congress and will be raised this weekend at a meeting of the party’s National Executive Committee, the newspaper said, without saying where it got the information.

The report warns against “asset grabs” by the state because such a policy would be unconstitutional and because the government could also not afford to buy mining stakes, the newspaper said.

But the government will also recommend higher royalties and taxes, as well as policies to encourage the processing of raw minerals to add value, the paper said.

Talk of nationalising mines and banks by radical elements in the ANC has unnerved investors.

The policy drive for mine nationalisation lost political momentum after an ANC disciplinary committee found its biggest advocate, ANC youth league leader Julius Malema, guilty of sowing discord in the party.

The committee handed down a five-year suspension which Malema has appealed.

The ANC study on mine nationalisation was first submitted to the party leadership last year but had been sent back for redrafting to improve its presentation.

Reuters.

Etisalat operates in about 10 African countries, including Egypt, Nigeria, Tanzania and Ivory Coast.

“Etisalat, like other telecom operators in Africa, is constantly evaluating good business opportunities which includes but (is) not limited to infrastructure sharing with other operators,” the statement said.

“No final decision has been reached at this point in time as (to) selling or sharing towers.”

On Wednesday, two sources told Reuters that Etisalat had invited bidders for its telephone tower operations in Africa.

The firm has about 4,500 towers in Africa, one source said, and wanted to sell them all in a single deal potentially worth around $500 million.

Reuters.

The Free State Health Department has recalled more than a million condoms, which were delivered for the ANC anniversary celebrations in January.

The provincial Health Department Jabu Mbalula declared that the condoms have been reported to be sub-standard and need to be tested in a laboratory, thus the department has decided to withdraw them. Mbalula continued by saying that the condoms were ordered from the national Health Department.

Sello Mokhalipi, an employee of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and Free State HIV/AIDS, declared that people had claimed that the condoms bursts and argued that the condoms were porous.

The condoms were delivered to guesthouses, hotels, restaurants and bars and wore the SA Bureau of Standards stamp.

(Source: SABC)

La première tablette tactile africaine est donc née. C’est une première dans l’histoire des nouvelles technologies du continent.

Vérone Mankou n’a aucun complexe en ce qui concerne les autres outils informatiques occidentaux tels I-pad de Apple. Pour lui, sa tablette offre des opportunités intéressantes de collecte, de traitement, et de diffusion de l’information.
Baptisée Way-C: la “lumière des étoiles”, dans un dialecte du nord-Congo. Elle mesure 19 cm de long, 17 cm de large, est épaisse de 1,2 cm et pèse 380 grammes. Sa mémoire atteint 512 Mo et elle dispose d’un système wifi intégré.
La tablette a cependant été conçue au Congo mais assemblée en Chine, “pour la simple raison que le Congo ne dispose pas d’usine et pour des raisons de prix”.
“Elle est vendue exclusivement dans les boutiques Airtel Congo” de Brazzaville et Pointe-Noire, une société privée de téléphonie mobile filiale du groupe indien Bharti…
“Nous avons mis en place un dispositif et de la logistique pour commercialiser la tablette depuis vendredi. Aujourd’hui (lundi), chacun peut l’acheter”, a déclaré à l’AFP le jeune homme de 26 ans.
La tablette doit être commercialisée dans dix pays d’Afrique de l’ouest, en Belgique, France et en Inde à compter du 15 février, selon M. Mankou.
Son prix: 150. 000 FCFA (228 euros). Selon lui, « la particularité de sa tablette est qu’elle coûte quatre fois moins cher que celles qui sont sur le marché et elle est plus performante avec une autonomie de 10 heures de batterie ».
“Avec cette société nous avons également conclu un partenariat pour l’utilisation de la 3G parce que la tablette n’a que le wifi intégré”, a précisé l’inventeur.

Le financement du projet, né en 2006, s’élève à plus de 80 millions de FCFA (près de 122. 000 euros), essentiellement apportés par VMK, son entreprise de communication.

The average international product prices of diesel, petrol and illuminating paraffin have increased the department announced.

The increase of price appears even though the average rand/dollar exchange rate has strengthened to R8.0841/$, which can be compared to the prior value of 8.2122/$.

In Gauteng the price for Petrol 95 ULP will now be R10.95/litre, which is an increase with R0.34/litre.

(Source: fin24)

South Sudan took about three-quarters of Sudan’s oil output when it seceded in July, but still needs pipelines running through its northern neighbour to export its crude. The two have not agreed on a transit fee.

The new nation said on January 20 it would shut down production after Khartoum started confiscating some oil in lieu of what it said were unpaid fees.

South Sudan’s oil output — which officials last put at about 350,000 barrels per day in November — was completely shut down on Sunday, Minister of Petroleum and Mining Stephen Dhieu Dau told Reuters in Juba.

Oil is the lifeline of both countries’ economies, accounting for about 98 percent of South Sudan, one of the world’s poorest nations. China is the biggest buyer, getting about 5 percent of all its crude imports last year from Sudan, north and south.

The two countries’ presidents met on the sidelines of a meeting of East African officials in Ethiopia on Friday, but failed to resolve their differences.

COMPREHENSIVE DEAL NEEDED

“Oil production will restart when we have a comprehensive agreement and all the deals are signed. Sudan must recognise the 1956 border, which means they must give back all the areas under occupation,” he said, referring to an internal boundary used around the time of Sudan’s independence.

Sudan has already sold at least one tankerload of seized South Sudanese crude, but said on Saturday it would free other tankers to help defuse the row.

Dau said the four cargoes in question had not left the port yet, but that South Sudan’s agent said it had been told to prepare documentation so it was possible that they would leave later on Sunday or on Monday.

South Sudan was “committed to negotiations” but first Khartoum “must take some steps”, he said.

“First they must release the cargoes, and the stolen crude that was lifted by force must be returned to us, and any deal must be tied to the issues of the border and Abyei, and they must stop sponsoring militias in South Sudan,” he said.

“This deal must be overseen by the international community. We will restart operations when we agree all these issues. These issues must be resolved first.”

South Sudan’s population voted overwhelmingly to secede in a January referendum, held under the terms of a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of devastating civil war between Sudan’s north and south.

Apart from oil, the two have yet to agree on issues including debt, the position of the shared boundary and control of the disputed territory of Abyei. Both sides accuse each other of backing rebels on the other side of the border.

Reuters.

Githae, a lawyer and minister for metropolitan development, was named to the finance portfolio after Uhuru Kenyatta quit the post on Thursday to face charges over the deadly post-election violence at the war crimes court in The Hague.

Githae’s statements and policies will be watched closely because east Africa’s largest economy is battling double-digit inflation, a weak currency, slowing growth and a deteriorating balance of payments position.

Githae said his first task will be to address a clamour from legislators for a law to cap interest rates.

An aggressive tightening cycle since October last year to stabilise the exchange rate and fight inflation, now at 18.9 percent, has given rise to concerns about what will happen to the quality of credit.

Kenya’s benchmark interest rate is at 18 percent.

“We have to sit down and reach an agreeable and amicable solution. The aim is to help the borrowers, not to kill the banks,” reported Kenya’s leading newspaper.

Parliament will debate a motion to set the minimum deposit rate at 70 percent of the central bank rate and cap lending rates at no more than 400 basis points above the rate.

The International Monetary Fund opposes the proposed cap.

Githae told Reuters on Friday he would formally address the media on Monday about his new role.

Githae also said he would focus on reducing the import bill to help ease pressure on the shilling.

“We must reduce the import bill. Why, for example, should we import eggs, oranges, sausages, maize, rice, sugar and wheat?… In my view, the only thing we should be importing is oil,” said the newspaper in remarks attributed to Githae.

The volatile shilling hit a record low of 107 hit on October 11, but has since recovered, helped by the central bank’s tightening stance following remarks by Kenyatta at the time that he would act decisively to stem the currency’s volatility.

Kenyatta quit the finance docket after being indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity during violence that followed the disputed election of 2007, where he is accused of directing violence.

Reuters.

“President Bashir is ready to make this gesture. Sudan is going to release the vessels detained in Port Sudan,” he told a media conference in the Ethiopian capital.

South Sudan became independent in July under a 2005 peace agreement with Khartoum that ended decades of conflict but both sides have failed to agree how to untangle their oil industries.

The new landlocked nation needs to use a northern pipeline and the port of Port Sudan to export its crude but has failed to reach an agreement with Khartoum over a transit fee, prompting Sudan to start seizing oil as compensation.

South Sudan said on Monday it had started shutting down oil production and accused Sudan of seizing $815 million worth of crude.

South Sudan’s top negotiator said on Friday his country would complete the shutdown by Saturday, after Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir met on the sidelines of a meeting of East African officials in Ethiopia.

Sudan said it was freeing the ships to help end the deadlock.

“By doing this step, we expect the cover agreement to be signed, the shutdown to be halted, and the terms of the cover agreement to be respected,” said El-Khatib.

“Before the end of today, we could be able to sign the cover agreement. We, at least, are ready to sign.”

Officials said in November South Sudan was producing about 350,000 barrels of oil per day.

China is the biggest buyer of oil from the two countries, some 12.99 million barrels last year. That amounted to five percent of last year’s crude imports by China, which is also the top investor in South Sudan’s oilfields.

Reuters.