Africa
Friday, 24 May 2013 16:47
24
BUJUMBURA: Burundi's trade deficit widened to $197.3 million in the first quarter from $131.4 million in the same period of 2012 as imports rose sharply, the central bank said on Friday.Export revenues nudged 1.4 percent higher, to $33.4 million, while import costs surged 43.3 percent to $218.9 million.Dependence on imports and a weak currency are seen as the main economic weaknesses for the central African country of more than 8 million people.Burundi's franc fell 14 percent against the dollar in the first quarter of 2013, central bank figures showed, only slightly less than its decline in the whole of 2012.Economic analysts say Burundi should diversify its export crops, try to attract foreign direct investment and promote tourism in order to boost growth. Coffee and tea account for 85 percent of exports.In December, the government projected the economy would grow 6.6 percent in 2013, up from an estimated 4.7 percent in ...
ADDIS ABABA: African nations have backed a request by Kenya for charges of crimes against humanity by its president to be referred back to the east African country, African Union documents show.President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto, are both facing trial in the International Criminal Court (ICC), accused of masterminding ethnic bloodshed in post-election violence five years ago that killed more than 1,200 people. Both deny the charges.One minister, who asked to remain ...
JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's first inhabitants, the Khoi and San people, want official recognition of their identity and reject the mixed-race tag they've been carrying since the end of apartheid, a leader has said.The country's first indigenous people want to benefit more from policies to address abuses under white minority-rule, provincial leader Raymond Trollip said at a conference."Our black brothers and sisters drive nice cars and live in nice houses and we are lower down the ...
GOMA: Nineteen people have been killed and 27 injured in fierce clashes between the army and M23 rebels in the restive eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the government said as fighting resumed on Tuesday.Mortar fire rang out for a second day north of Goma, ahead of a visit by UN chief Ban Ki-moon to DRC on Wednesday as part of a tour that will take him to the volatile provincial capital.Government spokesman Lambert Mende told ...
EL-ARISH: The Egyptian army sent reinforcements into the Sinai Peninsula on Monday after President Mohamed Mursi said there would be no talks with militant Islamists who abducted seven members of the security forces last week.Radical Islamists have expanded into a security vacuum in Sinai that the state has struggled to fill since an uprising swept autocrat Hosni Mubarak from power in 2011. The groups have launched attacks on Israel and targets in North Sinai.The kidnapping ...
JOHANNESBURG: Big wage hikes demanded by the government-allied trade union in South Africa's coal and gold industries helped push the rand to a four-year low on Monday, highlighting the ripple effect of the prospect of more turmoil in the industry.The National Union of Mineworkers' (NUM) call for pay rises of up to 60 percent in a submission to the Chamber of Mines seen by Reuters on Sunday rattled mining investors after wildcat strikes at platinum ...
LAGOS: Nigeria will increase the amount it borrows overseas to around 40 percent of all debt over the next three to five years, from 12 percent currently, to lower its funding costs, the head of the debt office said on Monday.DMO Director General, Abraham Nwankwo, said he expected Nigeria's debt to GDP ratio to fall to 17 percent over the same period from 21 percent, as Africa's second-biggest economy switches into cheaper foreign debt.The move ...
More Articles...
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
