Economy

ABIDJAN, June 17 (Reuters) - West African government ministers have proposed re-opening borders between their countries in the first half of July and allowing in travellers from other countries with low or controlled levels of coronavirus spread by the end of July. Countries across the...

TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia’s economy could shrink by up to 7% this year because of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the investment minister said on Wednesday. The government ended all restrictions on movement and businesses this month and will open its sea, land and...

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe’s inflation rose to 785.55% year-on-year in May from 765.57% the previous month, Zimstat said on Tuesday, as citizens grapple with rising prices of basic goods and a weakening currency. On a month-on-month basis inflation slowed to 15.13% from 17.64% during the...

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast has asked to join an initiative that would let it suspend its debt payments until the end of the year in order to spend more on health services and tackling the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. The amount of debt...

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Tanzania’s economic growth is expected to drop to 2.5% in 2020 from 6.9% last year, the World Bank said on Monday, citing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. “International travel bans and caution against contracting the virus have severely hurt...

GABORONE (Reuters) - Botswana will help repatriate citizens stranded abroad by coronavirus travel bans, with more than 100 due to arrive on Wednesday from Ethiopia, President Mokgweetsi Masisi said on Saturday. Botswana ended a 48-day lockdown a week ago, allowing businesses and schools to reopen...

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The number of coronavirus cases in South Africa rose past 30,000 on Saturday, Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize said. South Africa reported 1,727 new cases, taking the cumulative total to 30,967. The death toll increased by 32 to 643. Reporting by Nqobile Dludla;...

KIGALI (Reuters) - Rwanda’s ministry of health on Sunday reported the East African nation’s first death caused by the new coronavirus. The victim was a 65-year-old driver who opted to return home from a neighbouring country, where he resided, after falling severely ill, the ministry...

MBABANE (Reuters) - The small mountain kingdom of eSwatini’s economy will likely contract by 6.7% this year due to the coronavirus crisis, its government said on Friday. “The pandemic has forced us to divert and realign our budget so that we can address this coronavirus...

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Mauritius’s economy is expected to contract by between 7.5% and 15% in 2020 due to the effects of the coronavirus, which have hit its tourism, manufacturing, and transport sectors, the central bank governor said on Friday. Governor Harvesh Seegolam said in a...