Africa Business Briefs

Nationalisation not SA policy-Zuma
CAPE TOWN- Nationalisation of South Africa’s mines and other economic sectors was not government policy, President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday. ‘We reiterate that nationalisation is not government policy,’ Zuma said in parliament in a reply to debate on his state-of-the-nation address last week. The ruling ANC’s militant Youth League has called for the nationalisation of mines and Zuma said the government could not stop such debate in a democratic country.

Fitch downgrades BotswanaGABERONE – Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said that it has lowered its long- and short-term sovereign foreign currency credit ratings on Botswana to ‘A-/A-2’ from ‘A/A-1’, on a deeper-than-expected weakening of public finances. The outlook is stable. The local currency ratings were also lowered to ‘A/A-1’, from ‘A+/A-1’. The transfer and convertibility assessment was lowered to ‘A+’ from ‘AA’. ‘The downgrade reflects our downward revision of the medium-term fiscal outlook for Botswana, taking into account the government’s commitment within the National Development Plan (NDP10) to pursue an expansionary spending policy until at least the year ending March 31, 2012, despite a drop in revenues,’ Fitch said.AngloGold swings to Q4 profit, output flatJOHANNESBURG – AngloGold Ashanti, the world’s No. 3 gold producer, posted fourth-quarter adjusted headline earnings per share of 62 US cents from a third quarter loss, when the group took a hit for trimming its forward sales. South Africa’s AngloGold, Africa’s top gold producer, said output in the fourth quarter was slightly lower at 1,18 million ounces owing to safety stoppages at mines in South Africa. Total cash costs rose 12 per cent to US$598 an ounce. AngloGold forecast first quarter production for 2010 at 1,07 million ounces, at a total cash cost of about US$660 an ounce.Mauritius investigates central bank chiefPORT LOUIS – Mauritius is setting up a committee to investigate allegations the island’s central bank governor abused his authority and refused to implement board decisions, the prime minister’s office said on Tuesday. Governor Rundheersing Bheenick has been at loggerheads with central bank board members and the finance minister for several months, in a rift that analysts say throws the bank’s autonomy into question. The governor’s mandate expired on February 13.Nigeria inflation rises to 12,3 pctABUJA – Nigeria’s consumer inflation rose to 12,3 per cent year-on-year in January from 12 per cent the previous month, highlighting the central bank’s challenge in getting it back to its target of single digits. Growth in food prices, which form the bulk of the inflation index basket in Africa’s most populous country, rose to 14 per cent year-on-year from 13,6 per cent in December, the National Bureau for Statistics said. Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi said last week monetary policy in sub-Saharan Africa’s second-biggest economy would target single-digit inflation. The monetary policy committee, which is due to meet in early March, has held its benchmark interest rate at 6,0 per cent since July, using other means to add liquidity and combat rising inflation.East African Breweries profit downNAIROBI – Kenya’s East African Breweries posted an 8,0 per cent drop in first-half pretax profit, thanks to drought, the global downturn, weak local currencies and higher taxes on spirits in Kenya, its CEO. EABL’s Chief Executive Officer Seni Adetu also told an investor briefing that the volume of beer and spirits sold fell 10,0 per cent in the period to the end of December from a year earlier while turnover rose 3,0 per cent. The company maintained its interim dividend at 2,50 shillings per share and said the total payout would be US$25,8 million. Majority held by the world’s biggest drinks group, Diageo, the brewer is one of the most frequently traded stocks on the Nairobi Stock Exchange and it is also ranked among the biggest firms by market capitalisation.Zim’s tobacco sales kicks offHARARE – Zimbabwe’s annual tobacco selling season began on an upbeat note Tuesday when a bumper crop went under the hammer, attributed by industry officials to good prices and more farmers. In all, 77 million kilogrammes of tobacco were sold, an increase from 56 million sold last year, officials said. Small scale growers produced 35 million kilogrammes while the remainder came from large scale growers, Machirori said. Last year, tobacco earnings contributed 26 per cent towards Zimbabwe’s gross domestic product, but the figure is expected to be higher this year.Diamond prices pick upJOHANNESBURG – Aim-listed diamond producer and exploration company Pangea DiamondFields said its recent sales prices for diamond from its Angola operations had exhibited an upward trend. The diamond producer reported that the sale of 2 813 ct, which took place in Luanda last week, yielded an average price of US$160/ct, which represented 89 per cent of the company’s long-term target price of US$180/ct. This target was set prior to the fall in the price of diamonds in 2009, and is well in excess of the currently budgeted level of US$140/ct.Zim cancels British miner’s licenceHARARE – Zimbabwe has cancelled a British firm’s mining license, the company’s lawyer said, in the latest tussle over diamond fields plagued by human rights abuses. The decision to cancel the license of African Consolidated Resources to mine the eastern Marange fields came days after government unveiled new regulations to force foreign firms to give locals a majority stake in major corporations. The London Stock Exchange-listed ACR has been embroiled in a legal fight with mining authorities after it was ordered in 2006 to suspend its operations in Marange. The minefields then fell to illegal miners including foreign nationals. Security agents used brutal force to evict the diamond panners, resulting in deaths and serious injuries. Reports by rights groups and mining watchdogs implicated security forces in human rights violations including detaining and forcing people to use bare hands to refill holes left by the illegal miners.