🔅 Ghana's IMF Loan Set For Approval
Plus: 🇸🇳 Senegal: Opposition Leader Trial Rocks the Nation, 🇳🇬 Seun Kuti: From Afrobeats Singer to Handcuffed Star, 🇨🇩 Rape in Congo's Camps: A State of Emergency, ☕ And much more...
Photo of the day: Mauritania
Markets:
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— Ghana SE: 2,722.79 (0.00%)
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🔻 US S&P 500: 4,126.32 (-0.24%)
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*Data accurate as of the close of markets across the continent
ECONOMY
Ghana's IMF Loan Set For Approval
It's been a tough year for Ghana, with its already strained finances buckling under the global economic fallout post-Covid-19.
But this week promises some relief, with the IMF set to approve a loan tranche of $600 million.
Where's the money coming from?
Ghana is seeking $3 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help shore up its battered economy, with the money coming from the country's creditors.
The deal is expected to be signed off today, and the funds should be received within a week.
The loan will be disbursed in tranches - two tranches of $600 million each, followed by two tranches of $360 million each.
The money will be used to boost the country's coffers and work towards the target of foreign reserves amounting to the equivalent of three months of imports by 2026.
What's next?
The IMF funds will be followed by talks with both official and private creditors for debt restructuring. Confidence should be restored from the IMF loan, and Ghana is expecting favourable terms from its creditors.
The government is also in talks with the World Bank to provide additional support of $900 million, and the African Development Bank for $100 million for a financial sector stability fund.
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OTHER HEADLINES
Across the Continent
🇸🇳 Senegal's Standstill: Opposition Leader's Trial Rocks the Nation | Senegal is in the middle of a standstill, with a trial at the center of it all. Ousmane Sonko, an opposition leader, is facing rape charges and if convicted, could be barred from running for president in 2021. But Sonko and his supporters believe the trial is politically motivated, accusing President Macky Sall of trying to weaken the competition with false accusations. Protests have erupted across the country, with security forces using tear gas and armoured vehicles to keep crowds at bay. Meanwhile, Sall hasn’t confirmed or denied if he’ll be running for a controversial third term—a move that would violate the country’s two-term limit.
🇳🇬 Seun Kuti: From Afrobeats Singer to Handcuffed Star | Seun Kuti, son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, just got an unexpected career detour: From singer to handcuffed star. According to Lagos police spokesman Benjamin Hundeyin, the Afrobeats singer turned himself in at the police headquarters after a video showed him assaulting a police officer. Before his arrest, Kuti had tweeted that the policeman had tried to kill him and his family, but he didn’t offer any more details. Now, he’s trading his mic for some jail time.
🇨🇩 Rape in Congo's Displacement Camps: A State of Emergency | In the Democratic Republic of Congo, more than 670 women have been treated for sexual violence in displacement camps near Goma in the last two weeks. That’s a staggering 48 new victims per day. 600,000 people are currently sheltering in the camps due to conflict in the surrounding region, and most of the victims were assaulted when they left the camps to get food or wood. Armed men are suspected of carrying out the assaults, and a staff member from another humanitarian organisation reported concerns about members of the military and allied proxy groups. Congolese authorities have launched an investigation, but it’s a grim reminder that in a country that declared a state of emergency two years ago, the risk of violence still looms.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Proverb of the Day
“When the roots of a majestic tree begin to decay, it spreads death to the branches.”
— Nigerian Proverb.