Johannesburg — South African manufacturing activity contracted for the fourth consecutive month in May, with a particularly steep decline in expected…
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“Currently, about 40 per cent of our production costs go into energy provision and this is not healthy for businesses, especially when we have to compete with imported products. Therefore, everything we can, we must do to ensure that we bring our cost down and one of them is the power situation,” he said.
Noting that debt servicing costs had risen but remained sustainable for most countries, it said the rise in government’s debt, exchange rate depreciation, and increased recourse to non-concessional borrowing for infrastructure development had resulted in rising debt servicing costs.
“In Nigeria, militants’ attacks on oil pipelines decreased. The economic recession in Nigeria is receding. In the first quarter of 2017, GDP fell by 0.5 percent (y/y), compared with a 1.7 percent contraction in the fourth quarter of 2016.”
Analysis showed that the reserve rose steadily by $7.06 billion from $23.93 billion on October 24 last year to $30.99 billion on May 4 when it commenced its steady decline. The reserve grew by $819 million in November, $1.07 billion in December, $2.33 billion in January and by $1.47 billion in February. The reserve, however, dropped by $645 million in March, while it also grew by $573 million in April.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on June 15, abandoned a 16 month currency peg of N199/$ which had eroded FX liquidity and brought manufacturing to its knees.
