Dar gets $7.6 bln loan from China's Exim Bank for railway

Tanzania has secured a $7.6 billion loan from China's Export-Import Bank (Exim) to build a railway line that will link it to its neighbours, President John Magufuli's office said on Wednesday.

Tanzania wants to profit from its long coastline and upgrade its rickety railways and roads to serve growing economies in the landlocked heart of Africa.

Magufuli's office said in a statement Exim had agreed to provide the concessional loan to finance construction of a major standard gauge railway line, which will start in this financial year.

Fastjet to raise up to 19.2 mln stg through share issue

African budget airline Fastjet Plc said it would raise up to 19.2 million pounds ($25.3 million) through a share issue.

The carrier said it would issue the shares at 50 pence each, a premium of 116 percent to the stock's Wednesday close.

Fastjet shares jumped nearly 57 percent to 35.9 pence at 1145 GMT on Thursday on the London Stock Exchange.

The airline also said its new Chief Executive Nico Bezuidenhout would start a business review when he joins the carrier in August.

IMF cuts global growth forecasts following Brexit vote

International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday that Nigeria would contract in 2016, “lower than earlier growth projections as the country battles through foreign currency shortages as a result of lower oil receipts, low power generation, and weak investor confidence.”

This is contained in the IMF flagship World Economic Report  (WEO) in which it equally revised its earlier 2016/2017 global growth forecast 0.1 percentage points due to the impact of the June 23 referendum, which favoured Britain’s exit from the European Union.

New Luika underground development on track – Shanta

Aim-listed Shanta Gold’s New Luika mine, in Tanzania, produced 23 896 oz of gold in the quarter ended June 30, compared with the 24 341 oz produced in the first quarter of the year.

The company sold 26 134 oz of gold at an average price of $1 246/oz in the quarter under review, compared with the average spot price of $1 222/oz.

Cash costs for the second quarter were $429/oz, compared with $445/oz in the first quarter of the year, while all-in sustaining costs (AISC) reached $664/oz in the June quarter, compared with $600/oz in the previous quarter.

SAA, Mango fly first flights using biofuels in Africa

Aircraft manufacturer Boeing, along with South African Airways (SAA) and its low-cost carrier Mango on Friday celebrated Africa’s first commercial passenger flights using sustainable aviation biofuel.

The flights used sustainable biojetfuel produced from research and development company Sunchem’s nicotine-free tobacco plant Solaris, in Marble Hall, Limpopo, which was refined by fuel refiner AltAir Fuels and supplied by sustainable jetfuel manufacturer SkyNRG.

Sheraton to acquire historic hotels in Tanzania

Starwood Hotels and Resorts is set to acquire two accommodation facilities in Tanzania’s northern and coastal tourist zones.

Under Sheraton brand, Starwood Hotels and Resorts will acquire management of the New Africa Hotel and Arusha Hotel located in the capital city of Dar es Salaam on the Indian Ocean coast and Arusha in the northern tourist circuit.

The hotels under Sheraton management will add more than 230 rooms and significantly expand its presence in East Africa, the fastest-growing safari destination in Africa.

Reports from the Starwood Hotels and Resorts chain said the two facilities and the oldest tourist accommodation establishments in Tanzania will be acquired as “Four Points by Sheraton Arusha and Four Points by Sheraton Dar es Salaam.”

Elephant ivory worth $2m seized in Tanzania in June

Tanzanian police said on Tuesday it had seized elephant ivory worth more than $2 million and arrested nine suspected smugglers in June in an operation supported by Interpol and police forces in the region.

Poaching has risen in recent years across sub-Saharan Africa. Gangs kill elephants and rhinos, both endangered animals, and ship their tusks and horns to Asia for use in ornaments and medicines.

"We were able to seize 666 pieces of elephant ivory, weighing 1,279 kilogrammes valued at 4.6 billion shillings ($2.11 million)," Diwani Athuman, director of criminal investigation, said in a statement.

Among the suspects arrested were two citizens of Guinea and one Ugandan. Interpol and police forces in eastern and southern Africa took part in the operation, he said.

India considering giving Tanzania $500m loan for water projects

The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday his government would consider giving Tanzania, where he's visiting, a $500 million loan to finance water projects in the east African nation.

India and Tanzania signed several agreements, including a loan of $92 million for water projects in Tanzania's semi-autonomous Zanzibar islands.

Modi said his government was ready to offer additional financing for other water projects in east Africa's second-biggest economy.

Kenya Airways to axe over 600 jobs

Kenya Airways has commenced its staff rationalisation exercise with 80 staff set to be affected in the first phase of a redundancy plan that will see 600 employees retrenched or moved.

KQ, as the national carrier is known by its international code, is laying off the employees as part of cost-cutting measures it is implementing to get back to profitability.

The Kenyan national carrier was to commence the retrenchment in May but a delay in receiving Sh10 billion from African Export-Import Bank (Afrexim) to cater for the exercise saw it delayed until now.

BlackBerry to stop making Classic smartphone

The smartphone pioneer BlackBerry will stop making its Classic model, the company said on Tuesday, some 18 months after launching the device it had hoped would entice users who prefer a physical, rather than touchscreen, keyboard.

Blackberry’s move is the latest shift away from its money-losing handset business and toward its software. Shares in the Canadian technology company fell more than 3% after an executive confirmed the move in a company blog post.

 “The news is another negative for this handset business,” said Morningstar analyst Brian Colello. “It seems more and more likely that the company is going down the path of exiting handsets.”