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.”

KPMG: African mining has potential to grow stronger

Africa is the most mineral-rich continent in the world and has the potential to become a mining mecca, says global consulting firm KPMG.

The firm explains that mining companies are attracted to Africa by the low cost of labour and encouraged by the developing regulatory framework for the mining industry. As Africa has minerals, such as coal, diamonds, gold, uranium, platinum, iron-ore, rock salt and potash available for exploitation, the opportunity for developing mines to grow is large.

KPMG mining global lead Jacques Erasmus points out that African countries such as Zambia, Uganda, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Sierra Leone, Ghana and Angola are all in the top lists of the fastest emerging economies in the world.

Africa’s largest Coca-Cola bottler begins operations

Africa’s largest bottler, Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA), on Monday opened its doors for the first day of operations.

The new company, which is the 10th largest Coca-Cola bottler worldwide, would produce and distribute approximately 40% of all Coca-Cola beverage volumes in Africa.

Headquartered in South Africa, CCBA would manufacture and sell 40 still and sparkling brands from more than 30 African bottling plants.

CCBA would serve 14 high-growth countries including Tanzania,Namibia, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Ghana, Mayotte, Comoros and Nigeria. Botswana, Swaziland and Zambia are expected to be included in the next 12 to 18 months.

Doug Jackson, chief executive of CCBA said the creation of CCBA provides a stronger, more successful Coca-Cola system in Africa.

Bakhresa Group and Verde Hotels ink deal to build Zanzibar’s Greenest Hotel

The Tanzanian based Bakhresa Group has appointed Verde Hotels from South Africa to develop and manage the total overhaul and upgrading of the old Mtoni Marine Hotel in Zanzibar, 2km from Stone Town. The brand new five star properties will be known as Hotel Verde, Zanzibar’s greenest hotel.

“We are serious about being the leaders of the Green Economy sector and therefore we approached the developers of Africa’s Greenest Hotel, Verde Hotels to ensure that Hotel Verde Zanzibar will be the Greenest hotel in East Africa” stated Mr. Said Salim Awadh Bakhresa, Chairman of the Bakhresa Group.

Hotel Verde Zanzibar is set to take sustainable development to new heights in East Africa and become a flagship for tourism in Zanzibar and Tanzania.

Mr. Bahkresa has commissioned the Verde Hotels Group to manage the development and operate the hotel as a certified sustainable establishment that offers a carbon neutral hotel experience.

Tanzanian tycoon Said Salim Bakhresa to invest $30m in Zimbabwean Flour Mill

Tanzanian multi-millionaire Said Salim Bakhresa is set to spend $30 million in acquiring a controlling stake in Blue Ribbon Industries (BRI), a flour milling company in Zimbabwe.

According to the Zimbabwe Mail, Bakhresa Group, one of Tanzania’s largest conglomerates, has officially notified Zimbabwe’s Competition and Tariff Commission that it plans to acquire a 100% shareholding in the troubled miller.

In 2014, Bakhresa Group won the bid to acquire a controlling shareholding in BRI after its core shareholders invited tenders for prospective investors to either buy BRI, or inject capital to revive the operations of the floundering company. BRI, which manufactures bread flour and stock feed, had been battling cash flow problems and was struggling to repay loans it owed to a consortium of Zimbabwean banks and trading partners.

Tanzania predicts 7.4 pct economic growth in 2017

Tanzania's central bank said on Tuesday it expects economic growth to accelerate to 7.4 percent in 2017 from an estimated 7.2 percent this year, driven by construction, communications and finance.

The Tanzanian economy, East Africa's second-biggest, grew 7 percent last year.

"The macroeconomic objectives of the government aim at achieving a real gross domestic product growth of 7.3 percent in 2016/17 based on the projected growth of 7.2 percent in 2016 and 7.4 percent in 2017,

Fastjet to raise funds as competition bites

African budget carrier Fastjet Plc said it needed to raise further funds to have sufficient working capital and implement changes as its operations had remained cash negative in a challenging domestic aviation market.

London-listed shares in the company, which has seen the departure of two top executives under pressure from its second-largest investor, were down about 25 percent at 22.94 pence at 0719 GMT.

Shanta embarks on underground project after securing approvals

The decline development at the New Luika gold mine has started after Aim-listed Shanta Gold secured all the required approvals for the Tanzania mine to move from a surface operation to a high-grade underground mining operation.

The East Africa-focused gold producer, developer and explorer was becoming increasingly underground focused, with a fairly new base case mine plan showing the production of 443 000 oz – 133 000 oz openpit and 310 000 oz underground – from 2016 to 2022.

Gold prices push above $1,300 per ounce

The gold market appears to be forecasting a “leave” victory as prices have pushed above $1,300 an ounce Thursday evening.

With 62% the polls reporting in, support for Britain to leave the European Union is at 51.2% with the “remain” camp garnering 48.8% of the vote.

Financial markets have been extremely volatile in what has been a neck-and-neck battle in this referendum. The biggest loser in this race has the British pound, which has lost 7.8% against the U.S. dollar, hitting an overnight low at $1.365.

As most gold market analysts have expected, gold has benefited from volatile currency markets.

TCRA disconnects over 600,000 counterfeit mobile phones

Tanzania's telecoms regulator has disconnected over 600,000 mobile phones from mobile networks in an effort to stamp out counterfeit devices that it says are often used for fraudulent transactions on mobile payment systems and in other crimes.

Poorly made counterfeit phones, imported mainly from Asia, are prevalent in many African nations and regulators say they are widely used by criminals because they are difficult to track.

Armadale Capital to acquire Tanzania graphite project

Aim-quoted natural resources project developer Armadale Capital has entered into an agreement to acquire the Mahenge Liandu graphite project, in south-east Tanzania.

The company entered into the agreement with Australian company Graphite Advancement Tanzania (GAT), which, through a Tanzanian subsidiary, owns or has the right to 100% of the tenements that constitute the Liandu project.

“This transaction creates a significant opportunity for Armadale in an industry with exciting demand fundamentals. Graphite is the raw material in lithium ion batteries, which are used to power electric vehicles, as well as being a critical factor in the energy storage revolution currently taking place,” Armadale chairperson Peter Marks noted in the company statement released earlier this month.