South Africa's Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Thursday he was positive power utility Eskom would receive a loan from the World Bank, despite opposition from the United States and Britain. ...Read More

MTN, Africa's biggest mobile operator by subscribers, posted lower 2009 profit despite its new customers increasing by 28 percent to 116 million. ...Read More

South Africa's second-biggest insurer Sanlam SLMJ.J lifted 2009 profit thanks to better returns on equity investments and as it built up new customers while existing clients kept their insurance policies. ...Read More

National Bank of Kenya said on Thursday its pretax profit in 2009 rose to 2.16 billion shillings ($28.1 million) and that it would issue bonus shares rather than resuming dividend payments. ...Read More

The World Bank said on Wednesday it approved a $40 million loan for Tanzania to help set up a housing finance project in east Africa's second largest economy. ...Read More

Oil fell to below $82 on Thursday on expectations for OPEC to keep pumping above quotas in the second quarter, pulling prices down from eight-week highs reached a day earlier. ...Read More

Agriculture and manufacturing will make a greater contribution to Nigeria's economic growth in the coming years at it seeks to reduce its dependence on crude oil, Acting President Goodluck Jonathan said on Wednesday. ...Read More

Legislation to create a Nigerian asset management company (AMC) to soak up bad bank loans passed a second reading in the Senate on Wednesday, bringing it another step closer to becoming law. ...Read More

Tourist arrival numbers to Mauritius and Seychelles continued to improve through February although the Mauritian government said the strength of recovery in the sector had been subdued by a weakening euro. ...Read More

Consumer prices in Seychelles fell 3.4 percent in February from a year earlier, driven by a decline in milk, dairy products and alcoholic beverage costs. ...Read More

London-based explorer Tullow Oil Plc said it had agreed a framework deal with China's CNOOC and French oil major Total that would see the companies become equal partners in three Ugandan oil blocks. ...Read More

Zambia National Commercial Bank (Zanaco) expects business to continue to grow after posting a rise in 2009 profit as economic conditions started to improve. ...Read More

Inflation in Ghana fell for the eighth consecutive month to its lowest level in almost two years in February, paving the way for further interest rate cuts in one of West Africa's leading economies. ...Read More

Sugar output in Mauritius grew by 3.3 percent to 467,234 tonnes in 2009 but bad weather meant it missed initial forecasts, the Chamber of Agriculture said on Wednesday. ...Read More

South Africa's Reserve Bank will shortly release results of a study into the gap between the central bank's main interest rate and prime lending costs, but is not formally investigating competition between commercial banks, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Wednesday. ...Read More

Gold production from West Africa is set to rise about 30 percent over the next 4 years, driven largely by higher output from Randgold and Iamgold, a top executive of metals consultancy GFMS said on Tuesday. ...Read More

South African insurer Metropolitan Holdings posted lower 2009 profit after more consumers defaulted or cancelled life insurance policies and the value of its investment assets dropped. ...Read More

South Africa's Transnet said on Tuesday its port division was not planning to build a new coal terminal, denying claims by industry sources who said the facility would be built and operational by June this year. ...Read More

Oil fell for a second day on Wednesday after an industry report showed U.S. crude stockpiles jumped more than expected last week, dampening hopes of a strong recovery of demand in the world's top user. ...Read More

The United States is studying whether it can legally challenge Chinese Internet restrictions that hurt Google and other U.S. companies operating in China, but direct talks with Beijing might yield faster results, the top U.S. trade official said on Tuesday. ...Read More

Uganda's budding bourse may exclude Britain's Tullow Oil from its all-share index because the firm's shares could distort views of the market's performance, a top bourse official said. ...Read More

Greece, pressing for curbs on financial speculation it blames for worsening the country's debt crisis, said on Tuesday the idea would be examined by the Group of 20 leading powers at their next summit. ...Read More

South African assets dipped on Tuesday, knocked by a global drop in risk appetite and lower commodity prices that took the rand and stock market off multi-week highs. ...Read More

South Africa's FirstRand FSRJ.J expects business volumes to remain subdued after posting lower first-half profit as bad debts continue to hurt its corporate unit. ...Read More

Democratic Republic of Congo's newly appointed oil minister will review exploration contracts yet to be approved by the President, and wants a new oil code passed into law by the end of March, he said late on Monday. ...Read More

Mining group Xstrata XTA.L will put its South African Spitskop and Tselentis coal mines up for sale later this year, industry sources familiar with the issue and prospective Indian buyers said on Monday. ...Read More

Uganda's budding bourse may exclude Britain's Tullow Oil TLW.L from its all-share index because the firm's shares could distort views of the market's performance, a top bourse official said. ...Read More

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday he was deeply concerned about the recent "appalling" deaths in Nigeria, and urged the country's political and religious leaders to solve the nation's crisis. ...Read More

The head of Nigeria's privatisation agency was suspended on Monday, weeks after confusion emerged over the planned sale of former state telecoms monopoly Nitel. ...Read More

Oil slid on Tuesday as forecasts for growing U.S. crude inventories tempered bullish sentiment about the global economic recovery, which had driven prices to an eight-week high above $82 a day earlier. ...Read More

China, the world's biggest holder of foreign exchange reserves, renewed its commitment to the U.S. Treasury market on Tuesday but said it would be wary of adding to its gold holdings. ...Read More