By Jackie Cameron
- The number of Covid-19 related deaths in South Africa is heading towards 1,600 and, says BizNews contributor Douglas Parker, the growth in the total number of cases, which is heading towards 74,000, shows no sign of slowing. The Western Cape has by far the highest incidence of Covid-19, but all provinces showing growth. The Western Cape also showing the highest recovery rates, and death rates are low. See the latest analysis at BizNews.com.
- Discovery shares fell after it said it was setting aside R3.3bn for potential policy claims and lapses. Full-year profit will drop because of provisions related to the coronavirus pandemic. Discovery, which also owns an insurer, money manager and a rewards program, won’t be paying a dividend. “The operating environment is complex and volatile and scenarios going forward may be worse than expected, in which case the group’s growth would be lower than expected,” Discovery said in a statement.
- African countries are among the world’s best economic performers in 2020. Rwanda is projected at 3.2%, Ethiopia and Ivory Coast at 3%, Uganda at 2.8% and Ghana at 1.9%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The continent is the favourite bazaar for appreciating equity after Eastern Europe and has one of the stock market’s best-performing industries: communications. Africa finds itself with fewer Covid-19 cases than other heavily populated regions. Even after testing almost tripled to 1.2 million, the director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, said the continent’s percentage is relatively small. While the world equity benchmark declined 4% in 2020, Africa lost just 1%. Communications companies in sub-Saharan Africa so far this year lead all industries in Africa with a total return (income plus appreciation) of 22% — more than twice the 9% earned by global health-care companies, the No. 1 performing industry in the world, says Bloomberg.
- A notable exception to Africa’s success stories is Zimbabwe, with its government reporting an annual inflation rate of a whopping 785.55% in May. President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his team have failed to come up with any smart ideas to fix the economy since taking over the reigns from Robert Mugabe in 2017 and a central bank currency peg has exacerbated political tensions. This is Zimbabwe’s worst economic crisis in more than a decade. It is stoking concern that the military, which ended Mugabe’s more than three-decades rule, may intervene again.
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