South Africa’s main stock exchange will probably continue haemorrhaging listings over the next year as companies grapple with onerous regulatory and funding conditions, making it less attractive to raise capital through initial public offerings.

The South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has voted to hike interest rates by 25 basis points (bp), taking the country’s repurchase rate to 7.25%.

Farmers in Africa will need as much as US$65 billion (nearly R1.2 trillion) in loans annually to produce enough food to curb imports and cushion their economies from external shocks.

President Yoweri Museveni has commissioned Uganda’s first of four oil rigs to start drilling at the Kingfisher field on the shores of Lake Albert as the country eyes production in 2025. 

South America’s two largest economies have considered options to coordinate their currencies for decades, often to counter the influence of the dollar in the region.