Police are describing the daylight shooting of South African insolvency lawyer Bouwer van Niekerk as a "deliberate hit," IOL.co.za reported. Van Niekerk was killed in the boardroom of his Saxonwold, Johannesburg office on Friday. The 43-year-old was at the time of his death reportedly working on high-profile cases, including a major insolvency case linked to an alleged Ponzi scheme. According to police spokesperson Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi, nothing was stolen.

Ugandan conglomerate Madhvani Group is in talks with Cerberus Capital Management LP for a private credit loan of about $190 million to fund its acquisition of distressed Indian glass bottle maker Hindustan National Glass & Industries Ltd, Bloomberg News reported. The parties are discussing a bilateral private credit loan with a tenor of about three-years. Discussions are on-going and details are subject to change.

The state-owned National Oil Corporation of Kenya entered its March “rescue” deal with French energy firm RUBiS Energy already in a condition that the Auditor General regarded as terminal, the Kenyan Wall Street reported. The French firm agreed to inject KSh 3 billion in working capital and KSh 3 billion to revamp the outlets, in exchange for 30% of profits from fuel sales. The state retained ownership of upstream and strategic stock holding units. However, behind the transaction lies a corporation rotting from within.

The South African Reserve Bank cut its main repo rate by a quarter percentage point to 7% on Thursday, as inflation remains low in the midst of continuing global uncertainty, the Wall Street Journal reported. The decision continues the cutting cycle begun in September when the bank started to reduce rates from a 15-year high of 8.25%. Headline inflation in South Africa was 3% in June, up slightly from 2.8% in May, but at the bottom of the SARB’s target range of 3% to 6%. If inflation remains around 3%, SARB Gov.

Swiss manufacturers warned on Friday that tens of thousands of jobs were at risk after U.S. President Donald Trump hit them with one of the highest tariff rates in his global trade reset, even if there was some relief for the key drugs sector, Reuters reported. The government said it would decide how to proceed after Trump set a 39% tariff on the export-reliant country - more than double the 15% rate for most European Union imports into the United States.

Administrator of the East African Cables PLC (EAC), a key player in the region’s electrical cable manufacturing industry, is looking for potential investors to help revive its operations after being placed under administration due to financial distress, the Kenyan Times reported. In a notice issued on Friday, July 25, by its joint administrators, the administrator has invited expressions of interest (EOIs) from strategic or financial investors willing to participate in its rescue or acquisition process.

Zimbabwe’s best chance of exiting a 25-year debt default is to engage the Group of 20 nations to help formulate a solution and stop trying to work its way out of the quagmire itself, World Bank President Ajay Banga said, Bloomberg News reported. The southern African country owes the World Bank and other creditors a total of $21 billion and has tried numerous unsuccessful strategies to restore its access to global capital markets.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cautioned Ethiopia on Tuesday that its reform agenda under a $3.4 billion loan deal is facing challenges from declining donor support, despite the country's meeting key program targets, Reuters reported. The IMF, in an extensive report, praised Ethiopian authorities for implementing economic adjustments, including subsidy cuts, monetary tightening and tax reforms. However, it warned that rising risks, such as a resurgent parallel foreign exchange market and fragile security conditions, could hinder progress and complicate debt restructuring efforts.