Mozambique’s top court has ruled that a government-guaranteed $850 million Eurobond issued by state-run tuna-fishing company Ematum in 2013 was illegal, court documents showed, Reuters reported. Mozambique has been battling to restructure its finances after the emergence in 2016 of about $1.4 billion of undisclosed borrowing that prompted the International Monetary Fund and foreign donors to cut financial support, triggering a currency crisis and a sovereign debt default.

Billionaire Beny Steinmetz’s mining company sought bankruptcy protection in the U.S., two months after losing a $2 billion arbitration award to Brazilian mining giant Vale SA, Bloomberg News reported. The court filing by BSG Resources Ltd. on Monday could stymie Vale’s effort to enforce the award, which stems from an ill-fated joint venture with BSGR at the Simandou iron ore mine in Guinea. The government stripped their venture of its rights to Simandou following a probe that found licenses were obtained through corruption. BSGR lists its only U.S.

A court hearing following Zambia’s decision to name a provisional liquidator to run Vedanta Resources’ Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) business was adjourned for a week on Tuesday without tackling Vedanta’s demands to be involved, the company said, Reuters reported. Vedanta Resources, part-owner of the Mumbai-listed Vedanta group of companies, is KCM’s majority shareholder while Zambian state mining company ZCCM-IH holds a stake of about 20%. In a statement, Vedanta said the judge had considered preliminary issues brought by ZCCM and reserved judgment until June 11.

Zimbabwe’s central bank said it would stop printing money as part of a milestone deal with the IMF, which has agreed to monitor vital currency reforms in the southern African nation, the Financial Times reported. Under the terms of an IMF staff-monitored programme announced on Friday, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government will cease borrowing from the central bank to pay its bills, a practice that has exacerbated Zimbabwe’s debilitating currency crisis.

The Bank of Ghana revoked the licenses of 347 insolvent micro-finance firms after the conclusion of a cleanup of the banking sector. It cancelled the permits of 192 firms currently in operation in addition to 155 that have ceased operations, the Accra-based regulator said in emailed statement, Bloomberg News reported. The regulator also annulled the licenses of 39 insolvent micro-credit companies, it said in a separate statement.

The labor union whose members contribute most to the funds overseen by South Africa’s state pension manager wants the institution to stop investing in the debt of Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., potentially increasing funding pressure on the heavily indebted utility, Bloomberg News reported. The 240,000-strong Public Servants Association said by buying Eskom’s bonds the Public Investment Corp. is exposing pensioners to excessive risk as the state-owned power company is not selling enough electricity to cover its costs and has had to be bailed out by the government.

Mozambique reached an agreement in principle on key terms to restructure $726.5 million of Eurobonds, in which bondholders will no longer get access to the country’s future natural-gas revenue, Bloomberg News reported. Bondholders will be invited to vote in favor of an exchange of their debt for a new series of securities maturing on Sept. 15, 2031, according to a Finance Ministry statement.

Global mining conglomerate Vedanta Resources said on Friday it was seeking international arbitration over Zambia’s appointment of a provisional liquidator to run the company’s Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) business, Reuters reported. Vedanta said on Friday its executives were unable to visit its KCM operation and engage with local management, in a setback to efforts to ease tensions amid a legal battle with Africa’s second-biggest copper producer. The Zambian government has accused KCM of breaching its operating license. Legal proceedings have been adjourned until June 4.

Zambia’s bonds have reached another grim milestone. The spread on the copper producer’s $750 million of debt maturing in September 2022 rose above 2,000 basis points this week, Bloomberg News reported. At 22%, the yield was 20 percentage points more than U.S. Treasuries of an equivalent maturity. These are levels almost unheard of in the bond world. Only nations already in default, such as Venezuela, have dollar spreads and yields as high as Zambia’s.

Sluggish economic growth in South Africa is starting to increase risks arising from high levels of debt in the country, the central bank warned on Wednesday, with defaults growing in both consumer and corporate debts, Reuters reported. In its semi-annual review of financial stability, the South African Reserve Bank said some areas of lending, including unsecured lending, car finance and lending to sectors like construction and manufacturing, were showing particular strain.