Pravin Gordhan, South Africa’s finance minister, has slashed the country’s growth forecast in half and warned that political turmoil threatens to derail an economic turnround as he battles to stave off a downgrade to junk status, the Financial Times reported. In a budget delivered days before he is due to appear in court on fraud charges, Mr Gordhan said South Africa was “at a crossroad, politically and economically” in defending and reforming public institutions.

The Ghana Association of Restructuring and Insolvency Advisors (GARIA) has cautioned of alarming consequences on Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) to Ghana, if efforts are not intensified to develop the country’s insolvency regime. GARIA argues that the current practice where businesses are compelled to shut down over huge debts, downgrades the country’s reputation in attracting investments. “It is important for Ghana to have a good regime so that in addition to all our democratic dividends, goodwill and political dividends, we will be able to attract FDIs to the country.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has extended the appointment of Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation as receiver of the bank for a further six months. The regulator says the move follows a request by KDIC for an extension as the 12 months’ receivership term nears end. KDIC was appointed to take over the management of the bank on October 13, 2015 due to unsafe and unsound practices. KDIC will maintain the management and control of the bank and advise CBK of a resolution strategy as soon as it is practicable and not later than six months from October 13, 2016.

South African Airways, the national carrier, probably incurred a loss for a fifth consecutive year in the past financial period, and would be insolvent without a government-backed guarantee, Bloomberg News reported. The state airline’s loss for the year ending March is estimated at 1.8 billion rand ($124 million), and follows a 4.7 billion loss a year earlier, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said in parliament on Tuesday. Gordhan approved a further 4.7 billion rand going-concern guarantee last week that will allow the company to release delayed financial statements on Sept. 15.

South African Airways, the national carrier, probably incurred a loss for a fifth consecutive year in the past financial period, and would be insolvent without a government-backed guarantee, Bloomberg News reported. The state airline’s loss for the year ending March is estimated at 1.8 billion rand ($124 million), and follows a 4.7 billion loss a year earlier, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said in parliament on Tuesday. Gordhan approved a further 4.7 billion rand going-concern guarantee last week that will allow the company to release delayed financial statements on Sept. 15.

Weeks after being rebuffed, Ghana has tapped the international bond market again in what will be an important test of a rally in emerging market debt fanned by investors’ scramble to escape the low-yield world of developed markets, the Financial Times reported. West Africa’s second-biggest economy will sell $750m at 9.25 per cent, according to a banker familiar with the sale, before US Federal Reserve officials meet on September 21, when there is a chance, albeit receding, that they will raise interest rates.

The bell tolls for the Nigerian economy as the government and its private sector battle a humongous recession considered the worst in 29 years threatens to wipe off millions of jobs in critical sectors, Nigeria Today reported. As at last weekend, the omnious economic headwind had taken its first casualties in the aviation industry when two prominent indigenous airlines, Aero Contractors and First Nation, announced the suspension of scheduled flight operations, thus throwing over 2500 Nigerians into the labour market.

The head of the African Development Bank has urged the continent’s governments to boost tax revenue and steer clear of international borrowing as the region grapples with its worst economic slump in more than a decade. Akinwumi Adesina told the Financial Times that he expected the downturn in Africa, which was triggered by the slump in commodity prices and the slowdown in China, to last for up to another three years.

Chase Bank has received Central Bank of Kenya’s (CBK) approval to start taking fixed deposits and resume lending, CAJ News reported. The move marks a major milestone in the turnaround efforts of the bank signaling that most of the major issues under resolution have been addressed, paving the way for full resumption of banking services to all customers. Kenya Depositors’ Insurance Corporation (KDIC) placed the bank under receivership by in April, with KCB Bank Kenya Limited appointed as the Receiver Manager.

One of the briefest sovereign defaults in history? The Republic of Congo today made a belated but full interest payment on a $478m bond, after mysteriously failing to do so on the due date on June 30, resulting in rating agencies declaring a sovereign default at the end of last month, writes Robin Wigglesworth in New York, the Financial Times reported.