Nigeria’s central bank abandoned a currency peg that economists and businesses had long blamed for exacerbating a slide toward recession in Africa’s largest economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. Central Bank of Nigeria Gov. Godwin Emefiele said Wednesday that the country’s naira currency will trade at a market-determined rate beginning Monday, rather than the 197-per-U.S.-dollar level the bank has mandated for more than a year. The black market exchange rate has shot to about 370 naira to the dollar after the central bank choked off most legal channels for procuring greenbacks.

South Africa's economy looked set on Tuesday for its first quarterly contraction in a year after measures of business sentiment tumbled, dragged down by shrinking consumer spending that has sunk hopes of a retail-led recovery, Reuters reported. Rising inflation due to severe drought and a weakening currency have triggered a steep rise in lending rates over the past two years, strangling sentiment among businesses and consumers in Africa's most industrialised economy.

Nigerian oil firm Oando said on Monday it has secured a 94.6 billion naira ($475 mln) loan facility from 10 domestic banks under plans to restructure its finances and return to profitability this year, Reuters reported. The financing led by Access Bank, includes Diamond Bank, Ecobank, FCMB, Fidelity Bank, Stanbic IBTC Bank, UBA , Union Bank and Zenith Bank. The facility is a five-year term loan, paying Nigerian interbank rate plus 2 percentage points with a three-year moratorium on principal.

Mozambique is unwilling to convert a loan extended to a state-owned company into sovereign debt to avoid a default, according to an official familiar with the situation, who asked not to be identified because he’s not authorized to speak on the matter, Bloomberg News reported. Talks between the government and creditors to restructure the $535 million loan to Mozambique Asset Management, or MAM, were still going on, the official said from the capital, Maputo.

Plummeting oil prices have set off an economic unraveling in Nigeria, one of the world’s top oil producers, and the collective anger of a fed-up nation was pouring out, the International New York Times reported. “Starvation in the land of plenty,” said Tony Usidamen, a public relations consultant waiting for fuel. For months, many Nigerians have endured painfully long lines for gasoline and power failures that last for days — with no fuel for backup generators. Scant power means water cuts for homes that rely on electricity to pump it.

The Ghana Association of Restructuring and Insolvency Advisors (GARIA) has called for the speedy passage of the Corporate Insolvency Bill which is currently before Cabinet into law, to prevent companies from premature liquidation, Ghana Business News reported. The Association is of the belief that an effective law on corporate insolvency would enable companies to fall on options to recuperate rather than closing the company, as is the common prescription under the country’s current laws. Mr.

Until recently, Mozambique appeared to be riding a natural gas-fuelled wave, with predictions of vast riches filling the coffers of the impoverished southern African nation. Today, the country is facing what analysts describe as its worst crisis since a civil war raged more than 20 years ago, triggered by revelations that state entities borrowed $1.4bn — equivalent to 10 per cent of gross domestic product — in previously undisclosed loans. The saga is being described by observers as one of Africa’s worst cases of hidden borrowing in recent years.

To stem an ongoing fall in foreign reserves caused by the oil price crash, Nigeria’s central bank introduced restrictions last summer that have effectively blocked imports of hundreds of items that typically enter Nigeria through its ports, the Financial Times reported. The policy, backed by President Muhammadu Buhari, also aims to boost local manufacturing and agriculture. The country has long used its oil revenues to bring in essential items such as steel and palm oil that the Buhari administration says should be made locally.

The World Bank is suspending direct financial aid to Mozambique, joining the International Monetary Fund in cutting off budgetary assistance after learning of more than $1 billion in previously undisclosed loans, a person familiar with the matter said, The Wall Street Journal reported. The bank will continue to fund individual investment projects, but it is holding back payments of approximately $40 million this year for direct budgetary support, the person said.

Mozambique faces a deepening crisis after the International Monetary Fund suspended funding to the southern African nation following the discovery of more than $1bn in previously undisclosed government debt, the Financial Times reported. The scandal will heap pressure on Maputo, which is dependent on donors to finance about a quarter of its budget. Mozambique is battling to narrow a wide fiscal deficit, its currency has plummeted and its foreign reserves are dwindling.