Zambia is set to receive an extra $388 million from the International Monetary Fund as soon as this month to help the southern African nation deal with its worst drought in at least four decades, Bloomberg News reported. The Washington, D.C.-based lender’s staff reached a deal with the government on the third review of an existing $1.3 billion economic program, as well as a request to augment it to about $1.7 billion, the IMF said in an emailed statement Tuesday.

A Nigerian court has adjourned a tax evasion case against Binance to next month for possible arraignment of the cryptocurrency exchange and two of its executives after a trial stalled on Wednesday, the judge said, Reuters reported. The matter stalled because authorities failed to bring Tigran Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen and Binance head of financial crime compliance, to court. No reason was given for Gambaryan's absence in court. On Friday, an Abuja court ruled that Gambaryan could stand trial in the tax evasion case on behalf of Binance.

A Nigerian court on Friday ruled that Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan can stand trial on behalf of the cryptocurrency exchange in an ongoing tax evasion case, Reuters reported. Binance and executives Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen and head of financial crimes compliance, and British-Kenyan national Nadeem Anjarwalla, a regional manager for Africa, face four counts of tax evasion. In a separate case, they have also been charged with laundering more than $35 million and engaging in specialised financial activities without a licence.

The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said that discussions with Zambia over the third review of its loan package were focused on the impact of its drought and "difficult financing conditions," Reuters reported. The staff level agreement would unlock the next tranche of money from Zambia's $1.3 billion three-year loan. The country is in the midst of a punishing drought that has impacted and is also in the final stages of reworking its debt after a 2020 default. Read more.

Talks between the International Monetary Fund and Ethiopia around a new loan and reform package have "made substantial progress", but are ongoing, an IMF spokesperson said on Thursday, Reuters reported. "We have made substantial progress towards establishing how the IMF can support the authorities' economic programme, and we will continue to work closely with the authorities in these virtual discussions," the IMF's Julie Kozack said during a press briefing.

Ghana has started a market for trading short-term debt, a platform that builds on the fixed income market created more than eight years ago, and comes as the country restructures debt to make it sustainable under an International Monetary Fund program, Bloomberg News reported. The market for selling and buying of commercial paper provides the avenue for companies and organizations seeking to issue debt within the shortest possible time frame to do so and for investors to find enhanced credit worthiness, Managing Director of the Ghana Stock Exchange Abena Amoah, said in the capital, Accra.

Uganda plans to pull back from variable interest-rate loans after government debt has more than doubled in almost five years because of obtaining costly commercial credit, the East African nation’s Finance Ministry said, Bloomberg News reported. The stock of public debt jumped to 93.4 trillion shillings ($24.7 billion) at the end of last year from 42.2 trillion shillings in June 2019, according to the ministry’s medium-term debt management report. It was up 13.6% year-on-year in 2023 in dollar terms, partly due to Stanbic Bank budget financing.

A Nigerian court on Thursday adjourned a money laundering trial against cryptocurrency exchange Binance and two of its executives to May 17 after a lawyer for the exchange said he had not been served with documents needed to prepare for the case, Reuters reported. Binance and its executives Tigran Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen and head of financial crime compliance, and British-Kenyan Nadeem Anjarwalla, a regional manager for Africa, have been charged with laundering more than $35 million and engaging in specialised financial activities without a licence. They have all pleaded not guilty.

Zimbabwe will seek full convertibility of its new currency, the ZiG, as a way to further support the unit and protect it from collapse, according to Mthuli Ncube, the Finance Minister, Bloomberg News reported. The ZiG’s predecessor, the Zimbabwe dollar, couldn’t be exchanged for other currencies, or traded outside the country. The international community has “reacted positively” to the new unit since its launch last month, and asked Zimbabwean authorities to ensure it’s kept stable, according to Ncube.

South Africa's largest cryptocurrency exchange VALR has secured a licence in Poland and eyeing other jurisdictions across the globe, in hopes to take on some of world's crypto giants, its CEO told Reuters. VALR is one of 75 crypto asset service providers that were recently granted licences this year by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) to operate in South Africa, a key step in making crypto a mainstream investment option and creating a regulated environment for users.