Zambia's central bank raised its benchmark lending rate for the fifth meeting in a row, it said on Wednesday, citing a further deterioration in the inflation outlook, Reuters reported. The bank raised its policy rate by 150 basis points to 12.5%. Inflation in the southern African country rose to 13.2% year-on-year in January from 13.1% in December, moving further away from the bank's 6%-8% target band. Inflation is expected to average 12.5% this year, Bank of Zambia Governor Denny Kalyalya told reporters.

Like a lot of explosive financial scandals, the story of Michael Quinn and Brendan Cahill could fairly be described as a simple proposition that spun completely out of control, the New York Times reported. Quinn was an Irish oil-and-gas man with warm eyes and a mustache; Cahill was his longtime partner, an accountant by training. The two had been working in Nigeria since the 1970s, doing small-time deals in the energy and defense sectors, like fixing tanks and siting oil wells. But in the mid-2000s, they spied a bigger opportunity.

Nigeria's central bank aims for inflation to fall to about 21% and will work to strengthen the country's undervalued naira currency, Governor Olayemi Cardoso said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Cardoso faces pressure to raise interest rates when the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) holds a rate-setting meeting next month for the first time since he took office in September. Inflation in December hit 28.92%, its highest level in more than 27 years.

Ghana has won a moratorium with official creditors on debt payments through May 2026, and expects to reach a deal with eurobond investors to revamp $13 billion debt by the end of March, Bloomberg News reported. Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said the payments owed on $5.4 billion of bilateral obligations would be repaid in two tranches in 16 and 17 years’ time, under the terms of the deal struck in principle last week. It was the first time he has publicly shared these details of the pact.

Ghana's official creditors have agreed to restructure debts that were extended to the country up until December 2022, two sources told Reuters, with Accra closing in on a key step required to advance its restructuring, Reuters reported. A deal between Ghana and its official creditors would pave the way for the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to approve the disbursement of $600 million under its $3 billion bailout programme.

Nigeria’s central bank has released inaugural guidelines for banks opening cryptocurrency accounts, while retaining its ban on them holding or trading in virtual assets on their own behalf, Bloomberg News reported. The rules, published on the central bank’s website on Tuesday, flesh out the regulator’s decision last month to lift its prohibition on banks operating accounts for crypto service providers. “Current trends globally have shown that there is need to regulate the activities of virtual assets service providers which include cryptocurrencies and cryptoassets,” it said.

Ethiopia became Africa’s latest defaulter after it failed to make an interest payment following the end of a grace period on Monday, Bloomberg News reported. The Horn of Africa nation had to pay a $33 million coupon on Dec. 11. The government didn’t want to make the payment because it “wants to treat all creditors in the same way,” Ahmed Shide, Ethiopia’s minister of finance said on state TV on Thursday. Hinjat Shamil, senior reform advisor at the Ministry of Finance confirmed Monday that the payment had not, and will not be paid.

Nigeria's central bank has lifted a ban on transacting in cryptocurrencies, while saying global trends had shown a need to regulate such activities, the bank said in its latest circular, Reuters reported. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Feb. 2021 barred banks and financial institutions from dealing in or facilitating transactions in crypto assets, citing money laundering and terrorism financing risks.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday filed charges against Nigerian businessman Dozy Mmobuosi and three companies of which he is CEO, alleging they inflated the financial performance of the companies and key subsidiaries to defraud investors, Reuters reported. The SEC said in a statement that it filed charges in U.S. District Court in New York against Mmobuosi, who made headlines this year following a bid to buy an English premier league team.

Ethiopia's only international government bond slipped in price on Monday after credit ratings agency S&P Global Ratings downgraded it to "Default" after the east African country failed to make a key 'coupon' payment, Reuters reported. The $1 billion bond, which matures in December 2024 with a full principal repayment known as a bullet payment, dipped 0.4 cents on the dollar to 66.5 cents having jumped roughly 10% since the start of the month.