Africa in Business: cocoa, clean energy and capital

STORY: Here's what's been making the business headlines in sub-Saharan Africa this week.

1. Ghana has raised the fixed farmgate price paid to cocoa farmers by nearly 45%, to help boost their incomes and deter bean smuggling, its agriculture minister said on Wednesday (September 11).

:: Samreboi, Ghana

At the launch of the 2024/2025 cocoa season, Bryan Acheampong said it was an unprecedented price rise.

Global cocoa prices have been high this year amid disease and adverse weather in Ghana and Ivory Coast, which provide more than 60% of the world's supply.

2. Staff from the International Monetary Fund are on a fact-finding trip in Kenya, the IMF said late on Thursday (September 12).

:: Nairobi, Kenya

That's as a part of efforts to craft a way forward in the wake of deadly protests that scuppered the government's planned tax hikes, resulting in a delay in the disbursement of IMF funds.

3. Anglo American said on Wednesday that one of its subsidiaries had raised over $400 million from the sale of around 5.3% in South African unit Anglo American Platinum.

Anglo launched an accelerated bookbuild offering of about 13 million shares in Amplats on Tuesday. It is expected to demerge from Amplats next year.

4. Namibia's state-owned NamPower said on Monday (September 9) that it had signed a contract with two Chinese firms to start building the country's largest solar power plant.

:: Vredendal, South Africa

The plant will add 100 megawatts to its current total installed capacity of roughly 500 megawatts, in a country that is a net importer of electricity and relies on neighboring Zambia and South Africa for power.

5. And finally, Nigeria's government has raised $900 million in its first ever domestic bond sale, the coordinator for the issue said on Wednesday, as it sought to diversify funding sources and avoid elevated yields in international capital markets.

:: Lagos, Nigeria

The bond sale will be a welcome source of hard currency for Africa's largest economy which has experienced crippling dollar shortages that have forced the central bank to devalue the naira twice in less than a year.