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The Pan-African Economy in Brief: Monday, October 14, 2019

Senegal:
Senegal postpones the launch of an oil licensing round until November 4:
In Senegal, Mouhamadou Makhtar Cisse, the Minister of Petroleum, announced that his country has postponed the launch of an oil licensing round, scheduled for Wednesday, until November 4, 2010. According to the official's explanations, some contractual documents must be finalized before the process can begin. The cycle includes 10 onshore and offshore blocks. No precise explanation has been provided as to why this decision was made. Senegal expects to start producing its oil projects between 2022 and 2026. Production will be based on 1 billion barrels. The country should also launch, in cooperation with Mauritania, one of the largest gas projects in sub-Saharan Africa...


Zambia:
Zambia owes $215 million in tax refunds to large mining companies (government):
Zambian Finance Minister Bwalya Ng'andu said on Thursday that the country owes Kwacha 2.8 billion ($215 million) in tax refunds to large mining companies as of June 30, 2019. The State will meet, it is reported, with the companies concerned, including Glencore, Vedanta and First Quantum, to agree on how the refunds will be paid. "The government has verified that it owes Kwacha 2.834 billion to companies in value-added tax (VAT) refunds, while mining companies are claiming Kwacha 4.955 billion more without providing evidence," Ng'andu said in remarks reported by Reuters...


Tanzania:
Gold exports continue to increase:
The Tanzanian central bank said Thursday that the country's gold export earnings increased by 25.1% to $1.91 billion over the 12-month period ended last August. This increase would be due to an increase in precious metal production, which has resulted in increased export volumes. These new data show that Tanzania's gold export earnings continue on their upward trajectory. Last September, the central bank already reported a 3.3% increase in revenues to $1.783 billion...


Angola:
Lucapa has already sold $45.9 million worth of diamonds in 2019:
Lucapa Diamond, a company operating at the Lulo (Angola) and Mothae (Lesotho) mines, announced this week that it recorded $10.4 million in revenue from its last diamond sale. This brings to $45.9 million the revenues recorded by the company to date for the year 2019. Of this total, $32.4 million came from the Lulo mine, for an average price per carat of $2,155. The Mothae mine accounts for $13.5 million at an average price per carat of $610...


Cameroon:
Carrefour and CFAO Retail continue their expansion in Africa, with the opening of a 2nd supermarket in Cameroon:
As part of its expansion in sub-Saharan Africa (Cameroon, Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire), the French supermarket chain Carrefour, which is associated with CFAO Retail in this conquest of the African market, opened a new supermarket in Cameroon on October 9,2019. Located in the Ekié district, in the suburbs of the Cameroonian capital, this supermarket, built on a total surface area of 7200 m² (building and parking), is the 2nd in the country, after the one opened in December 2017 in Douala, the economic capital. In its shelves, as in Douala, the Carrefour supermarket in Yaoundé will display around 1500 local references. Investment of about 7 billion CFA francs, according to the report, "Carrefour Market Ekié" has created 150 direct jobs, and about the same number in terms of indirect jobs, according to estimates by Luc Demez, the general manager of CFAO Retail Cameroon...