Bauxite to biodiversity: Africa’s top business news

STORY: Here are five business stories making headlines in sub-Saharan Africa this week.

Aluminium giant Rusal’s shipments of bauxite from its mines in Guinea have grind to a halt, shipping data showed on Wednesday (March 30).

Unlike several other Russian companies, Rusal is not under sanctions – though its billionaire founder is.

But the export standstill illustrates how the war in Ukraine and backlash against Moscow have wreaked havoc on global supply chains.

Ghana’s parliament approved a new 1.5% tax on electronic payments on Tuesday (March 29).

Critics says the e-levy will price poorer people and small business owners out of the digital economy.

Kenya Airways says it more than halved pretax losses last year to around $140m.

Like other airlines across the world, it was pummelled by the global health crisis.

South Africa’s unemployment rate hit a new record high of 35.3% in the fourth quarter of last year.

Thagt’s according to the country’s statistics agency said on Tuesday.

Around 7,921,000 people were unemployed in the period, up by around 278,000 on the previous three months.

And finally, African countries have called for wealthier nations to provide up to $700bn a year by 2030 and beyond to help protect biodiversity.

Negotiations on an ambitious global deal to halt or reverse nature loss closed in Switzerland on Tuesday – with countries agreeing to little more than further talks in June.