Cobalt stocks rose in China on Tuesday as a surprise export ban in the Democratic Republic of Congo lifted the near-term outlook for the material used in alloys and batteries trib.al/Rl3en6v

Nigeria’s economy grew at the fastest pace in three years in the fourth quarter, buoyed by its services sector trib.al/Z7x49dE

Ghana’s new central bank governor has vowed to implement clear policies with a focus on curbing inflation that’s been weighing on households and businesses trib.al/P86VYu4

In Lagos, Chinese EVs are becoming cheaper to run than gas guzzlers. There’s just one hiccup: Nigeria is already struggling with erratic power supply trib.al/f8Zwp6W

Ghana’s central bank said it’s in talks with domestic lenders on how they should tackle a rise in bad loans that in part stems from a government debt renegotiation trib.al/0G4oRoN

Ghana’s economy grew at the slowest pace in more than a year in the fourth quarter, as industrial activity almost stalled and the cocoa sector shrank again bloomberg.com/news/articles/… via Bloomberg Economics

Nigeria’s naira slipped against the dollar after softer oil prices and lower local money market rates disrupted its recent stability trib.al/8NDnx1b

Kenya has reneged on its obligations to the IMF and foregone $850 million in funding trib.al/775Su9r

Ivory Coast is marketing sub-Saharan Africa’s second new dollar-bond issue this year as the world’s top cocoa producer plans to buy back a portion of its debt and pay off some loans early trib.al/CYEqQAi

Kenya will have to keep borrowing to fund its budget, dumping plans to match its spending with collected revenue by 2027 trib.al/2AkAqEQ

Kenya has received 60 billion shillings ($464 million) in bridge financing from a consortium of banks to settle unpaid bills owed to road contractors trib.al/uQyn4GZ

Uganda cuts power prices by the most in two decades, helped in part by an appreciating currency that lowered the cost of imported fuel and components trib.al/9wH7mfT

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu appointed the former head of a unit of Shell to run the state oil company, as Africa’s biggest crude producer works to boost output and revive local refining capacity trib.al/zvtQGRS

Namibia’s President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah held talks with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev seeking to boost cooperation on nuclear energy in Africa’s biggest uranium producer trib.al/eNVegTk

Diageo is offloading its entire stake in Seychelles Breweries, the third African company it’s divesting from in less than a year trib.al/lwKB9T8

The race is on in this cool Businessweek piece by Loni Prinsloo and Rivaldo bloomberg.com/news/features/…

The price of coffee is the highest it’s been in decades — bad news for caffeine-lovers, but good for bean farmers profiting from global demand bloomberg.com/news/articles/… via Bloomberg

As the Eastern Cape observes a day of mourning today, the government declared the recent floods a national disaster. Bloomberg Africa bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Mineral smuggling from E Congo into Rwanda has reached "unprecedented levels" during M23's occupation & a "large part" of Ugandan gold is smuggled by armed groups--some w/ links to DRC politicians-- & "ineligible for trade," new UN Experts report says bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Johannesburg's mayor has been told by the national finance minister to explain how $1.4 billion of city funding was wasted bloomberg.com/news/articles/…