Africa Briefs
Botswana diamond exports plummet
Botswana's rough diamond exports plunged around 66% in the third quarter compared with the same period last year, data showed on Friday, as the coronavirus pandemic hit demand and global travel restrictions impacted trading.
Botswana closed its borders in March to curb the spread of the virus, locking out international buyers from countries like India, Belgium and China who traditionally travel to Gaborone many times a year to view and buy diamonds.
According to central bank data, Debswana, a joint venture between Botswana and Anglo American unit De Beers, exported rough diamonds worth US$287 million in the third quarter of 2020, against US$863 million in the same quarter of 2019.
Botswana gets about 30% of its government revenues from diamonds, which constitute 70% of exports.
The government said last week that to restart the tourism sector, which is the country's second-largest foreign exchange earner, it will from 1 Nov. its borders to international tourists by allowing private chartered flights into two towns close to its prime attraction, the Okavango Delta. – Nampa/Reuters
Liberia gets new national carrier
Liberian president George Weah (photo) on Friday inaugurated a new national carrier for the West African country, named Lone Star Air, about 30 years after the country's previous airline went bust.
Liberia currently has no active national carrier, with the country's former airline folding in the early 1990s, according to a statement from Lone Star Air.
It is unclear when the new airline will begin flights, and neither Weah's office nor the ministry of transport were immediately available for comment.
However the airline initially plans to operate flights between Monrovia and regional hubs such as Abidjan in Ivory Coast or Nigeria's Lagos.
A poor nation of some 4.8 million people, Liberia is still recovering after back-to-back civil wars from 1989 to 2003 and West Africa's 2014-16 Ebola crisis. - Nampa/Reuters
Botswana's rough diamond exports plunged around 66% in the third quarter compared with the same period last year, data showed on Friday, as the coronavirus pandemic hit demand and global travel restrictions impacted trading.
Botswana closed its borders in March to curb the spread of the virus, locking out international buyers from countries like India, Belgium and China who traditionally travel to Gaborone many times a year to view and buy diamonds.
According to central bank data, Debswana, a joint venture between Botswana and Anglo American unit De Beers, exported rough diamonds worth US$287 million in the third quarter of 2020, against US$863 million in the same quarter of 2019.
Botswana gets about 30% of its government revenues from diamonds, which constitute 70% of exports.
The government said last week that to restart the tourism sector, which is the country's second-largest foreign exchange earner, it will from 1 Nov. its borders to international tourists by allowing private chartered flights into two towns close to its prime attraction, the Okavango Delta. – Nampa/Reuters
Liberia gets new national carrier
Liberian president George Weah (photo) on Friday inaugurated a new national carrier for the West African country, named Lone Star Air, about 30 years after the country's previous airline went bust.
Liberia currently has no active national carrier, with the country's former airline folding in the early 1990s, according to a statement from Lone Star Air.
It is unclear when the new airline will begin flights, and neither Weah's office nor the ministry of transport were immediately available for comment.
However the airline initially plans to operate flights between Monrovia and regional hubs such as Abidjan in Ivory Coast or Nigeria's Lagos.
A poor nation of some 4.8 million people, Liberia is still recovering after back-to-back civil wars from 1989 to 2003 and West Africa's 2014-16 Ebola crisis. - Nampa/Reuters
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