YEAR on year inflation for the month of March surged to 355 000% from the February figure of 165 000% as prices rose on the back of increased money supply to finance the 2008 harmonised elections.

The economy is expected to benefit from an investment of some N$1.4 billion into local unlisted companies by the end of the year.

The European Commission (EC) has assured Malawi that the country will continue receiving cooperation aid even if it does not sign an economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the European Union.

THE Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), which is organising protest action across the country tomorrow, has added xenophobia to its list of concerns.

On the eve of a top-level summit today called to deal with SA's electricity crisis, power utility Eskom appears to have lost support even from the government in its plea for an immediate and drastic 53% hike in electricity tariffs.

TENSION is rising between the business community and the National Incomes and Pricing Commission (NIPC) following the recent increase in the prices of basic commodities after the liberalisation of the foreign currency exchange rate policy.

RBZ has introduced a new half-a-billion dollar bank note in a bid to tackle cash shortages fed by rampant inflation, the central bank said on Thursday. "Introducing the new 500,000,000 bearer cheque for your convenience," read a Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe full-page advert in the state daily, The Herald, displaying specimens of the new note.

The project to build an oil refinery at Nacala-a Velha, on the coast of the northern Mozambican province of Nampula, took a step forward on Thursday with the signing of agreements on the project design, reports Friday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias".

Zimbabwe's government has suspended duty on basic commodity imports for 90 days, after heavy rains and the failure to supply agricultural inputs led to a maize shortfall predicted by government at about one million tonnes.

TWO suspects have been arrested in connection with the gruesome murder of a Russian couple at a smallholding close to Okahandja at the end of last week.

ZESCO spent K5.6 billion to run diesel power stations in the last four months countrywide but managed to collect only K468 million, Energy and Water Development Permanent Secretary Peter Mumba has said.

THE recruitment of foreign engineers to implement infrastructure projects worth billions of rands is adding as much as 15% to the cost of projects as the global scramble for these skills has seen demand far outstrip supply.

TRADE activity in SA stayed stuck at low levels last month, while expectations over a six- month horizon fell to a record low, a survey from the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) showed.

INVESTEC has weathered a tough year, including the subprime mortgage crises in August, with full-year results beating market expectations.

IF IT wasn't so misguided there'd be something almost touching about Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin's vision for a vastly expanded state-owned industrial empire. It will, he says, thrive on massive infrastructure spending by the state in the next two decades.

RECENTLY the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe made some notable policy changes as far as the exchange rate determination is concerned.

HIGH Court judge, Justice Ben Hlatshwayo, yesterday deferred to Monday his ruling on an appeal against refusal of bail for Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president Lovemore Matombo and secretary-general Wellington Chibebe by a Harare magistrate.

IN his 2008 first quarter Monetary Policy Statement, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), Gideon Gono deplored Zimbabwe's failure to implement a social contract with conviction and constructiveness, perceiving so doing to be a prerequisite of a comprehensive economic recovery.

CFX Financial Services' rights issue is set to open today after the company encountered delays in getting the required approval from the authorities earlier this week.

GOVERNMENT is in a quandary over what to do with huge debts it is owed by farmers who benefited from the farm mechanisation programme following the changes to the exchange rate, businessdigest can reveal.

Since we are still waiting for the official report on an investigation into the fatal aircraft accident in Olympia early this year, last Friday's crash landing at the TransNamib training centre came as a nasty reminder that, perhaps, everything is not well with our civil aviation.

The African Development Bank (ADB) has granted 140 million US dollars to Mozambique to be used in the agricultural sector during the two year period, 2009-2010.

The annual meeting of the governors of the African Development Bank (ADB), held in Maputo on Wednesday and Thursday, approved the creation of an African Fertiliser Facility, that will make fertilizer available to African farmers at affordable prices.

BANK Windhoek celebrated a decade of corporate teambuilding through the launch of the tenth annual Bank Windhoek Namibia National Business Challenge Relay at a media conference this week.

The National Independent Trade Union of Health and Civil Service Workers (SNITSFP) will organise its second congress in January 2009, aimed at analysing its statutes and renew the mandate.