The Rio Times Africa Intelligence
Thursday, October 22, 2026
By Matthias Camenzind, Publisher
Senegal's parliament chief rejects a budget tied to a US$2.2 billion IMF deal
Ousmane Sonko, whom President Bassirou Diomaye Faye sacked as prime minister in May and who now speaks for parliament, said on Monday 19 October that the revised 2026 budget should not be voted as written. His party, PASTEF, won 130 of the 165 seats in 2024, so the budget cannot pass without it. The revised budget is tied to a US$2.2 billion IMF programme that IMF staff agreed on 1 September and the IMF board has yet to approve. Senegal's dollar bonds fell this week by the most since early September, and the plenary vote planned for Friday 23 October has been pushed to next week. The fight matters to US readers because American funds that hold Senegal's dollar bonds are exposed to the outcome.
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Brazil Election Data Room
Runoff poll average: Flávio Bolsonaro 51.1%, Lula 48.9%
33 national polls from 19 pollsters, updated hourly. Every poll, a free CSV and embeddable charts. On election night, Sunday 25 October, a live results card from 4 p.m. ET.
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Also in today's brief
Local officials in Abyei, a disputed border area, raise the toll from a drone strike on a market to at least 153
Sudan's street rate passes 10,105 pounds to the US dollar, against about 4,200 at banks
The US says it has revoked 300,000 visas since 2025, and Citizen Digital counts 52 Kenyans among them
South Africa cuts the fuel levy temporarily by R3 (about US$0.18) a litre on diesel from 4 November
Egypt rejects the Libya-Turkey sea deal, and Morocco reports September inflation today
The state of the continent
If you missed the last few days
On Wednesday we led with a confirmed Ebola case in Nigeria's capital, on Tuesday with a drone strike in Sudan, and on Monday with Tigray's former ruling party rejecting Ethiopia's caretaker rule. Today the lead is a money story: a budget fight in Senegal that sits between the country and a US$2.2 billion IMF programme.
Good morning. Senegal leads today, and it is a money story with a political split at its centre. Sudan, Kenya, South Africa, Egypt and Morocco carry the rest, and each has a date or a number that readers in the US and Europe can track.
Senegal. Sonko rejects cuts of FCFA 555 billion (about US$950 million) in investment spending and the planned phase-out of fuel subsidies, and PASTEF's group and the government reached no agreement on Tuesday 20 October. Our explainer on the debt crisis and the IMF talks sets out where the programme stands.
Sudan. Abyei's caretaker information minister now puts the toll from Monday's drone strike on Amiet Market at 153, up from 73. An army officer says the target was fuel tankers.
Sudan's currency. Dealers in Khartoum sold the US dollar at 10,105 Sudanese pounds on Wednesday 21 October, Sudan Tribune reported. Government banks still quote about 4,200 pounds per dollar, so the street price is roughly 2.4 times the bank price.
Kenya. The State Department said on Tuesday 20 October that it has revoked more than 300,000 visas since President Trump returned to office, and Citizen Digital counts 52 Kenyans among them. Who the 52 are, and why each lost a visa, is not stated.
South Africa. The fuel levy falls temporarily from Wednesday 4 November by R3 (about US$0.18) a litre on diesel and R1.50 (about US$0.09) on petrol, with smaller cuts to 5 January. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced in the mid-year budget on 21 October. Separately, the Reserve Bank published a draft rule for a financial centre that could let up to R10 trillion (about US$611 billion) of offshore assets be run from Johannesburg, at 16.37 rand to the dollar.
Egypt. Egypt's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday 21 October called the 2019 Libya-Turkey sea memorandum null, a day after Libya's eastern parliament ratified it, and said it infringes Egypt's sovereign rights at sea. US companies such as Chevron work in Eastern Mediterranean gas.
Morocco. The cabinet adopted the draft 2027 budget on Tuesday 20 October, and Le360 reports a plan to cut income tax for salaried workers, with the tax-free threshold rising from 40,000 to 60,000 dirhams (about US$6,100); the timing of the full rise is not clear. September inflation is published today, forecast at minus 0.1% against minus 0.3% in August (EODHD calendar).
Why it matters: In our reading, the thread today is how much African money now hangs on political decisions: a budget vote that gates an IMF programme in Senegal, a street dollar in Sudan, and a fuel levy cut in South Africa. Not known: whether Senegal's parliament will pass the budget, how the Abyei toll will be confirmed, and when South Africa's offshore rule takes final form.
African currencies & commodities
Per US dollar, Wednesday 21 October close. Reference: EODHD for the pound, rand, naira, oil fund and gold fund; birr, shilling and CFA franc are ExchangeRate-API spot rates. The Egyptian pound has weakened from 53.59 per dollar on Monday 19 October to 54.47.
BIRR · ET
162.6
spot rate
POUND · EG
54.47
weaker by 1.1%
RAND · ZA
16.37
firmer by 0.1%
OIL · BRENT FUND
US$67.05
BNO, up 0.3%
NAIRA · NG
1,334
weaker by 0.2%
SHILLING · KE
129.87
spot rate
CFA FRANC · XOF
584
euro peg
GOLD · GLD FUND
US$378.95
up 0.3%
Where the regions stand
East AfricaKenya's county workers' union threatened action in all 47 counties on Wednesday 21 October over proposals to rein in county pay. China's ambassador says trade with Tanzania will pass about US$12 billion this year.West AfricaGuinea's planning minister said Britain's investment goal has risen above US$3 billion, at a trade forum in Conakry. The IMF reached a staff-level deal on 8 October on about US$203 million for Niger over 38 months.Gulf of GuineaGhanaian officials say about 40% of Burkina Faso's fuel now moves through Ghana, up from about 15% two years ago.Southern AfricaMozambique's President Daniel Chapo said a new state company should hold 20% of mining projects, against a legal minimum of 15%.North AfricaEni began start-up of its Meleiha Phase 2 gas plant in Egypt's Western Desert, designed for up to 100 million cubic feet a day.
The big moves · two stories that travel
Dangote buys a quarter of Kenya Pipeline for about US$327 million › Aliko Dangote said in London on 21 October that he bought 24.76% of Kenya Pipeline Company, about 4.5 billion shares, for KSh42.5 billion (about US$327 million), Business Daily reported. The block traded on the Nairobi bourse on 19 October, and state-owned firms sold it to buyers first described only as unidentified investors. His refinery share sale closes on Tuesday 27 October, so US investors weighing it now see him also holding a pipeline stake in Kenya, a close US security partner.
Gabon revokes 49 mining permits after an audit › On Monday 19 October Gabon took back 39 research permits and 10 exploitation permits after an audit that ran from 29 June to 16 October. Gabon supplied 64% of US manganese ore imports from 2021 to 2024, so a change in how it treats mining rights draws attention in Washington and on Wall Street. The communiqué gives no permit numbers, no appeal route and no plan for who takes over the sites.
Expat & living
Kenya has nine Ebola cases, and what US travellers should know › Kenya reported nine confirmed cases and one death as of 20 October, all in one cluster. The US CDC rates Kenya Level 1, usual precautions, while the State Department says Level 3, reconsider travel. A tourist with no patient contact faces far lower risk than a caregiver, so check insurance and flexible bookings.
Los Angeles to Morocco nonstop on Royal Air Maroc › The airline flies between Los Angeles and Casablanca on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays, since 7 June 2026. US citizens need no visa for visits of 90 days or less, and the passport needs six months' validity on arrival. No fare could be confirmed.
Money, markets & business
Mauritius halves the reserve requirement on offshore foreign-currency deposits to 4.5%
Malawi's inflation slows to 19.4%, the first reading below 20% since May 2022
Ghana's small-scale gold exports reach US$11.6 billion so far this year
The state and its citizens
Amnesty says Kenyan police and security agents abducted and tortured protesters, claims that remain allegations
The Gambia's reparations fund receives US$2.5 million from a forfeited US mansion
A Guinea special court jails the former head of the Constitutional Court for 7 years
The wider world, from our desks
Our Global Economy briefing for Thursday 22 October
Our USA & Canada Intelligence Brief for Wednesday 21 October
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Today: Brazil's data agency gave Meta five business days to explain account suspensions, and prosecutors sued the company on Wednesday, four days before the runoff on 25 October ›
Matthias Camenzind
Publisher, The Rio Times
