Africa business: five stories making headlines

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

Top African lender Standard Bank has ruled out funding all new coal-fired power plants and most oil-fired plants as it aims for net zero emissions by 2050.

But the bank said exposure to gas, a quote "transition fuel", would grow up to 2030 - and campaigners said more could be done.

South Africa's Competition Commission has referred Whatsapp and Facebook owner Meta Platforms to a tribunal for allegedly abusing its dominant position.

The commission said Meta has decided to "offboard" GovChat - a startup connecting the government and citizens - and its subsidiary from the WhatsApp Business Application Programming Interface.

Whatsapp said GovChat had repeatedly refused to comply with policies designed to protect users and their information.

Nigeria has priced a $1.25 billion Eurobond issue at 8.375%, its debt office said on Thursday (March 17).

That's a premium compared with previous debt issues as the country seeks to raise cash for a costly petrol subsidy scheme in the face of limited oil revenue.

Kenya's biggest telecoms operator Safaricom is considering turning it's M-Pesa business into a subsidiary, its chairman has said.

The world's first ever mobile phone-based money transfer system has evolved to account for roughly half of Safaricom's revenue.

Michael Joseph said the plan was only in the "early stages of thinking".

And finally, the African Development Bank says it's secured $32.8 billion in investment commitments for projects in Africa.

The largest deal secured at the African Investment Forum, according to AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina, was $15.6 billion for the Lagos-Abidjan mega-highway.