/ 27 January 1999

TANZANIAN RESERVES $580m

TANZANIA’s foreign reserves reached $586-2-million at the end of last November, an equivalent of 23,4 weeks of the country’s import requirement, the central bank reported. In a monetary policy statement presented to parliament on Tuesday, the Bank of Tanzania said gross foreign reserves improved from $502,5-million, the equivalent of 16,7 weeks of imports, recorded in June 1998. The statement said the aim is to achieve a target of 24 weeks of imports by the end of June, provided that donor resources are available as planned.

SAA HOOKS UP WITH GHANA

SOUTH African Airways announced on Wednesday it has entered a code-sharing agreement with Ghana Airways for a joint mid-week service between Johannesburg and the Ghanaian capital, Accra. In terms of the agreement, SAA planes will fly the route, with some of Ghana Airways’s staff acting as flight attendants.

DATATEC BUYS OFFSHORE

Information technology group Datatec said on Tuesday that it has bought Satelcom UK for R410-million at current exchange rates. Datatec also said that its Logical Networks subsidiary has entered into an agreement to acquire US-based Bloomfield Computer Systems from its management and investors for an amount not exceeding R612-million. Satelcom, based in Britain, is a networking company which provides services to manage networks of some of the Britain’s largest companies, including Barclays Bank and Marks and Spencer.