Glencore to Ghana: Africa's top business news

STORY: These are five business stories making headlines in sub-Saharan Africa this week.

A British subsidiary of mining and trading giant Glencore formally pleaded guilty on Tuesday (June 21) to seven counts of bribery in connection with oil operations in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and South Sudan.

Glencore Energy will be sentenced in November after admitting to paying more than $28 million in bribes to secure preferential access to oil and generate illicit profit between 2011 and 2016.

Also in oil, Nigeria's Senate said on Wednesday (June 22) that it will investigate Shell over alleged illegal extensions of oil exploration licenses and is seeking a refund of $200m it says was accrued over the period.

The Senate said Shell and its state-owned joint venture partner NNPC were granted extensions of exploration licenses by the Ministry of Petroleum outside the law, causing the government to lose fees, taxes, rents and royalties.

Shell was not available for comment.

The United Arab Emirates is planning to build a new Red Sea port in Sudan as part of a $6 billion investment.

That's according to Osama Daoud Abdellatif, chairman of Sudan's DAL Group, which is partnering with Abu Dhabi Ports on the project.

Malawi has increased fuel prices by an average of 35%, the country's energy regulatory authority said on Thursday (June 23).

The move is to cover the rising cost of imports following a 25% devaluation of the local currency.

And finally Ghana's central bank governor says the country is "soul-searching" about whether to turn to the International Monetary Fund for help.

Ghana's public debt stood at 77% of GDP at the end of 2021 according to government data, rising yields have shut it out of international bond markets, and the government has been grappling with rising inflation.

But Ernest Addison said Ghanaians want policymakers to explore alternatives first.