Currency Weakness, Higher Oil Prices Hit African Economies, PMIs Show

  • Business mood in four sub-Saharan African nations deteriorated
  • Most pronounced declines took place in Kenya, Zambia

An attendant refuels a motorcycle taxi at a petrol station in Nairobi, Kenya.

Photographer: Patrick Meinhardt/Bloomberg
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Gauges measuring sentiment in the private sector fell in four of six sub-Saharan African economies tracked in September, as currency weakness and higher oil prices fanned cost pressures in some countries.

Crude surged past $90 a barrel last month for the first time in almost a year after OPEC+ leaders Saudi Arabia and Russia extended oil supply curbs of more than 1 million barrels a day to the end of the year.