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

South Africa's Eskom ramped up scheduled power cuts to "Stage 6" on Wednesday (December 7) - its worst blackout level on record - leaving most citizens without power for at least six hours a day.

The utility said a flurry of breakdowns and delays had caused the escalation in outages.

In related news, German industrial group Rhinemetall plans to build its first plant in South Africa, a company executive has said, to produce photovoltaic solar panels.

Power cuts have boosted demand for solar power systems, with nearly $128 million worth of PV panels imported in the first five months of this year.

Mining companies and governments in Africa are calling for stronger trade ties with the United States amid fears that a new climate law will negatively hit the continent's battery material-producing countries.

The Inflation Reduction Act incentivises U.S. car makers to source battery materials domestically or from free trade partners.

That would not include, for example, Congo - which produced 74% of the world's mined cobalt last year.

The issue is likely to be in focus at next week's U.S.-Africa leaders summit in Washington.

Seven African stock exchanges - including Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa - launched an integration project in Ivory Coast on Wednesday.

The bourses remain distinct markets with no cross-listing of shares, but investors in different countries can now buy shares on other exchanges through a common platform.

And finally, Senegalese singer Baaba Maal has said he wants his Blues de Fleuve festival to become the "Glastonbury of Africa".

"I don’t know if it's possible, maybe, let's hope."

The star, who lent his vocals to the "Black Panther" movie soundtracks, launched the popular annual music event in 2005.