Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 04 July 2021

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 04 July 2021

 


 

 


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ü  Pandemic investing: 'Using my part-time pay to invest in stocks

ü  Morrisons: Supermarket agrees £6.3bn takeover

ü  EXCLUSIVE Amazon, Tata say Indian govt e-commerce rules will hit
businesses -sources

ü  Iraqi minister says BP mulls quitting Iraq, Lukoil wants to sell up

ü  Didi says it stores all China user and roads data in China

ü  Biden orders probe of latest ransomware attack

ü  Facebook says services restored after outage

ü  Wall St Week Ahead Investors eye high-dividend stocks as Treasury yields
languish

ü  Uganda: Covid-19 Must Not Destroy Agriculture

ü  Kenya: China Halts Kenya Loans Amid Debt Reprieve Bid

ü  Tanzania: Cag Report Clears Bot...unearths Double Payments in Some
Institutions

ü  South Africa: SA Committed to Global Acceleration Plan for Economic
Justice and Rights

ü  South Africa: Creating a Conducive Business Environment in Metropolitan
Municipalities

ü  Tunisia: MMR Up to 6.26 Percent in June 2021

ü  Namibia: Ondonga Probes Sand Mining Fallout

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

Pandemic investing: 'Using my part-time pay to invest in stocks

Richard Jones, 18, has spent much of the past year working at Home Bargains.
The rest of the time, he's been investing in stocks.

 

The A-level student is among the thousands of people who've got involved via
online share-trading platforms during the Covid pandemic.

 

But, while social media is awash with those flashing the trappings of trades
and boasting of vast earnings, consumer groups and experts warn of the less
"instagrammable" risks.

 

Richard, from Penrhyn Bay, Conwy county, said it had certainly been a
"rollercoaster".

 

"In January, I was getting quite bored during lockdown and I needed
something new to get into, and I wanted to find a way of making my money
work for me," said Richard.

 

"I was up quite a bit at one point, then down quite a lot. Now I suppose I'm
up £400," he said.

 

Online brokers such as Charles Schwab, TD Ameritrade, Etrade and Robinhood
have seen millions of new accounts opened during the pandemic, particularly
when fear stalked the markets and prices dropped in March 2020.

 

The emergence of online share-trading apps, where users can buy shares or
fractions of shares on their mobile phones for low fees, has driven this new
wave of interest.

 

"I saw quite a lot of videos on investing on TikTok and YouTube and it sort
of got me into it," said Richard. "I decided to just watch more and more
videos and teach myself about it to see what to put my money into."

 

He has put in £3,000 from a trust fund, previous savings and cash he has put
by while working part-time at Home Bargains before he heads off to study
politics at the University of York.

 

The influx of amateur investors hit the headlines earlier this year, during
high-profile clashes over several so-called "meme" stocks.

 

These involved major hedge funds battling with retail investors swapping
tips on social media sites such as Reddit or Twitter and driving up prices
on stocks for companies including GameStop and AMC.

 

Gary Power, of investment company Charles Stanley, said the Cardiff office
where he worked had seen roughly double the usual number of young students
getting in touch in connection with work experience since March 2020.

 

"It's increased because of what we've seen - the fact that it is now
front-page news," he said, adding that client enquiries about investing had
also risen.

 

However, he urged anyone thinking about investing their own money not to be
seduced by the image of massive rewards with low risks.

 

"You could argue that some smaller retail investors might have shot the
lights out [in the last year] but many others would have found themselves in
very difficult situations.

 

"And generally, people will not own up to their mistakes - that is not
instagrammable."

 

Others have warned that online discussion forums and social media can put
pressure on inexperienced investors and, for some, trading can become
addictive.

 

Nicola Knight, 41, a marketing manager and mother-of-three from Llantwit
Fardre, Pontypridd, started investing in June 2020 and now counts herself
among the thousands of UK day and swing traders - those carrying out several
trades within one or a few days to take advantage of market movement.

 

"I would never have known about any of this if it wasn't for Covid, because
of the impact it had on pension funds in the stock market," she said.

 

She started with an investment of £2,000 and is currently about 1,500% up -
although she said she had spent the first six months losing as much as she
made while learning about the market.

 

"For me, trading is a purpose to get a cash flow that is coming in as
supplemental income. So, we live our normal lifestyle from our normal income
and then any money we get from trading goes into a separate pot.

 

"Ideally, I want to buy properties at auction or in cash so that there's no
mortgage on them, which will be for our retirement."

 

Nicola said interest in investing had grown massively in the last 16 months,
with a Facebook group she helped to run for investors in penny stocks -
those worth less than $5 (about £3.60) a share - now having more than 7,500
members.

 

However, she said due diligence and strategy were key.

 

"I try to tell everyone in my network, 'please, please don't buy stock if
you know nothing about it. Just because somebody has mentioned something,
don't buy it'."

 

Guy Anker, deputy editor of the Money Saving Expert website, said it had
seen more inquiries from people about different kinds of investing as rates
for traditional savings accounts had dropped even lower from a low base
during the pandemic.

 

"If there's one thing for you to consider when it comes to investing, it's
risk," he said.

 

"Sometimes there's potential to make lots of money, but you can lose some or
all of your money, never lose sight of that. Make sure you only invest money
you can afford to lose and do your research before going ahead with it."

 

He said it was important people considered what kind of investment, if any,
might be right for them, as there were numerous options.

 

'Not a way to make quick cash'

"A lot of people start out with funds. This is typically where a fund
manager will run a fund of money for lots of people. They are going to
spread that risk among lots of types of shares - maybe different
commodities, maybe corporate bonds, gilts, shares, they could go into art -
who knows?

 

"But funds are a good way to start because somebody else is doing a lot of
the leg work for you."

 

He said it was also important not to put all your eggs in one basket and to
be aware that you cannot necessarily access your money as quickly and easily
as with a savings account if it's invested.

 

"Linked to that, it's normally best to save for the long-term. Investing
shouldn't be seen as a way to make quick cash."

 

In 2013, James Howells had 7,500 Bitcoin on a hard drive - today they're
worth about £180m. The only problem is he mistakenly threw away the hard
drive and has since been asking his local council for permission to search
landfill. Earlier this year, he promised to donate 25% of the value of the
digital currency to his home city of Newport in south Wales if he found the
hard drive.-BBC

 

 

 

Morrisons: Supermarket agrees £6.3bn takeover

Supermarket chain Morrisons has accepted a £6.3bn ($8.7bn) takeover bid by a
US investment group led by the owner of Majestic Wine.

 

Last month, the supermarket group turned down an offer worth £5.5bn from a
different firm, saying it had significantly undervalued the business.

 

Morrisons chairman, Andrew Higginson, said the new offer was fair, and the
chain would "continue to prosper".

 

The firm has nearly 500 shops and more than 110,000 staff in the UK.

 

The takeover - led by US private equity group Fortress Investment Group - is
subject to shareholder approval but the supermarket group's directors are
recommending it is unanimously voted for.

 

Under the deal's terms deal shareholders will get 254p per share - which
Morrisons said was a 42% premium on its share price before the offer period
- brought about with the disclosure of the rejected offer from Clayton
Dublier & Rice (CD&R).

 

Mr Higginson said the supermarket's "performance through the pandemic" had
improved its standing and enabled it to enter discussions with Fortress from
"a hard-won position of strength".

 

He said it was clear to the supermarket's directors that Fortress had a
"full understanding and appreciation of the fundamental character of
Morrisons".

 

Joshua A Pack, managing partner at Fortress, said the group was committed to
being "good stewards of Morrisons".

 

Fortress's bid is backed with funding by the Canada Pension Plan and Koch
Real Estate Investments - part of Koch Industries.

 

Russ Mould, investment director at stock broker AJ Bell, said the American
investors may have considered Morrisons - the UK's fourth largest
supermarket group - as being "unloved, under appreciated and therefore under
valued" meaning they thought they were getting a bargain.

 

Mr Mould added that Fortress had been clear in its statement that it did not
plan to sell any of its real estate which he thought was aimed at reassuring
staff and wider society that this would not be a case of asset stripping by
a private equity firm.

 

Morrisons owns the freehold on about 85% of its properties including its
supermarkets.

 

Labour's shadow business minister Seema Malhotra said the government must
closely scrutinise the takeover bid and called on ministers to work with the
consortium to ensure "crucial commitments to protect the workforce and the
pension scheme are legally binding, and met".

 

The government said it was committed to "ensuring that the UK remains open
for business, while protecting the livelihoods of British workers and
investment in the UK".

 

Workers union Unite said it wanted "unbreakable guarantees" on jobs and
conditions or it would not co-operate with any sale.

 

Unite's national officer for road transport Adrian Jones, which represents
Morrisons' warehouse and distribution workers, said the company was "unique
among UK supermarkets" because it owns its supply chain.

 

Following confirmation of one takeover bid last month, news of another was
not unexpected.

 

The message from Fortress and its partners is that this would be a long-term
investment rather than precipitate dramatic change.

 

It has made it clear it would support the existing strategy of Morrison's
management. Areas for development include the supermarket's online offering.

 

Fortress has also sought to pre-empt and assuage any concerns about the
impact its takeover would have on the business, its workforce and supply
chain.

 

For example, supporting pay of at least £10 an hour, not changing the
pension schemes, and not anticipating "material" store sale-and-leasebacks.
The fact Morrisons owns most of its sites is perceived as a big draw.

 

But still, Labour and the Unite union are demanding further guarantees.

 

If this deal does come to fruition, it will shorten an already short list of
the remaining publicly listed UK supermarkets.

 

Richard Lim, of research consultants Retail Economics, said the deal
"signals the biggest shakeup in the UK grocery sector for over a decade" as
the industry grapples with changes brought by the pandemic and post-Brexit
supply chains.

 

Adam Leyland, editor-in-chief of trade publication the Grocer, said the fact
the bid had been recommended by the board made it more likely to go through
and put pressure on CD&R - which could return with a follow up bid.

 

He said the nature of the way a purchase was made was important and said the
Morrisons deal, in which he said the consortium planned to "back the
business", was in contrast to the Issa Brothers buyout of Asda.

 

In that deal a large amount of the £6.8bn purchase price was met by
borrowing in what is know as a leveraged buyout.

 

Morrisons started life as a market stall in Bradford in 1899 but it was not
until 1961 that the first supermarket store opened under the name.

 

In 2004, the group bought rival grocer Safeway for £3bn, giving it a bigger
slice of the market in southern England.-BBC

 

 

 

EXCLUSIVE Amazon, Tata say Indian govt e-commerce rules will hit businesses
-sources

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and India's Tata Group warned government
officials on Saturday that plans for tougher rules for online retailers
would have a major impact on their business models, four sources familiar
with the discussions told Reuters.

 

At a meeting organised by the consumer affairs ministry and the government's
investment promotion arm, Invest India, many executives expressed concerns
and confusion over the proposed rules and asked that the July 6 deadline for
submitting comments be extended, said the sources.

 

The government's tough new e-commerce rules announced on June 21 aimed at
strengthening protection for consumers, caused concern among the country's
online retailers, notably market leaders Amazon and Walmart Inc's (WMT.N)
Flipkart.

 

New rules limiting flash sales, barring misleading advertisements and
mandating a complaints system, among other proposals, could force the likes
of Amazon and Flipkart to review their business structures, and may increase
costs for domestic rivals including Reliance Industries' (RELI.NS) JioMart,
BigBasket and Snapdeal. read more

 

Amazon argued that COVID-19 had already hit small businesses and the
proposed rules will have a huge impact on its sellers, arguing that some
clauses were already covered by existing law, two of the sources said.

 

The sources asked not to be named as the discussions were private.

 

The proposed policy states e-commerce firms must ensure none of their
related enterprises are listed as sellers on their websites. That could
impact Amazon in particular as it holds an indirect stake in at least two of
its sellers, Cloudtail and Appario.

 

On that proposed clause, a representative of Tata Sons, the holding company
of India's $100 billion Tata Group, argued that it was problematic, citing
an example to say it would stop Starbucks (SBUX.O) - which has a
joint-venture with Tata in India - from offering its products on Tata's
marketplace website.

 

The Tata executive said the rules will have wide ramifications for the
conglomerate, and could restrict sales of its private brands, according to
two of the sources.

 

Tata declined to comment.

 

The sources said that a consumer ministry official argued that the rules
were meant to protect consumers and were not as strict as those of other
countries. The ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

 

A Reliance executive agreed that the proposed rules would boost consumer
confidence, but added that some clauses needed clarification.

 

Reliance did not respond to request for comment.

 

The rules were announced last month amid growing complaints from India's
brick-and-mortar retailers that Amazon and Flipkart bypass foreign
investment law using complex business strcutures. The companies deny any
wrongdoing.

 

A Reuters investigation in February cited Amazon documents that showed it
gave preferential treatment to a small number of its sellers and bypassed
foreign investment rules. Amazon has said it does not give favourable
treatment to any seller.

 

The government will soon issue certain clarifications on the foreign
investment rules, Indian commerce minister Piyush Goyal told reporters on
Friday.

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

 

Iraqi minister says BP mulls quitting Iraq, Lukoil wants to sell up

(Reuters) - Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar said in a video posted on
Saturday on the ministry's Facebook page that BP (BP.L) was considering
withdrawing from Iraq, and that Russia's Lukoil (LKOH.MM) had sent a formal
notification saying it wanted to sell its stake in the West Qurna-2 field to
Chinese companies.

 

Abdul Jabbar said the investment environment in Iraq was unsuitable for
retaining major investors.

 

The statements were made during a parliamentary session on June 29 to which
Abdul Jabbar was invited, oil ministry sources said.

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

Didi says it stores all China user and roads data in China

(Reuters) - China's ride hailing giant Didi Global Inc (DIDI.N) stores all
China user and roads data at servers in the country and it is "absolutely
not possible" that the company passed data to the United States, a senior
company executive said on Saturday.

 

Didi Vice President Li Min also said the company would sue any social media
users who said the company transferred data during its recent initial public
offering (IPO) process after claims were made on China's Twitter-like Weibo
platform.

 

China's cyberspace agency announced on Friday it had launched an
investigation into Didi to protect national security and the public
interest, just two days after the company began trading on the New York
Stock Exchange.

 

News of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) probe, and the agency's
decision to block Didi from registering new users during its investigation,
knocked 5% off Beijing-based Didi's shares on Friday. read more

 

"Like many overseas-listed Chinese companies, Didi stores all domestic user
data at servers in China, it is absolutely not possible to pass data to the
United States," Li said in a post on Weibo.

 

Didi, which offers services in China and more than 15 international markets,
gathers vast amounts of real-time mobility data every day. It uses some of
the data for autonomous driving technologies and traffic analysis.

 

Founded by Will Cheng in 2012, the company has already faced regulatory
probes in China over safety and its operations licence. read more

 

"I'm not sure what the final implications might be but regulatory crackdown
has been an ongoing concern even before the listing, with Didi already
having been called in by the regulators twice," said Sumeet Singh, Aequitas
Research director who publishes on Smartkarma, told Reuters on Saturday,
before Li's post.

 

"This time stopping the company from taking in new users shouldn't hurt a
whole lot since the company already has 80% plus market share to begin with,
as long as its not extended for a period of time."

 

The cyberspace agency did not give any indication of how the long the
investigation would last or provide any other details.

 

Didi said on Friday it planned to conduct a comprehensive examination of
cybersecurity risks and would cooperate fully with the relevant government
authority. It also said apart from the suspension of new user registrations
in China, it was operating normally.

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

 

Biden orders probe of latest ransomware attack

(Reuters) - President Joe Biden said on Saturday he has directed U.S.
intelligence agencies to investigate who was behind a sophisticated
ransomware attack that hit hundreds of American businesses and led to
suspicions of Russian gang involvement.

 

Security firm Huntress Labs said on Friday it believed the Russia-linked
REvil ransomware gang was to blame for the latest ransomware outbreak. Last
month, the FBI blamed the same group for paralyzing meat packer JBS SA
(JBSS3.SA).

 

Biden, on a visit to Michigan to promote his vaccination program, was asked
about the hack while shopping for pies at a cherry orchard market.

 

Biden said "we're not certain" who is behind the attack. "The initial
thinking was it was not the Russian government but we're not sure yet," he
said.

 

Biden said he had directed U.S. intelligence agencies to investigate, and
the United States will respond if they determine Russia is to blame.

 

During a summit in Geneva on June 16, Biden urged Russian President Vladimir
Putin to crack down on cyber hackers emanating from Russia, and warned of
consequences if such ransomware attacks continued to proliferate.

 

Biden said he would receive a briefing about the latest attack on Sunday.

 

"If it is either with the knowledge of and/or a consequence of Russia then I
told Putin we will respond," Biden said, referring to what he told Putin in
Geneva.

 

The hackers who struck on Friday hijacked widely used technology management
software from a Miami-based supplier called Kaseya. They changed a Kaseya
tool called VSA, used by companies that manage technology at smaller
businesses. They then encrypted the files of those providers' customers
simultaneously.

 

Huntress said it was tracking eight managed service providers that had been
used to infect some 200 clients.

 

Kaseya said on its own website on Friday that it was investigating a
"potential attack" on VSA, which is used by IT professionals to manage
servers, desktops, network devices and printers.

 

"This is a colossal and devastating supply chain attack," Huntress senior
security researcher John Hammond said in an email, referring to an
increasingly high profile hacker technique of hijacking one piece of
software to compromise hundreds or thousands of users at a time.

 

In a statement on Friday, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security
Agency said it was "taking action to understand and address the recent
supply-chain ransomware attack" against Kaseya's VSA product.

 

Supply chain attacks have crept to the top of the cybersecurity agenda after
the United States accused hackers of operating at the Russian government's
direction and tampering with a network monitoring tool built by Texas
software firm SolarWinds.

 

On Thursday, U.S. and British authorities said Russian spies accused of
interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election have spent much of the
past two years abusing virtual private networks (VPNs) to target hundreds of
organizations worldwide.

 

On Friday, Russia's embassy in Washington denied that charge.

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

Major ransomware attack against U.S. tech provider forces Swedish store
closures

(Reuters) - One of the largest ransomware attacks in history spread
worldwide on Saturday, forcing the Swedish Coop grocery store chain to close
all 800 of its stores because it could not operate its cash registers.

 

The shutdown of the major food retailer followed Friday's unusually
sophisticated attack on U.S. tech provider Kaseya. The ransomware gang known
as REvil is suspected of hijacking Kaseya's desktop management tool VSA and
pushing a malicious update that infect tech management providers serving
thousands of business. read more

 

Huntress Labs, one of the first to sound the alarm of the wave of infections
at the providers' clients, said Saturday that thousands of small companies
might have been hit.

 

Miami-based Kaseya said it was working with the FBI and that only about 40
of its customers were impacted directly. It did not comment on how many of
those were providers that in turn spread the malicious software to others.

 

In a statement late on Saturday, the FBI said it was investigating in
coordination with the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

 

"We encourage all who might be affected to employ the recommended
mitigations and for users to follow Kaseya's guidance to shut down VSA
servers immediately," the agency said.

 

The impacted businesses had files encrypted and were left electronic
messages asking for ransom payments of thousands or millions of dollars.

 

Some experts said the timing of attack, on the Friday before a long U.S.
holiday weekend, was aimed at spreading it as quickly as possible while
employees were away from the job.

 

"What we are seeing now in terms of victims is likely just the tip of the
iceberg," said Adam Meyers, senior vice president of security company
CrowdStrike.

 

President Joe Biden said on Saturday he has directed U.S. intelligence
agencies to investigate who was behind the attack. read more

 

According to Coop, one of Sweden's biggest grocery chains, a tool used to
remotely update its checkout tills was affected by the attack, so payments
could not be taken.

 

"We have been troubleshooting and restoring all night, but have communicated
that we will need to keep the stores closed today," Coop spokesperson
Therese Knapp told Swedish Television.

 

The Swedish news agency TT said Kaseya technology was used by the Swedish
company Visma Esscom, which manages servers and devices for a number of
Swedish businesses.

 

State railways services and a pharmacy chain also suffered disruption.

 

"They have been hit in various degrees," Visma Esscom chief executive Fabian
Mogren told TT.

 

Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist told Swedish television the attack was
"very dangerous" and showed how business and state agencies needed to
improve their preparedness.

 

"In a different geopolitical situation, it may be government actors who
attack us in this way in order to shut down society and create chaos," he
said.

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

 

Facebook says services restored after outage

(Reuters) - Facebook Inc (FB.O) said it has resolved a technical issue that
caused some users trouble accessing Facebook, Messenger, Workplace and
Instagram on Saturday.

 

"We resolved the issue as quickly as possible for everyone who was impacted,
and we apologize for any inconvenience," a spokesperson told Reuters.

 

Facebook, Instagram and Messenger were down for thousands of users on
Saturday, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com.

 

Downdetector tracks outages by collating status reports from a series of
sources, including user-submitted errors on its platform. The outages might
be affecting a larger number of users.

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

 

Wall St Week Ahead Investors eye high-dividend stocks as Treasury yields
languish

(Reuters) - Expectations that Treasury yields may stay tame in the second
half of the year are pushing some investors to take a second look at
companies whose dividend payouts beat those offered on U.S. government
bonds.

 

The ProShares S&P Dividend Aristocrats ETF - a measure of companies that
have increased their dividends annually for the last 25 years or more - is
up 14.3% this year, compared to a 15.8% rise for the benchmark S&P 500.

 

Some investors believe these stocks may be a good bet in coming months,
however, as a more hawkish tone from the Federal Reserve and signs of
peaking growth dent expectations that Treasury yields will resume a surge
that began in the first quarter but has more recently died down.

 

The S&P Dividend Aristocrats index pays a dividend yield of 2.15%, while the
10-year Treasury pays a dividend yield of 1.48%. The S&P 500 Dividend
Aristocrats ETF remains about 4% below its May peak.

 

"Increasingly, the market will focus on companies with the potential for
growing payouts and rising current returns," said Bob Leininger, portfolio
manager at Gabelli Funds.

 

Overall, dividend payouts in the S&P 500 will grow by 6% this year and next,
well above the 0.8% growth rate implied by current valuations, according to
estimates from Goldman Sachs. Of the 57 companies that decreased or
suspended their dividends in 2020, 22 have resumed or increased their
dividends and another 19 will likely increase their dividends by the end of
the year, the firm estimates.

 

Financial companies will likely lead the way for dividend increases after
the Federal Reserve relaxed limitations on payouts and buy-back's, noted
Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management

 

Firms including Goldman Sachs Group (GS.N), Morgan Stanley (MS.N), JPMorgan
Chase (JPM.N) and Bank of America (BAC.N) said on June 28 they were hiking
their payouts after they passed the Fed's stress tests, which evaluate how
companies would fare in a significant economic downturn. Overall, the total
buy-back and dividend payouts from financial companies will likely top $130
billion, according to analyst estimates.

 

Leininger said that he is starting to target companies such as brewer Molson
Coors Beverage Co (TAP.N), which suspended its dividend last year but said
in April that it expects to reinstate it by the end of 2021.

 

Shares of the company are up nearly 19% for the year to date.

 

Dividend-paying stocks trade at below 18 times forward earnings, a small
discount relative to their historical median -- increasing their allure in a
market where valuations are elevated compared to historical levels, said
Katie Nixon, chief investment officer for wealth management Northern Trust.

 

"We anticipate that dividends will increase at a rate above inflation over
the next several years, offering investors the opportunity to generate their
own cash flow in a yield-starved world," she said.

 

Investors may get a deeper glimpse at the Federal Reserve's views on
inflation when the minutes from its most recent meeting are released
Wednesday, while the ISM reading of service industry activity is set to be
released on Tuesday. The index hit a record high in May as the economy
recovery accelerated.

 

Dividend-paying stocks look to be in a sweet spot, offering stable payouts
that are expected to increase if the economic rebound continues, said Burns
McKinney of NFJ Investment Group.

 

McKinney is looking at companies that suspended or cut their dividends
during the widespread economic lockdowns last year and will likely increase
them this year.

 

"You've got a number of companies that are going to keep up with inflation
and you're going to get rewarded in the meantime" through rising dividend
payouts, he said. This includes companies such as industrial firm Honeywell
International Inc and technology firm Broadcom Inc (AVGO.O) as well as the
S&P 500 energy sector, he said.

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

 

Uganda: Covid-19 Must Not Destroy Agriculture

When the news of a new disease, Covid-19, broke out about two years ago,
many of us thought it was just some dangerous disease that was the problem
of far away countries --- like you don't lose sleep over news that a
building collapsed in a far off country and about 50 lives were lost.

 

Today Covid-19 is in Uganda and you cannot be sure that if tests were
carried out in your neighbourhood there wouldn't be positive cases found.

 

Even last year when the first wave came, most of us thought it was not
really the big problem it had been originally described to be. Many of us
wore masks and social distanced just to be at peace with the police and not
really because it was the safest thing for us to do.

This time people are dying from the disease, our hospitals are overwhelmed
by the numbers of infected people, never mind that the great majority gets
cured.

 

Schools and higher institutions of learning have closed down, businesses in
most large towns are closed, public transport is not functioning, private
cars and boda boda motorcycles must not cross district boundaries, and even
places of worship must not conduct public prayers. Farming has also been
brought to its knees.

 

Farmers cannot sell food to schools anymore; they cannot travel easily to
purchase inputs such as vet medicines and pesticides and fertilisers.

 

Most town dwellers, being out of work, have no propensity to spend as they
used to on foodstuffs such as vegetables, eggs, and meat. The big lesson
drawn from the situation is that now people wear masks and practice social
distancing not out of fear of police brutality any more but rather out of
the great fear of the disease.

 

We see a rash for vaccination. We see cases of people dying and only a
handful of concerned villagers going to the burial. Thousands have even
bought sanitisers to use in cases where no hand washing facilities are
provided. It is all an indication that we are learning to live with the
disease and about to keep it under control.-Monitor.

 

 

Kenya: China Halts Kenya Loans Amid Debt Reprieve Bid

China has frozen disbursements of active loans to Kenyan projects in the
wake of differences over Nairobi's bid to extend debt repayment holiday to
December.

 

Chinese-funded projects are facing a cash crunch, with contractors reporting
delayed payments from banks like Exim Bank of China.

 

Executives at State-owned firms say the projects risk delays due to the
funding hitch.

 

Sources familiar with the delay say the Chinese lenders, especially Exim
Bank, are uncomfortable with the terms of the Kenyan request for extension
of the debt service suspension beyond June.

"Payment to contractors working on Chinese projects and paid under direct
method have delayed since last month. We are told Chinese banks are not
settling invoice because of the moratorium," said a CEO of a State
corporation who spoke on condition of anonymity.

 

The direct method involves Kenyan firms with Chinese loans sending notices
for supplier payments to Chinese banks through the Treasury.

 

China is one of Kenya's biggest foreign creditors, having lent Ksh758
billion ($7.02 billion) as at April 2021 to build rail lines, roads and
other infrastructure projects in the past decade.

 

On Thursday, the Chinese embassy in Nairobi acknowledged the funding hitch,
adding that the matter was being addressed by officials of the two
countries.

 

"To my knowledge, the relevant parties of the two sides are in close
communication on specific issues under the DSSI framework," said Huang
Xueqing, the Chief of Information and Public Affairs section at the embassy,
said in email response to the Business Daily questions on delayed release of
loans.

"They are in communication with each other on this matter also under the
framework of DSSI (Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI)."

 

Kenya's Treasury officials denied delays in release of Chinese loans, saying
the country had received positive response from all countries where they
sought an extension of the debt repayment relief.

 

"Not true," Finance Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani said.

 

"I am not aware. All creditors have been very responsive," Director of the
Public Debt Management Office Haron Sirma said.

 

In January, China and other rich countries under the under the Debt Service
Suspension Initiative (DSSI) gave Kenya a six-months debt repayments relief.

 

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has battered Kenya's tax revenue
collection at a time when more of its debts are falling due and as it is
still grappling with gaping fiscal deficits.

Now, Kenya is seeking deals to suspend debt service with the rich nations
under the Paris Club and other creditors, including China, covering the six
months to the end of December.

 

The G20 countries, including Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France Germany,
Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Spain and the USA, rescheduled payments of
Ksh32.9 billion ($304.77 million) in principal and interest due between
January and June to the next four years with a one year grace period.

 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has disclosed that Kenya had sought an
extension of the debt relief from G20 countries to December, saving an
additional Ksh39 billion ($361.27 million).

 

While China is a G20 member and a signatory to the deal, a large proportion
of its loans to Kenya has been made on a commercial basis by government
agencies, quasi-public corporations and by state-owned banks, such as China
Development Bank and Exim Bank of China.

 

China has sought to negotiate its debt relief deals separately, but applying
the same terms as the G20 countries while reserving the right on size and
which loans will attract the moratorium.

 

The World Bank had estimated that Kenya could save Ksh55.9 billion ($517.8
million) from China between January and June under the DSSI deal in
principal and interest payment freeze.

 

But China announced that Kenya would be granted a Ksh26 billion ($240.85
million) relief.

 

It is unclear how much relief the government was asking for and which
specific loans were waived. But parliamentary disclosures indicated a
portion of the relief came from the standard gauge railway financier China
Exim bank.

 

President Uhuru Kenyatta's administration has largely taken loans from China
since 2014 to build roads, bridges, power plants and the SGR.

 

This started after Kenya became a lower-middle income economy, locking her
out of highly concessional loans from development lenders such as the World
Bank.

 

China's influence on Kenya's infrastructure development, however, started in
earnest with the construction of the Thika Superhighway between January 2009
and November 2012 at a cost of nearly Ksh32 billion ($296.4 million) during
the last term of President Mwai Kibaki.

 

The deal to fund the first phase of the SGR, Kenya's single-largest
infrastructure project by cost since independence, saw China overtake Japan
as Kenya's largest bilateral lender.-East African.

 

 

 

Tanzania: Cag Report Clears Bot...unearths Double Payments in Some
Institutions

PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan yesterday received a report from the
Controller and Auditor General (CAG), which says all transactions issued by
the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) between January and March, this year, observed
procedures.

 

On March 28, President Samia ordered the CAG to conduct a special audit on
all the monies withdrawn from the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) in the first three
months of the current year.

 

The Head of State issued the directive upon receiving the CAG and the
Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) reports for the year
2019/2020.

A statement released yesterday by the Directorate of Presidential
Communications said the CAG established that all the transactions done by
the BoT were in line with the state procedures. But the report unearthed
financial irregularities within the Tanzania National Roads Agency
(Tanroads) and Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) whereby the two institutions
reportedly made double payments to some of their clients.

 

"There were some irregularities on financial transactions in some of public
institutions as they were reported to have made double payments as well as
delay to spend the money that was already approved," reads part of the
statement.

 

Presenting the report to President Samia at the Chamwino State House
yesterday, CAG Kichere saipayment for contractors and service providers has
generated huge interests that have to be incurred by the government.

 

"The CAG also established that there was some expenditure that was contrary
to the approved government budget," read further the statement.

President Samia yesterday also received a report on the preparation of the
Population and Housing Census to be conducted in August 2022. The report was
presented by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Chief Statisticians, Dr
Albina Chuwa, saying the next year's count will be done using tablets at all
stages, with the aim of reducing costs as well as expediting the exercise.

 

Dr Chuwa said the pilot census is expected to kick off in August this year
in seven regions from both Mainland and Zanzibar.

 

"Preparations for the census are conducted in accordance with the Statistics
Act chapter 351," said Dr Chuwa.

 

In another development, President Samia also received a report on the
preparation of the Population and Housing Census to be conducted in August
2022.

The report was presented by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Chief
Statisticians, Dr Albina Chuwa, saying the next year's count will be done
using tablets at all stages, with the aim of reducing costs as well as
expediting the exercise. Dr Chuwa said the pilot census is expected to kick
off in August this year in seven regions from both Mainland and Zanzibar.

 

"Preparations for the census are conducted in accordance with the Statistics
Act chapter 351," said Dr Chuwa.

 

In May, this year, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa launched the country's
roadmap towards its sixth population census that will provide latest
demographics and living condition data. At least 328.2bn/- will be spent for
the exercise that is set to be conducted on August 28, 2022.

 

The Prime Minister announced, Tanzania will digitally collect data using
tablets, instead of papers that were used in previous exercises. According
to the Prime Minister 95 per cent of the cost will be footed by the republic
and the remaining 5 per cent will come from developing partners.

 

The cost for conducting population census appears to have slightly dropped
from 2.76 US dollars in the 2012 nationwide exercise to 2.16 UD dollar or
(3472.2/-) per head in 2022. The average cost for conducting population
census in Africa is between 2.1 and 5.1 US dollars.

 

Tanzania spent roughly 1.16 US dollars during its 2002 exercise. Since 1961,
the country has held a census once every 10 years.-Daily News.

 

 

 

South Africa: SA Committed to Global Acceleration Plan for Economic Justice
and Rights

President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa is committed to both supporting
and implementing the actions contained in the Global Acceleration Plan for
Economic Justice and Rights.

 

"Our interventions must dismantle the systemic barriers that marginalise
women and girls and perpetuate inequality in the global economy," President
Ramaphosa said.

 

Addressing the Generation Equality Forum Action Coalition Session virtually,
he said South Africa is working to shift economic power into the hands of
women through, among other things, earmarking 40 percent of all public
procurement for women-owned businesses.

"On the continent, we are working towards adopting a Protocol and Programme
of Action on Women in Trade to promote the participation of women in the
African Continental Free Trade Area. We are working to ensure access to
productive resources through financial inclusion.

 

"Lack of access to financial services and products disproportionately
affects poorer women working in the informal sector, those without income
and those who are illiterate.

 

"It increases vulnerability to economic shocks and may, in some cases, even
increase exposure to gender-based violence," President Ramaphosa said.

 

Innovation in digital financial services in Africa offers an opportunity for
rapid scale-up of financial services and products.

 

"Working in partnership with Queen Maxima, the UN Secretary-General's
Special Advocate on Financial Inclusion, we are committed to establishing
the Advocacy Accelerator for Women's Digital Financial Inclusion in Africa,"
President Ramaphosa said.

The initiative will mobilise stakeholders to invest in new platforms and
products to increase access to digital financial products and services for
women in Africa.

 

"Through these efforts, through this Global Acceleration Plan, we are moving
ever closer to realising our goal of economic justice and rights for women,"
the President said.

 

The Generation Equality Forum (GEF) is a global gathering to accelerate
gender equality actions and mark the 25th anniversary of the Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action.

 

It is convened by United Nations Women and co-hosted by the governments of
Mexico and France, in partnership with co-leaders from the Global South and
Global North, civil society and the private sector.

 

South Africa participated actively in the negotiations for the Global
Acceleration Plan (GAP) of the Economic Justice and Rights Action Coalition,
which presents a clear action plan of commitments and actions that
stakeholders must take to advance economic justice and
rights.-SAnews.gov.za.

 

 

 

South Africa: Creating a Conducive Business Environment in Metropolitan
Municipalities

As the country focuses on economic recovery and reconstruction, Deputy
Minister of Finance, Dr David Masondo, has called on the metropolitan
municipalities to create a conducive business environment to enable
investments.

 

"There are economic opportunities, which can be explored by private sector
institutions within the area of your jurisdiction. However, these
opportunities heavily rely on your capacity to provide bulk and connector
infrastructure to enable such investments," Masondo said on Thursday.

 

Addressing the Metropolitan Municipalities Roadshow on the Economic
Reconstruction and Recovery Plan in Pretoria, Masondo said there are also a
number of approval processes that are taking place at the metro level to
enable private sector institutions to invest.

"Thus, the metros need to create a conducive business environment through
streamlining and ensuring more efficient internal business processes that
interface with the private sector. Such business processes relate to supply
chain management, issuing of business permits, responding to customer
complaints, issuing of rates and services accounts, development approval
processes, issuing of construction permits and rates clearance certificates
and ensuring electricity connections," the Deputy Minister said.

 

Together with the World Bank, government has introduced the Ease of Doing
Business project, which drives the reforms at national and subnational level
to make the country more competitive and business friendly.

"The Sub-National Doing Business reforms that we are rolling out in
partnership with the metros are a core component of this broader programme.
A major component of this reform process is the optimisation and automation
of metro business processes in order to reduce time, cost and numbers of
procedures that businesses have to experience," the Deputy Minister said.

 

He expressed concern on the failure of many metros to spend on their capital
budgets, placing some of the local government conditional grants in
jeopardy.

 

"From our engagements with yourselves, we have identified two major
constraints on metro performance in this regard. First, is the metro
internal Supply Chain Management (SCM) processes, which are lengthy and
tedious. Secondly, it is owing to the criminal elements which have
mushroomed under the disguise of 30% requirements of the Preferential
Procurement Policy Framework Act (PPPFA)," the Deputy Minister said.

He acknowledged that part of the problem regarding the slow pace of capital
spend, is a lack of a project pipeline in some metros.

 

"To address this concern a project and programme preparation grant will be
introduced effective from your new financial year. We urge you to maximize
on the use of this grant on major infrastructure projects, which prepare
them in a manner that will assist the city to accelerate the infrastructure
built programme. Infrastructure investment that can unlock private
investment in targeted spatial areas should be prioritised," the Deputy
Minister said.

 

Masondo emphasised the importance for metropolitan municipalities to
strengthen governance in the city.

 

"A clear demonstration of this should be reflected in the capacity of the
city to reduce the unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful
expenditure (UIFW). It is discomforting that this has been increasing over
the years and it does not look like there is an appetite to reduce it. We
should be aware that the credit rating has started factoring this issue,
which has resulted in a decrease in the credit rating," the Deputy Minister
said.

 

He expressed concern that the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC)
does not look like there it has any form of consequence management.

 

"The capacity of the city to borrow will soon reflect this poor credit
rating leading to expensive debt and in some instances reluctance of the
financial institutions to borrow you money that is critical for growth
enhancing investments.

 

"The institutional stability of the city is paramount for the successful
implementation of the economic recovery. We are concerned about the high
turnover at the executive level. This does not build confidence.

 

"As political principals, it is your duty to ensure that there is a
stability to enable the institution to focus on service delivery. Such
stability is possible - eThekwini, for example, has retained the same Chief
Financial Officer (CFO) for around 20 years," the Deputy Minister
said.-SAnews.gov.za.

 

 

Tunisia: MMR Up to 6.26 Percent in June 2021

Tunis/Tunisia — The average monthly money market rate (MMR) for June rose
slightly to 6.26% against 6.25% in May and April 2021, according to the
latest statistics of the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT).Actually, the MMR has
been going up since the beginning of the current year, while it was at the
level of 6.13% and 6.12% in November and December 2020.

 

The MMR reached its highest level in recent years in March 2019, with a rate
of 7.90%.-Tunis Afrique Presse.

 

 

 

Namibia: Ondonga Probes Sand Mining Fallout

Omuthiya — The Ondonga Traditional Authority (OTA) has set up a committee to
look into issues of sand mining that have been a burning issue in Oshikoto,
especially in the Oniipa area.

 

This move comes following the environment ministry's decision to suspend
OTA's mining licence at Ondando C burrow at Oniipa after it observed some
irregularities, which led to a violation of the environmental clearance
certificate.

 

"We have taken note of the suspension of the licence due to a number of
reasons, as cited by the ministry. Ondonga King Fillemon Shuumbwa Nangolo
has acted and taken a decision to set up a committee that is tasked to
investigate and address whatever issues that surround the matter," OTA
secretary Frans

Enkali said when contacted for comment.

 

The licence was suspended last week by environmental commissioner Timoteus
Mufeti until 31 August. He also ordered that no mining activities

 

be undertaken for the time being. Mufeti stated in the letter that the
licence was revoked for non-compliance after it was observed that the
activities interfered with underground water, as well as the construction of
a gravel road to the site without authorisation.

 

The ministry's finding comes after numerous complaints from the community,
who have objected to sand mining activities, stressing that it was an
environmental hazard and also leading to land degradation. Due to the
delayed reaction from various stakeholders to the issue, the community two
weeks ago blocked the road leading to the mining site as a form of protest.

The protest later turned ugly when the headman of the Okadhimeti village,
Petrus Shambo Martin, who serves as the middleman between the traditional

 

authority and businesspeople conducting the mining, turned up at the site
and was engaged in a quarrel and scuffle with one of the village activists,
Jesaya Nambundunga. After the fight, Nambundunga opened a case of assault
with the Onayena police, and case number CR 47/06/21 was registered.

 

Martin refused to answer anything pertaining to the mining, and referred all
questions to OTA. "I have only seen the letter on social media, nothing
official to my office that is directly responsible, so I have nothing to
respond on whether activities ceased or not," he said. Enkali, however,
believes the aggrieved community should first have approached the
traditional authority.

"The traditional authority was fully authorised to operate, and the OTA, as
the custodian of the land, has the right to allocate or allow anyone to
settle or operate on its land for as long as it is done legally. So what
happened in this regard was not really necessary, as the community was
supposed to approach the traditional authority instead of approaching the
businesspeople operating," he stressed.

 

"Those people never went illegally, but we permitted them. Therefore, the
aggrieved community should have consulted us. We could have sat and
deliberated on an amicable solution", Enkali said, adding that the committee
will in the meantime tirelessly work towards the matter before the set
deadline of 31 August so that a solution can be found.

 

'Ban sand mining'

 

Meanwhile, one of the champions of the objection to sand mining activities,
Oscar Shikongo, said they do not want any such activities to be undertaken
within their community. "We don't care whatever deliberation is to be
undertaken, for as long as it is not a resolution. Such activities must be
banned in Ondando. We will not rest until such is realised. They should take
the mining to a different area because we have seen the effects of it," he
charged.

 

Shikongo emphasised that the community has made that collective decision.
Nambundunga this week told New Era that he was recovering from the injuries
he sustained, although he complained that his throat still hurts.

 

"I am waiting for the outcome of the investigation. I was assaulted for
nothing while I am trying to stand for the wellbeing of the community. The
scratches have healed, but I still feel pain on my neck and throat where he
was trying to strangle me," stated the activist, who refuses to relent. On
the other hand, Martin claimed he only acted in self-defence. "I was also
beaten and pulled out of the car as I went to observe what was happening.
Imagine, a headman being treated as such. So as a man, I needed to defend
myself," he said.-New Era.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 


 


Invest Wisely!

Bulls n Bears 

 

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INVESTORS DIARY 2021

 


Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


Companies under Cautionary

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


ART

PPC

Dairibord

 


Starafrica

Fidelity

Turnall

 


Medtech

Zimre

Nampak Zimbabwe

 


 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

 


DISCLAIMER: This report has been prepared by Bulls ‘n Bears, a division of
Faith Capital (Pvt) Ltd for general information purposes only and does not
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opinions expressed and recommendations made are subject to change without
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suitable for all investors. Securities of emerging and mid-size growth
companies typically involve a higher degree of risk and more volatility than
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investigation into the business, financial condition and future prospects of
any companies referred to in this report. Other  Indices quoted herein are
for guideline purposes only and sourced from third parties.

 


 

 


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