Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 13 November 2021
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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 13 November 2021
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ü Shein suppliers' workers doing 75-hour week, finds probe
ü AstraZeneca to take profits from Covid vaccine
ü Japanese giant Toshiba announces breakup plan
ü Rolls-Royce Barnoldswick: Deal with Unite union secures plant's future
ü Musk sells nearly $7 bln worth of Tesla shares this week
ü Amazon worker group in New York withdraws petition for union vote
ü Factbox: J&J's legal liabilities as it plans to split
ü Shipping companies feel the heat as investors shun coal
ü Sudan: Telecommunications Authority Will Not Restore Internet Service
ü Nigeria: Lagos Builds Infrastructure to Reduce Carbon Footprint
ü For Local Fishers to Compete, African Leaders Must Urge WTO Members to End Harmful Subsidies
ü Nigeria: 2022 Budget - Despite Losing Major International Funding, Nigerian Govt Refuses to Fund Family Planning
ü Tunisia: TLG Capital and UGFS-NA Selected As Managers of Empower Fund-B - CDC
ü Ghana to Host AfDB 2022 AGMs
ü Namibia: Farmworkers' Minimum Wage Increases to N$1,653 Per Month
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Shein suppliers' workers doing 75-hour week, finds probe
Georgia Toffolo and other British influencers have collaborated on clothing lines with the fast fashion firm
Workers for some suppliers of the Chinese fashion giant Shein are doing excessive overtime, a non-governmental organisation has suggested.
A number of staff across six sites in Guangzhou were found to be working 75-hour weeks in a report by Swiss advocacy group Public Eye.
David Hachfeld of Public Eye said there was "enormous pressure" on staff to turn clothes around quickly.
Shein said it takes supply chain issues seriously and will review the report.
Public Eye's researchers visited 17 factories supplying Shein and its parent company Zoetop, near the Shein headquarters in Guangzhou. The organisation typically campaigns on big Swiss businesses and their dealings abroad.
It interviewed 10 workers across six of those sites, which were solely receiving orders from Shein at the time.
They reported that the workers they spoke to clocked three shifts per day, often with only one day off a month.
Public Eye suggests the fact that workers, mainly migrants, are paid per item of clothing encourages them to work long hours.
Although such hours aren't unusual in Chinese production hubs, they violate local labour laws, which set out a maximum working day of eight hours, as well as a 40-hour working week.
Shein said: "Upon learning of the report, we immediately requested a copy and when we receive and review the report, we will initiate an investigation.
"We have a strict supplier Code of Conduct which includes stringent health and safety policies and is in compliance with local laws. If non-compliance is identified we will take immediate action," the spokesperson said.
Public Eye launched an investigation into Shein, which works with thousands of suppliers, last year in a bid to find out more about the fashion giant's structure.
The private company does not disclose financial figures, but its sales are thought to have soared during the pandemic with consumers making more of online shopping. Data provider CB Insights estimates that revenues topped 63.5bn yuan (£7.4bn) in 2020.
So-called "fast-fashion" companies, who offer low price clothing, have faced scrutiny over their supply chains.
Victoria Bellandini, senior fashion lecturer at the University of Lincoln said: "You cannot get clothes that cheap that are made in good working conditions and until we really know where our clothes are coming from, we can't source these problems".
She said: "Big brands say they check their suppliers but so much of this is farmed out to cheaper factories, meaning there is a widespread lack of transparency behind industry standards,
"The fashion industry is changing to a certain extent at the higher end level but this isn't happening for cheaper clothes brands".
£1.50 tops, £10 midi skirts - and even a £30 wedding dress.
Shein is winning over young shoppers in the US, UK, Europe and Australia by producing fast fashion even faster, and often at cheaper prices, than its rivals Boohoo or Asos.
It's been operating in its current form since 2013. The company relies on thousands of third-party suppliers in China to produce small batches of clothes, about 50-100 per item.
If the items do well with its trend-conscious customers? Shein orders more from its suppliers. If not, it's discontinued.
Shein has accelerated the "test and repeat" model, made famous by the likes of Zara owner Inditex and H&M. Just 6% of Shein's inventory remains in stock for more than 90 days.
Read more about the secretive fashion firm that's taken over TikTok.
2px presentational grey line
Mr Hachfeld, who is also the director of the Clean Clothes Campaign in Switzerland, suggested that the long hours observed were "directly linked" to the piece-rate system, which is widespread in China.
"If you have that without implementing checks on limits... that automatically leads to high working hours because workers need to make their living."
He added: "It's striking to see that a company with such big influence and huge turnover is apparently not yet acting on its responsibility to ensure that pay rates are at a level where you can make a good living within normal working hours."
In a "good month" several workers said that they might make up to 10,000 Yuan (£1,186). In slow months, their pay could be two-thirds lower.
Some also claimed that they were working without a contract, the Public Eye report says, although workers generally said that they were paid on time.
The NGO also visited the 16 million square foot Shein warehouse on the outskirts of Guangzhou, where it ships its clothes from. About one dozen employees interviewed there said they worked similar, long, hours.
At one supplier site, researchers also found that there were no emergency exits and barred windows, which could prove fatal in the event of a fire.
The fast fashion firm outlines a code of conduct for suppliers on its US website.
It says that they must "provide a safe, hygienic and healthy workplace environment" and that working hours should comply with local laws and regulations.
As well as thousands of smaller suppliers along its supply chain, the e-retailer uses 200 contract manufacturers.
The BBC understands that the company performs quarterly assessments of its suppliers, sometimes involving external auditors.
But the business model has raised concerns among politicians in the UK.
Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee Tom Tugendhat previously told the BBC "when the price is too good you have to ask who is really paying and how".
The production and promotion of its crop tops and bikinis on social media has raised questions among environmentalists too.
How can fashion become more sustainable?
Shein insists that its method of producing clothes in small batches is more efficient and that little goes to waste. It also points out on its website that it wants to source more recycled fabrics and uses printing technology that is less polluting than traditional screen printing for graphics and patterns.
But Roberta Lee, a sustainable fashion stylist, has suggested that the company preys "on the fears of outfit repetition syndrome", with pieces likely to be discarded to landfill after a matter of weeks.
While Public Eye says that it would like to see stronger regulation of the fast fashion industry, "taking a slower approach to fashion consumption and making the next click count is a good place to start", according to Mr Hachfeld. -BBC
AstraZeneca to take profits from Covid vaccine
AstraZeneca has started to move away from providing its Covid-19 vaccine to countries on a not-for-profit basis.
The drugs giant has signed a series of for-profit agreements for next year, and expects to make a modest income from the vaccine, it said.
The company had previously said it would only start to make money from the vaccine when Covid-19 was no longer a pandemic.
Its chief executive Pascal Soriot said the disease was becoming endemic.
The jab will continue to be supplied on a not-for-profit basis to poorer countries.
Mr Soriot had said previously: "We decided to provide it at no profit, because our top priority was to protect global health."
He told the BBC he had "absolutely no regrets" about not making a profit when competitors had been, despite having to deal with political criticism in various countries.
He said the vaccine, which was developed with the University of Oxford, had saved a million lives around the world.
"I absolutely don't regret it," Mr Soriot said. "We are proud as a company of the impact we have had - we've saved millions of hospitalisations. The [AstraZeneca] team continues to do a stellar job."
He said that the contracts that had been signed are for next year, adding: "The virus is becoming endemic which means we have to learn to live with it.
"We started this to help, but we said we would transition [to making a profit on the vaccine]," he said. "It's not something we see as a huge profit-earner."
There will be tiered pricing for countries to make sure the vaccine is affordable, Mr Soriot said.
By the end of the year AstraZeneca expects to have supplied 250 million doses of its vaccine to the Covax programme for developing countries.
Covid vaccines: Will drug companies make bumper profits?
Other vaccine manufacturers including Pfizer and Moderna have been making profits from their vaccines.
A normal profit margin in the drugs industry is about 20%, but Mr Soriot said AstraZeneca, which charges about $5 per shot for the Covid vaccine at cost price, would not be making as much profit as that.
However, Nick Dearden, director of campaign group Global Justice Now, said AstraZeneca's decision to start profiting from the vaccine while the coronavirus pandemic was continuing "shows the utter folly of giving away publicly-funded science to big pharma".
"This moment was always going to come - and it's exactly why public health experts have demanded a waiver of intellectual property on Covid-19 vaccines," he said.
Graphic showing price to be charged per dose
In its latest financial results, AstraZeneca said: "The company is now expecting to progressively transition the vaccine to modest profitability as new orders are received.
"Covid-19 vaccine sales in [the fourth quarter of 2021] are expected to be a blend of the original pandemic agreements and new orders, with the large majority coming from pandemic agreements."
By the end of September, AstraZeneca and its sub-licensees had supplied 1.5 billion doses.
The company reported revenues for the first nine months of the year of $25.4bn (£19bn), but said its overall profit margins had declined, mainly due to providing the Covid-19 vaccine at cost price.
AstraZeneca said a rise in profits in the fourth quarter from the Covid-19 vaccine would balance out costs related to developing a Covid-19 antibody treatment, as it kept its overall profit forecast for the year the same.
Shares in the drugs giant fell more than 4% on Friday.
Meanwhile, another company that has developed a Covid vaccine, US giant Johnson & Johnson, said on Friday that it would split its consumer healthcare division, which makes products including Baby Powder and Listerine, from its drugs and medical devices businesses.
"The new Johnson & Johnson and the new consumer health company would each be able to more effectively allocate resources to deliver for patients and consumers, drive growth and unlock significant value," said Joaquin Duato, who is expected to become chief executive in January.-BBC
Japanese giant Toshiba announces breakup plan
Japanese conglomerate Toshiba has confirmed plans to split the company into three separate businesses.
Toshiba said the three companies would be focused on infrastructure, semiconductors and devices.
The company has come under increasing pressure from activist investors to make changes since an accounting scandal in 2015.
This week, US giant General Electric announced a similar strategy that will see the historic company broken up.
Major changes
Toshiba's plan will see it spin off two core businesses - its energy and infrastructure unit as well as its device and storage operation.
After shedding those two companies, Toshiba will continue to own a 40.6% stake in memory chipmaker Kioxia as well as other assets.
It expects to complete the reorganisation by the second half of 2023.
The move is aimed to increase the stock market valuations of Toshiba's different businesses after facing pressure from shareholders.
But some analysts are concerned about the timescale for the changes.
"The move is in the right direction, but it seems slow," said Atul Goyal of investment bank Jefferies, who would have preferred a timeline of three-to-six months.
"2023 is a long way out and we are not sure what else will change between now and then."
Toshiba Board of Directors Chairperson Osamu Nagayama attends a news conference in Tokyo.
Toshiba is one of Japan's oldest and largest firms, with divisions that range from home electronics to nuclear power stations.
However, the company has faced wrenching changes in recent years as it dealt with the fallout of an accounting scandal and huge losses linked to its US nuclear unit.
In 2015, then-chief executive and president Hisao Tanaka resigned after Toshiba said it had overstated its profits by more than a $1bn.
In April of this year, UK private equity group CVC Capital Partners made an unsolicited $20bn takeover bid for Toshiba.
A week later, the company's chief executive Nobuaki Kurumatani resigned amid controversy over the bid.
Toshiba then rejected CVC's offer, which angered some activist shareholders.
In June, a shareholder revolt saw chairman Osamu Nagayama ousted from his position.
Breaking up conglomerates
On Tuesday, US conglomerate General Electric announced that it would split into three separate companies.
The company said it will spin off its healthcare business in early 2023 and combine its renewable energy, fossil-fuel power and digital units into one company that will be spun off the following year. The remaining business will be its jet engine maker GE Aviation.
The move marks the breakup of an iconic manufacturer which was founded by Thomas Edison. It went on to become a sprawling business empire that was once the world's most valuable company.
Toshiba dates back to the 1870s and for decades after World War Two it was a symbol of Japan's economic recovery and its high tech industry.
>From the electronics goods found in so many of our homes to nuclear and coal power stations - the company has loomed large in Japan.
But in 2015 it admitted that it had overstated its profits for six years, making it a symbol of the many scandals blighting Japan Inc.
To avoid bankruptcy, it sold its crown-jewel memory chip business in 2018.
Today's announcement that it will split into three companies marks the end of an era, but it also highlights the growing impact of activist investors who successfully ousted the board's chairperson in June.
Splitting up conglomerates is a far from common business strategy in Japan so it remains to be seen whether it will be successful, and more crucially if it is enough to please activist investors.-BBC
Rolls-Royce Barnoldswick: Deal with Unite union secures plant's future
Manufacturing at a once-threatened Rolls-Royce plant will continue for at least 10 years, the engineering giant has announced.
The site in Barnoldswick, Lancashire, had seen strikes in a long dispute over the firm's future plans for it.
A spokesman said a deal had been struck with unions "to ensure Barnoldswick can move forward with certainty".
It was "a tremendous achievement" for workers who "stood solidly in support of one another", the union Unite said.
The deal extends protections secured in 2020, including a commitment that there will be no compulsory redundancies for five years, the union added.
'Act as an inspiration'
In August 2020, Rolls-Royce announced proposals to merge its plants in the town and cut about 350 jobs.
Workers went on strike in the following November, after it was revealed aeroplane fan blade production would move to Singapore.
In January, it was announced Barnoldswick would be a core site with a new centre of excellence to train workers, but concerns were later raised over suggestions the number of roles at the plant could drop below 350.
A spokesman for the firm said at the time that it was trying to secure new work and would make no compulsory redundancies.
In a new statement, the firm said the aviation industry had faced "an unprecedented impact from the Covid-19 pandemic and we have had to restructure to address the resulting drop in workload", adding that "both the company and the trade union have had to work hard to reach this agreement".
"We now look forward to working with Unite to ensure Barnoldswick can move forward with certainty," it said.
Unite's assistant general secretary Steve Turner said the deal was "a tremendous achievement for the workers... who have stood solidly in support of one another and their community".
"This dispute should act as an inspiration to all facing similar challenges as we transition to a greener economy," he added.-BBC
Musk sells nearly $7 bln worth of Tesla shares this week
(Reuters) - Tesla CEO Elon Musk offloaded a combined $6.9 billion worth of shares in the electric car company this week, taking advantage of a meteoric rally that vaulted the firm's value to over $1 trillion.
The billionaire sold 1.2 million shares held by his trust for more than $1.2 billion on Friday, the latest in a flurry of his stock transactions, according to a U.S. securities filing released later in the day.
The world's richest person and Tesla's top shareholder last Saturday tweeted that he would sell 10% of his shares if users of the social media platform approved the move. The 10% would be about 17 million shares at the time of his tweet.
He has sold 6.36 million shares this week - around 37% of 17 million. He now needs to offload about 10 million more shares to fulfill his pledge to sell 10% of his holdings.
Shares of Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) closed lower on Friday, down 2.8% at $1,033.42, snapping an 11-week winning streak. The shares are up more than 46% this year following a sharp rally in October.
The stock sales, which marked the first time that Musk cashed out on a stake of that size since the company was founded in 2003, were massive by capital market standards, eclipsing the initial public offerings of most companies.
By getting Twitter users to green-light the move, he has blunted potential criticism of cashing out at a time when Tesla's valuation has become frothy and shares are at record highs.
Tesla shares fell 15.4% this week and lost some $187 billion in market value, more than the combined market capitalizations of Ford Motor Co (F.N) and General Motors Co (GM.N).
Despite the week's losses, Tesla is still the most valuable automaker in the world. Recent strong gains in the stock have underscored demand for shares of electric vehicle (EV) makers.
After the blockbuster market debut of Rivian Automotive Inc (RIVN.O) on Wednesday, the two most valuable U.S. automakers are EV companies.
In a veiled jab at the Irvine, California-based rival, Musk tweeted on Thursday: "There have been hundreds of automotive startups, both electric & combustion, but Tesla is (the) only American carmaker to reach high volume production & positive cash flow in past 100 years."
MORE SALES?
Musk had previously said he would have to exercise a large number of stock options this year, which would create a big tax bill. Selling some of his stock could free up funds to pay the taxes.
Prior to the sale, Musk owned a stake of about 23% in Tesla, including stock options. After his exercise on 2.15 million stocks on Monday, he has options for 20 million more shares he needs to exercise by next August.
"We expect the share sales will continue, as Musk holds millions of options worth billions of dollars that would otherwise expire worthless, and he has also prearranged share sales under 10b5-1 plans," said Jason Benowitz, senior portfolio manager at the Roosevelt Investment Group LLC in New York.
The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Amazon worker group in New York withdraws petition for union vote
(Reuters) - A group of Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) workers in New York City's Staten Island have withdrawn a petition to hold a union election, marking a setback in a growing push by organized labor to bring the online retailer's staff into the fold.
The group, known as the Amazon Labor Union, which is not affiliated with a major U.S. union, filed its petition last month, joining union campaigns underway at Amazon facilities in Alabama and Canada.
In order to hold an election supervised by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board, unions must show that they have gathered signatures of support from at least 30% of workers who are eligible to vote.
Chris Smalls, president of the group and a former employee at the Staten Island warehouse, said Friday the group opted to withdraw its petition after the NLRB informed them they had not collected enough signatures.
"We will resubmit as soon as we can," Smalls said in an interview, adding that he was signing more cards with workers "as we speak."
Amazon handily beat back an effort by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) to organize its Bessemer, Alabama, warehouse earlier this year. But unions have continued to organize, with the RWDSU gearing up for a potential rematch in Alabama.
Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said in a statement that the company is focused on "listening directly to our employees and continuously improving on their behalf."
Amazon raised doubts last month about whether the Amazon Labor Union had gathered enough legitimate signatures to hold a union election.
Unions and companies often tangle over which employees should be eligible to vote in elections, with employers pushing for broader bargaining units to dilute support, labor experts say.
Smalls said he collected some 2,000 signatures to request an official vote through the NLRB, and has since submitted additional signatures.
Nantel told Reuters Amazon has more than 6,000 employees at the JFK8 fulfillment center and more than 9,600 across its Staten Island campus.
Unions typically try to gather signatures from 50% to 70% of workers to give themselves a cushion if some cards are challenged by employers, and to ensure they can withstand anti-union campaigns by companies before workers ultimately vote, labor experts say.
Amid a wave of labor activity at Amazon warehouses, the Staten Island campaign stands apart in that it is advancing outside the umbrella of a traditional labor union. Smalls rose to prominence last year when Amazon fired him, alleging he violated a paid pandemic-related quarantine when he showed up at his facility to protest work conditions. Smalls later filed a class-action suit against Amazon.
The news of Amazon Labor Union's withdrawal of its petition was previously reported by Bloomberg.
The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Factbox: J&J's legal liabilities as it plans to split
(Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) on Friday said it would split into two companies, hiving off its consumer health division that sells Band-Aids and Baby Powder from its pharmaceuticals and medical devices business.
The separate companies will have to divide up various legal liabilities. Here are the biggest:
JOHNSON'S BABY POWDER
Nearly 40,000 lawsuits alleging its Baby Powder and other talc products contained asbestos and caused cancer, which the company denies. The plaintiffs include women suffering from ovarian cancer and others battling mesothelioma. J&J has offered to contribute $2 billion toward resolving remaining talc litigation as part of the newly created subsidiary’s bankruptcy reorganization.
OPIOIDS
J&J and the three largest U.S. drug distributors - McKesson Corp (MCK.N), AmerisourceBergen Corp (ABC.N) and Cardinal Health Inc (CAH.N) - in July agreed to pay up to $26 billion to resolve lawsuits by state and local governments claiming they fueled the opioid epidemic. J&J, which was named in 3,300 lawsuits, would pay up to $5 billion. The settlement has not been finalized and eight states are not participating. The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned a $465 million judgment against J&J in lawsuit by the state alleging it deceptively marketed painkillers in ways that downplayed their addictive risks.
SUNSCREENS
Johnson & Johnson and Costco Wholesale Corp on Oct. 29 in a court filing said they had reached a tentative agreement to settle lawsuits over the presence of a cancer-causing substance in several recalled J&J sunscreen products. J&J had voluntarily recalled four Neutrogena aerosol sunscreen products and one from Aveeno on July 14, after finding small amounts of benzene, a carcinogen. Consumers sued over the Neutrogena and Aveeno-branded aerosol sunscreen products.
RISPERDAL
J&J on Oct. 29 disclosed that it had settled most of the lawsuits it faced by thousands of men who claimed its anti-psychotic drug Risperdal caused them to develop excessive breast tissue and said it recorded $800 million in expenses in connection with the agreement. More than 9,000 lawsuits had been pending. The deal covered a case that one resulted in an $8 billion punitive damages award in 2019 that a Philadelphia judge later reduced to $6.8 million.
HIP IMPLANTS
J&J's DePuy Orthopaedics unit in 2013 announced it would pay up to $2.5 billion to resolve cases by people alleging injuries caused by its metal-on-metal ASR hip-replacement systems. It reached further agreements in 2015 and 2017 to resolve additional claims by patients, allowing it settle more than 10,000 cases in total. J&J says it has reached settlements in related class actions in Australia and Canada.
The company also has face lawsuits over its Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip implants. After being hit with several adverse jury verdicts, it agreed to settle thousands of cases in 2019. Lawsuits continue to be filed and J&J says 5,400 are pending.
PELVIC MESH
J&J and other manufacturers of pelvic mesh products have faced thousands of lawsuits by women claim they suffered painful injuries and difficulty in removing of the devices. More than 104,000 cases against seven manufacturers including J&J were consolidated before a federal judge in West Virginia and by 2019 had resulted in more than $7.25 billion in settlements. J&J in its Oct. 30 quarterly report said it had resolved the majority of cases but still faced 10,700 claims.
The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Shipping companies feel the heat as investors shun coal
(Reuters) - Shipping companies that transport the world's coal are in the crosshairs of some financial backers who are cleaning up their businesses in the absence of a truly global drive by nations to renounce the dirtiest fossil fuel.
In a sign of investors taking the initiative, six European firms collectively representing over 5% of the estimated annual $16 billion capital financing requirements of the dry bulk industry told Reuters they were either reducing their exposure to vessels that transport coal or were considering doing so.
Such carriers - titanic vessels stretching up to 270 metres (885 ft) long and able to carry hundreds of thousands of tonnes of cargo - are the cheapest way to transport coal and other commodities like iron ore and grain in large quantities.
Swiss Re (SRENH.S) told Reuters that from 2023 it would no longer cover the transport of thermal coal via reinsurance treaties, where it covers a portfolio of insurers' policies. It exited the direct insurance of coal cargoes in 2018.
"There is much more pressure on the insurance companies in terms of ESG," said Patrizia Kern-Ferretti, head of marine at Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, referring to the sustainable investment sphere. "I hear from brokers they are having difficulty placing coal policies in the insurance market," she added. "More and more companies are applying direct guidelines."
Esben Saxbeck Larsen, senior portfolio manager at Denmark's Danica Pension, said it favoured greener shipping firms as they provided the best risk/return characteristics. The fund has "close dialogue" with firms about their ESG strategies.
"If we are uncomfortable with such answers, we will not invest in the company," he added, without elaborating on the specifics of the methodology.
Such pressures pose new challenges for the shipping industry, which hitherto largely hasn't been drawn into the centre of the coal debate by policymakers and investors focused on production and consumption rather than transport of the fuel.
Andreas Sohmen-Pao, chairman of BW Group, which operates a diverse fleet including oil and gas tankers, offshore vessels and dry bulk carriers, said ESG pressures on investors and banks – capital providers to the industry – were growing.
"How that plays out in terms of outcome is a different question. Sometimes, people shun a sector and the returns only get better as supply moderates," he added.
"Everyone has to do what they think is right. Sometimes, you can have counter-intuitive effects."
There's good money be made from delivering coal, which broadly accounts for about 30% of cargo volumes and has hit record prices amid a shortage of fuel including natural gas to provide the power needed by a global economy recovering from a pandemic.
And demand beckons for decades to come after major consumers including China and India failed to join a pact to phase out coal power at U.N. climate talks being held in Glasgow this week; while Europe and the United States are retiring coal-fired plants, Asian nations are building almost 200 more. read more
Khalid Hashim, managing director of Precious Shipping (PSL.BK), one of Thailand's largest dry cargo ship owners, said investors should target the consumers and producers of coal.
"All we do is deliver it from the point of origin to the point of consumption, like a messenger delivering his message," he added. "Coming after ship owners seems the easy cop-out route as we have no voice."
CAPESIZE CARGOES
The six firms that spoke to Reuters about their coal concerns collectively own, finance, insure or reinsure more than $1 billion of capital in the dry bulk industry, based on the estimated value of shipping assets.
Leading shipping financiers more broadly currently provide close to $290 billion of lending to the industry annually, with capital requirements for the dry bulk segment accounting for about $16 billion, according to analyst and Reuters estimates.
The investor pullback, part of a wider shift in the financial industry away from fossil fuels, threatens to drive up the cost of finance and insurance for some shipping firms in the dry bulk sector, which carries close to half of global seaborne cargo volumes.
London-based specialist asset manager Marine Capital, which owns and operates shipping assets on behalf of institutional investors, said it anticipated that funders would not support investments in the largest bulk carriers that typically carry coal, known as capesize vessels.
"When it comes to small bulk carriers below panamax size the amount of coal they carry is relatively modest and our experiences suggest that certainly now institutions would take the view that the relationship with coal is, from their perspective, de minimis," said Marine Capital CEO Tony Foster.
Tufton Investment Management, another prominent investor in shipping, said it had been increasingly limiting its exposure to coal carriage, especially thermal coal, since 2018 by favouring charterers less likely to carry the fuel.
"For example we choose agricultural houses over miners and utilities," said Paulo Almeida, the chief investment officer.
Separately, at least two major ports are making big shifts; Antwerp has turned its back on coal, for example, while Peel Ports is redeveloping its former Hunterston coal import terminal in Scotland to be able to handle offshore wind, dry docking for ships, aquaculture and the recycling of energy.
'APPLYING LIPSTICK'
Some bulk shipping players are looking to get ahead of the climate curve by refocusing their businesses away from fossil fuels. Others, who have seen patchy profits in recent years, are loathe to the turn away from the returns on offer from coal.
Monaco-based Eneti (NETI.N) is in the former camp, and it has shifted entirely out of dry bulk shipping this year into providing specialist vessels for the offshore wind sector.
"An important consideration when we exited the dry bulk sector was thermal coal," managing director David Morant told Reuters, saying trying to clean up coal transportation was "only applying lipstick".
"As a publicly-listed company, renewable energy through offshore wind is higher growth, environmentally responsible and attractive to our investor base."
Similarly Purus Marine, which has leading U.S. investment company Entrust Global as its founding shareholder, says it is focused on more environmentally friendly ocean industries.
"Our business model is to own vessels and maritime infrastructure involved in offshore renewable energy, seafood, ferries and the climate-aligned sectors of industrial shipping," said CEO Julian Proctor.
HIGHER SHIPPING PRICES
The impact of higher prices for shipping coal would be felt most in Asia, which consumes 80 percent of global coal supply and is more reliant than elsewhere on coal-fired power.
Even though emissions from burning coal are the single biggest contributor to climate change, the priority for many developing countries is to provide power to a rapidly growing population rather than converting to renewable plants.
An abrupt transition from coal would drive up logistics costs for producers and consumers, said Vuslat Bayoglu, managing director of South African investment firm Menar, which holds stakes in South African thermal coal, anthracite and manganese producers.
"The worst-case scenario is to see countries being plunged into darkness and manufacturing being hit hard, thus heralding a global economic crisis of sort," he added. "This would be highly irresponsible, as many countries are crawling out of long periods of recession and COVID-induced decline."
The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Sudan: Telecommunications Authority Will Not Restore Internet Service
Khartoum — On Thursday morning, the Khartoum District Court issued a ruling ordering Sudan's three main internet providers to restore internet service to all users in the country. In response, the Telecommunications and Post Regulatory Authority however, stated in a circular that the internet shut-down remains in force until further notice.
The court ruling today was the second one this week that ordered the return of internet services to the customers. On Tuesday, a Khartoum judge directed MTN, Zain, and Sudani, the country's major providers, to restore services, in a lawsuit brought by eight complainants on behalf of the Sudanese Consumer Protection Association. The internet was subsequently restored to these eight people only.
Yasir Mirghani, head of the Consumer Protection Association, told Radio Dabanga's Sudan Today programme yesterday, that they consider the refusal to restore the internet "a deception of the law," and added that they intend "to submit a request to issue arrest warrants against the directors of the telecommunications companies in case the new ruling is not implemented by Sunday."
Following yesterday's ruling however, the Telecommunications and Post Regulatory Authority issued a statement saying the internet shut-down remains in force until further notice.
The statement refers to the original order of the "Transitional Military Council" on October 25, the day army commander and head of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan seized power, and decided to "temporarily shut down the internet services in all parts of the country, [..] to preserve the unity of the country and the security of the country against [!] the challenges the country is facing".
Impact
Mirghani said that the Khartoum District Court will consider the case lodged by the Consumer Protection Association on the damages caused by the Internet blackout. For this reason, he called on all internet users to individually submit compensation requests to Judge Tarig Abdellatif at the Khartoum District Court.
Activists in Khartoum complained to Radio Dabanga about the great impact of the internet blackout on reporting human rights violations since the October 25 military coup.
The Internet blackout is also "hindering the organisation of activities opposing the military coup to a certain extent".
Members of resistance committees active in the neighbourhoods of Khartoum now resort to leaflets and oral calls to promote the November 13 and November 17 Marches of the Millions against the military.
On social media, a poster is circulating that requests Sudanese abroad to send text messages to their relatives and friends in Sudan with information about the November 13 protests.
Tens of millions of dollars per day
Al Jazeera.net Arabic reported yesterday that the Internet blackout has caused losses to Sudanese companies but also to the authorities and the government, amounting to tens of millions of dollars per day.
Some major companies have been able to use "very expensive Internet services", while others stopped completely, communications expert Ehab Mohamed Ali told Al Jazeera.
The daily losses for the telecommunications companies are at least $6 million. The cessation of electronic payment services has hit other important sectors, related to the government, customs, ports, banks, and others, as well as private sectors.
The expert warned that the "other effects are no less severe than the closure of the ports in the east of the country, "especially as it is the second time that the service has been cut off for political reasons in the past two years, which will make dozens of investors think about packing their bags and leave due to the lack of basic guarantees".-Radio Dabanga.
Nigeria: Lagos Builds Infrastructure to Reduce Carbon Footprint
As part of efforts to reduce the carbon footprint in Lagos, the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has stated that the state government has begun the building of low carbon healthcare infrastructure facilities in the state.
He stated that the administration would build healthcare infrastructure that are 50 per cent less carbon and 50 per cent less energy dependent, adding that they are investing in renewable energy, "we are cooling down the buildings and we have special designers building our primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities."
Sanwo-Olu, who disclosed this at the Climate Change Conference, COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, recently while making a presentation on the state government efforts in improving healthcare in the state, revealed the state government was building its health infrastructures in the state to be net zero and ensure that fossil fuel are not used to generate power or cool down the facilities.
He said part of the plan is to use natural ventilation or solar power or special designs or wind to cool their buildings and power electricity.
He disclosed that the state government is addressing healthcare delivery holistically through the one health agenda programme, noting that an individual is only as healthy if the environment is healthy too.
Sanwo-Olu, who was represented at the conference by the Commissioner for Health, Professor, Akin Abayomi, hinted that the administration was looking at healthcare delivery from a proactive prevention strategy rather than just building hospitals to treat ailments, "let people breathe better air, and drink good water."
"The goal is that the healthcare facilities will be naturally cool, requiring less energy to maintain. We don't want to use air conditioners. We are also looking at the different environments in Lagos such as heat island, coastal, land field, and sand field. So, you cannot say you want to build the same house on heat island and land fields, or the same house in coastal or flood prone areas. You need specialist designers. In Lagos, we are paying attention to energy, functionality and maintenance.
"The one health agenda encompasses environment. The carbon footprint is increasing daily because of the influx of people entering Lagos every time. The state government is here in Glasgow to support the federal climate adaptation and mitigation strategy because if they federal government is able to push the desert back; you will have less people coming from the south. If we are able to plan the required number of trees in Nigeria, stop deforestation, then you are going to make life comfortable for Nigerians in every state in Nigeria which will stop the rural to urban migration. Lagos has a climate adaptation plan breakdown into adaptation and mitigation. So, every agency is developing their own strategy to address mitigation and adaptation. The health ministry is teaming up with the Ministry of environment in a very strategic way because we are aware that the ministry of environment is relevant stakeholder in this effort."
Speaking on the state government's efforts to combat COVID-19 pandemic, he stated that the administration has analysed the three waves in the state, noting that what triggers the increased wave in the state is the influx of people to the state, "which coincides with the big holidays."
He further explained that in anticipation of the new wave that would come in the Christmas holidays, the state government is putting in place two things; a mass vaccination campaign, where the state government would embark on 8,000 dose vaccination which is four million people before the holidays.
He remarked the campaign has already started, while pointing out that they have engaged the private sector to join the campaign because delivering the amount of vaccine involved requires collaboration of public and private sector.
He added that the state government is recruiting 100 private sector facilities to participate in the state vaccination campaign.
He affirmed that the vaccination would remain free in the public sector, but in the private sector, they need to recoup their cost for administering the vaccine, you are not buying the vaccine, "but if you go to the private sector would pay for the syringe and manpower, it is a small amount."-This Day.
For Local Fishers to Compete, African Leaders Must Urge WTO Members to End Harmful Subsidies
Other governments prop up their distant-water fleets, hurting fisheries throughout the region
Mauritania's waters are rich in biodiversity: More than 600 fish species live in the northwest African nation's territorial waters. The fishing industry provides jobs for 180,400 people and accounts for up to 10% of the country's gross domestic product, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization.
But that wealth of marine resources is also the reason that fishing fleets from foreign nations flock to Mauritania's coast.
These vessels are often powered by harmful government subsidies that pay for fuel and other expenses, artificially lowering the cost of fishing and enabling fleets to fish in areas where it would otherwise not make economic sense.
One hundred thirty-five foreign vessels, primarily from Asia and Europe, traveled across the ocean in 2018 to fish in Mauritania's waters, also known as its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), according to a new research-based tool created by scientists from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), and funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts. That kind of distant-water fishing is only possible because of government subsidies.
Researchers from the University of British Columbia estimate that governments worldwide give out $22 billion in harmful fisheries subsidies every year, nearly two-thirds of which comes from six countries and the European Union. About $7.2 billion of the global total—or one-third—goes toward distant-water fishing, according to UCSB's tool.
Mauritania's EEZ is the fifth-largest target of subsidized distant-water fishing in the world. It's a challenge shared by other African countries, which are losing out to aggressive foreign fleets from big fishing nations, primarily in Europe and Asia, that have depleted fish populations in their own waters and come to Africa to fill their nets—often hunting for fish not only within African EEZs but in the areas just outside them, known as the high seas.
Twenty-nine nations—led by Spain, China, Indonesia, and Japan, which together accounted for 83% of the government subsidies to foreign fleets operating in Mauritanian waters—spent nearly $110.5 million in subsidized fishing in Mauritania's EEZ in 2018, outcompeting many of the country's own artisanal fishers and putting them at an economic disadvantage.
Mauritania's EEZ is the fifth-largest target of subsidized distant-water fishing in the world. It's a challenge shared by other African countries, which are losing out to aggressive foreign fleets from big fishing nations, primarily in Europe and Asia, that have depleted fish populations in their own waters and come to Africa to fill their nets—often hunting for fish not only within African EEZs but in the areas just outside them, known as the high seas. Fishing on the high seas on the fringes of another country's waters allows foreign vessels to catch migratory species, such as tuna or billfish, before they enter EEZs, further hurting nearby nations' fisheries.
NOUAKCHOTT, MAURITANIA - Local women clean fish at the beach at January 5, 2006 in Nouakchott, Mauritania. Fresh fish is sold daily on the beach.
Ghana made headlines earlier this year when a study by the Environmental Justice Foundation discovered that almost 75% of Ghanaian fishers reported encountering industrial trawlers more frequently than five years ago; the majority of the trawlers were controlled and financed by distant-water fishing companies based in China. Foundation researchers estimate that Ghana misses out on $14.4 million to $23.7 million every year in uncollected fishing license fees and fines due to lack of transparency among Chinese trawlers in Ghana's waters.
Farther west, 56 vessels from just 16 places—most of which require long-distance travel, from countries including China, Italy, Belize, Spain, and South Korea—collectively spent more than 60,000 fishing hoursin Sierra Leone's EEZ in 2018, the UCSB tool shows. That's the equivalent of almost seven years on the water, fueled by approximately $55.9 million in damaging subsidies.
WTO members' trade ministers could strike the deal when they gather in Geneva for a ministerial conference Nov. 30 through Dec. 3. In these last weeks leading up to the conference, Africa's leaders should urge their counterparts around the world to support an ambitious treaty that would eliminate the distant-water fishing subsidies that make it hard for their domestic fishers to compete with foreign fleets.
Similar activity occurs throughout Africa, not only in EEZs but also on the high seas beyond them. In 2018, for example, 306 vessels were stationed just outside the national waters of West African countries such as Senegal, Ghana, Cape Verde, and Guinea, according to the tool. These fleets were powered by an estimated $219 million in harmful subsidies, and their fishing effort even encroached into countries' EEZs at times.
But a solution is within reach. After negotiating for more than two decades, the World Trade Organization's 164 member governments are closer than ever to reaching a globally binding agreement that could end the destructive subsidies that drive distant-water fishing within other nations' waters as well as on the high seas just beyond them.
WTO members' trade ministers could strike the deal when they gather in Geneva for a ministerial conference Nov. 30 through Dec. 3. In these last weeks leading up to the conference, Africa's leaders should urge their counterparts around the world to support an ambitious treaty that would eliminate the distant-water fishing subsidies that make it hard for their domestic fishers to compete with foreign fleets.
Large fishing nations are trying to dilute the language of the potential agreement so they can continue catching fish in distant waters. That's why African trade ministers must advocate for the prohibition of distant-water subsidies, ensuring that African fishers can benefit from their natural resources in a fair and equitable way.
Ernesto Fernández Monge works on The Pew Charitable Trusts' reducing harmful fisheries subsidies project. U. Rashid Sumaila is a University Killam Professor and director of the Fisheries Economics Research Unit at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia.
Nigeria: 2022 Budget - Despite Losing Major International Funding, Nigerian Govt Refuses to Fund Family Planning
Nigeria failed to achieve the Family Planning target of enabling more women and girls of reproductive age to have access to contraceptives by the year 2020.
Nigeria had an estimated population of 206 million as of 2020, according to the National Population Commission (NPC), and is projected to become the third most populous nation after China and India by 2050. The 2014 World Urbanisation Prospects also predicts that by 2050, 77 per cent of the country's population will be urban.
But the population growth is not matched by economic growth, especially in infrastructure and job opportunities. This has been identified as a major factor in the security, poverty and other crises that have befallen Africa's most populous country.
However, despite the existential threat, the Nigerian government does not seem to see an urgent need for family planning. For instance, President Muhammadu Buhari's 2022 budget proposal has no provision for family planning.
The proposal allocates less than five per cent of the total budget to health, sustaining the country's refusal to meet the commitment made by African leaders under the Abuja Declaration to allocate at least 15 per cent of annual spendings to the sector.
The budget proposes a total of N816 billion for public expenditure in the health sector, representing about 4.93 per cent of the N16.39 trillion budget, but there is no single line item for family planning.
Nigeria has failed to achieve the Family Planning (FP) target of enabling more women and girls of reproductive age to have access to contraceptives by the year 2020 partly because the government has repeatedly failed to meet its counterpart funding commitment for the goal, thereby hindering progress.
The Nigerian government's refusal to include funding for family planning in the 2022 budget also occurs despite the country losing a key international funder for its family planning needs. PREMIUM TIMES reported how the UK government ended its annual three million pounds to fund family planning in Nigeria.
"Between 2012 and 2020, the UK government pledged and paid into the Nigeria FP commodities basket fund a total of 21million pounds for the procurement of FP commodities. UK government support contributed to saving the lives of millions of Nigerian women who would otherwise be unable to delay pregnancies and be at risk of maternal death," Minnie Oseji, the National President of the Medical Women Association of Nigeria under the Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health At Scale, said.
The government's failure to include FP funding in the 2022 budget also occurs despite the country launching a new Family Planning Blueprint (2020-2024) on October 12, 2020. The blueprint is Nigeria's roadmap for safe motherhood through the healthy timing offered by modern FP commodities.
But efforts to get the reaction of the health ministry on why family planning received no funding in the 2021 proposal yielded no positive result.
On Thursday, PREMIUM TIMES attempted to speak to the minister but the ministry's spokesperson, Olusegun Adesola, said the director of family health unit in the ministry, Salma Ibrahim, was in the position to respond to questions on family planning.
Though Mr Adesola provided the telephone number of the director, Ms Ibrahim could not be reached at the time of filing this report. All calls put across to her phone did not go through and neither did she respond to our reporter's text messages many hours after they were sent.
The budget proposal
The 2022 budget proposal of N16.39 trillion represents a 12.9 per cent increase over the N14.57 trillion appropriated for 2021. However, the capital budget falls by 9.04 per cent. And out of the three key development sectors, including security and education, health has the lowest allocation in the 2022 proposal.
The N816 billion proposed for health amounts to just 4.93 per cent of the total budget proposal. The allocation comprises N462.63 billion (57 per cent) for recurrent expenditure and N194.60 billion (24 per cent) for capital projects. There is also N104.87 (13 per cent) for Service Wide Votes for health care, such as grants from the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunisation (GAVI) to support immunization and N54 billion (six per cent) for Basic Health Provision Fund (BHCPF).
While the proposed 2022 health budget is higher in actual amount than the N547 billion for the outgoing year, it is lower as a percentage of the total budget. The 2021 health budget is about seven per cent of the national budget of N13.08 trillion, but the 2022 proposed allocation is less than five per cent of the total estimates.
Despite alternative funding from service-wide vote (contingency budget) and Nigeria's Basic Health Care Provision Fund, federal allocation to the health sector in Nigeria has never surpassed seven per cent of annual budgets. The peak of 6.2 per cent recorded in the 2012 budget is still far below the 15 per cent commitment of the Abuja Declaration.
Family planning advocates kick
Recently, the Partnership for Advocacy on Child and Family Health (PACFaH at Scale), a coalition of 23 civil society organisations, gathered in Abuja to review the budget proposal.
The health advocates noted that the budget seems not to have any specific information or plan to address family planning and the threat of population explosion in Nigeria, warning that lack of funding would adversely affect ongoing family planning targets and services deemed the silver bullet for Nigeria's burgeoning population.
In a joint release signed by Okai Haruna Aku, the executive director, Parenthood Federation of Nigeria, the coalition said the omission of specific funding for family planning in the proposed budget may scuttle future targets if not addressed.
"With a rapidly growing population rate confronted by pandemic, epidemic, climate change, food insecurity and social uprisings, the entire budget has no mention of specific budget line item for family planning, child spacing, provision of contraceptives or public awareness campaign on child spacing," the statement said.
According to an analysis by PACFaH at Scale, a coalition anchored under the development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC), the total estimated healthcare investment on a Nigerian in the proposed 2022 budget is as low as N11 per day.
The group said despite the increase over the 2021 budget's monetary figures, the 2022 proposal, when measured as a percentage of the total spending plan, is still a far cry from the 15 per cent Nigeria agreed with other African nations in 2001 to set aside in their annual budgets for the sector.
The bulk of the proposed budget will be consumed by recurrent expenditure - that is, payment of workers' salaries, training of staff, cost of running offices and other related matters, leaving a lesser amount for the much needed critical intervention to revamp the country's ailing health sector.
Health experts described the spending proposal as inadequate, considering the enormous health challenges Nigeria is facing, warning that poor funding undermines the country's coronavirus response and will severely impact already strained services.
Abuja Declaration
In April 2001 in Abuja, African heads of states and governments under the African Union (AU) made a commitment to a benchmark of 15 per cent allocation of annual budgets to the health sector.
While countries like Rwanda and South Africa have met the commitment by allocating at least 15 per cent of their total budgets to health, Nigeria has not found the way or the will to do so.
A review of the budgetary allocation to the health sector in the last 20 years revealed that Nigeria has never met the 15 per cent target agreed in the Abuja Declaration.
Allocation to the sector in the 2022 proposed budget is just 4.93 per cent of the entire budget. This is even in spite of the biting consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.
COVID-19 pandemic
The 2022 budget proposal came at a time when the world is still battling the COVID-19 pandemic, which has infected 212,359 persons in Nigeria, killing about 2,900 people. A sum of N45.81 billion was budgeted for various COVID-19 interventions in the 2022 proposal.
The amount, mainly from the health capital budget, constitutes about 23.54 per cent of the total capital budget for health and 5.6 per cent of the overall ₦816.15 billion health budget.
Meanwhile, there is no specific budget line for the procurement of vaccines. Nigeria, like many other African countries, leaned heavily on COVAX, the WHO vaccine distribution programme, for donated vaccine doses. The African Union also buys vaccines for its members under the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT).
But both COVAX and AVATT have been struggling to get vaccines with manufacturers such as Moderna, which have been accused of prioritising bilateral deals with richer countries, leaving African nations at the end of the queue.
Health experts speak
A public health expert with the Department of Family Medicine, Federal Medical Centre, Nguru, Yobe State, Adamu Alhassan, said the budget cannot cover everything in the health sector. He said the compounding factor of the COVID-19 pandemic is enough for the health sector to get a higher allocation.
"This is the time for the government to be committed to improving the budgetary allocation to health. I hope that the government will do the needful in the supplementary budget," he said.
Mr Alhassan said although there is an increment from the 2021 budget, "The reality is that we are still not anywhere considering the fact that in the 2021 budget, only about 4.18 per cent was allocated to health."
"Unfortunately, this is where we are in Nigeria and this is a major reason why we are still struggling to develop in terms of health infrastructure and development, in terms of human resources and development and in terms of welfare for the health workers.
"This is also the reason health workers are becoming frustrated and going to other countries where they have better conditions of service," he said.
The National Coordinator of Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN), Aminu Magashi, said it will be very difficult to achieve the 15 per cent budgetary allocation pledged by African leaders. He noted that though the percentage is still around five per cent, the health budget for 2022 has increased compared to 2021.
Reacting to a question on whether the proposed allocation will go far in the fight against COVID-19 and meeting other health sector needs, he said; "The allocated fund will not be adequate to address the COVID-19 pandemic and address the emergency nature of the health sector. But if it is efficiently utilised, the funds will go a long way to tackle issues in the health sector."
Mr Magashi pointed out the need to ensure that provision of family planning commodities is adequately catered for in the 2022 approved budget.
Downward trend
In the past few years, budgetary allocation to the health sector has indicated a downward trend.
In 2016, the Federal Government had a budget of N6.06 trillion, out of which it earmarked N550 billion to the health sector. The amount represented 4.1 per cent of the budget.
In 2017, the total national budget was N7.4 trillion. The health sector got N304.1 billion, representing 4.0 per cent. In 2018, the National budget was N8.6 trillion of which the health sector got N340 billion, representing 3.9 per cent. The budget remained low in 2019, 2020 and 2021 respectively even as the country struggles to contain the pandemic.-Premium Times.
Tunisia: TLG Capital and UGFS-NA Selected As Managers of Empower Fund-B - CDC
Tunis/Tunisia — TLG Capital and United Gulf Financial Services North Africa (UGFS-NA) have just been selected as managers of the Empower Fund-B, launched by the Tunisian Deposit and Consignment Office (CDC Tunisia).
The latter recalled in a press release on November 11 that it has undertaken to raise 700 million Tunisian dinars (MD) (about US$ 250 million) through 5 funds, with a view to supporting the Tunisian economy and contributing to the resilience of the economic actors benefiting from the intervention of these funds.
"CDC Tunisia is the main investor in these funds, committing 40% of the capital of each fund. This commitment by CDC Tunisia is categorised as an "emergency fund."
The remaining 60% will be raised from international financial and development institutions.
The Empower fund is the largest of the 5 funds initiated by CDC Tunisia, deploying around 300 MD (about US$100 million) in the economy.
This fund will invest in resilient Tunisian companies with validated business models and operating in preferred sectors with high growth potential.
It intends to make investments with investment tickets ranging from 5 to 15 MD each, for the duration of the fund's operation.-Tunis Afrique Presse.
Ghana to Host AfDB 2022 AGMs
Ghana and the African Development Bank (AfDB) have signed an agreement to host the Bank's Annual General Meetings in Accra next year.
The 57th Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank and the 48th Annual Meeting of the African Development Fund will take place from 23 to 27 May 2022.
Because of Covid-19 considerations, plans are underway to hold the meetings in a hybrid format, with the physical presence of Governors, Executive Directors and Bank senior management and officials at the Accra International Conference Centre, and others participating virtually.
Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister for Finance, signed for Ghana indicating the country's preparedness to host the AGMs, while Secretary-General Prof Vincent Nmehielle signed on behalf of the African Development Bank Group.
Mr Ofori-Atta highlighted the vital role of the AfDB in restructuring Africa's economy, especially in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He lauded AfDB for giving African countries over 100 billion loan facilities of its new $650 billion in special drawing rights (SDRs) to address their development needs.
Mr Ofori-Atta said over 103 million people lost their jobs as a result of COVID-19 in Africa. That means averagely, the continent lost 10.7% income as a result of the disease.
Similarly, he said, climate change threatens to cost the continent $7 to $15 billion annually, although the continent accounts for less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions and receives just 5% of total climate finance outside the OECD (UNECA).
"These are not normal times, and we must do whatever it takes to make the African Development Bank that institution that fundamentally our constituents need and, through its activities, respond to the massive challenges confronting our continent," he said.
The Secretary-General of AfDB, Prof. Vincent Nmehielle, said the agreement would officially allow the two parties to prepare for the 2022 Annual Meetings.-GhanaToday.
Namibia: Farmworkers' Minimum Wage Increases to N$1,653 Per Month
The Namibia Agricultural Labour Forum (NALF) has confirmed the successful completion of negotiations for an adjustment of the minimum wage for the agricultural sector. According to the new agreement, officially signed on 09 November 2021, the current minimum wage of 2017 is to be increased by 18% as from 1 January 2022.
The NALF is comprised of the Agricultural Employers' Association (AEA), The Namibia National Farmers' Union (NNFU), the Namibia Emerging Commercial Farmers' Union (NECFU) and the Namibia Farm Workers' Union (NAFWU).
The basic wage of a farmworker consists of a cash wage as well as a rations component. The minimum cash wage increases to N$5.40 per hour or N$1 053 per month for workers who work 45 hours per week. For those who do not receive the free rations' portion, the rations allowance increases to N$600 per month. Thus, the value of the minimum basic wage of farmworkers will be N$1 653.00 per month as from 1 January 2022.
"The above parties once again want to emphasise that the minimum wage in the agricultural sector is just an entry-level wage meant for young farmworkers without previous experience. The actual salaries paid to farmworkers with experience are much higher. We believe that most workers on farms are better off than general workers in other industries, as farmworkers usually get free housing, rations, water, electricity and firewood, while workers in other industries have to utilise the bulk of their salaries for these commodities," reads a NALF statement.
The parties will now approach the labour ministry to extend this collective agreement to the country's entire agricultural sector by gazetting it in terms of the Labour Act-New Era.
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