Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 19 April 2022

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 19 April 2022 

 


 

 


 <https://www.nedbank.co.zw/> 

 


 

 


ü  Shanghai lockdown: China spending and employment hit

ü  Next and finance firms buy JoJo Maman Bebe

ü  Ukraine war: L'Occitane U-turn as it closes Russian shops

ü  Sri Lanka set for 'series of defaults', says leading rating agency

ü  Ukraine war: Can India feed the world?

ü  Alex Jones' Infowars files for bankruptcy after defamation suits

ü  US judge throws out Biden mask mandate for planes and trains

ü  Emirates will keep flying to Russia unless its owner stops it

ü  Apple staff make bid for first union at a US store

ü  Energy suppliers warned over direct debit hikes

ü  Elon Musk 'not sure' his takeover bid for Twitter will be successful

ü  Nigeria's Crude Oil Under-Production Hit 14.88m Barrels in March, $1.488bn Lost to Lack of Capacity

ü  South Africa: Eskom Implements Stage 4 Load Shedding

ü  Nigeria: Inflation - Adjust Policies to Boost Supply, World Bank Tells Nigeria, Others

ü  Nigeria: N4trn Bill - How Petrol Subsidy Grew By 349.42 Percent in 3 Years

ü  Nigeria: ASUU Strike - Govt Should Respect Collective Bargaining Agreement - NLC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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Shanghai lockdown: China spending and employment hit

China's consumer spending fell and unemployment rose last month as Covid lockdowns confined millions of people to their homes, official figures show.

 

Joblessness reached the highest level since the early part of the pandemic.

 

However, overall the country's economy grew at a faster pace than expected in the first three months of this year.

 

A surge in infections has triggered lockdowns in several major cities - including the financial, manufacturing and shipping hub of Shanghai.

 

Retail sales fell by 3.5% in March compared to a year earlier, China's National Bureau of Statistics said. That was the first decline since July 2020.

 

For the same period unemployment rose to 5.8%, the highest level since May 2020.

 

The figures highlight the increased risk of a sharp slowdown in the coming months as major lockdowns and the war in Ukraine take their toll on the world's second largest economy.

 

As a whole, China's economy grew at a better-than-expected rate in the first three months of the year.

 

Gross domestic product (GDP), a key economic indicator, expanded by 4.8% compared to a year earlier, beating analysts' forecasts.

 

However, that is below Beijing's goal of growing its economy by 5.5% this year.

 

Tommy Xie, head of Greater China research at OCBC Bank, said that the lockdowns, which began in the second half of March, were so far having a "limited" impact but he expects the restrictions to be a significant drag on economic growth this month.

 

"[China] is likely to feel the full-blown impact from the lockdown," Mr Xie told the BBC. "The impact in April is likely to deepen given the longer-than-expected lockdowns in Shanghai and spillover to other parts of China."

 

On Friday, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said it would help more than 600 companies in Shanghai to restart operations. They included firms in the computer chip, car making and medical industries.

 

The regulator said it has sent a team to the city "to ensure the supply of medical supplies and promote key industries".

 

Manufacturers, including Pegatron a major producer of Apple's iPhone, have halted operations in Shanghai because of the lockdown.

 

Richard Yu, an executive at Chinese technology giant Huawei, last week warned that technology, industrial and automobile supply chains "will come to a complete halt" if the city did not resume production by next month.

 

"That will pose severe consequences and massive losses for the whole industry," Mr Yu said in a WeChat post on Friday.

 

Earlier on Monday, Chinese authorities reported the deaths of three people from Covid in Shanghai, which was locked down in late March.

 

The three people were aged between 89 and 91, had several underlying illnesses, and were unvaccinated, authorities said.

 

Meanwhile, the strict lockdown of the Shanghai has stoked anger among some of the city's residents.

 

In recent weeks people have taken to social media to complain about the restrictions and the lack of food supplies, while video footage has shown confrontations between police and residents.-BBC

 

 

 

Next and finance firms buy JoJo Maman Bebe

Baby goods retailer JoJo Maman Bebe is being sold to High Street giant Next and a group of finance firms, the BBC has learned.

 

Next has taken on 44% of the firm's shares, with the other 56% acquired by investment companies managed or advised by hedge fund Davidson Kempner.

 

There will be no immediate job losses at JoJo Maman Bebe.

 

Its founder said she was "excited by the opportunities this new partnership will offer".

 

As part of the deal though, Laura Tenison will leave the business that she founded nearly 30 years ago.

 

She added that she was "exceptionally proud" of the firm's achievements, having grown the company "from a kitchen table start-up to being the UK's leading specialist boutique mother and baby brand".

 

Gwynn Milligan, who joined JoJo Maman Bebe in 2017 as commercial director, has taken over as chief executive.

 

The retailer has 87 brick-and-mortar shops across the UK, which will continue trading.

 

According to its LinkedIn page, it currently employs more than 950 people.

 

In an email seen by the BBC, staff were told on Thursday that the deal would "ensure the longevity of the brand for generations of new customers".

 

Next will also make a £16.3m investment in the brand using its own cash, although the value of JoJo Maman Bebe's sale was not immediately made clear.

 

Next plans to keep the JoJo brand distinct and grow the business globally using its online shopping infrastructure, such as warehousing and software, to support the up-market baby goods retailer's physical shops and online sales.

 

It has not yet been decided whether or not the boutique baby clothes will be sold in Next shops.

 

Last September, JoJo Maman Bebe was forced to hike prices for the first time in about five years due to rising costs and supply chain issues.

 

At the time, Ms Milligan said that the company had seen shipping costs quadruple.

 

She added that the company was also having to absorb increased costs on some products, because of competition from retail rivals.

 

In a statement, Simon Wolfson, Next's chief executive, said: "We are excited to see what can be achieved through the combination of JoJo's exceptional product with Next's infrastructure and Davidson Kempner as our investment partner."

 

He added that the investment was not expected to have any immediate impact on the High Street giant's profits this financial year, but he expects it "to make a positive contribution thereafter".-BBC

 

 

 

Ukraine war: L'Occitane U-turn as it closes Russian shops

The French cosmetics chain L'Occitane says it will close its Russian shops and website, days after defending its decision to continue trading.

 

The firm said the move follows the "enormous human suffering and escalating military action in Ukraine".

 

L'Occitane told the BBC last week it was keeping its shops open to protect staff from potential "retaliation".

 

Some customers had criticised the company for its decision and called for a boycott of the brand.

 

Its products are sold at more than 3,085 retail outlets worldwide and had sales of €1.5bn (£1.3bn) last year.

 

Last week the firm told the BBC it had discussed closing its Russian stores "at length" but said it had not because it wanted to protect staff from potential "retaliation".

 

The cosmetics firm, which has spas and stores in Russian cities including Moscow and St Petersburg, originally said it could not take the "risk" of closing its shops.

 

Growing numbers of firms pull back from Russia

Chanel restricts sales of goods to Russians abroad

But in a statement issued on Friday evening, L'Occitane said the decision to shut its Russian operation had been approved by the company's board of directors.

 

"Given the enormous human suffering being caused by escalating military action in Ukraine and to protect our employees worldwide from potential public aggression, we have decided to close our own stores and e-commerce websites in Russia," the statement said.

 

Hundreds of international brands including L'Oreal and Estee Lauder have already closed shops and ceased online sales in Russia in protest at the war in Ukraine.

 

Tweeting a picture of a L'Occitane product one customer said: "I've used this cream for years, never again. Even if they back out, they've showed their corporate integrity."

 

 

A number of firms are still listed as still operating in Russia by Professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld at Yale University's School of Management.

 

Among them are the French energy giant EDF, the UAE's Emirates airline, and China's Lenovo computer brand.

 

Around 600 big firms have pulled out of Russia or suspended sales since it invaded, including Starbucks, Coca Cola, Levi's and Apple.

 

Other international outlets still open in Russia have said they are not able to shut stores due to complex franchise deals preventing them from withdrawing. Burger King and the hotel groups Marriott and Accor are among the firms restricted by these arrangements.

 

On Tuesday, some independent Nike stores were found to be operating in Russia over a week after the sportswear brand said it was temporarily closing all its shops in the country.

 

Professor Vanessa Burbano, from Columbia Business School in the US, said that consistency between claims and actions is important for brands with operations in Russia.

 

"Customers and employees do pay attention to which companies are first in making these kinds of commitments and which firms don't go as far," Prof Burbano said.

 

"The risk of companies making claims that may not be perceived as consistent with their actions is that they could be seen as a green-washing in the Ukraine context which would be bad for their reputation."-BBC

 

 

 

Sri Lanka set for 'series of defaults', says leading rating agency

Sri Lanka is set to see "a series of defaults" after it said it would suspend foreign debt interest payments, a leading credit rating agency says.

 

It comes as Moody's downgraded its assessment of bonds sold by Sri Lanka.

 

On Monday, the country's finance ministry confirmed that it would miss $78m (£60m) of debt interest payments.

 

This week, Sri Lankan officials started talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as it faces its worst economic crisis in more than 70 years.

 

Negotiations with the organisation in Washington started positively, Shamir Zavahir, an aide to finance minister Ali Sabry, tweeted.

 

Mr Zavahir said the IMF held the initial view that a request for an Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI), or emergency funding, "doesn't meet their criteria".

 

"However, India subsequently made representations on an RFI for SL [Sri Lanka] as well and IMF may consider this request due to the unique circumstances," he added.

 

"In any event, IMF appears to be positive towards granting an Extended Fund Facility", Mr Zavahir said. "Ideally if this can be expedited, it can help stabilise things in the short term till long-term solutions kick in."

 

A RFI is usually granted to member nations with "urgent" funding needs, because of sharp commodity price rises, natural disasters or conflicts. It doesn't require countries to have a plan to improve their circumstances.

 

An Extended Fund Facility requires a country to make commitments with "a strong focus on structural reforms to address institutional or economic weaknesses".

 

Last week, the Sri Lankan government said it would temporarily default on $35.5bn in foreign debt as the pandemic and the war in Ukraine made it "impossible" to make payments to overseas creditors.

 

If the overdue interest rate payments are not made within a 30-day grace period, it would mark the Sri Lanka's first default on its foreign debt since its independence from the UK in 1948.

 

The South Asian nation has seen mass protests in recent weeks as it suffers food shortages, soaring fuel prices and major power cuts as its reserves of foreign currencies are running low.

 

Last week, two other major credit rating agencies also warned that Sri Lanka was on the brink of defaulting on its debts.

 

The latest rating from Moody's suggests that overseas bonds issued by Sri Lanka are "likely in, or very near default".

 

The rating agency said the country's move to stop some payments "will lead to a series of defaults with the first coupon payments for the government's international bonds coming due today, April 18, 2022." A coupon is the interest payment due on a bond.

 

Moody's added that the non-payment was "unlikely to be cured during the grace period", as a debt restructuring programme with the IMF "will take time".

 

Credit ratings are intended to help investors understand the level of risk they face when buying a financial instrument, in this case a country's debt - or sovereign bond.

 

On Monday, Sri Lanka's finance ministry confirmed that it would miss $78m in interest rate payments for international sovereign bonds.

 

A spokesperson told the BBC this was "in line with the government policy decision" to pause foreign payouts.

 

Asked if payment would be made within the 30-day grace period, the spokesperson said: "A decision in this regard will be published in due course".

 

International sovereign bonds make up the largest share of Sri Lanka's foreign debt.

 

They are held by countries including China, Japan and India as well as major investment firms such as BlackRock, UBS and Allianz.

 

Meanwhile, the Colombo Stock Exchange is scheduled to remain closed all this week, due to the "present situation in the country".-BBC

 

 

 

Ukraine war: Can India feed the world?

Last week, Indian PM Narendra Modi told US President Joe Biden that India was ready to ship food to the rest of the world following supply shocks and rising prices due to the war in Ukraine.

 

Mr Modi said India had "enough food" for its 1.4 billion people, and it was "ready to supply food stocks to the world from tomorrow" if the World Trade Organization (WTO) allowed.

 

Commodity prices were already at a 10-year high before the war in Ukraine because of global harvest issues. They have leapt after the war and are already at their highest since 1990, according to the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (UNFAO) food-price index.

 

Ukraine war 'catastrophic for global food'

Russia and Ukraine are two of the world's major wheat exporters and account for about a third of global annual wheat sales. The two countries also account for 55% of the global annual sunflower oil exports, and 17% of exports of maize and barley. Together, they were expected to export 14 million tonnes of wheat and over 16 million tonnes of maize this year, according to UNFAO.

 

"The supply disruptions and threat of embargo facing Russia means that these exports have to be taken out of the equation. India could step in to export more, especially when it has enough stocks of wheat," says Upali Galketi Aratchilage, a Rome-based economist at UNFAO.

 

India is the second biggest producer of rice and wheat in the world. As of early April, it had 74 million tonnes of the two staples in stock. Of this, 21 million tonnes have been kept for its strategic reserve and the Public Distribution System (PDS), which gives more than 700 million poor people access to cheap food.

 

India is also one of the cheapest global suppliers of wheat and rice: it is already exporting rice to nearly 150 countries and wheat to 68. It exported some 7 million tonnes of wheat in 2020-2021. Traders, reacting to rising demand in the international market, have already entered contracts for exports of more than 3 million tonnes of wheat during April to July, according to officials. Farm exports exceeded a record $50bn in 2021-22.

 

India has the capacity to export 22 million tonnes of rice and 16 million tonnes of wheat in this fiscal year, according to Ashok Gulati, a professor of agriculture at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations. "If the WTO allows government stocks to be exported, it can be even higher. This will help cool the global prices and reduce the burden of importing countries around the world," he says.

 

There are some reservations though. "We have enough stocks at the moment. But there are some concerns, and we should not become gung-ho about feeding the world," says Harish Damodaran, a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, a Delhi-based think tank.

 

Poorest face food crisis amid fertiliser shortage

First, there are fears of a less-than-expected harvest. India's new wheat season is under way and officials project a record 111 million tonnes be harvested - the sixth bumper crop season in a row.

 

But experts like Mr Damodaran are not convinced. He believes the yield will be much lower because of fertiliser shortages and the vagaries of the weather - excessive rains and severe early summer heat. "We are overestimating the production," he says. "We will know in another 10 days."

 

Another question mark, say experts, is over fertilisers, a basic component of farming. India's stocks have fallen low after the war - India imports di-ammonium phosphate and fertilisers containing nitrogen, phosphate, sulphur and potash. Russia and Belarus account for 40% of the world's potash exports. Globally, fertiliser prices are already high due to soaring gas prices.

 

A shortage of fertilisers could easily hit production in the next harvest season. One way to get around this, says Mr Damodaran, is for India to explore "wheat-for-fertiliser deals" with countries like Egypt and in Africa.

 

Also, if the war gets prolonged, India might face logistical challenges in stepping up exports. "Exporting huge volumes of cereals involves huge infrastructure like transportation, storage, ships. Also the capacity to start shipping in high volumes," says Mr Aratchilage. There is also the question of higher freight costs.

 

Lastly, there is the overriding concern over galloping food prices at home - food inflation hit a 16-month-high of 7.68% in March. This has been mainly driven by price rises of edible oils, vegetables, cereals, milk, meat and fish. India's central bank has warned about "elevated global price pressures in key food items" leading to to "high uncertainty" over inflation.

 

The Russian invasion is likely to have "serious consequences" for global food security, according to IFPRI, a think tank. The UNFAO estimates that a prolonged disruption to exports of wheat, fertiliser and other commodities from Russia and Ukraine could push up the number of undernourished people in the world from eight to 13 million.

 

By the government's own admission, more than three million children remain undernourished in India despite bountiful crops and ample food stocks. (Prime Minister Modi's native state, Gujarat, has the third highest number of such children.) "You cannot be cavalier about food security. You cannot play around with the food earmarked for the subsidised food system," says Mr Damodaran.

 

If there is one thing India's politicians know it is that food - or the lack of it - determines their fate: state and federal governments have tumbled in the past because of soaring onion prices.-BBC

 

 

 

Alex Jones' Infowars files for bankruptcy after defamation suits

Companies owned by US radio host Alex Jones, including his right-wing website InfoWars, have filed for bankruptcy.

 

The move comes as he fights defamation suits brought by families of those killed in a 2012 school shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school.

 

Mr Jones, who falsely claimed the shooting was a hoax, has been ordered to pay damages in the lawsuits.

 

Those efforts will be complicated by his decision to seek protection from creditors in bankruptcy court.

 

In the US, declaring bankruptcy provides a route for companies to remain in operation and negotiate their debts, with settlements overseen by the court. It puts a hold on other litigation.

 

Troubles for the radio host and conspiracy theorist stem from his false claims about the 2012 shooting in Connecticut, one of the worst school shootings in US history.

 

He repeatedly claimed the massacre, in which twenty children and six adults were killed, was a ploy to push gun control, staged by actors and the mainstream media.

 

Those claims were among the most prominent spread on his radio show and Infowars website.

 

In three separate lawsuits, families of those killed at Sandy Hook have said his lies enriched his business, including InfoWars, while leading to their harassment by his followers.

 

They won the lawsuits last year after Mr Jones denied the claims but refused to present evidence such as financial records in court.

 

This month, juries were set to start determining how much he owes the families.

 

He had proposed to pay $120,000 (£92,150) to each of the 13 people involved in the lawsuits, but they rejected that offer last month.

 

"The so-called offer is a transparent and desperate attempt by Alex Jones to escape a public reckoning under oath with his deceitful, profit-driven campaign against the plaintiffs and the memory of their loved ones lost at Sandy Hook," the families said in court filings.

 

Since the lawsuits, Mr Jones has acknowledged that the shooting took place. He has said the lawsuits threaten his constitutional rights to free speech.

 

In the bankruptcy filing, InfoWars listed its estimated assets in the range of $0-$50,000 and estimated liabilities in the range of $1m to $10m.

 

He has already been banned by Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in recent years for hate speech and abusive behaviour.-BBC

 

 

 

US judge throws out Biden mask mandate for planes and trains

A federal judge in Florida has struck down the Biden administration's mask mandate for airplanes and other forms of public transit, calling it unlawful.

 

US District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle said the national public health agency had exceeded its legal powers in issuing the mandate.

 

The US transit authority said it would now no longer enforce mask wearing.

 

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) just last week extended the mandate until 3 May.

 

Judge Mizelle is based in Florida, but federal judges can issue rulings that block nationwide government policies.

 

Her order on Monday effectively removes the masking requirement in all airports, trains, taxis and transit hubs.

 

White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the decision "disappointing" and noted that the CDC still recommends travellers cover their mouths and noses.

 

The CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment to Monday's ruling.

 

Last week US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said the mandate had been extended into May because of rising Covid-19 cases.

 

The lawsuit was first brought in July 2021 by the conservative group Health Freedom Defense Fund (HFDF) and two Florida residents who said wearing masks increased their anxiety and panic attacks.

 

The plaintiffs argued that the CDC mandate was "arbitrary and capricious" because it gave exemptions to certain groups - like children under two years of age - but not to others.

 

In her ruling, Judge Mizelle, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, found that the CDC had improperly invoked what is known as the "good cause exception", allowing the agency to skip public notice and comment on the mandate.

 

"Because 'our system does not permit agencies to act unlawfully even in pursuit of desirable ends,'" Judge Mizelle wrote, invoking another case, "the Court declares unlawful and vacates the Mask Mandate."

 

Shortly after the legal decision was issued, the Transportation Security Administration - which runs US airport security - confirmed it would no longer enforce the mask mandate.

 

United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Alaska Airlines and American Airlines said face coverings would no longer be required on domestic flights and certain international flights.

 

Since the CDC first issued a public health order in February 2021 requiring masks for travellers, more than 7,000 unruly passenger incidents have been reported - 70% of them involving masking rules, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

 

The Biden administration's Covid-19 mandates have had mixed success in the court system.

 

The Supreme Court in January blocked the White House from enforcing its sweeping vaccine-or-test rule for employees at large private companies.

 

But the Biden administration's requirement that all federal employees be vaccinated against Covid-19 was upheld on appeal earlier this month.-BBC

 

 

 

Emirates will keep flying to Russia unless its owner stops it

Emirates' boss says the airline will keep flying to Russia unless its owner, the Dubai government, tells it not to.

 

"If we are told to stop we will stop, unless we are told otherwise, we will continue," Sir Tim Clarke told the BBC.

 

Most major international airlines pulled out of Russia amid sweeping sanctions imposed by Western countries since the war began in Ukraine.

 

But Emirates is one of the few carriers that is still operating flights to Moscow and St Petersburg.

 

When asked if the airline would reconsider its position, Emirates president Sir Tim said that "it was not his call" but a decision that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government would take.

 

As well as carrying passengers, the airline also transports cargo including humanitarian goods, food and medical supplies, which are not on the sanctions list.

 

 

Sir Tim added that it was important to recognise the Russian population may not be part of the war in Ukraine.

 

And that the diplomatic core of other countries, who have missions in Moscow need to be able to function by moving in and out of the country.

 

He said: "We are catering to people who are on the periphery of the main issue here, and that is probably the way the [UAE] government looks at it."

 

The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have rejected calls from western governments to impose sanctions on Russia.

 

Abu Dhabi has also not severed economic ties with Moscow. It was one of only three countries, along with China and India, to abstain in a United Nations Security Council vote in February to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It also abstained in a General Assembly vote on 7 April to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council.

 

Since the outbreak of the war, Moscow has faced a barrage of unprecedented sanctions, including bans on Russian aircraft using airspace and airports in the US, the EU, the UK and Canada.

 

International flights by Russian airlines have been severely curtailed due to the sanctions. National carrier Aeroflot has suspended all international flights, except for its service to the Belarus capital Minsk, due to the sanctions.

 

Sir Tim believes that the war in Ukraine could spell long term implications for the global airline industry, especially if Russia is excluded by the West from the global economy.

 

"This [war] will have major manifestations of perhaps disadvantage for both sides. And this will have an impact on the industry," he said.

 

Sir Tim said Emirates was seeing strong demand despite high oil prices. The airline has passed on the cost to consumers by adding a fuel surcharge to airfares but that hasn't impacted bookings.

 

"Irrespective of that, people are ready to pay the prices that we have to charge to cover this enormous increase in the fuel price," Sir Tim said.

 

He added that the airline industry was used to dealing with high oil prices but said he felt that budget carriers would find it difficult get through this without taking a financial hit.

 

Brent, one of the main benchmarks for oil, has been trading above $100 for nearly two months since the Russia-Ukraine war triggered volatility in global energy markets.

 

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has warned that the airline industry's overall financial performance in 2022 is likely to worsen due to the challenge of higher oil prices. Jet fuel makes up about a quarter of an airline's costs.

 

'Roaring demand'

Despite the recent setbacks, Sir Tim said that Emirates had returned to profitability over the last six months due to "roaring" demand.

 

The carrier expects to report improved annual earnings this year after it posted a loss of $5.5bn in the 2020-2021 fiscal year as the Covid-19 pandemic ravaged the global aviation industry.

 

The Dubai government injected $3.1bn into Emirates to bail out the state-owned airline, which was forced to ground flights and lay-off thousands of employees after the outbreak of the pandemic.

 

Sir Tim said the airline was now looking to hire 3,000 to 4,000 cabin crew and additional pilots on the back of booming travel demand.

 

"If we can have all our aircraft flying today, 270 of them then we would. I can't because I am just short of crew," he said.-BBC

 

 

 

Apple staff make bid for first union at a US store

If their bid is successful it would be the first union at one of the tech giant's US stores.

Workers at Apple's Grand Central Station store in New York have announced a plan to start a union.

 

If their bid is successful it would be the first union at one of the tech giant's US stores.

 

The group of staff known as Fruit Stand Workers United must get signatures of support from 30% of colleagues at the store to qualify for a union election.

 

The move follows unionisation drives by staff at Starbucks and Amazon. Apple has not commented on the announcement.

 

A statement on a campaign website for the prospective union said: "Grand Central is an extraordinary store with unique working conditions that make a union necessary to ensure our team has the best possible standards of living.

 

The group described themselves as working in "extraordinary times with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and once-in-a-generation consumer price inflation," though their website did not disclose the name of staff members leading the effort.

 

The group said it also wants a $30 (£23) minimum hourly wage for all workers, additional holiday time and information on more robust safety protocols at the Grand Central location.

 

The campaign is connected to Workers United, an affiliate of the national Service Employees International Union, which was established in 2009 from several earlier unions.

 

The Apple effort comes as a Starbucks unionisation drive backed by Workers United has spread nationally after election victories last year in New York.

 

Amazon is also facing a growing challenge from unions after an upstart campaign won an election at a warehouse in nearby Staten Island earlier this month.

 

Employees working in at least three other Apple stores are also attempting to organize, according to The Washington Post.

 

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the BBC.--BBC

 

 

Energy suppliers warned over direct debit hikes

The energy regulator has said it has seen "troubling signs" that suppliers may have been increasing direct debit payments by "more than is necessary".

 

Ofgem said it was concerned that firms may be directing customers to energy deals that aren't in their "best interest".

 

It comes as households face significant increases in their energy bills.

 

On 1 April, yearly bills increased by an average of £693 for about 18 million households on standard tariffs.

 

And some 4.5 million prepayment customers saw an average increase of £708 - from £1,309 to £2,017.

 

Energy experts have encouraged customers to take and submit meter readings as the changes take effect, in an attempt to save cash.

 

Jonathan Brearley, chief executive of Ofgem, said the regulator had received information from consumer groups and the public about "bad practices" by some suppliers.

 

"We are also seeing troubling signs that some companies are reacting to these changes by allowing levels of customer service to deteriorate," he wrote in a blog post on Ofgem's website.

 

He added that they were also concerned about "the way some vulnerable customers are being treated when they fall into difficulties".

 

'Substantial' fines

Mr Brearly said Ofgem planned a series of reviews and "stricter supervision" of energy firms over its concerns that the suppliers may have been increasing direct debit payments by "more than is necessary", or directing customers to tariffs that "may not be in their best interest".

 

The regulator said it would issue "substantial fines" to firms found failing to comply with the measures.

 

Energy bills have increased because the energy price cap - the maximum price suppliers in England, Wales and Scotland can charge households - is being raised.

 

Energy firms have been able to increase bills by 54% following the introduction of the new cap on 1 April.

 

The price cap is reviewed every six months, and prices are expected to rise yet again in October.

 

A report by the bank Investec has warned bills could reach £3,000 a year.

 

Experts encouraged people without smart meters to submit gas and electricity meter readings on 31 March to ensure that they had logged the use of less expensive rates for energy before the changes took place on 1 April.

 

If you can't submit your readings, you should take a photo with the meter reading and meter serial number both clearly visible to submit at a later date.

 

It's worth noting too that logging an extra reading to give a more accurate picture of your energy usage could see your bills go up if it is more than your company had forecast.

 

What help is available?

People struggling to afford energy bills can seek advice from charities such as Citizens Advice, Turn2Us or the StepChange debt charity.

 

All the big energy firms also have hardship funds that can offer assistance if someone is struggling to pay.

 

The government has said it will offer extra help worth a total of £350 via the council tax system in England too.

 

The warm house discount scheme will also be expanded to cover three million households. It offers low income households a one-off annual discount on their electricity bill, and was worth £140 in 2021-22.

 

Graphic showing how the energy price cap has changed

In October customers in England, Scotland and Wales will receive a £200 rebate on their energy bills. They will have to repay this at £40 a year for five years, starting in April 2023.

 

The Northern Ireland energy market is separate, but the government has said £150m would be available to support households.-BBC

 

 

 

Elon Musk 'not sure' his takeover bid for Twitter will be successful

Tesla boss Elon Musk has admitted he is "not sure" his takeover bid for social media firm Twitter will be successful.

 

He made the comments at a conference just hours after revealing that he had offered to buy the company for $54.20 a share, valuing the firm at $43bn.

 

Also on Thursday, Twitter's chief executive told employees that the company was evaluating the approach.

 

Parag Agrawal reportedly said at the staff meeting that the company was not being "held hostage" by the offer.

 

Speaking at the TED2022 conference in Vancouver, Mr Musk said: "I am not sure that I will actually be able to acquire it."

 

He added that he had a "Plan B" if his bid for Twitter was rejected, but gave no further details of what that could mean.

 

Mr Musk also said at the event that Twitter should be more open and transparent. "I think it's very important for there to be an inclusive arena for free speech," he said.

 

On Thursday, he revealed his offer to buy all the shares in Twitter that he does not already own.

 

In an official filing to US regulators, Mr Musk said he was the right person to "unlock" the company's "extraordinary potential" and that if his offer was not accepted, "I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder."

 

He also said that if Twitter's board of directors chose to reject the offer, it would be "utterly indefensible not to put this offer to a shareholder vote".

 

Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed bin Talal shunned the bid, tweeting: "I don't believe that the proposed offer by Elon Musk comes close to the intrinsic value of Twitter given its growth prospects."

 

The billionaire claimed that he has a stake in Twitter through his investment firm Kingdom Holding Company. However, Mr Musk immediately replied asking how many Twitter shares Prince Alwaleed's firm owns, adding: "What are the Kingdom's views on journalist freedom of speech?"

 

Twitter confirmed that it had received the bid, but said its board must still review the "unsolicited, non-binding" offer, which values its shares at well below the level of more than $70 that they reached last summer.

 

Mr Musk already owns more than 9% of the social media platform, but he is no longer its biggest shareholder.

 

Asset management firm Vanguard Group disclosed on 8 April that its funds now own a 10.3% stake, bumping him off the top spot.

 

Mr Musk is the world's richest man, according to Forbes magazine, mostly due to his shareholding in electric vehicle maker Tesla where he is chief executive.

 

He has not revealed any details on how his bid for Twitter will be financed. Mr Musk is being advised by US investment bank Morgan Stanley.

 

Bruce Daisley, Twitter's former vice president for Europe, Middle East and Africa, told the BBC's Today programme that Mr Musk appeared to be "toying with the company to some extent".

 

"The latest bid he's put in, as far as I can tell, doesn't seem to be regarded as a serious bid but it is proving to be very disruptive with the organisation I think."

 

He said that Twitter may benefit from being taken private and out of the hands of shareholders.

 

"To some extent the constant scrutiny of being a publicly listed company, following in the footsteps of the likes of Google and Facebook, is definitely a challenge for the organisation so private ownership might be the right solution.

 

"I'm not convinced Elon Musk's approach is going to win many fans though," he added.

 

Twitter's shares, which are listed in New York, initially rose on Thursday but ended down 1.6% at $45.08, below Mr Musk's offer.

 

The board of Twitter has enlisted the help of another Wall Street bank, Goldman Sachs, as it considers how to respond to the takeover approach.

 

Other than acknowledging the takeover bid, Twitter has publicly kept pretty quiet since Elon Musk revealed his attempt to buy the company.

 

But details have emerged of an "all hands" meeting, where questions were put to the company's chief executive, Parag Agrawal.

 

The details give nothing more than a suggestion of what Twitter's management thinks of the offer. Mr Agrawal reportedly said he could not talk about the details, but that the company was not being "held hostage".

 

I'm told the meeting was designed to give employees more information. But one Twitter worker told me they left the meeting more confused. "I didn't leave feeling any sense of clarity," they said.

 

The employee said that they were in the dark about what could happen next. "I would say I know about as much as the public on Twitter," they said.

 

Twitter's board not only has to weigh up the offer, but also assess the damage that Elon Musk could do if scorned. Apparently he has a Plan B if Twitter rejects his offer.

 

Twitter may be worth tens of billions of dollars, but it is nothing compared to Elon Musk, who is worth more than $200bn. And that kind of wealth makes him a dangerous foe.-BBC

 

 

Nigeria: ASUU Strike - Govt Should Respect Collective Bargaining Agreement - NLC

As public universities in the country remain closed, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has told the Federal Government to respect the Collective Bargaining Agreements it signed with unions in tertiary institutions and other sectors.

 

It also lamented that majority of the affected students in the ongoing strike embarked upon by the four university-based unions are children from poor homes whose parents cannot afford to pay the outrageous fees charged by private universities.

 

The labour movement also demanded that government ensures the swift and safe return of all abductees in the Abuja-Kaduna bound train attack and also payment of compensation for all those killed and injured in the attack.

 

These, among others, were contained in the Easter message issued yesterday by the NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, in Abuja.

 

The NLC in the message reiterated its call for the scrapping of the Electric Power Sector privatization programme, given its alleged monumental failure to make affordable and constant electric power available to Nigerians.

 

On the continuous closure of universities as a result of the alleged failure of government to keep to the terms of Memorandum of Understanding, MoU and Memorandum of Action, MoA, NLC said: "We demand respect for Collective Bargaining Agreements signed with unions in our tertiary institutions and other sectors. States yet to fully implement the national minimum wage should do so immediately."

The labour centre frowned on the inability of some state governments to pay the new minimum wage after about four years it was passed into law.

 

"It is difficult to imagine that many workers in Nigeria are yet to enjoy the national minimum wage almost four years after being signed into law. Particularly culpable are Cross River, Taraba and Zamfara states.

 

"Nigerian pensioners are not spared as many of them are denied their gratuity and pension arrears. Tragically, while wages remain the same and sometimes are unpaid, the cost of living keeps skyrocketing. Inflation has eroded the purchasing power of workers as the Naira continues to lose its value.

 

'We must stress that all workers including military, police, and para-military deserve decent wages and pension," NLC stated.

Continuing, it said: "We demand that government must ensure the swift and safe return of all abductees. We also demand compensation for all those killed and injured in the attack.

 

"Millions of Nigerian university students especially those attending public citadels of higher learning are celebrating Easter outside the precincts of their campuses not by reason of choice but because our country cut short their hopes.

 

"The inability of the government to deliver on commitments it reached with our university workers both academic and non-academic has ensured that the streak of instability battering and buffeting our tertiary education system remains unresolved.

 

"It is even most tragic that majority of the affected students are children from poor homes whose parents cannot afford to pay the outrageous fees charged by private universities.

 

"Tragically, while students from poor homes are held back by frustrating cycles of strike actions, the children of the rich and powerful are in private campuses learning. There is no sadder premiere of the Social Apartheid in our society than the intermittent and protracted strike actions in our public universities.

 

On the attack on Abuja-Kaduna bound train by terrorists, NLC said: "For Christians, Easter is a perfect picturesque of groan, gory and glory. What started as a gloom of doom on Good Friday ended as the bloom of bliss on Easter Sunday. The empty grave still testifies that life triumphs over death, good overcomes evil, hope prevails eventually over despair and that joy surely resurrects in the morning. This hope that we collectively share is a hope that will never die.

 

"The events of the past few weeks in Nigeria have severely tested our faith and our hope. The recent mass killings in Plateau State, the terrorist assault on Kaduna Airport and the Abuja-Kaduna train bomb attack that killed innocent passengers, including the Secretary General of the Trade Union Congress, Musa Lawal Ozigi and Chairman of the Trade Union Congress, Kwara State, Akinsola Akinwunmi and subsequent kidnapping of tens of passengers have come not only as a shocker to most Nigerians but also as an awakening to the reality of the expansion of the wings of evil on our shores."

 

Energy crisis

 

On energy crisis, the NLC stated: "Of very great concern to us is the deteriorating energy crisis in our country. In the past few weeks, Nigeria has been plunged in a terrible ordeal of scarcity of refined petroleum products.

 

"The cost of diesel, aviation fuel and Premium Motor Spirit has generally soared to unprecedented heights. At a point, the airlines threatened to shut down operations even as the price of air tickets have been increased by more than 100 per cent.

 

"Owing to diesel scarcity and high cost, the few surviving industries in our country are being forced to either completely shut down or to significantly scale down their operations with grave implications for job security. This compounds the unemployment crisis in Nigeria.

 

"Most banks have been forced to reduce their working hours with dire consequences for national productivity and economic growth.

 

"The prevailing chaos in our energy sector is traceable to the embrace of neoliberal and anti-people policies by successive governments. The full deregulation of diesel, and aviation fuel has failed to deliver on its promises of abundant products supply and cheaper prices.

 

"Today, Nigerians pay far more for diesel, kerosene and aviation fuel and yet these products are hardly available. While the promoters of deregulation have suddenly lost their tongues, the burden of this grand failure has been transferred to Nigerian workers and the public.

 

"The same challenge in the downstream petroleum sub-sector manifests in our electricity sub-sector. Since the privatization of the power generation and distribution assets in Nigeria, the promise of constant supply of electricity remains a mirage.

 

"In the past one month, Nigeria has experienced about four episodes of national electricity grid collapse. Before this time, public electricity supply had deteriorated to some of its lowest in our history.

 

"This is despite humungous tax payers' money that government invested as support funds for private investors that bought our public electricity assets. Yet, in the midst of these privatization anomalies, Nigerian electricity consumers are still denied pre-paid meters and forced to pay highly inflated estimated billings. If this is not neo-colonization of the Nigerian people, what then is?

 

"The Electric Power Sector Reform Act demands the review of the privatization exercise every five years. The power sector reform has been on for more than five years, yet, there are no concrete plans to review the privatization exercise.

 

"Congress reiterates the call for the scrapping of the Electric Power Sector privatization programme given its monumental failure to make affordable and constant electric power available to power the potentials of Nigerians and their businesses.

 

"We also call for the total jettisoning of a deregulation policy that in the eyes of its cash-out promoters translates to wholesale importation of refined petroleum products which benefits only middlemen profiteers and their partners in the corridors of power.

 

"Nigeria can and should refine its crude oil to generate refined petroleum products, including diesel, which is one of the easiest refined bye-products of crude oil, especially using modular refineries. Nigeria can make refined products constantly available to ordinary Nigerians at very affordable cost.

 

"It is salutary that amid these very challenging and depressing conditions, Nigerian workers continue to show faith in their country and demonstrate the never dying hope for a better tomorrow. This is the reason we still turn up at our duty posts, despite being owed arrears of salaries."-Vanguard.

 

 

 

Nigeria: N4trn Bill - How Petrol Subsidy Grew By 349.42 Percent in 3 Years

Petrol subsidy payments grew by 349.42 per cent from N350 billion in 2019 to N1.573 trillion in 2021, propelled by the rising price of crude oil in the international market and the falling value of the Naira.

 

The cost of subsidizing the product in 2020 was N450 billion. In 2022 alone, the total cost of subsidy in January and February was N396.72 billion, the latest data from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has shown.

 

Federal legislators approved the sum of N4 trillion to be spent on petrol subsidies in 2022.

 

The Federal Government had previously disclosed through the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, that it spent N10.413 trillion on fuel subsidies between 2006 and 2019.

With Nigeria importing all its petrol from refineries abroad, the low value of the Naira has had a significant impact on the pricing of the product in-country.

 

None of the three government-owned refineries is currently operational, despite huge investments in their Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) by the government.

 

The current administration has failed on its promise to make the refineries operational within a short period of assuming office.

 

Deregulation on hold

 

A plan by the government to deregulate the sector, following enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act (2021) that prescribes a free market for the downstream sector of the petroleum industry has been abandoned, with the government seeking and obtaining budgetary approval to spend N4 trillion on petrol subsidy.

The annual expenditures on petrol subsidy under the current administration contrast very sharply when compared with fuel subsidy under the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan, which was accused of fuel subsidy fraud.

 

According to data published by the defunct Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, the Federal Government paid a total of N2,105.92 trillion in 2011, an increase of N1,437.84 trillion from the 2010 payment.

 

It also noted that in 2012, N1.35 trillion was paid as a subsidy, the highest within the period under review.

 

"A total of N 1, 316 trillion in 2013, N1,217 trillion in 2014 and N653.51 billion in 2015 was paid as subsidy claims," it added.

 

It noted that the NNPC since 2016, had been the sole importer of the product to the country.

 

Determined to curb fiscal leakages associated with the fuel subsidy regime, President Jonathan had announced deregulation of the downstream sub-sector, with a view to eliminating fuel subsidy.

 

However, incumbent President Mohammadu Buhari, and other opposition party leaders, under the Save Nigeria Group, organised nationwide protests to stop Jonathan from going ahead with the decision.

 

Other notable Nigerians that led the mass protest included Pastor Tunde Bakare, who was Buhari's running mate in Congress of Progressive Change (CPC) and Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State.

 

The protests forced Jonathan to rescind the policy. When Buhari took over power in 2015, his government initially refused to pay fuel importers for products imported into the country.

 

It took a fuel crisis, characterised by long queues, to force the government to pay the debts, as the marketers insisted that they would not import more products unless their earlier bills were settled.

 

The Buhari administration was to later come to terms with the realities of the rot in the industry.

 

President Buhari made himself Minister of Petroleum and by so doing, has directly managed the petroleum industry. However, he has failed to make any policy changes.

 

'Global price of crude determines petrol price here'

 

Speaking in a telephone interview from Ibadan, Director, Centre for Petroleum, Energy Economics and Law, University of Ibadan, Professor Adeola Adenikinju said the price of petrol is determined by the international price of crude and cost of foreign exchange.

 

Adenikinju noted that the government's decision to continue subsidy payment was more political than economic, given the revenue challenges facing governments at all levels.

 

He pointed out that by retaining the petrol subsidy, the government would find it difficult to meet other commitments.

 

According to him, "It is a political decision, not an economic one. Economically, we know that subsidies have been very costly to the country and this is going to have serious implications on government revenue, particularly the state governments.

 

"The states are going to feel it more because they depend heavily on revenue from the Federation Account and secondly, they do not have the leverage to borrow like the Federal Government.

 

"If it goes ahead, the states are going to be hard-hit financially and it is going to be extremely difficult for them to meet all their commitments in terms of payment of salaries and keeping their obligations to pensioners".

 

He noted that he would not be surprised later in the year if the states and local governments are unable to meet their commitments.

 

The university teacher also pointed out that the decision went beyond just revenue but would also have implications for the oil industry.

 

"It is also at the heart of the deregulation of the downstream sector. It will have implications for the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 significantly because the decision on pricing is about market forces being at play to allow investment decisions to be made.

 

"This is going to hinder investment, so we can say that until the issue is resolved there is not going to be much private investment flow to the downstream sector."

 

He blamed the middle class and the elite, who he said are the main beneficiaries of the petrol subsidy regime for mounting pressure on the government to retain the policy.

 

"Once you touch the middle class, the elite, they react. The argument is about the protection of the privileges of the middle class to which the labour unions belong. This is because kerosene was deregulated, nothing happened, diesel was deregulated, nothing also happened but once you touch something that affects the middle class, it becomes difficult to implement because they have access to the media", he added.

 

'Loss of confidence in govt by citizens'

 

He also blamed the resistance to the policy on citizens' loss of confidence in the government, pointing out that over time Nigerians no longer trusted the government.

 

Adenikinju urged the government to intensify negotiations with organized labour, noting that ending the costly subsidy regime is critical to the financial state of governments at all levels.

 

On his part, Independent Oil and Gas Governance Consultant, Mr Henry Adigun, in an earlier interview with Vanguard, argued that it is impossible for Nigerians to expect to continue to pay the same rate for petrol while it was rising in other countries due to crude oil price in the international market.

 

Adigun noted that while the reluctance of the government to have petrol subsidies removed is understandable, Nigerians must know that the payment would have to come from somewhere.

 

According to him, "the challenge about PIA is not about the quality of the law but implementation, and so far the government has been very inconsistent in the implementation and they have not really allowed it to work.

 

"I understand that you cannot have subsidy removal now because the hardship on Nigerians would be immense. We have a situation whereby inflation is about 17 per cent and food prices have soared. Any attempt to increase petrol price will mean that a litre of petrol will probably sell at N270-N285.

 

"That would have a knock-on effect on inflation, food basket and on many other things, and at the point, we are in now, we cannot afford that as it might lead to social unrest. Our people are very angry because there is poverty in the land".

 

How subsidy rose sharply, by MOMAN scribe

 

Speaking to Vanguard in a telephone interview, the Executive Secretary of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Mr Clement Isong, explained that three factors were responsible for the astronomical rise in petrol subsidy.

 

Isong listed a rise in the international price of crude oil, foreign exchange rate and high rate of petrol smuggling across Nigeria's borders.

 

He said: "The first is the international cost of crude oil and the derivative products like Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) has gone up significantly as a result of the Russian war in Ukraine. So the price of crude itself, and the price of petrol, diesel and all products that come from petroleum have gone higher than they normally would be because of the war and the sanctions imposed on Russia, which is a major exporter of crude.

 

"Secondly, the rate of foreign exchange is exceedingly high right now. That is to say, the exchange rate for the Naira is at its highest level. I'm not talking of the black market which is even higher, I'm talking about the Central Bank of Nigeria rate which is N411-N414 to the dollar. It is higher than it has ever been historically.

 

"Finally, and this is the most important reason because you have capped the price, at one third or one quarter, of the price that it is across the borders, the propensity for the product to move across the borders is at the highest.

 

"What I mean by that is that so many people, ordinary Nigerians, ordinary human beings on both sides of the border engage in moving the product from the Nigerian side to the other side. Whether we are talking about Cameroun, Chad, Republic of Benin, Niger or Equatorial Guinea, this product goes to the whole Central and West African regions.

 

"This is because it is a simple law of economics that the product will follow where the price is highest. The product will go there by itself. Now because there is so much product going out, and the government doesn't want queues in Nigeria, the government has increased the amount of product that it is importing for the Nigerian people", he added.

 

He explained that the combination of these factors has brought Nigeria to where it is at the moment.

 

Isong explained that ordinarily, the volume being imported into the country ought to be lower, but the activities of smugglers have shot up the volume.

 

"For all, you know, maybe our consumption in Nigeria is normally 30, 35, maybe 40 million litres per day, in the last couple of years it has been between 60 and 65 million litres per day which were already too high because of the price cap but now that the differential between the price in Nigeria and in neighbouring countries is even higher, the volume that will go outside Nigeria will be higher.

 

"So, this year, we are averaging between 70 and 80 million litres per day. That volume is not consumed in Nigeria. The solution is simply for Nigerians to put up their hands and say to the government, we no longer want subsidies. The subsidy is killing our country, subsidy is killing us".

 

The MOMAN scribe noted that while he understood the argument behind the government's decision, removing subsidies is in the best interest of the country.

 

"The position of the industry as a whole is this: the industry is against the subsidy. We have always been against it, we will always be against it. We are against the concept of price regulations which is what brings the subsidy", he stated.

 

Subsidy widens FG's deficit

 

The Federal Government said that the fuel subsidy was widening its deficit gap so much that it was considering tapping the 2 billion Euros it raised in the Eurobond sale last year to support its fiscal position.

 

Reuters reported the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, as disclosing this at the Arab-African Conference in Cairo, Egypt.

 

She said that the administration will target more local borrowing this year to help fund the budget deficit which has been exacerbated by rising oil prices, due to Russia's war in Ukraine.

 

Mrs Ahmed was quoted as saying, "Rising oil prices have put us in a very precarious position ... because we import refined products ... and it means that our subsidy cost is really increasing." The Federal Government had, in September last year, raised 4 billion Euros from the international capital market.

 

Although the President Muhammadu Buhari administration had announced plans to end fuel subsidies in June, it later reversed itself following a public outcry against the decision.

 

It then extended the subsidy by 18 months to avert any protests in the run-up to presidential elections next year, as part of its external borrowing plan.

 

Rather than being an advantage to Nigeria as a major oil producer, the high crude oil prices have become a burden for the country as the fuel consumed locally is imported.

 

The Buhari administration has failed in its promise to make the four refineries owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited become operational, despite huge investments in their Turnaround Maintenance.

 

The NNPC has given the excuse of high under-recovery as the reason why it has not been remitting oil revenue to the Federation Account, from where the three tiers of government share federation revenue on a monthly basis.

 

Even the Monetary Policy Committee, MPC, recently aired its concern over NNPC's non-remittance of oil proceeds at a time when oil prices have risen very high to the advantage of other oil-producing nations of the world.

 

The exact volume of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, popularly known as petrol consumed in the country remains a subject of contention. The state governors had rejected the NNPC's claim of 75 million litres of daily consumption.

 

The Minister of Finance had announced that a committee was working to reconcile the financial position of the NNPC, in respect of the under-recoveries, and the remittance into the federation coffers. The reconciliations have yet to be made public.-Vanguard.

 

 

 

Nigeria: Inflation - Adjust Policies to Boost Supply, World Bank Tells Nigeria, Others

The President of the World Bank Group, David Malpass has lamented the impact of rising food and energy costs across the world, urging Nigeria and other developing countries to adjust policies to boost supply.

 

Higher food prices pushed inflation in Nigeria to 15.92 per cent in March, the highest in five months

 

In an address he presented at the ongoing 2022 IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings which opened in Washington DC, United States of America yesterday, Malpass said he was deeply concerned about developing countries, adding that they were facing sudden price increases for energy, fertiliser, and food, and the likelihood of interest rate increases.

These, plus the war in Ukraine and China's COVID-related shutdowns, are pushing global growth rates even lower and poverty rates higher, he stated.

 

Malpass observed that inflation was causing immense strain globally, especially among poor nations.

 

He said: "Food crises are bad for everyone, but they're devastating for the poorest and most vulnerable. There are two reasons. First, the world's poorest countries tend to be food importing countries.

 

"Second, food accounts for at least half of total expenditures in household budgets in low-income countries, so it hits them hardest.

 

"I joined Kristalina (Georgieva, IMF Managing Director), Ngozi (Okonjo-Iweala, WTO Director-General), and David Beasley (UN World Food Program Executive Director) in a joint statement last week on food insecurity.

 

"We wanted to highlight the issue and help coordination. Countries must be taking action now to encourage the production of food, energy, and fertilizer. The production chain needs all three. It's vital for countries, both advanced and developing, to reduce their trade barriers.

 

"I want to turn now to the inflation problem, which is causing immense strain. Policies need to be adjusted to enhance supply, not just increasing demand.

 

"Markets are forward looking so it's vital for governments and private sectors to state that supply will increase and that their policies will foster currency stability to bring down inflation and increase growth rates.

 

"This is especially important as global supply chains shift away from dependency."

 

He called on central banks to use more tools under current policies, adding that the inequality gap had widened materially, with wealth and income concentrating in narrow segments of the global population.

 

According to him, "interest rate hikes, if that's the primary tool, will add to the inequality challenge that the world is facing."

 

Malpass recalled that the World Bank had lowered the 2022 growth rate to 3.2 per cent from 4.1 percent before, adding that people were facing reversals in development for education, health, and gender equality, as well as reduced commercial activity and trade.

 

"Global trade is still facing quotas, high import tariffs, high export tariffs, expensive food price subsidies, and even export bans on food products. These should stop.

 

"The international community needs to immediately step up emergency assistance for food insecurity and help bolster social safety nets. From the World Bank's standpoint, we are providing roughly $17 billion per year to strengthen food security - a big part of the global effort," he said.-This Day.

 

 

 

South Africa: Eskom Implements Stage 4 Load Shedding

Eskom has escalated load shedding from Stage 2 to Stage 4 due to a trip at the Majuba and Tutuka power stations.

 

"Regretfully, Eskom has been forced to implement Stage 4 load shedding at 07:20 [today] after Majuba Unit 5 and Tutuka Unit 4 tripped," the power utility said in tweet on Monday morning.

 

Eskom resumed load shedding on Sunday afternoon following additional generation unit losses and the delayed return to service of generators.

 

On Sunday, the loss of four additional generation units at Matla, Tutuka, Duvha and Arnot power stations, exacerbated by the delay in units returning to service at Camden, Matla, Grootvlei and Tutuka power stations, necessitated the implementation of Stage 2 load shedding.

 

Since Friday afternoon, a generation unit each at Camden, Komati and Arnot power stations returned to service.-SAnews.gov.za.

 

 

Nigeria's Crude Oil Under-Production Hit 14.88m Barrels in March, $1.488bn Lost to Lack of Capacity

Nigeria only managed to pump 1.238 million barrels per day, although it had a fixed 1.718 million barrels per day production quota from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in March, 2022 a new report from the cartel has indicated.

 

At a time that the country should be harnessing every dollar it could possibly earn from what could pass for its sole foreign exchange earner, crude oil, the Nigeria, going by a THISDAY review, was unable to drill as much as 14.88 million barrels for last month.

 

Nigeria has been on a borrowing spree since it currently lacks the ability to shore up its oil production, its main source of foreign exchange, and last week, the National Assembly approved N4 trillion as petrol subsidy for the Muhammadu Buhari-led government for 2022.

According to the OPEC's Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR), citing direct communication with Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer was only able to pump 1.238 million bpd as against 1.258 million barrels per day it produced per day in February.

 

Placed against the country's OPEC quota of 1.718 million barrels per day for March, this was a whopping deficit of 480,000 bpd in in the month under review.

 

When these daily losses are calculated for the entire 31 days of March, this would be 14.88 million barrels for the whole month and about $1.488 billion at a conservative oil price of $100 per barrel.

 

While OPEC uses secondary sources to monitor its oil output, it also publishes a table of figures submitted by its member countries, the one it terms "direct communication."

Nigeria has been unable to reap the benefit of high international oil prices as it has consistently failed to ramp up production for over a year to meet its OPEC quota.

 

Massive oil theft, outright sabotage, community issues and the inability of the country to restart the oil wells it shut down in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 have been blamed for the development.

 

Even the marginal fields awards which would, if they were producing, add to the country's total output, has largely only made slow progress since the process started, with awardees paying huge interests on their dormant working capital.

 

However, the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), last week assured that the marginal field award programme closure was in sight, with winners expected to move to site around June.

 

"Before the first half of the year, we want to see a situation where some of the awardees will be proceeding to field development plan. At the moment again, we have recorded close to 90 per cent of the co-awardees forming their Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) and at that stage, it is the very comfortable stage when the commission can go ahead to issue Petroleum Prospecting Licences (PPLs)" he assured.

But in all, the OPEC-13 crude oil production averaged 28.56 million bpd in March, higher by just 57,000 month-on-month when compared with February as output increased mainly in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE, while production declined in Libya, Nigeria and Congo.

 

Saudi Arabia raised its production by 54,000 bpd to 10.262 million bpd in March, according to OPEC's secondary sources, which compares with 10.331 million bpd quota for Saudi Arabia for March per the OPEC+ deal.

 

The Saudis self-reported March crude oil production of 10.300 million bpd, while the UAE raised its production by 23,000 bpd to 2.983 million bpd, compared to a quota of 2.976 million bpd.

 

In the same vein, Kuwait's production rose by 25,000 bpd to 2.639 million bpd, in line with its quota under the OPEC+ deal.

 

However, although Nigeria failed to meet its production quota, its rig counts increased by two, from eight to 10 in March, but it was an average of five in Q2 2021, 10 in Q3 and seven in Q4 of the same year, but fell to eight in Q1, 2022.

 

Recently, a THISDAY's review showed Nigeria is producing far less oil than it did 25 years ago when the estimated population was much less than what it is today and government spending was far below what it is in 2022.

 

A comparison of the country's average oil production per day in 1997, as indicated in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yearly statistical bulletin, showed that while Nigeria pumped 2.344 million barrels per day, plus condensates over two and a half decades ago, it can hardly produce 1.4 million as of this year.

 

Furthermore, while 26 rigs were in operation, on both onshore and offshore terrains, in 1997, Nigeria at present has just 10 active oil rigs, with a number of them not even in use.-This Day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 


 


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INVESTORS DIARY 2022

 


Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


Companies under Cautionary

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


ART

PPC

 

 


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 constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for any securities. The information contained in this report has been compiled from sources believed to be reliable, but no representation or warranty is made or guarantee given as to its accuracy or completeness. All opinions expressed and recommendations made are subject to change without notice. Securities or financial instruments mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors. Securities of emerging and mid-size growth companies typically involve a higher degree of risk and more volatility than the securities of more established companies. Neither Faith Capital nor any other member of Bulls ‘n Bears nor any other person, accepts any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from any use of this report or its contents or otherwise arising in connection therewith. Recipients of this report shall be solely responsible for making their own independent 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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