Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 26 April 2022

Tue Apr 26 10:32:06 CAT 2022

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 26 April 2022 

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

ü  Elon Musk strikes deal to buy Twitter for $44bn

ü  Twitter: Why Elon Musk has been so keen on taking control

ü  Will Ford's new truck finally make Americans buy electric?

ü  Call for extra bank holiday to be made permanent

ü  Shoppers could face £271 rise in annual food bills

ü  P&O Ferries hits back at staff pay cut claim

ü  Stock markets tumble over China lockdown fears

ü  Why Argentina is embracing cryptocurrency

ü  Nigeria: Govt's Deficit Spending Rises 23% to N7.3 Trillion

ü  Nigeria: Govt Stops Striking Varsity Workers' Salary

ü  Tanzania Ports Authority Signs U.S.$500 Million Agreement

ü  Tanzania: Sagcot Drums for Private Sector Engagement in Agric Sector

ü  Tanzania: Empowering Women Economically Through Environmental Activities

ü  Africa: Young CEO Roundtable Africa Attracts 200 Participants

ü  Nigeria: Govt's Deficit Spending Rises 23% to N7.3 Trillion

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

Elon Musk strikes deal to buy Twitter for $44bn

The board of Twitter has agreed to a $44bn (£34.5bn) takeover offer from the
billionaire Elon Musk.

Mr Musk, who made the shock bid less than two weeks ago, said Twitter had
"tremendous potential" that he would unlock.

He also called for a series of changes from relaxing its content
restrictions to eradicating fake accounts.

The firm initially rebuffed Mr Musk's bid, but it will now ask shareholders
to vote to approve the deal.

Mr Musk is the world's richest person, according to Forbes magazine, with an
estimated net worth of $273.6bn mostly due to his shareholding in electric
vehicle maker Tesla which he runs. He also leads the aerospace firm SpaceX.

"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the
digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are
debated," Mr Musk said in a statement announcing the deal.

"I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with
new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating
the spam bots, and authenticating all humans," he added.

"Twitter has tremendous potential - I look forward to working with the
company and the community of users to unlock it."

The move comes as Twitter faces growing pressure from politicians and
regulators over the content that appears on its platform. It has drawn
critics from left and right over its efforts to mediate misinformation on
the platform.

In one of its most high-profile moves, last year it banned former US
President Donald Trump, perhaps its most powerful user, citing the risk of
"incitement of violence".

At the time Mr Musk observed: "A lot of people are going to be super unhappy
with West Coast high tech as the de facto arbiter of free speech."

News of the takeover has been cheered by the right in the US, although Mr
Trump on Monday told Fox News he had no plans to re-join the platform.

The man who sent his sports car into space

The White House declined to comment on the takeover but spokesperson Jen
Psaki told reporters: "No matter who owns or runs Twitter, the president has
long been concerned about the power of large social media platforms."

On Twitter, MP Julian Knight, chairman of the UK's Digital, Culture, Media
and Sport Committee, called the deal an "extraordinary development in the
world of social media".

"It will be interesting to see how a privately owned Twitter (run by a man
who is an absolutist over free speech) will react to global moves to
regulate."

Mr Musk, who has more than 80 million followers on Twitter, has a
controversial history on the platform himself.

In 2018 US financial regulators accused him of misleading Tesla investors
with his tweets, claims that were resolved in a $40 million settlement and
that Mr Musk continues to deny.

And in 2019 he was hit with a defamation suit - which he successfully
defeated - after calling a diver involved in rescuing schoolboys in Thailand
"pedo guy" on the platform.

On Monday, Mr Musk, who has been known to clash with journalists and block
critics, suggested that he saw Twitter as a forum for debate.

"I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what
free speech means," he wrote just hours before the deal was announced.

Can Musk turn Twitter around?

As part of the takeover, which is expected to close later this year,
Twitter's shares will be delisted and it will be taken private.

Mr Musk has suggested this will give him freedom to make the changes he
wants to the business.

Among other ideas, he has suggested allowing longer posts and introducing
the ability to edit them after they have been published.

Twitter shares on Monday closed more than 5% higher after the deal was
announced.

But the price remained lower than Mr Musk's $54.20 per share offer, a sign
that Wall Street believes he is overpaying for the firm.

Mr Musk has said he doesn't "care about the economics" of the purchase.
However, he will take on a company with a chequered record of financial
performance.

Despite its influence, Twitter has rarely turned a profit and user growth,
particularly in the US, has slowed.

The company, founded in 2004, ended 2021 with $5bn in revenue and 217
million daily users globally - a fraction of the figures claimed by other
platforms such as Facebook.

Bret Taylor, chair of Twitter's board, said it had fully assessed Mr Musk's
offer and it was "the best path forward for Twitter's stockholders".

It is not clear who will lead the company moving forward. Twitter is
currently led by Parag Agrawal, who took over from co-founder and former
boss Jack Dorsey last November.

But in his offer document, Mr Musk told Twitter's board: "I don't have
confidence in management."

Mr Agrawal told employees on Monday that the future of Twitter is uncertain.

"Once the deal closes, we don't know which direction the platform will go,"
he said, according to the Reuters news agency.

Shareholder vote

Mr Musk's targeting of Twitter has moved at remarkable speed. It emerged at
the beginning of April that he had become the largest shareholder in the
firm with a 9.2% stake.

He was then invited to join Twitter's board but turned down the offer before
launching a surprise bid for the company on 14 April, saying he wanted to
"unlock" its potential as a bastion of freedom of speech.

Twitter tried to fend off his bid, threatening to dilute the shareholdings
of anyone who bought more than a 15% stake in the firm. However, its stance
shifted after Mr Musk revealed more financial details about his proposed
bid.

He has secured $25.5bn of financing for the deal and will take a $21bn stake
in the business.

The board unanimously approved the bid, which will now be presented to
shareholders for a vote.

The speed this move has happened at had many heads in Silicon Valley
spinning.

>From nowhere, Elon Musk is the absolute monarch of Twitter.

He himself has said it's not about the "economics", this is about power and
influence.

By taking the company private he will exercise total control over Twitter.

He has the power to do with the company as he pleases. In practice that will
mean a much lighter moderation policy.

He also says that he will make its algorithm public - so that people can
better understand how Twitter works.

The move leaves the door open to Donald Trump's return to the platform,
though he apparently says he would rather use his own social media platform
Truth Social for now.

For years conservatives have argued that Twitter is biased against them -
and the news has left Republicans in the US delighted.

Others have been left dismayed at what Twitter might look like without
strong platform moderation.

You only need to look at how much criticism Facebook has received for not
taking down groups linked to the QAnon conspiracy theory, or the Stop the
Steal movement to imagine how much criticism Elon Musk is in store for.

The danger that Twitter now faces is that unfettered free speech on social
media can become very ugly, very quickly.-BBC

Twitter: Why Elon Musk has been so keen on taking control

Elon Musk says he wants to see Twitter fulfil its "extraordinary potential"

At first, the story of Twitter and Elon Musk feels a little like a tale of
unrequited love.

Our unlikely couple starts out with an imbalance of power.

Elon Musk loves Twitter. He has an enormous audience of 83.8m followers. He
tweets prolifically, sometimes controversially, occasionally
catastrophically. The SEC banned him from tweeting about Tesla affairs after
one tweet wiped $14bn off its share price, and he was sued for defamation
following a tweet about a cave diver in which he called him "pedo guy" (the
cave diver lost).

But he has never strayed far from his keyboard.

Twitter on the other hand is far less effusive about Elon Musk.

You might think, if someone offered you $44bn for a 16-year-old business
that hadn't really enjoyed the exponential growth of its rivals, they were
doing you a favour - and Twitter's shareholders seem inclined to agree.

He wants to see Twitter fulfil its "extraordinary potential", he says - and
he's not even that interested in making money out of it. He has plenty of
that already, and multi-billionaires can afford to have different
priorities.

Twitter responded by going straight on the defensive, deploying a "poison
pill" strategy which prevented anybody from owning more than 15% of its
shares while Musk circled, though a deal has now been agreed.

Why?

Perhaps the board was unnerved by Musk's declaration that he wanted to see
more "free speech" and less moderation. Many Republicans, who have long felt
that Twitter's moderation policies favour the freedom of speech of
left-leaning viewpoints, rejoiced.

But regulators around the world are lining up to crack down on social
networks and force them to take more responsibility for the content they
carry, issuing steep fines for non-compliance on material that incites
violence, or is abusive, or classifies as hate speech, among other things.
You can hear the alarm bells start to ring.

Let's not forget the finances. Twitter's main business model is ad-based -
and Musk wants to change that. He's more interested in subscriptions, he
claims, which could prove a hard sell in an environment where all the main
social networks are free-to-use. Twitter users may decide they prefer for
their data to not be used to monetise them and they're willing to pay for
that - but it's a gamble.

He also likes crypto-currencies. Could he use the platform to incentivise
payments in volatile, unprotected currencies such as Bitcoin?

And then there's Musk himself. He's the richest man in the world, a serial
entrepreneur whose successes include PayPal and Tesla. He's charismatic and
unfiltered - which can make him a very loose cannon indeed. He likes to test
boundaries and break rules.

There's a reason why he declined to join Twitter's board after buying a 9.2%
stake in January - he didn't want to be bound by the responsibility.

And he has an army of loyal fans who adore him - I once tweeted about the
fact that, because of the way his finances are structured (his wealth is
largely shares-based rather than cash income, and he doesn't own property) -
he doesn't pay income tax.

How dare I suggest that he might, he's brilliant and we should simply be
grateful for him, came the replies.

He has not exactly wooed Twitter with flowers and chocolates, this has been
an aggressive bid from an aggressive businessman - no negotiation, no
compromise.

It's a private sale, of a private company, and it's not a merger between two
giants so there is unlikely to be much in the way of regulatory obstacles.

Musk's Twitter would be a very different landscape for the 300 million
people who continue to use it, if indeed they do. More feisty, perhaps, and
less liberal-leaning. He could reinstate Donald Trump, who currently has a
permanent ban - and given that Mr Trump's own attempt at a social network,
Truth Social, appears to be floundering, he would probably be delighted to
return.

It's hard to summarise the collective view of Twitter's users. In my
unscientific observation, for every tweet welcoming Musk, there seems to be
another threatening to leave. But then - since when did Twitter users ever
agree on anything?-BBC

Will Ford's new truck finally make Americans buy electric?

Ford boss Jim Farley says the launch of the electric version of the classic
F-150 pickup is a "big bet by the company"

Ford boss Jim Farley has a lot riding on this moment.

On Tuesday, the Detroit carmaker celebrates the formal start to production
of the electric version of the F-150 pickup, the best-selling vehicle in
America for decades.

It's a milestone seen as critical for Ford - and for the environment - as
the company seeks to convince more Americans to drop their resistance to
buying electric vehicles.

"It's a big bet by the company," Mr Farley tells the BBC.

"Certainly for me as the CEO, this is one of the signature moments in my
life and in our team's life."

Electric vehicles remain a small fraction of the global car market,
accounting for 9% of sales last year.

And in the US - the world's biggest carbon emitter after China, where
gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and trucks dominate the road - it
was even smaller, at 4.5%.

Analysts say offering electric versions of popular vehicles will be key to
convincing the American public to buy electric.

But whether Ford will be able to convert the large numbers of F-150
loyalists across the country to the "Lightning" remains an open question.

'I don't think I could own one'

Bryan O'Polka is a self-described "truck guy" from a family of Ford owners
in Texas, who rely on the firm's pickups to tow jet skis and other loads.

The 22-year-old, who hauls cars for a living, received his first F-150 as a
high school graduation present. He traded it in for a new one last year and
owns a second, bigger Ford pickup as well. His family's fleet includes SUVs
and a Ford hybrid, which they used to power their house during a recent
outage.

"I like the concept of it," he says of the Lightning. "I'm sure it's going
to be great for in-city use."

But while he thinks they're "cool" he says: "I don't think I could own one."

On Facebook, where he is an administrator of one of the many groups for
F-150 owners to swap tips, parts and pictures, Mr O'Polka said the launch of
the company's Lightning has stirred "a lot of controversy" - with many
people especially "older guys" sceptical of its motor, towing power and
limited range.

For his part, Mr O'Polka says he wouldn't be able to customise the electric
truck to his liking and is turned off by its roughly 300-mile range.

"In my truck right now, I can get 500 to 600 miles out of a tank and I can
fill my tank in about five to eight minutes and be back on the road," he
says. "An electric truck, you can only get so far and then you'll have to
stand and wait [to charge it]."

Different buyer

Mr Farley acknowledges the challenge ahead.

Surveys, both by the company and independent analysts, have found that
customers for the F-150 are typically younger, richer, more urban than the
truck's traditional mainstream buyer - and in many cases have never owned a
truck before.

"The communication team would like me to tell you that this was perfectly
planned and everyone's a conquest customer," Mr Farley says. "The reality is
the people who wound up having orders and reservations for this truck were a
little different than we thought. It's different, but that's what makes the
business interesting."

In the meantime, the more immediate challenge for Ford may be simply
fulfilling its roughly 200,000 pre-orders.

Like the rest of the industry, the company is contending with shortages of
key computer processing chips, batteries and other materials that have held
back production - and challenged the company's effort to keep the starting
price at about $40,000 (£31,500).

"There's definitely headwind coming in our business," Mr Farley says. "It's
going to be down to the execution."

Critical moment

Chris Jones, chief analyst at research firm Canalys, says it's "crucial" for
Ford that the launch go well.

"Ford has been slow to move to [electric vehicles]... It's really fallen
behind," he says. "This is an important category of vehicle and it's a super
important category for Ford to succeed in."

Shares in Ford reached their highest levels in years in 2021, as strong
sales of the Mach-E version of its popular Mustang SUV built confidence in
its strategy.

The company, which is investing $50bn globally through 2026 to electrify its
fleet, now says it is on track to deliver more than two million electric
vehicles annually by 2026.

While Ford will be one of the first to get its pickups on the road in the
US, more than a dozen other carmakers - including Tesla and arch-rival
General Motors - are working on their own electric truck offerings.

At roughly $40,000, Ford has started selling the F-150 at a price that makes
it comparable to traditional pickups, particularly after government
incentives for buyers are taken into account.

That makes it one of the few electric vehicles on the market with the
potential to conquer the mainstream customer, says Ram Chandrasekaran,
Texas-based head of road transport consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

But for most people, he says, a car purchase isn't purely financial - nor is
it based on environmental concerns. He said governments will have to push
carmakers to invest in performance and marketing to convince buyers to make
the switch.

Unless regulations change, his firm expects electric vehicles to account for
about 6.5% of US sales this year and 30% by 2030 - roughly where Germany was
in the final months of 2021.

"The bottom line is, with what we have, you'd have to get a lot more
aggressive [to boost adoption]," he says. "In the current political
stalemate that we're seeing I don't think that's likely to happen."

Still there are signs demand is growing, regardless of the rules. Last year,
sales of electric cars, including hybrids, in the US nearly doubled to more
than 600,000.

US President Joe Biden - who took a spin in the F-150 last year - has also
called for significant investment in electric vehicles including for
government fleets - a good sign for Ford, says Michelle Krebs, executive
analyst at Cox Automotive.

"The potential for higher volume is there," she says. "Who is going to be
that audience, how big is that audience, we don't know."-BBC

Call for extra bank holiday to be made permanent

Business leaders have urged the prime minister to make this year's extra
bank holiday marking the Queen's Platinum Jubilee permanent.

In an open letter, the CBI, UK Hospitality and a host of well-known brands
said a "thank holiday" would honour the monarch and public service.

They argued that the new holiday would provide an economic boost after
Covid.

Research by PwC also suggests that government figures have overestimated the
cost of a new bank holiday by 64%.

This year's extra day off is set to take place on 3 June.

In an open letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi
Sunak, signatories said that making the holiday permanent would "provide a
moment every year for individuals and communities to come together, to thank
those who have contributed in ways big and small to making our country a
better place to live".

They included the bosses of Siemens, Iceland and Punch Pubs and the chairman
of the Campaign for Real Ale, as well as investor and entrepreneur Deborah
Meaden, who is leading the campaign.

The Dragons' Den star said the move would provide "the country with a social
and economic stimulus we need after a difficult few years".

Mr Sunak intends to review the proposal, the PA Media news agency reported.

It comes as new research by PwC commissioned for the campaign suggests that
the government's existing figures have previously overestimated the
potential cost of a new bank holiday by 64%.

The consultancy found that the cost would likely sit at about £831m.

Bank holidays are created under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971,
or are created by royal proclamation - that is, by the Queen, who acts on
government advice.

The department responsible for bank holidays is the Department of Business,
Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Bank holidays are not actually statutory holidays, although most workers do
get the day off.

Read more: Nine things you might not know about bank holidays

The research points out that social positives might have been missed out,
and that sectors such as retail and hospitality, which were badly affected
during the pandemic, would benefit from an uplift in demand.

The findings also suggest that any knock-on costs would be lower if the new
bank holiday were scheduled for a Friday because of how people's working
hours tend to fall in a typical week.

England and Wales currently have eight bank holidays annually, in comparison
with the European Union average of 11.

But in many countries if a bank holiday falls at the weekend, workers are
not entitled to an additional day off. So in practice workers don't always
enjoy as many holidays as the officially listed days suggest.

According to analysis by Visit England of the 2019 August Bank Holiday,
about a third of people used the opportunity to visit friends or family, or
go out for a meal.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UK Hospitality, said that the sector would
be "ready to embrace this important tribute", although opening hours may be
restricted during a new bank holiday and businesses might need to find
additional staffing cover.

The campaign has also been backed by the TUC, as well as the Royal Voluntary
Service.

The trade union previously called for four additional bank holidays per
year, describing the current number as "stingy".

At the time, the Department for Business said that the cost to the economy
was "considerable", even if certain sectors might see additional income.-BBC

Shoppers could face £271 rise in annual food bills

The average food bill could increase by £271 this year as prices continue to
rise, research suggests.

Grocery prices were 5.9% higher in April than a year ago, the biggest
increase since December 2011, according to research company Kantar.

It said shoppers were turning to discount retailers Aldi and Lidl as
pressures on budgets grows.

Supply chain issues, the Ukraine war and rising raw material costs are all
contributing to soaring food prices.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: "The
average household will now be exposed to a potential extra £271 per year.

"A lot of this is going on non-discretionary, everyday essentials which will
prove difficult to cut back on as budgets are squeezed. We're seeing a clear
flight to value as shoppers watch their pennies."

Aldi was the fastest growing retailer during the period the data covers,
with its sales increasing by 4.2% over the 12 weeks to 17 April.

This was closely followed by Lidl, which was up 4%.

More than one million extra shoppers visited the two retailers respectively
over the period compared with this time last year, with both achieving
record-breaking market shares, according to Kantar.

Tesco was the only other retailer to increase its market share, growing by
0.3 percentage points to 27.3% of total grocery sales.

Sainsbury's now accounts for 15% of the market, followed by Asda at 14.1%
and Morrisons at 9.5%. The figure for Aldi stands at 8.8%, while Lidl is at
6.6%.

Supermarkets are facing a fierce battle for customers as the soaring cost of
living hits household budgets.

On Monday Morrisons and Asda, who have both been losing customers to Aldi
and Lidl, said they were cutting prices on hundreds of products.

Rising inflation

UK prices are rising at their fastest rate for 30 years, with increased
energy, fuel and food costs all contributing.

Kantar said food prices were rising fastest in markets such as dog food,
fresh lamb and savoury snacks, but were falling in spirits.

It said there was also evidence of some customers stocking up on certain
products due to limited availability and increased prices linked to the war
in Ukraine.

Last weekend some supermarkets introduced limits on how much cooking oil
customers are able to buy, with supplies being hit by the war.

The majority of the UK's sunflower oil comes from Ukraine and disruption to
exports has led to some shortages and an increased demand for alternatives.

Kantar said the cooking oil market grew by 17% in April, with sunflower oil
up 27% and vegetable oil up 40%.

Meanwhile, for the first time since the pandemic began supermarket sales are
falling - by 0.6% compared with two years ago, Kantar said.

However, this compares with the start of the first national lockdown in the
UK, when only essential shops like supermarkets were allowed to open.

Kantar said the easing of Covid restrictions, with many returning to the
office, as well as restaurants and pubs, may also have had an impact.

In the 12 weeks to 17 April, supermarket sales fell by 5.9%, while over the
latest four weeks they fell by 4.1%.

Online grocery sales were also down by almost 15% compared with 2021.

"It is to be expected that sales are down compared with last year when
restrictions were still in place," Mr McKevitt said.

"While the number of trips we're making to the supermarket has remained
steady this year, people aren't buying as much when in store and the average
basket size has dropped by 4.5% to £22.39."-BBC

P&O Ferries hits back at staff pay cut claim

P&O Ferries has hit back at claims that it tried to get its new cheaper
agency staff to accept even lower wages.

The RMT Union said it received reports of new workers at Dover being asked
to sign new contracts, replacing ones they had signed weeks ago, on lower
pay.

It reported P&O Ferries to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, which ensured
the new workers retained their wages.

But P&O Ferries told the BBC "no agency seafarers were asked to accept
reduced wages".

The company, which has come under fire for sacking 800 workers without
notice and replacing them with cheaper agency staff in March, said there
were "no plans to change or reduce the wages" of the new seafarers.

Its statement on Monday came after the National Union of Rail, Maritime and
Transport Workers (RMT) claimed a seafarer on the Spirit of Britain ferry at
Dover, hired as a replacement for the sacked staff last month, contacted the
union begging for help in a dispute over pay.

The union said the company was now "trying to bring in an exploitative
model, with the lowest possible standards they can get away with".

'They don't care'

In an email seen by the BBC the worker wrote: "They don't care about our
rights. They try to give us less money. We are desperate."

The seafarer told the union they were being forced to work without
contracts, after old ones had expired. The worker claimed documents had also
been lost by P&O Ferries.

"This is my sixth day working without a contract, please help us!," they
said.

The RMT union complained to the Maritime and Coastguard Authority (MCA)
about the new move by P&O Ferries who ensured seafarers' contracts were
amended with their original wages reinstated.

The MCA confirmed it had investigated the complaint and "as a result the
affected seafarers were issued with amended contracts, which reverted to
their original wages".

However, P&O Ferries said there had been an "administrative
misunderstanding" around a contract presented to one individual who appeared
to have been "unaware of an appendix which made clear that he would be
entitled to an additional £195 a month, meaning that there was no change in
his overall pay".

A spokesman said the company had contacted the MCA "to request that they
withdraw their statement, which is misleading". The MCA said the complaint
from the seafarer had been upheld.

"We will continue to comply fully with any national minimum wage obligations
introduced by the UK government," P&O added.

P&O has previously declined to comment on how much agencies pay workers on
ferries.

Some of P&O's ferries are registered in Cyprus, meaning they do not have to
pay the minimum wage required by UK law, which rose to £9.50 an hour from 1
April.

On Friday, the Spirit of Britain, which operates between Dover and Calais,
was cleared to resume sailing after inspections by the MCA. It had been held
at the port since 12 April due to a number of unspecified deficiencies,
according to the regulator.

It is expected P&O Ferries' freight sailings from Dover will resume this
week, while passenger services are expected to resume early next week.

RMT officials went aboard the Spirit of Britain to speak with new seafarers
on Friday, who it said shared complaints over contracts.

National secretary Darren Proctor, who was on the visit, claimed P&O Ferries
had "brought people in on a month contract, some on two-month contracts" and
then told them that they have to accept lower pay rates if they want to stay
on.

"P&O is undermining safety and creating a lowest possible denominator in
ferry standards," he said.

When P&O Ferries sacked its staff in March, the company said the move was to
ensure the future of the business.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said he wants to see British ports
refusing access to ferry companies "who don't pay a fair wage".

He has said the government will consult on changes needed to make it a legal
requirement, but urged ports to take action "as soon as practical".

However, British ports have described the new pay plans for the ferry
industry as "unworkable".

Tim Morris, chief of trade association UK Major Ports Group, said there was
a law that stopped port operators "picking and choosing who we let into our
ports outside of some very narrow safety constraints".

He said while the body was "disappointed and surprised as everybody else,
there needs to be a change in the law before employment conditions can be
linked to port access".-BBC

Stock markets tumble over China lockdown fears

Stock markets across Europe have fallen after sharp declines in Asia on
fears Covid restrictions in China could hit supply chains and the global
economy.

Authorities in Beijing have implemented mass testing in one area of the city
following a small outbreak of cases.

But there are concerns the capital could follow Shanghai by enforcing a
lockdown to contain the spread.

London's leading FTSE 100 share index tumbled, led by commodities firms such
as oil producers and miners.

The FTSE clawed back from some losses from morning trade but the index
closed the day 1.8% down. Germany and France recorded similar declines.

In the US, both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 opened
lower.

Overnight China's Shanghai Composite Index fell by more than 5% while Hong
Kong's Hang Seng closed 3.7% lower.

"The scourge of Covid continues, with China unwavering in its zero tolerance
policy," said Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at
Hargreaves Lansdown.

"As cases erupt in Beijing, there is concern that prolonged lockdowns will
hit employment and lead to a sharp slowdown in growth as well as sparking
fresh shipping logjams and supply chain issues."

Oil prices also fell on Monday, with Brent crude down 4.7% at $101.41 a
barrel on the prospect of falling demand from China, the world's second
largest economy after the US.

Oil giants such as BP and Shell saw their share prices fall on Monday.
Shares in mining giants such as Anglo American, Glencore and Rio Tinto were
also among the biggest losers in early trading.

Shanghai has been in lockdown for several weeks - but the daily death rate
from Covid is rising and there are now thousands of known cases. In Beijing,
there has been panic buying, as residents there fear they will soon face
hefty restrictions of their own.

With China's "zero Covid" policy under pressure as never before, there are
growing concerns about the impact all of this will have on the country's
economy. Small wonder, then, that shares in Shanghai and Hong Kong have been
tumbling.

The ripple-effects are being felt more widely too. Shares in mining
companies such as Glencore and Anglo-American have been suffering steep
falls; if China's economy loses steam, demand for raw materials will decline
- and that will hit their profits.

Then you have the wider background - of continued Covid-related disruption
to supply chains; of shortages and rising prices linked to the war in
Ukraine; and of speculation the US Federal Reserve and other central banks
will hike interest rates faster than expected in an effort to keep a lid on
inflation.

All of this is creating a deeply queasy environment for investors - and
weighing heavily on share prices around the world.

Beijing - which has a population of more than 21 million people - has
reported a handful of new cases, but China has a strict zero-Covid policy in
place. Over the weekend, some Beijing residents were told they needed to do
Covid tests three times a week.

Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention
and Control, told that China Daily that the number of cases in Beijing is
expected to increase in the following days.

In Shanghai, where there was a fresh outbreak a few weeks ago, much of the
city is in lockdown or facing restrictions.

The latest outbreak in Shanghai, first detected in late March, has seen more
than 400,000 cases recorded so far and 138 deaths.

Some factories in Shanghai have restarted production with companies such as
electric car maker Tesla reportedly requiring employees to work on a
"closed-loop" system which means they eat and sleep at the plant.

"The prospect of further restrictions in China could lead to a poisonous mix
of further inflationary pressure, as supply chains in the so-called 'factory
of the world' get disrupted and weaker economic growth," warned Russ Mould,
investment director at AJ Bell.

Analysts said stock markets in Europe and Asia were also affected by sharp
falls on leading US indexes at the end of last week amid expectations of
steep US interest rates rises to calm soaring inflation - currently at a
40-year high of 8.5%.

On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500
indexes all fell by 2.5% or more.

Last week, Jerome Powell, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, hinted that
the central bank may increase the key interest rate by half a percentage
point at the next meeting in May.

This would follow a quarter percentage point rise in March.

Mr Powell said: "It is appropriate in my view to be moving a little more
quickly," adding that "50 basis points will be on the table".-BBC

Why Argentina is embracing cryptocurrency

In Argentina, there are traces everywhere of distrust and even trauma
related to the economy.

For Jerónimo Ferrer, a formative memory is of Argentina's crushing financial
crisis at the end of the 1990 - when bank accounts were frozen and, almost
overnight, people's savings evaporated.

He's not alone. One engineering student I spoke to keeps all his savings, in
US dollars, at home because he fears that the banks will again devalue
holdings overnight.

While many Argentinians are, by necessity, experts on the state of the
economy - from the sky-high level of inflation to the current unofficial
rate of exchange between the peso and the US dollar - Mr Ferrer has gone
further than most.

Since 2019, he's run a walking tour called "Our local crazy economy &
Bitcoin tour of Buenos Aires", where he explains to tourists the level of
restrictions Argentines face, such as limits on foreign currency
transactions, or bans on payments in instalments for international flights.

BBC: What is Bitcoin - an eight step guide

He also provides a primer on cryptocurrency, especially Bitcoin, and why he
believes it is a valuable alternative to the volatile and highly-controlled
Argentine peso.

"When you have restrictions, you need tools for freedom," Mr Ferrer says.

For many crypto enthusiasts around the world, decentralised and digital
currency is primarily about ideology or profit. But for many Argentines, it
fills more basic needs.

"I trust more mathematics and software than I trust politicians," Mr Ferrer
explains. "I think that Bitcoin for Argentinians should be a no-brainer."

There are other ways that the strong government intervention in the economy
has helped cryptocurrency gain a footing in Argentina. For example, it's
relatively cheap to run an energy-guzzling Bitcoin mining operation, because
the cost of electricity is kept relatively low.

Bitcoin mining is the process that creates new Bitcoin. It involves
computers solving complicated maths problems. Solve the problem and you are
awarded Bitcoin. It sounds simple but involves elaborate computer systems,
requiring lots of electricity to run and cool them.

The University of Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance estimates that
globally, the electricity used in Bitcoin mining to be around 137 terawatt
hours per year. That's about the same as the annual use of some countries,
like Norway or Poland.

Producing that electricity will be contributing to global carbon dioxide
emissions, but it is difficult to estimate how much.

However, in Argentina such environmental issues are often eclipsed by
financial concerns.

For some early adopters of cryptocurrency in Argentina, even a relatively
young and unpredictable currency is preferable to the extremely changeable
peso.

Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, may also help to buffer against
high inflation, since there's a finite amount of the currency that can be
created.

Inflation, which measure how the cost of living changes over time, is an
ever-present concern in Argentina. The year-on-year rate of inflation is
staggering, at over 50%.

"In the pandemic, people noticed this situation, and to protect their money
they chose to look for an asset that was limited," says María Mercedes
Etchegoyen.

Ms Etchegoyen is a lawyer specialising in intellectual property, as well as
a member of the executive committee of the NGO Bitcoin Argentina. She helped
start the community Cryptogirls to tap into the increased interest in
cryptocurrency during the pandemic.

So far, the government has taken a relaxed attitude to the cryptocurrency
boo. "In Argentina, there is no specific regulation on cryptocurrency," says
Ms Etchegoyen.

However, the Central Bank has been issuing warnings about crypto-based
scams.

It has acknowledged that the level of crypto use isn't high yet, but is
growing rapidly and merits concern.

Ms Etchegoyen is concerned about the uneven access to cryptocurrencies.

So far it is the preserve of a minority - largely a young, male, tech-savvy,
and relatively affluent population. It's tech workers, not farmers, who are
being paid in Bitcoin.

"Today it's not a technology that everyone can access," acknowledges
blockchain consultant Lucia Lizardo.

Yet efforts are underway to expand the reach of crypto - partly through
financial products that offer a stepping stone between traditional and
cryptocurrency.

Three Argentine start-ups now offer debit cards for crypto-based
transactions. One of these companies, Lemon, was founded in a Patagonian
town where 40% of shops accept Bitcoin.

Some people in Argentina are also turning to "stablecoins", which are pegged
to the US dollar and are therefore less prone to fluctuations in value.

Of course, crypto will not provide a one-stop solution for Argentina's
economic woes. And it brings its own problems of currency speculation,
fraud, and its environmental impact.

Overall, though, "I think this is like a revolution for young people,"
comments Ms Lizardo.

For Mr Ferrer, the need is clear. "This is our money, and it's the only one
that politicians can't destroy."-BBC

Nigeria: Govt's Deficit Spending Rises 23% to N7.3 Trillion

Deficit spending by the Federal Government (FG) rose by 23.7 per cent, YoY,
to N7.3 trillion in 2021 from N5.9 trillion recorded in 2020.

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, disclosed this in its fourth quarter 2021
(Q4'21) Statistical Bulletin report.

The 23 per cent rise in FG's deficit spending was caused by a 17.4 per cent
increase in expenditure which subdued the 9.2 per cent increase in revenue.

According to the CBN, FG's total revenue for 2021 rose to N4.39 trillion in
2021, from N4.02 trillion recorded in 2020, representing a 9.2 per cent
rise.

On the other hand, total expenditure rose to N11.69 trillion in 2021, from
N9.95 trillion in 2020, representing 17.4 per cent.

In the first quarter, Q1'21, FG recorded N914.8 billion revenue and N2.89
trillion expenditure, resulting in a N1.97 trillion deficit.

In the second quarter, Q2'21, FG recorded N1.14 trillion revenue and N2.69
trillion expenditure, resulting in N1.55 trillion.

In the third quarter, Q3'21, the FG recorded N1.11 trillion revenue and
N3.19 trillion expenditure, resulting in a N2.09 trillion deficit.

In the fourth quarter, Q4'21, the FG recorded N1.2 trillion revenue and N2.9
trillion expenditure, resulting in a N1.69 trillion deficit.

Providing details on the fiscal activities in Q4'21, the CBN said: "FGN
retained revenue declined due to shortfalls in the receipt from federation
account sources.

"At N1.26 trillion, provisional retained revenue of the FGN declined by 36.6
per cent and 3.2 per cent, relative to the budget benchmark and the
preceding quarter, respectively, reflecting the subsisting revenue challenge
over the past two years."

On expenditure, the CBN said: "The decline in provisional capital
expenditure triggered an 8.8 per cent drop in aggregate spending in the
fourth quarter of 2021, relative to the preceding quarter.

"A disaggregated analysis revealed that recurrent expenditure rose by 5.6
per cent, relative to the preceding quarter, while capital expenditure
dropped by 61.3 per cent, over the same period. "Recurrent spending
maintained its dominance, accounting for 75.1 per cent; while capital
expenditure and transfers constituted the balance of 21.3 per cent and 3.6
per cent, respectively.

"Aggregate expenditure fell faster than revenue, thus tapering the
provisional deficit. At N2.23 trillion, the provisional fiscal deficit of
the FGN was 12.0 per cent lower than the level in the preceding quarter."

Vanguard News Nigeria

Nigeria: Govt Stops Striking Varsity Workers' Salary

Abuja — INDICATIONS emerged yesterday that the Federal Government may have
implemented the 'no work, no pay' policy for the striking university-based
unions.

This is even as the unions lamented that despite all the notices and letters
sent to the federal government over the ongoing strike in the public
universities, the government has not deemed it fit to either acknowledge the
letters or call them to round table discussions.

Recall that the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, had embarked on
a four week warning strike on February 14 which was extended at its
expiration, following the alleged failure of government to address the
contentious issues that led to the strike.

In March, the Joint Action Committee, JAC, comprising the Non-Academic Staff
Union of Allied and Educational Institution, NASU, and the Senior Staff
Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU declared a two week warning
strike, within the same month and it was also extended, while the National
Association of Academic Technologists, NAAT, declared its own two weeks
warning strike the same month.

Vanguard reliably gathered that the federal government has invoked the 'no
work, no pay' policy against the striking unions.

Confirming this, the President of NAAT, Comrade Ibeji Nwokoma, said members
of his union were not paid full salaries in March.

He also said the government has ignored all the notices for the ongoing
strike and had refused to acknowledge all the letters sent in that regard.

The NAAT President also told Vanguard that instead of inviting the striking
university workers for a dialogue over the contentious issues, the
government had gone ahead to implement the 'no work, no salary ' policy.

He, however, said that seizing the salary of the union members would not
make them call off the strike as the action was in the interest of the
system.

Asked to give the update on the union's strike, Comrade Nwokoma said: "As of
today, we have entered the the fifth week of our warning strike, the first
two weeks and then we rolled over for four weeks. Unfortunately, as we are
talking, government has not acknowledged all the notices of strike, all the
letters we wrote to them as at today.

"Government has not also invited us or found it necessary to invite us to a
round table discussion, so as to find a way forward. And unfortunately too
,government has decided to stop our salaries, using the no work, no pay
principle."- Vanguard.

Tanzania Ports Authority Signs U.S.$500 Million Agreement

THE DP World, an Emirati multinational Logistics Company based in Dubai,
United Arab Emirates, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), worth
USD 500 million, with the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) to finance various
projects aimed at improving efficiency of the country's ports.

The company specialises in cargo logistics, port terminal operations,
maritime services and free trade zones.

The agreement for the grant was signed over the weekend at the ongoing Dubai
Expo 2020 between TPA Director General Eric Hamissi and DP World Chief
Executive Officer Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem.

The signing of the agreement that was witnessed by President Samia Suluhu
Hassan on Sunday, February 27, was part of the events held by Tanzania at
the Expo.

A day before the signing ceremony of the MoUs in Dubai, President Samia
Suluhu Hassan officiated at the Expo, a day that was dedicated for Tanzania.

The funds from the agreement will be spent on developing Tanzania's ports,
targeting key areas of Information and Communication, Technologies (ICTs)
systems, training for capacity building among TPA staff and improvements in
port infrastructures.

The funds are also expected to enable the country's ports to increase their
competitiveness at the regional and global level and improve services.-Daily
News.

Nigeria: Govt's Deficit Spending Rises 23% to N7.3 Trillion