Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 05 December 2022

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 05 December 2022 

 


 

 


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

 


 

 


 

ü  Ukraine war: Oil prices rise as cap on Russian crude looms

ü  EU must act over distortions from US climate plan - von der Leyen

ü  Rail strike is cancelled - at the cost of paid sick leave

ü  Oil giant TotalEnergies to cut North Sea investment over windfall tax

ü  Taiwan's front-line battle against mobile phone fraud

ü  Heathrow faces pre-Christmas baggage handlers strike

ü  Train strikes: RMT union hopeful of offer to end rail dispute

ü  HMRC closes phone lines due to technical fault

ü  Royal Mail says people should send Christmas post early

ü  Working from home: 10% Welsh government staff in office each day

ü  Toyota in £11.3m government deal to develop hydrogen pickup trucks

ü  Rwanda Set to Benefit From Liberalised Air Transport Market

ü  Nigeria: Zenith Wins 'Bank of the Year Nigeria' in the Banker's Awards

ü  Nigeria: CBN Offered N7.33trn Treasury Bills in Six Months

ü  Nigeria: Buhari's Transition Budget Demands Thorough Scrutiny

ü  Rwanda to Increase Milk Production By 34% to Satisfy Market Demand

ü  Nigeria: 59% of Nigerian E-Banking Customers Have Been Victim to Fraud -
Report

 


 

 


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Ukraine war: Oil prices rise as cap on Russian crude looms

Oil prices have risen after major producers agreed to continue to cut output
and the G7 and its allies said they will cap the price of Russian oil.

 

Brent crude rose by about 0.6% to above $86 a barrel on Monday morning.

 

On Friday, the G7 agreed to cap the price of Russian oil at $60 a barrel to
raise pressure on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.

 

Meanwhile, oil producers' group Opec+ said at the weekend it would stick to
its policy of reducing output.

 

Opec+ is a group of 23 oil-exporting countries, including Russia, which
meets regularly to decide how much crude oil to sell on the world market.

 

"This decision by Opec+ to keep the quota where it is... is by itself an
implicit sort of support to the oil market," Kang Wu of S&P Global Commodity
Insights told the BBC.

 

Analysts said oil prices had also been boosted by the easing of Covid
restrictions in some Chinese cities, which could lead to an increase in
demand for oil.

 

More cities in China, including Urumqi in the north west, have said they
will loosen curbs after mass protests against the country's zero-Covid
policy.

 

Price cap

In a joint statement last week, the G7 and Australia said the $60 cap on
Russian oil would come into force on Monday or "very soon thereafter".

 

They said the measure was meant to "prevent Russia from profiting from its
war of aggression against Ukraine".

 

The price cap means only Russian oil bought for less than $60 a barrel will
be allowed to be shipped using G7 and EU tankers, insurance companies and
credit institutions.

 

This could make it difficult for Moscow to sell its oil at a higher price,
because many major shipping and insurance companies are based within the G7.

 

Russia has said it will not accept the price cap, and has threatened to stop
exporting oil to countries adopting the measures.

 

Jorge Leon, senior vice-president at Norwegian energy consultancy Rystad
Energy, told the BBC's Today programme that oil prices could increase as a
result.

 

"Russia has been very clear that they will not sell crude (oil) to anybody
signing up to the price cap," he said.

 

"So probably what's going to happen is that we will see some disruptions in
the coming months and therefore probably oil prices are going to start
increasing again in the coming weeks."

 

The G7 is an organisation of the world's seven largest so-called "advanced"
economies, which dominate global trade and the international financial
system. They are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the
United States.

 

Supply fears

Prices of oil and gas have soared on concerns that Russia's invasion of
Ukraine could hit supply.

 

Russia is the world's second top producer of crude oil after Saudi Arabia,
and supplies around a third of Europe's needs.

 

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the price cap would further
constrain Russian President Vladimir Putin's finances and "limit the
revenues he's using to fund his brutal invasion" while avoiding disrupting
global supplies.

 

However, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky called the cap "a weak
position" that was not "serious" enough to damage to the Russian economy.

 

An EU-wide ban on Russian crude oil imported by sea will also take effect on
Monday.

 

Although the measures will most certainly be felt by Russia, the blow will
be partially softened by its move to sell its oil to other markets such as
India and China, who are currently the largest single buyers of Russian
crude oil.-BBC

 

 

 

EU must act over distortions from US climate plan - von der Leyen

The EU must address "distortions" created by a $430bn (£349bn) US plan to
incentivise climate-friendly technologies, the bloc's chief says.

 

Some EU members have criticised the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA),
raising fears of a trade war.

 

There are concerns that tax breaks may lure away EU businesses and
disadvantage European companies.

 

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU should
"adjust our own rules".

 

"Competition is good ... but this competition must respect a level playing
field," she said during a speech in Belgium.

 

Under the IRA, American consumers will get incentives to purchase new and
second-hand electric cars, to warm their homes with heat pumps and even to
cook their food using electric induction.

 

US President Joe Biden has called it the most "aggressive action" his
country has taken to tackle the climate crisis.

 

But European allies perceive it as anti-competitive and a threat to European
jobs, especially in the energy and auto sectors.

 

Ms von der Leyen said the EU had to work with the US "to address some of the
most concerning aspects of the law".

 

She added that the EU must also "adjust" its own rules on state aid to spur
public investment in the environmental transition.

 

The new legislation was raised during French President Emmanuel Macron's
trip to Washington to meet Mr Biden this week.

 

The US president said there could be "tweaks" made to make it easier for
European firms to benefit from the subsidies package.

 

"I never intended to exclude folks who were cooperating with us. That was
not the intention," Mr Biden said.

 

"We're back in business, Europe is back in business. And we are going to
continue to create manufacturing jobs in America, but not at the expense of
Europe."

 

In an interview with the BBC's US partner CBS News released on Sunday, Mr
Macron said the issue was "fixable", and his discussion with Mr Biden was
"frank and fruitful".

 

He said weakening Europe's industry was "not the interest of the U.S.
administration and even the U.S. society".-BBC

 

 

 

Rail strike is cancelled - at the cost of paid sick leave

When Gabe Christenson started feeling run down a few years ago, he didn't go
to the doctor.

 

Like roughly 30 million other Americans, the 45-year-old railroad worker
doesn't have any paid sick leave and he didn't want to get punished for
taking time off.

 

According to Gabe, his company's attendance policy meant marks against a
worker for any time away, "so I was putting off going", he said.

 

When he finally scheduled an appointment, the doctor told him he had a gut
infection. If caught early, it could have been treated with medication, but
as it was, Gabe learned he would have to have some of his tissues removed.

 

In recent weeks, demands for paid sick leave from rail workers like Gabe
pushed the US to the brink of its first national rail strike in 30 years.

 

The walkout was averted only after President Joe Biden and Congress
intervened, forcing rail workers to accept the terms of a new contract.

 

It offered a pay rise, an additional personal day and a few other benefits -
but no paid sick leave.

 

The outcome has outraged thousands of workers who had hoped for more support
from a political party and a president who had campaigned on the promise of
passing national sick leave and supporting unions.

 

"It's a slap in the face," said Gabe, a registered Democrat who voted for Mr
Biden in 2020 and is part of Railroad Workers United, an informal group that
raised concerns over the issue. "People are scared for their jobs ....We
need protection."

 

"Here Biden is supposed to be this super pro-labour president and Amtrak Joe
and everything like that," he said, referring to a nickname given to the
president for his fondness of riding the national passenger rail.

 

"People are just deflated because this has happened so many times."

 

US lawmakers vote to block potential rail strike

What would be affected if a rail strike happens?

Sick leave is a major sticking point not just for rail union members.

 

The US is one of only two countries in the 38-member Organization of
Economic Cooperation and Development without a national law guaranteeing
paid sick leave for its workers. (The other, South Korea, is now trialling a
paid sick leave programme.)

 

Though 16 states have passed laws requiring paid sick leave over the last
decade, one in five workers across the country still does not have access to
the benefit, with low-wage workers most at risk.

 

The issue has emerged repeatedly in labour disputes in recent years, as
workers, empowered by a strong job market and contending with coronavirus
and an unusually severe flu and virus season, demand more from employers.

 

Erica, a single mum of three, said she left a job she loved in 2020 -
working as a paediatric nurse in an emergency room in Tennessee - to work
for a rival hospital that offered paid sick leave, in addition to other time
off.

 

"It just shocked me that they wanted us to use our paid time off and we
would be off 10 or 14 days," said the 38-year-old, who is a community
advocate for A Better Balance, an advocacy group, referring to the extended
quarantines that were common at the start of the pandemic.

 

When she didn't have paid sick leave, she ended up with no vacation and had
to take unpaid days to care for her daughter, straining her finances.

 

"It's clearly an area where we need federal protections," said Jennifer
Pomeranz, a professor of public health at New York University, who has
tracked the issue. "It shouldn't be because you live in a state that's more
pro-business than another state that you lose paid sick leave."

 

For a moment, during the pandemic, it seemed like a national policy might
emerge.

 

In 2020, Congress passed a temporary law requiring most companies to offer
two weeks of paid sick leave to staff forced to quarantine due to Covid-19.

 

But that expired at the end of the year and firms quickly trimmed the
benefits.

 

Despite efforts to revive the issue, many Republicans were opposed to the
principle of government-given "business mandates", and talks petered out.

 

"We need to remember that we're really not good at running businesses from
Congress," Senator Richard Burr, a Republican from North Carolina, said in
May 2021, the last major public hearing on the issue.

 

While he said he believed people should be able to take time off if sick,
"the one-size-fits-all approach does not work on issues, especially on paid
leave".

 

Sherry Leiwant, co-founder of A Better Balance, who has been working on paid
sick leave campaigns since the early 2000s, called the decision not to
extend the benefit in 2020 "the most disheartening thing that has happened
in my work on this issue".

 

"I found that devastating," she said, adding that a national law now looks
"impossible".

 

"At a moment when we were celebrating all these front-line workers, who were
keeping the economy going at the risk of their own health, that we couldn't
include paid sick days as a requirement in our Covid relief package - it was
just shocking."

 

Erik Loomis, a professor of labour history at the University of Rhode
Island, said the Biden administration made a mistake not to take the issue
more seriously as it worked to broker a deal between unions and railroads
earlier this year.

 

But he said no president, no matter how labour friendly, would be willing to
risk an economically damaging strike over sick pay.

 

"Paid sick leave at the national level is not even part of the conversation
at this point," he said, adding that the rail contract otherwise is "very
good for workers".

 

"Theoretically maybe a situation like this could spark some conversation ...
but I think it's unlikely."

 

The National Railway Labor Conference, the organisation representing the
freight rail firms in the labour negotiations, argued that rail workers have
ample personal and holiday leave, which can be used in the event of illness,
as well as the ability to take unpaid time off.

 

They disputed claims by workers that managers are increasingly rejecting
such requests, as staffing levels have fallen.

 

Gabe, who has worked for the railroad since 2004, said the companies could
afford the benefit, noting that they have earned record profits in recent
years.

 

"Nobody out here will tell you that they don't want to work - we're all out
here to make money. We know that it's all hours and we're on call, but you
used to have the ability take time off," he said. "Now they're just
squeezing us so hard, like blood out of a turnip."

 

"They could give me 300 personal leave days but what are they worth if I
can't use them?"-BBC

 

 

 

Oil giant TotalEnergies to cut North Sea investment over windfall tax

French oil giant TotalEnergies has said it will cut North Sea investment by
25% next year after the windfall tax on oil and gas firms in the UK was
extended.

 

The company will cut £100m of spending on new wells in the region.

 

The windfall tax - the Energy Profits Levy - was raised from 25% to 35% in
last month's Autumn Statement and will now stay in place until March 2028.

 

The government said the levy "strikes a balance between funding cost of
living support while encouraging investment".

 

"We have been clear that we want to encourage reinvestment of the sector's
profits to support the economy, jobs, and our energy security, which is why
the more investment a firm makes into the UK, the less tax they will pay," a
Treasury spokesperson said.

 

However, a spokesperson for the Scottish government said: "This decision
highlights the fiscal and economic turmoil caused by the UK government is
already having very real implications for Scottish industry."

 

"We have also been consistently clear that the implementation of a windfall
tax must involve a balanced approach across sectors and companies - not just
energy companies, disproportionately based in Scotland."

 

TotalEnergies is one of the North Sea's biggest oil and gas producers and
its decision to cut investment will affect plans to drill a new well at its
Elgin gas field.

 

"Following another change to the fiscal environment for energy investors in
the UK, we are now evaluating the impact of this change on our current and
planned projects," said TotalEnergies' UK chairman Jean-Luc Guiziou.

 

"The energy industry operates in a cyclical market and is subject to
volatile commodity prices. We believe that the government should remain open
to reviewing the Energy Profits Levy if prices reduce before 2028."

 

What is the windfall tax on oil and gas companies?

SSE to review green projects after levy on electricity generators

The windfall tax on oil and gas companies operating in the North Sea was
introduced in May after oil prices increased sharply.

 

Oil prices had already been increasing as Covid restrictions were lifted
around the world, but they jumped when Russia's invasion of Ukraine led to
worries over energy supplies.

 

The rate for the EPL was set at 25% originally. However, in the Autumn
Statement last month, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced it would increase to
35% from January 2023, and stay in place until March 2028. It had previously
been scheduled to finish at the end of 2025.

 

Oil and gas firms operating in the North Sea are already taxed differently
to other firms. Taxes on their profits are higher - they pay 30% corporation
tax on their profits and a supplementary 10% rate on top of that. Other
firms currently pay corporation tax at 19%.

 

However, energy firms can also claim tax savings worth 91p of every £1
invested in fossil fuel extraction in the UK.

 

Neivan Boroujerdi from energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie said that while
TotalEnergies is the second biggest producer in the North Sea, it is not set
to be one of the biggest investors over the next few years.

 

"That's partly the reason why it's so adversely affected by the levy
(windfall tax) in the first place, because they can't use the investment
allowances to offset their levy payments against," Mr Boroujerdi said.

 

'Extreme burden'

Last week, Brindex, an organisation representing smaller independent oil
exploration companies in the North Sea, wrote to the chancellor saying the
windfall tax increase represented an "existential threat" to the industry.

 

Robin Allen, the chairman of Brindex, said in the letter that its members
can "no longer shoulder this extreme open ended tax burden", and warned that
it could impact jobs and the country's energy security.

 

Like TotalEnergies, Brindex has called for a price floor mechanism whereby
the windfall tax would only be triggered above a certain price level for oil
and gas.

 

Both Shell and BP have said that they will review North Sea investments
following the tax increase, but have not announced any specific cuts to
spending in the region.

 

The main North Sea industry body, Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), said the
decision to increase the EPL was "undermining investor confidence".

 

Deirdre Michie, chief executive of OEUK, said: "Our industry was planning to
invest £200bn in the broader energy sector - this includes low-carbon
solutions - by 2030. This would help to ensure that the UK can meet its
net-zero and climate goals and boost its energy security while we make that
low-carbon transition.

 

"But... these tax changes really do jeopardise this."

 

Wood Mackenzie's Mr Boroujerdi said many people in the industry agreed
"something had to be done" when the EPL was first introduced in May.

 

"We saw energy prices spiralling out of control [and] eye-watering profits.
But moving the goal posts for a second time in the space of six months
hasn't gone down well and it's not conducive to future investment."

 

However, Philip Evans, oil campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said the windfall
tax was "nowhere near strong enough".

 

"Ultimately investments like those from TotalEnergies are a terrible deal
for the British people. The jobs they provide are increasingly precarious.
The fossil fuels they seek to extract will only trash our climate targets,"
he said.

 

"The future of the North Sea is in renewable energy and the quicker the
government wakes up and helps us get there the better."-BBC

 

 

 

 

Taiwan's front-line battle against mobile phone fraud

Telecoms security boss Jeff Kuo says that fighting mobile phone fraud is a
constant battle, and that Taiwan is on the front line.

 

"This is like a miniature of the world, here in Taiwan, where we see all
kinds of fraud in advance," says Mr Kuo. "We can use this knowledge to
protect other countries, because we can see what is going to happen first."

 

Mr Kuo is boss of Taiwanese firm Gogolook, which owns Whoscall, one of the
most popular spam blocking apps on the island, and across East Asia in
general.

 

It says its artificial intelligence powered software constantly trawls more
than 1.6 billion telephone numbers, both Taiwanese ones, and also ones from
across Asia and other parts of the world, to block messages and calls from
likely fraudsters.

 

Working with Taiwan's Criminal Investigation Bureau's (CIB's) "165
Anti-Fraud Program", Whoscall blocked more 52.3 million scam messages, and
13.1 million scam calls, last year in Taiwan alone.

 

But why is Taiwan such a hotbed for telecoms fraud? Mr Kuo says the island's
small population of 23.5 million makes it a prefect "practice ground" for
organised criminals, both Taiwanese gangs and those from mainland China and
elsewhere. They try out a new phone scam in Taiwan, and if it works there
then they can expand it out across Asia and then globally.

 

"[For example], we provide Apple with a lot of evidence... until they
realise there is a serious problem," says Mr Kuo. "A problem that is not
only going to spread out in Taiwan, but also in Asia Pacific, and if they
don't take care of it, very soon it will be in Europe and the US."

 

CIB telecoms fraud investigator Jean Hsiao Ya-yun tells the BBC that another
reason why so many new scams originate on the island is the very fact that
Taiwan is one of Asia's top manufacturers of high-tech technology. She says
this level of technical expertise is shared by Taiwanese scammers.

 

Ms Hsiao adds that the coronavirus pandemic was a boom time for scammers as
millions of people were stuck at home, and, therefore, more reliant upon
their phones.

 

"And the Taiwan stock market was very high at the time, so many people
earned a lot of money," she says, adding that this led to a big rise in
investment scams.

 

"Scammers would [for example] give advice on app pages, or they would start
a chat group saying that they can tell you when a stock is going to rise,
and they can share this intel if you join their group."

 

 

New Tech Economy is a series exploring how technological innovation is set
to shape the new emerging economic landscape.

 

The scammers would then ask for money for the information. Other such
investment scams would see people receiving phone message from friendly
strangers offering loans at very low rates.

 

Such is the extent of the criminal networks behind the scamming that some
Taiwanese gangs have opened up operations overseas. Ms Hsiao points to one
case from 2020 when 92 Taiwanese people were arrested in Montenegro.

 

In other cases, Taiwanese people are lured overseas to countries such as
Cambodia under the false promise of high wages. There they are forced to
work against their will as telephone fraudsters, as the BBC reported in
September.

 

Mr Kuo admits that there is a "weapons race" between anti-fraud firms like
his, and the fraudsters. And while Whoscall and similar apps block millions
of messages and phone calls, some still get through.

 

Anyone who has lived in Taiwan, regardless of age or nationality, is
familiar with one method used by fraudsters - burst dialling. Answering an
unknown number leads to you hearing a brief dialling sound, and then a
pre-recorded message starts playing.

 

These calls are made by auto-dial systems capable of making hundreds a
minute. It's an effective way for the fraudsters to find the working numbers
of people who are prepared to answer their phone despite not knowing who is
ringing them.

 

Taiwanese cyber security expert TonTon Huang says that once such a person
has been found, scammers call back.

 

"If [they find] the number is used by someone, they will sell the active
phone data, or tell you that you need to pay a loan, insurance payment, or
remit money," he says. "The most common one seems to be about instalment
payments, like you shopped online and you need to pay in instalments or
something."

 

While scammers are often looking for older people who might not be familiar
with technology or keep up with scam trends, the CIB's Ms Hsiao says they
still dupe plenty of young adults as well.

 

Earlier this year, a 20-something Taiwanese YouTuber Edison Lin posted a
video on the platform in which he emotionally revealed that he had been a
victim of telephone fraud.

 

He had been conned out of $13,000 [£12,600] by two fraudsters working
together.

 

Mr Lin said it happened after he was called by someone pretending to an
employee of a restaurant he had visited a few months earlier. The man told
him that he had accidently been overcharged by $380, and that he would be
offered assistance to get the money back.

 

After Mr Lin had ended that call he was soon telephoned again, this time by
the other fraudster pretending to from his bank.

 

"When the [fake] clerk from E.Sun Bank called, he knew the whole story, he
told me how to get compensation from E.Sun," Mr Lin said in his video. "His
professionalism made me think he was really a bank clerk.

 

"Before long we were talking back and forth for half an hour... and I
noticed one of them was transferring [my] money... I still haven't paid off
the debt."

 

Prof Sandra Wachter, a senior research fellow in AI at Oxford University, is
a global expert on the use of AI software systems.

 

She says AI can be an effective tool in defending against telecoms and other
tech-based fraud, but that the general public also needs to be better
educated about the risks.

 

"Technology is being used to scale-up fraud attempts
 it allows scammers to
cast a wider net and work more efficiently," she says. "At the same time,
some people might be more gullible and vulnerable to deceit because texting
or calls seem legitimate, especially if executed in convincing and
sophisticated ways.

 

"Since fraud is scaling up, the strategy to combat these attempts must too
scale up and so it makes sense to deploy AI software for this purpose.

 

"The question is how effective these attempts are, and if we will be able to
fully stop this behaviour? And the answer is, probably not, but we can curb
it temporarily. Digital literacy and education can help people not to fall
into the trap. AI can help to detect these scams and intervene."

 

Back at spam-blocking app Whoscall, Jeff Kuo agrees, saying fighting
fraudsters "may be never-ending, but so is our determination to sharpen our
skills and stand up".-BBC

 

 

 

 

Heathrow faces pre-Christmas baggage handlers strike

Pre-Christmas travellers using Heathrow airport later this month face
disruption after baggage handlers voted to strike from 16 December.

 

The 72-hour strike action will affect flights operated by 10 major airlines
from Heathrow Terminals 2, 3 and 4.

 

The dispute centres around a pay offer made to cargo workers but which has
not been extended to baggage handlers.

 

The Unite union said ground-handling workers at Menzies Aviation have not
received a "fair" pay offer.

 

"Menzies has made a fair pay offer to one group of its workers but isn't
prepared to make a similar offer to its ground handlers," said Unite general
secretary Sharon Graham.

 

Miguel Gomez Sjunnesson, executive vice president Europe at Menzies Aviation
said: "We are well prepared for further industrial action and are working
closely with key partners to put in place robust contingency plans.

 

"We remain committed to seeking a resolution on the pay talks in our ground
handling operations so our employees can receive their increase now, and
hope to be able to reach an agreement which is workable for both the
business and our employees during our meeting with unions on Tuesday."

 

Why are so many workers going on strike?

Airlines that are likely to be affected by the three-day strike are Air
Canada, American Airlines, Lufthansa, Swiss Air, Air Portugal, Austrian
Airlines, Qantas, Egypt Air, Aer Lingus and Finnair.

 

The dispute involves 350 workers employed by Menzies who were offered a
lower pay deal than cargo workers employed by the company.

 

Cargo workers were offered a 9.5% pay increase backdated to May 2022 and a
further 1% from January 2023, the union said.

 

"The Menzies ground handlers have been offered a flat rate increase which
for all the workforce amounts to a real terms pay cut while the real
inflation rate (RPI) currently stands at 14.2%," the union added.

 

The action follows a similar dispute in November when a three-day strike hit
passengers at the airport.

 

The strike would have been more widespread with twice as many
ground-handling staff planning to walk out last month until rival transport
handling company Dnata agreed an improved pay offer for its 350 workers at
Heathrow.

 

Menzies Aviation said the strike in November involved about 250 of the
company's 1,500 ground handling workforce at Heathrow and had minimal impact
on operations.

 

A Heathrow spokesperson said the airport was "aware of industrial action
proposed by Menzies colleagues". It said it "encouraged airport partners who
would be affected to continue with their contingency planning and we will
support them to minimise the impact on passengers, should the strike go
ahead."

-BBC

 

 

 

 

Train strikes: RMT union hopeful of offer to end rail dispute

RMT union boss Mick Lynch has said he is hopeful that the government will
make an offer that could end the planned rail strikes.

 

On his way into a meeting with Rail Minister Huw Merriman on Friday he said
the government would "hopefully
 put an offer on the table".

 

He said he expected the offer to be "modest" but said the dispute was
"definitely moving".

 

Talks have concluded for the day but will continue over the weekend.

 

Ahead of the meeting, Mr Lynch said: "It's definitely different to the last
six months."

 

However, he suggested that the more positive overtures from the government
might simply be "window dressing".

 

After the meeting between the RMT, Network Rail and the Rail Delivery Group,
Mr Merriman said it had been a "constructive and open conversation about the
challenges facing our railways".

 

"I was clear that the parties should work towards creating a modern and
financially sustainable railway which provides value for money for all
passengers and taxpayers," he said.

 

"Everyone agreed to continue talking to try and resolve these long-standing
issues and bring an end to this dispute."

 

On Thursday, Transport Secretary Mark Harper said he was trying to
"encourage" a deal between employers and trade unions on reforming the rail
industry and bringing an end to the strikes.

 

He said an agreement to "hammer out a deal on reform of the industry" would
benefit rail users and train staff.

 

A number of unions have announced strikes and other forms of industrial
action across the rail network in December, which could cause crippling
periods of disruption in the run-up to Christmas.

 

When are the next train strikes?

The RMT union is planning industrial action across four 48-hour periods on
13-14 and 16-17 December, and 3-4 and 6-7 January, which will hit Network
Rail and 14 train operators. RMT members will also operate an overtime ban
between 18 December to 2 January.

 

TSSA workers at Avanti West Coast will strike on 13-14 and 16-17 December.

 

On Friday, the TSSA also served notice for strikes in a further six train
operating companies and Network Rail.

 

Also on Friday, the Unite union said its members employed by Network Rail in
electric control rooms would join the strikes, adding that the workers had
not received a pay increase for three years.

 

"It is totally unforgivable that the government thinks it is acceptable to
implement a three-year pay freeze on our members who play a critical role in
keeping the rail network operating," said Unite general secretary Sharon
Graham.

 

Strikes graphic

Road users also face potential disruption over the Christmas period after
workers at the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union announced 12 days
of strike action.

 

The National Highways employees, who plan, design, build, operate and
maintain the country's roads, will take part in a series of staggered
strikes from 16 December to 7 January.

 

The PCS said the action came after 124 government departments and other
public bodies voted for strike action in a row over pay and conditions.

 

"We know our members' action could inconvenience travellers who plan to
visit their relatives over the festive period, but our members have been
placed in this situation by a government that won't listen to its own
workforce," said PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka.

 

It is understood that 124 frontline National Highways staff will strike, out
of 1,500.

 

The PCS said it would announce strikes in other departments, including the
Home Office, in the next few weeks.-BBC

 

 

 

HMRC closes phone lines due to technical fault

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has closed most of its phone lines due to a
fault as many people seek advice ahead of filing their tax returns.

 

The tax authority apologised for the outage and urged people to use their
online services.

 

It is not known when the lines will be working again, but HMRC said it would
"reopen them as soon as possible".

 

More than 12 million people are required to complete self-assessment tax
returns before 31 January.

 

That number is made up of people who are self-employed and those with more
than one source of income.

 

If people do not file their tax return, either online or via post, then they
face being hit with a fine, which is usually £100.

 

A statement from HMRC said: "Our online services are working well and we
encourage people to continue using them.

 

"We are working to urgently resolve a technical problem that has seen us
temporarily close most of our phone lines. We apologise to people affected
and will reopen them as soon as possible."

 

HMRC gave people up to a month after the normal deadline of 31 January this
year because the pandemic had put pressure on individuals and tax advisers
to complete submissions.

 

This year there will be no extended deadline.-BBC

 

 

 

Royal Mail says people should send Christmas post early

Royal Mail has asked customers to post Christmas mail earlier than usual due
to strike action by postal workers.

 

It has brought forward the final suggested date for sending second class
post to 12 December from 19 December, and for first class to 16 December
from 21 December.

 

Six days of strike action by CWU union members are due in December as part
of a dispute over pay and conditions.

 

Royal Mail said it was trying to keep mail moving in the busy festive
period.

 

It has also brought forward the final recommended date for sending
international mail to 3 December from 10 December for places including
Greece, Eastern Europe and Turkey.

 

Members of the CWU union are due to strike on 9, 11, 14, 15, 23 and 24
December.

 

Royal Mail: When are the postal strikes ahead of Christmas?

Nick Landon, Royal Mail's chief commercial officer, said the CWU was
"striking at our busiest time, holding Christmas to ransom for our
customers, businesses and families across the country".

 

He apologised for any disruption, and said Royal Mail was asking customers
to post early "to help us deliver Christmas".

 

Laura Joseph, Post Office customer experience director, warned that
"December 12 is now likely to be even busier in Post Office branches as
customers race to take advantage of the cheaper [second class] postage" and
she urged people to post parcels as soon as possible.

 

The CWU has been approached for comment.

 

About 115,000 CWU members are taking part in the dispute, which is partly
over pay.

 

The union says the latest Royal Mail pay offer of 9% spread over two years
lags behind the pace of price rises, which is currently more than 11%.

 

Royal Mail's pay offer is also tied to changes to working conditions
including start times and compulsory Sunday working which the CWU has
described as the "Uberisation" of the postal service.-BBC

 

 

 

Working from home: 10% Welsh government staff in office each day

Only one in 10 Welsh government staff are currently working in the office
every day.

 

With so many civil servants working from home, the Welsh government is
aiming to offer space in its 10 offices to other public sector workers.

 

It said its vision is to "maximise the benefits of office, remote and hybrid
working".

 

But Welsh Conservatives said the majority of Welsh civil servants should not
be working from home.

 

The party's Senedd leader Andrew RT Davies said it was "concerning just how
few civil servants are in the office to ensure the smooth running of
government operations in Wales".

 

But the government's aim is to have 30% of the Welsh workforce working at or
near to home by 2026.

 

As part of its strategy, it hopes to "be an exemplar" for remote working
with "no more than 50%" of civil servants working in one of its offices at a
time.

 

In September, 10.4% of staff attended the various Welsh government offices
on a daily basis.

 

Of the more than 5,200 staff contracted to work for the government, an
average of 549 went to the office every day.

 

Attendance was highest in the Caernarfon office (13.8%) and lowest in
Merthyr Tydfil (5.9%).

 

The Welsh government said average daily attendance in October reached 11%.

 

Lying empty

Mr Davies said it means that there are huge parts of the Welsh government
estate not being used, and some lying empty, with all the cost implications
for this.

 

He asked if entire floors of buildings were being heated for one worker.

 

"When circumstances demand it, no one would begrudge civil servants or
anybody else working from home," he said.

 

"I don't believe it should form the basis of standard working patterns for
the majority of civil servants," he added. "We have exceptional facilities
for our public servants to work in.

 

"If they are not being used, where is the value for money for the taxpayer?"

 

For all the talk of Covid-19 ushering in a new normal, the normalisation of
working from home, or hybrid working, is perhaps one of the biggest societal
changes.

 

It has clearly led to what could be a major and permanent shift in the
working culture among Welsh government civil servants.

 

Labour's approach in Wales could not be more different from the
Conservatives' at a UK level: The Welsh government is actively encouraging
its staff to work flexibly, while ministers in Westminster have been calling
for civil servants to return to the office.

 

But with such a significant change in Welsh civil servants' working
patterns, it does raise questions around what the government intends to do
with its many offices spread across the country.

 

line

Gareth Hills, national officer of the civil service union FDA Cymru Wales,
said the current number of staff working from home showed that "the pandemic
has changed the world of work and I think that change is permanent".

 

"We're seeing increased hybrid working and that can allow for even more
savings for the taxpayer as less office space is needed," he added.

 

He said he believed hybrid working "opens up opportunities" for people in
rural areas to gain employment with the government so that "it can better
reflect the public that it serves."

 

The Welsh government is in discussion with other public bodies about whether
they could use some of the spare office capacity.

 

Last week, it was announced the Senedd intends to close its office in Colwyn
Bay with staff relocating to the Welsh government offices in Llandudno
Junction.

 

Who fancies a four-day working week?

Mums in politics want family-friendly Welsh Parliament

Asked if it intends to keep all of its 10 core offices, it said it would
assess the need for each office ahead of the leases at the individual sites
coming to an end.

 

Plaid Cymru's Llyr Gruffydd said hybrid working was one of the positives of
the pandemic and "should be something we retain".

 

He added: "However, no-one wants to see publicly owned buildings remaining
largely empty, so it's important that Welsh government shares its plans for
these offices as soon as possible, so that the relevant scrutiny can happen,
and value for money can be verified."

 

'Connect and collaborate'

A Welsh government spokesman said: "Having the flexibility of office, remote
and hybrid working brings benefits for local economies, businesses,
individuals, and the environment.

 

"These flexibilities increase productivity, improve work life balance, and
deliver less air and noise pollution.

 

"Our vision is to maximise the benefits of office, remote and hybrid working
for our people and organisation," they added.

 

"We want to support our staff to retain the benefits of remote working while
also enabling them to come together in an office environment to connect and
collaborate in person."-BBC

 

 

 

 

Toyota in £11.3m government deal to develop hydrogen pickup trucks

Toyota has signed an £11.3m deal to help it develop a new range of
hydrogen-powered pickup trucks.

 

The agreement could create up to 250 jobs across the UK, according to the
government.

 

The funding will allow Toyota to set up a pilot production line for its
Hilux FC model at its plant near Derby.

 

Research carried out there could eventually pave the way for trucks to be
built at the company's Deeside factory in Wales.

 

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is investing
£5.6m in the research scheme, based at Burnaston, with a further £5.7m
coming through the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) - an industry body
which supports work to decarbonise transport.

 

Hydrogen-powered vehicles do not use electricity stored in a battery but
generate it through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen.

 

The government said that hydrogen vehicles were better suited to isolated
settings like farms and quarries, where pickup trucks are already commonly
used, and the infrastructure for electric vehicle charging is impractical.

 

Business Secretary Grant Shapps said: "Seizing the potential from new
technologies will be a key part of its future success, while also making our
roads cleaner, greener and more affordable.

 

"This multi-million-pound boost - created by government working hand-in-hand
with industry - will put firms in pole position to pioneer these
innovations, staying at the cutting edge of the global race for decades to
come."

 

Managing director at Toyota Manufacturing UK Richard Kenworthy said: "This
exciting project allows Toyota the opportunity to develop a unique fuel cell
commercial vehicle on the iconic Hilux platform, in the UK.

 

"This will significantly contribute to the skill base not only within Toyota
in the UK but also through the consortium partners and wider supply chain."

 

APC chief executive Ian Constance said: "Supporting vital research and
development in the UK, now more than ever, provides an opportunity to invest
in transport decarbonisation as well as boost growth in the automotive
sector."

 

The Toyota deal is one of five announced on Friday which have a total of
£73m of backing from the APC.

 

Other schemes will the development of a new method for manufacturing
permanent magnet electric motors in Bridgwater in Somerset, and a hydrogen
fuel cell-powered HGV cab and tractor unit in Glasgow.

 

A project to provide lower carbon and lower cost sources of recycled
aluminium alloys for the car industry is also being developed in Slough and
there is funding to develop methane powered, off-road heavy tractors in
Basildon, Essex.-BBC

 

 

 

 

Rwanda Set to Benefit From Liberalised Air Transport Market

Expectations are high behind the Single African Air Transport Market
(SAATM), an initiative aimed at, among others, creating a single unified air
transport market in Africa.

 

Once operational, new routes should be easier to launch without the need for
reciprocal services, and 17 African countries, including Rwanda, out of a
total of 35 country signatories (80 per cent of the existing aviation market
in Africa) have now agreed to test the initiative.

 

The 17 airlines will now open their air transport markets to each other as
part of a new "SAATM Project Implementation Pilot," expected to kick off
this week.

 

 

The air transport plan could eventually generate $4.2 billion in additional
gross domestic product), 600,000 new jobs, a 27 per cent reduction in fares
and make a contribution to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals,
reports indicate.

 

Rwanda, in particular, says participating in the pilot plan is an
opportunity to pave the way for connectivity or access to new markets for
national carrier RwandAir like other African Airlines.

 

The New Times' Sheena Teta Uwase caught up with Rwanda Civil Aviation
Authority (RCAA) Director General, Silas Udahemuka, for insights on the
development, especially Rwanda's role in the pilot plan.

 

Excerpts:

 

Rwanda was recently chosen among the countries that will pilot the project.
What benefits does this provide for the local aviation industry?

 

More connectivity or access to new markets for RwandAir like other African
Airlines; like other Airlines in the SAATM PIP States, the local airline
will benefit from the market share as it will have more routes with
unrestricted traffic rights and the number of flights or frequencies will
increase.

 

 

Equally important is the local aviation industry's growth. Due to the
general economic growth impacted by new employment and tourism thriving due
to more passenger traffic, the local aviation industry will get an equitable
share of the overall GDP.

 

More efficient operations - liberalisation will enable local carriers to
achieve efficiencies as they do more investments and expertise, and through
consolidation and mergers.

 

Local airlines will be more competitive to benefit from new opportunities in
the liberalised African air transport market.

 

There will be new employment opportunities in the national Aviation Industry
in airports, airlines, air navigation, etc. New jobs created are likely to
result in attraction of good aviation expertise.

 

 

This will generally impact the economy resulting from additional air
services facilitating trade, business activity and greater personal
productivity.

 

The removal of ownership and control restrictions will provide home carriers
with greater access to managerial and technological knowledge and best
practice.

 

There will also be increased traveling, it is expected that with more
airlines and routes, competition will lead to reduced air fares.

 

The project has for long failed to materialise. Are we finally seeing hope
for Africa's open skies?

 

This is how we see it. Though it is one of the best air transport policies
for Africa, liberalisation has had hindrances along the way, but we
definitely see a bright future.

 

What are some of the incentives being provided to countries that are set to
participate in the pilot phase?

 

The African Union and the Specialised Agency for Aviation (AFCAC) have
programmes or initiatives to help African States improve various domains in
aviation, be it in infrastructure or personnel development.

 

This is done in partnership with a number of stakeholders on the continent
and beyond.

 

Circling around the same question, what are the existing bottlenecks the
incentives are likely to address?

 

The existing bottlenecks are the previous protectionism tendencies, but more
have begun to think otherwise where Africa's aviation growth will be more
realised if we liberalise our airspace and look at partnerships between
ourselves for the general benefit.

 

Specifically for Rwanda, are there some challenges we hope to see addressed
owing to the development?

 

It is an opportunity to continue with the already ongoing investments in the
local aviation industry, in terms of aviation infrastructure developments.

 

Think of more airlines flying to Kigali International Airport or more routes
by RwandAir, which all require expanded airport or air navigation
facilities.

 

Finally, when are we likely to see the first activity under the pilot
project?

 

On the side-lines of the 2022 ICAO Air Services Negotiation Event (ICAN2022)
scheduled from December 5-9, 2022 in Abuja, Nigeria, AFCAC will present the
SAATM PIP's roadmap to African States.

 

Clearly, during the event, the 15 SAATM PIP States will start to align their
Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASAs) with the AFCAC model BASA that has
unrestricted provisions in accordance with liberalisation of air transport
services in Africa.

 

- New Times.

 

 

 

Nigeria: Zenith Wins 'Bank of the Year Nigeria' in the Banker's Awards

Zenith Bank Plc has emerged as 'Bank of the Year in Nigeria' in The Banker's
Bank of the year awards 2022. The award, which was announced by The Banker
Magazine, Financial Times Group, United Kingdom, during an awards ceremony
held in London, on December 1, 2022, was in recognition of Zenith Bank's
strong management, sound business model and strategy, support for small
businesses and efforts to cut energy consumption. According to the Banker,
Nigeria's Bank of the Year award was among the continent's most hotly
contested this year, befitting the country's status as Africa's largest
economy. This came on the heels of the award as Number One Bank in Nigeria
by Tier-1 Capital by The Banker won by Zenith Bank earlier in the year.

 

 

Commenting on the award, the Group Managing Director/CEO of Zenith Bank Plc,
Ebenezer Onyeagwu, was quoted in a statement yesterday to have said,
"winning the Bank of the Year attests to our tenacity as an institution
despite a very challenging operating environment exacerbated by persistent
macroeconomic headwinds.

 

"Indeed, being recognised by The Banker - the world's longest running
international banking title, is an acknowledgement of the resilience of the
Zenith brand as the leading financial institution in Nigeria and the West
African sub-region."

 

He lauded the Founder and Chairman, Jim Ovia, for his guidiance and
pioneering role in laying the foundation and building the structures for an
enduring and successful institution, the Board for their outstanding
leadership, the staff for their commitment and dedication as well as the
Bank's customers for their unflinching loyalty to the Zenith brand over the
years.

 

 

Regarded as the industry standard for banking excellence, The Banker's Bank
of the Year award is contested by the world's leading financial
institutions, with winners chosen across Africa, Asia-Pacific, Central &
Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, North America and Western
Europe.

 

Zenith Bank's track record of excellent performance has continued to earn it
numerous awards, including being recognised as Number One Bank in Nigeria by
Tier-1 Capital, for the 13th consecutive year, in the 2022 Top 1000 World
Banks Ranking published by The Banker Magazine; Best Bank in Nigeria, for
three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022, in the Global Finance World's
Best Banks Awards; Best Commercial Bank, Nigeria 2021 and 2022 in the World
Finance Banking Awards; Best Corporate Governance Bank, Nigeria in the World
Finance Corporate Governance Awards 2022; Best in Corporate Governance'
Financial Services' Africa, for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022,
by the Ethical Boardroom; Best Commercial Bank, Nigeria and Best Innovation
In Retail Banking, Nigeria in the International Banker 2022 Banking Awards.
Also, the Bank emerged as the Most Valuable Banking Brand in Nigeria in the
Banker Magazine Top 500 Banking Brands 2020 and 2021, Bank of the Year
(Nigeria) in The Banker's Bank of the Year Awards 2020 and Retail Bank of
the year, for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022, at the BusinessDay
Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BAFI) Awards.

 

Similarly, Zenith Bank was honoured as Bank of the Decade (People's Choice)
at the ThisDay Awards 2020 and emerged winner in four categories at the
Sustainability, Enterprise, and Responsibility (SERAS) Awards 2021, carting
home the awards for "Best Company in Reporting and Transparency", "Best
Company in Infrastructure Development", "Best Company in Gender Equality and
Women Empowerment", and the coveted "Most Responsible Organisation in
Africa.

 

-This Day.

 

 

 

 

Nigeria: CBN Offered N7.33trn Treasury Bills in Six Months

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday said it offered treasury bills
amounting to N7.33 trillion in the first half of the year (H1 2022) while
total public subscriptions amounted to N10.94 trillion.

 

The bank also stated that the total outstanding FGN domestic debt stock
amounted to N20.91 trillion, representing an increase of N3.28 trillion or
18.59 per cent outstanding as of June 2022, which was higher than the N17.63
trillion recorded in June 2021.

 

This was contained in the CBN Financial Market Half-Year Activity Report
2022, which was obtained from the central bank's website yesterday.

 

 

Consequently, the report noted that the cost of debt service increased by
40.74 per cent to N1.37 trillion at half-year compared to N977.03 billion in
June last year, due to the increase in borrowings by the federal government.

 

The apex bank further stated that a total of $9.30 billion was sold at the
foreign exchange market including spot sales worth $4.39 billion or 47.57
per cent and forwards sales of $4.84 billion during the review period.

 

The CBN explained that it sustained its intervention in the foreign exchange
market during the review period to enhance supply, moderate demand
pressures, and preserve the value of the naira, stressing that intervention
was made through sales for invisibles, small and medium enterprises and at
the Investors' & Exporters' window and interbank secondary market
intervention sales.

 

The CBN further disclosed that it made purchases from autonomous sources,
particularly from oil-producing and servicing companies.

 

 

Nonetheless, the central bank pointed out that the increase in the
subscription to treasury bills was largely attributed to investors' appetite
for risk-free assets and stable yields on the National Treasury Bills
(NTBs).

 

The bank noted that the structure of allotment in the first half of the year
indicated that commercial banks took up N1.78 trillion or 73.78 per cent,
mandate and internal funds customers accounted for N564.50 billion or 23.37
per cent, while merchant banks took up the balance of N68.87 billion or 2.85
per cent.

 

The central bank also revealed that the implementation of the three-year
N720.00 billion/CNY15.00 billion Bilateral Currency Swap Agreement between
the Bank and the People's Bank of China (PBoC), which commenced in July
2018, was renewed in April 2021 for another three-year term.

 

The bank noted that a total of CNY1.26 billion was sold in 13 auctions
during the review period, compared with CNY1.22 billion in 13 auctions in
the corresponding period of 2021, thus, bringing the total sales from the
inception of the currency swap to June 2022 to CNY7.04 billion.

 

The report further stated that the Nigerian stock market remained bullish in
the first half of the year as against the bearish trend observed in the
corresponding period of 2021.

 

It stated that the All-Share Index (ASI) and market capitalisation opened at
43,026.23 points and N23.18 trillion, respectively, in January and increased
to close at 51,817.59 points and N27.94 trillion, respectively in June 2022.

 

The ASI increased by 8,791.36 points or 20.43 per cent, while the MC
increased by 4.76 trillion or 20.53 per cent while in the corresponding
period of 2021, the ASI and MC opened at 41,147.39 points and N21.52
trillion and declined by 3,240.11 points or 7.87 per cent and N 1.76
trillion or 8.18 per cent to 37,907.28 points and N19.76 trillion,
respectively, at end-June 2021.

 

-This Day.

 

 

 

 

Nigeria: Buhari's Transition Budget Demands Thorough Scrutiny

Buhari's seven years' experience in the vetting and signing of budgets are
enough to put him on guard against those intent on corrupting budgets with
illegal insertions and distortions.

 

With the benefit of hindsight, the consideration of the 2023 transition
Appropriation Bill by the National Assembly, calls for a thorough scrutiny.
The budgetary proposal contains an expenditure of N20.51 trillion, out of
which N8.27 trillion is for non-debt recurrent expenditure, and N5.35
trillion for capital expenditure. It has a deficit of N10.78 trillion.

 

Its preparation by the federal executive and passage by the parliament
usually takes the form of a moment of bazaar, since the dawn of the Fourth
Republic in 1999. This is because of too many items that strongly indicate
dubious levels of expenditure in the document. This terminal budget of
President Muhammadu Buhari's regime has elicited some controversies over
expenditure items in some ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of
government. In the past, presidents had withheld their assent to budgets due
to dubious insertions of items, which made them unduly expansionary and
difficult to implement.

 

 

Very often, federal lawmakers and the bureaucracy or the MDAs compete to
out-match each other in making a kill out of the process. It is a criminal
and unpatriotic act, which nobody has been punished for in line with the
country's statutes. The MDAs sparked early controversies last week over the
N432.8 billion in their budgets, which the lawmakers had questioned.

 

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social
Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq had disowned N206 billion inserted into her
ministry's budget for the North-East Development and National Social
Safety-Net projects. She explained to the lawmakers that the ministry had
requested for the fund in the 2022 budget but it was rebuffed then. The
minister, therefore, asked the parliamentarians to direct their enquiry to
her counterpart in the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning,
Zainab Ahmed.

 

 

The N10.8 billion expenditure in the budget of the Ministry of Defence, out
of which there is N8.6 billion for military hardware procurement and N2.25
billion for the Safe School Initiative, were considered anomalous by the
Senate and House Appropriation Committees. The Permanent Secretary in the
Ministry, Ibrahim Kana, said the ministry did not initiate it, prompting the
Senator Aliyu Wamakko directive for the item to be expunged. He wondered why
the items were not captured in the expenditure portfolios of the Air
Force/Navy that usually procure hardware for the military and Ministry of
Education for the Safe Schools Initiative projects.

 

 

However, Ahmed seemingly poured cold water on all of this when she appeared
before the House of Representatives with the explanation that there was no
budget fraud but an error of coding for the N206 billion at issue, which
appeared as "Purchase of Security Equipment in the Government Integrated
Financial Management Information Budget Preparation System." This is a World
Bank funded project for the National Social Safety Net-Scale-Up, which is up
to $473,500,000 - equivalent to the N206.2 billion in question.

 

Mrs Ahmed even revealed more than we knew hitherto. She volunteered that a
total of N1.7 trillion loan-tied projects were provided in the budget of 14
MDAs. These funds are to be sourced from bilateral and multilateral
development partners, which also include N195.4 billion for various projects
in the Ministry of Power. "The 2023 budget proposal has been prepared with
the utmost sincerity of purpose and in line with established regulations and
procedures," she stated.

 

However, is it really true that the budget draft was transmitted to
supervising ministers for their review and feedback before the document was
submitted to the Federal Executive Council for approval and then to the
legislature, as Ahmed said? If so, why were these observations not cleared
at inter-ministerial levels through this mechanism? This jigsaw leaves the
impression that there might be more to it than meets the eye.

 

Similar scenarios of some sort played out in the 2016 budget of the Ministry
of Health. The then minister, Isaac Adewale, was forced to withdraw the
entire purported budget to purge it of its strange elements. A total of
N15.7 billion for capital projects had been moved to other areas, just as
the minister lamented that funds were tied to projects which no final
decisions had been taken on.

 

In the 2017 budget, the then Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde
Fashola disowned a strange N2 billion in the ministry's budget, under the
expenditure sub-head: "Regional Housing Scheme." "It is not our project...
It is a Ministry of Finance Initiative... That is not what we submitted. We
did not submit that proposal," Fashola had complained.

 

About 55 agencies had up to 276 curious items in their budgets totaling N145
billion in 2016, to the disgust of Buhari, who vowed in 2017 that the
debacle would not repeat on his watch. He said, "They don't want to reflect
on the situation in which we are economically; they want to live the same
way; they simply want business as usual."

 

Sadly, these leeches are still alive in every budget cycle, as impunity
continues to have its way over the country's penal statues. The president,
like his predecessors, had always expressed reservations before signing
previous budgets, spending five weeks or more, at times, to fish out
insertions and distortions. The 2022 budget, for instance, contains a N36.59
billion inclusion for National Assembly members in the Service Wide Vote,
while some MDAs "lobbied" the lawmakers to increase their allocations. This
resulted in N21.72 billion spikes in their overheads.

 

A total of 6,576 new projects were inserted by the National Assembly in the
2021 budget, again. It is a yearly whirligig of abuse of the powers of
appropriation by the lawmakers, which ultimately led to project abandonment
and, in some cases, non-execution, with contractors yet getting paid for
work not done.

 

Fuelling budget racketeering is the incremental or "Envelop Budgeting"
system. A shift to zero-based budgeting system that places emphasis on needs
and costs has become imperative. But it will only take a leadership that is
prepared to bite the bullet in the fight against corruption for it to
happen. The budget as a tool for national development should serve the
interest of the staggering 133 million Nigerians suffering from the
asphyxiating grip of multi-dimensional poverty, which the National Bureau of
Statistics drew attention to recently.

 

Besides the watchdog roles of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences
Commission (ICPC), other institutions like the Bureau of Public Procurement
(BPP) and civil society organisations can help to rein in these rogue
operators in the public fiscal space. This is evident in the N659 billion
that the BPP saved from contract inflation between 2009 and 2014, according
to its erstwhile Director-General, Emeka Eze.

 

A release from the Budget Office, entitled: "2020 Fourth Quarter and
Consolidated Budget Implementation Report" detailed what Nigeria could
harvest from an opaque-ridden budget. It stated that, "Some MDAs denied
access to the teams to monitor their capital projects/programmes. This act
completely negates the principles of transparency and accountability." This
is fraud on display. The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA),
National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Benin-Owena River Basin
Development Authority, Nigerian Institute for Social and Economic Research
(NISER), in Abuja and Ibadan, were cited as culprits, among many others.

 

"It was also observed that some MDAs executed projects that are outside
their mandate, which were inserted by the National Assembly," consequently
the main projects of the MDAs suffered. And this usually begins with budget
preparation and consideration. It is disturbing that these cyclical
shortcomings in our budgets occur despite a robust template that contains
nine procurement steps that should be adhered to in order to ensure value
for money. They range from needs assessment; adequate appropriation;
advertisement; transparent prequalification/tender; bid submission/opening;
bid evaluation - technical and financial; tender board/Federal Executive
Council approval; contract award/execution, to project implementation.

 

Buhari's seven years' experience in the vetting and signing of budgets are
enough to put him on guard against those intent on corrupting budgets with
illegal insertions and distortions. They are not asleep with the 2023
terminal budget of his regime, whose implementation he will oversee for only
five months.

 

-Premium Times.

 

 

 

Rwanda to Increase Milk Production By 34% to Satisfy Market Demand

Rwanda will be producing 1,250,000 tonnes of milk every year by 2024, so as
to satisfy milk demand. The increment represents a 33.9 per cent compared to
the current production, Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development
Board (RAB) Director General Solange Uwituze told The New Times.

 

The target will also be aimed at catering for a milk powder plant that is
under construction in Nyagatare District.

 

Inyange Industries is setting up a powdered milk factory in Nyagatare
District that will require 500,000 litres or 500 tonnes of milk per day or
180,000 tonnes per year. It will have an annual capacity to produce 14,000
tonnes or 14 million kilogrammes of milk powder and 5,460 tonnes of fat.

 

 

According to Uwituze, as of 2021/22, Rwanda was producing 932, 951 tonnes of
milk per year.

 

She said farmers are being mobilised and supported to increase milk
production to satisfy demand.

 

"The Nyagatare powder milk factory will require a relatively high quantity
of raw milk, (approximately 500,000 litres a day). It is primarily meant to
get sourced from Nyagatare and nearby milk sheds like Gicumbi but
mobilisation is done all over the country to increase milk production to be
able to satisfy both the milk powder plant and the existing milk market,"
she said.

 

She said that various interventions have been initiated to increase milk
production countrywide.

 

These include; forage cultivation and training of dairy farmers on
appropriate technologies for forage preservation, support to dairy farmers
(especially those in areas mostly affected by the drought like in Eastern
Province) to access water harvesting and preservation equipment through a
subsidised scheme.

 

 

The interventions also include the maintenance of feeder roads in Gishwati
milk sheds to enhance the collection and distribution of milk.

 

Drought has been affecting the Eastern province and reducing milk
production.

 

In August this year, the average quantity of milk collected from 15 milk
collection centres (MCCs) in Nyagatare (a major milk shed in the country),
decreased from 80,000-100,000 litres a day during the rainy season
(March-April) to reach 39,900 litres a day (July) due to lack of forage and
water for dairy cattle.

 

This is the same issue that was exposed by Gahiga Gashumba, Chairperson of
Nyagatare Dairy Farmers' Union, who told The New Times that their milk
production declined by about 70 per cent because of drought.

 

 

Inyange Industries was receiving 80,000 litres of milk per day from dairy
farmers in Nyagatare District during the rainy season, but that drastically
dropped to 20,000 litres a day during the dry season this year.

 

350 farmers sign supply contracts

 

"Additionally, Inyange Industries is signing milk supply contracts with
dairy farmers to ensure the milk powder plant needs are met. The first
session of contract signing was conducted in Nyagatare where more than 350
farmers committed to supply milk to Inyange. This exercise will continue in
other milk sheds," Uwituze said.

 

The farmers, whose milk production for each is estimated at 50 litres per
day, were selected from Nyagatare, Gatsibo, Rwamagana, Kayonza and Kirehe
districts.

 

As per the signed contracts, each farmer was obliged to increase milk
production to 500 litres per day.

 

Inyange Industries is training farmers to gain skills in increasing
production in quantity and quality.

 

She said that more efforts are in place by the government to increase milk
production through artificial insemination.

 

"The recent cattle registration data (2022) indicates that 84 per cent of
the cattle population estimated at 1,436,676 heads is made of improved dairy
breed and/or their crosses. The farmer's access to artificial insemination
services is also being enhanced through the provision of the same at the
milk collection centre level," she noted.

 

Fred Twahirwa, a farmer from Nyagatare District, said: "We are going to
express our needs so that the factory helps us. We need infrastructure. We
need water for our cows, forage. We need seeds from the government. We also
need high-yielding breeds," he said.

 

Eastern province has 10 big pastures on over 100 hectares, where cows
providing 250,000 litres per day are being reared.

 

-New Times.

 

 

 

Nigeria: 59% of Nigerian E-Banking Customers Have Been Victim to Fraud -
Report

A survey carried out by Agusto&Co has revealed that 59 per cent of bank
customers sampled indicated that they have fallen victim to fraud.

 

According to the survey, 41 per cent said their accounts hadn't been
compromised, "however, the remaining had been victims through phishing
emails, data breaches, unauthorised access to accounts through USSD, and
others."

 

Agusto&Co in its '2022 Consumer Digital Banking Satisfaction Index' also
called for investment in cyber security and awareness to avert bank
customers falling victim to breaches in their accounts.

 

 

"Approximately 59 per cent of survey respondents have been fraud victims on
the digital platforms of their respective banks. This suggests that more
investments in cyber protection by Banks is required to combat the growing
exposure to cyber security risks on digital platforms, "it stated.

 

It noted that a large percentage of the survey respondents are satisfied
with the level of security provided on their respective digital platforms.

 

"Based on the digital banking satisfaction index's parameters, Access Bank
Plc recorded the highest user experience score of 94.6 underpinned by
comparably higher estimated transaction success rates, ease of navigation,
and awareness and active usage of services provided. United Bank for Africa
Plc (UBA) scored the second highest (94.4) while Guaranty Trust Bank Limited
(GTBank) was third with a user experience score of 91.4. Perceived security
strength, range of platforms known, and ease of navigation on the platforms
were strong ranking factors amongst respondents. Zenith Bank Plc recorded
the highest percentage of respondents who perceive their bank's respective
digital platforms to be secure. UBA and Access Bank were the second and
third highest respectively, "the survey showed.

 

The survey also stated that approximately 70 per cent of the survey
respondents indicated that they are not willing to switch to another bank's
digital platform.

 

"This is less than the 82% of respondents recorded in our 2021 survey.
Customers cited pain points to be high service fees, poor customer service,
frequent downtime on the digital platform and as the main reasons they were
willing to make a switch to another bank's digital banking platform.

 

"We expect the increasing competition in the digital space from Fintechs and
Neo-banks to further spur more innovation and expanded service offerings by
banks. Also, given the macroeconomic headwinds, which have reduced the
appetite for lending to some extent, we expect more emphasis on non-interest
income from electronic banking channels to sustain profitability. Overall,
we expect more digital transformation as banks compete to grow and retain
market share," it stated.

 

-This Day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 


 


Invest Wisely!

Bulls n Bears 

 

Cellphone:      <tel:%2B263%2077%20344%201674> +263 77 344 1674

Alt. Email:       <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> info at bulls.co.zw  

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Skype:         Bulls.Bears 



 

 

 


 

INVESTORS DIARY 2022

 


Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

National Unity Day

 

December 22

 


 

Christmas Day

 

December 25

 


 

Boxing Day

 

December 26

 


Companies under Cautionary

 

 

 


CBZH

Meikles

Fidelity

 


TSL

FMHL

Turnall

 


GBH

ZBFH

GetBucks

 


Zeco

Lafarge

Zimre

 


 

 

 

 


 <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.

 


 

 


(c) 2022 Web: <http://www.bullszimbabwe.com>  www.bullszimbabwe.com Email:
<mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> info at bulls.co.zw Tel: +263 4 2927658 Cell: +263 77
344 1674

 


 

 

 

 

 

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