Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 22 February 2022

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 22 February 2022 

 


 

 


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

 


 

 


ü  Ukraine-Russia tensions: Oil surges on supply fears

ü  Truth Social: Banned from Twitter, Trump returns with a new platform

ü  UK finances improve in January as tax revenues grow

ü  Credit Suisse denies wrongdoing after big banking data leak

ü  McDonald's pig policy fight escalates with board nominations

ü  Menzies Aviation faces £560m takeover by Kuwaiti rival

ü  HSBC boosts profitability goal on higher rates, profit doubling

ü  Markets brace for heavy falls as Russia-Ukraine crisis escalates

ü  Oil rises as Russia-Ukraine escalation spurs supply concerns

ü  Volkswagen in talks with Huawei on autonomous driving unit - Manager
Magazin

ü  U.S. sanctions on Russian banks West's most potent economic threat

ü  Cryptoverse: Bitcoin could be laid low by miners' malady

ü  Nigeria: UK Injects £10m Into Nigeria's Energy Sector

ü  Malawi: Livestock Reap Big for Rural Farmers in Covid-19 Lean Period

ü  First of its Kind Knowledge Seminar to Tackle Collateral Challenge Facing
MSMEs in Ethiopia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

 

Ukraine-Russia tensions: Oil surges on supply fears

Oil prices are climbing on fears that the Ukraine-Russia crisis will disrupt
supplies across the world.

 

The price of Brent crude, an international benchmark, reached a seven-year
high of $97.76 (£72) a barrel on Tuesday.

 

Russia ordered troops into two rebel-held regions in Ukraine's east after it
recognised them as independent states.

 

Asian stock markets closed lower, and US and European stock exchanges were
braced for losses.

 

The UK and several western allies have threatened sanctions on Russia, which
is the second largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia. Russia is also the
world's top producer of natural gas.

 

Russia has said its troops will engage in "peacekeeping" in the
self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics.

 

But the US has said calling them peacekeepers is "nonsense", and that Russia
is creating a pretext for war.

 

The Ukraine-Russia crisis could have "substantial implications" on oil
prices, said Sue Trinh of Manulife Investment Management.

 

Sanctions forcing Russia to supply less crude or natural gas would have
"important impact on the global economy," she added.

 

Maike Currie, an investment director at Fidelity International, said oil
could go above $100 per barrel due to a combination of the Ukraine crisis, a
cold winter in the US, and a lack of investment in oil and gas supplies
around the world.

 

"Russia accounts for one in every 10 barrels of oil consumed globally, so it
is a major player when it comes to the price of oil, and of course, it's
really going to hurt consumers at the petrol pumps," she said.

 

There have been US and EU sanctions on Russia for a number of years, which
has had a "massive impact" on the Russian economy.

 

Sanctions are likely to be "deepened", Ms Currie said, including sanctions
on financial institutions, technology such as chips, and individuals.

 

'Deep sea of red'

Equity investors were concerned about the developments, which come as the
global economy is still recovering from the impact of the coronavirus
pandemic.

 

Japan's Nikkei 225 index closed 1.7% lower, and the Shanghai Composite fell
nearly 1%.

 

In London, the FTSE 100 stock index opened more than 1.4% lower.

 

European and US markets were also set to open down by 1%-2%.

 

A possible war is at the forefront of investors' minds, said Song Seng Wun,
an economist at CIMB Private Banking, with the markets in a "deep sea of
red".

 

"There are fears that freight and shipping costs, that are already at
elevated levels, will climb higher because of demand-supply disruptions," he
told the BBC.

 

Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank, said it was
unclear if Russia's moves would trigger a full-blown conflict.

 

"For now, sanctions appear to be the first port of call," he said.-BBC

 

 

 

Truth Social: Banned from Twitter, Trump returns with a new platform

Donald Trump's social-media platform, Truth Social, has launched, in a
limited form, on the US Apple App Store.

 

The app had similarities to Twitter, commentators noted - Mr Trump was
banned from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube last year.

 

And some early users had difficulties registering accounts.

 

Project lead and former congressman Devin Nunes said it was expected to be
fully operational by the end of March.

 

Some of those trying to register had been told: "Due to massive demand, we
have placed you on our waitlist," the Reuters news agency reported.

 

Created by the year-old Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), Truth Social
had previously been made available to about 500 beta testers.

 

Last week, Donald Trump Jr shared a screenshot of his father's first "truth"
on the social network: "Get ready. Your favourite president will see you
soon."

 

Truth Social has already had one update for "bug fixes", according to the
App Store, and is now on version 1.0.1.

 

Last autumn, pranksters discovered a test version of the app website and,
according to the Washington Post, adopted the username donaldjtrump.

 

Twitter banned the former president following the 6 January 2021 US Capitol
riot, saying he had broken its rules on the glorification of violence.

 

And commentators have highlighted, among other things, Truth Social buttons
that resemble those relating to Twitter's reply, retweet and "like"
functions.

 

Big tech

On its website, Truth Social describes itself as a "'big tent' social-media
platform that encourages an open, free and honest global conversation
without discriminating against political ideology".

 

Mr Trump wants Truth Social to champion "free speech" and eschew the
"censorship" of sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

 

It is a common view among conservatives Silicon Valley social-media
companies are curtailing free speech by removing posts and users.

 

"We cannot use any of the big tech companies," Mr Nunes, who resigned from
Congress in December to become TMTG's chief executive, told the conservative
Newsmax network.

 

"So we're having to build this from scratch."

 

Frozen out

Mr Nunes has vowed Truth Social will be a "censorship-free experience".

 

But any social-media platform on the App Store, and Google Play, has to
remove content that breaks the rules.

 

And a truly uncensored platform would soon be frozen out.

 

At his zenith on Twitter, Mr Trump had more than 88 million followers.

 

But none of the other alternative platforms presenting themselves as
censorship free, such as Gettr, Parler, Gab and Rumble, has attracted
audiences comparable to those of the big social networks.

 

Companies such as Twitter "have had years to develop their platforms and
build their audiences", points out Darrell West, a senior technology
innovation fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank.

 

"I just think he's going to discover it's a lot harder than he realises," he
said.

 

"If this were easy, I think he would have done this six months ago."

 

'Very difficult'

Last year, Apple and Google removed Parler from their stores, for failing to
take down posts they said threatened violence and contained illegal
activity.

 

It was allowed back but only once it had agreed to Apple and Google's terms
of service.

 

"There simply is no way to avoid big tech," Mr West says.

 

"Even if he has his own platform, if he's violating their terms of service,
they could basically push his app out of their app store, which would make
it very difficult for him to build an audience."

 

'People worry'

Gettr, which also advocates "free speech" and looks like Twitter, was
founded last year by Mr Trump's former adviser and spokesman Jason Miller.

 

"It's not like there's the dummies' guide to creating a social-media
platform," he told BBC News.

 

"You've got to find good talent.

 

"And quite frankly, there are a lot of people who are just scared... because
people worry what it's going to be like if I have something on my resume
that challenges one of the big tech companies."

 

Truth Social will also have to be robust enough to repel hackers.

 

"We have so many people who don't want to see us be successful... even
foreign governments and other bad actors,'' Mr Nunes said.-BBC

 

 

 

UK finances improve in January as tax revenues grow

Government finances recorded a surplus last month as the economy opened up
from lockdowns and tax receipts improved.

 

The public finances showed a surplus of £2.9bn last month, compared with a
£2.5bn deficit in January 2021.

 

But it was still a £7bn smaller surplus than in January 2020, before the
pandemic, official figures showed.

 

UK finances are normally healthier in January as self-assessment income tax
receipts come in.

 

This self-assessed tax income was £18.4bn, an increase of £2bn,the Office
for National Statistics (ONS) said.

 

Borrowing from the end of March to January was £138.5bn - the second highest
since records began in 1993.

 

Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, told the BBC the
figures showed "we are still spending an awful lot more. We are poorer than
we were."

 

But he said the bigger picture was that the deficit - the gap between
spending and tax receipts - was coming down quickly. Some big tax rises this
year will also mean the government borrowing less, he added.

 

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the government had "provided unprecedented
support" through the pandemic.

 

"But our debt has increased substantially and there are further pressures on
the public finances, including from rising inflation," he said.

 

"Keeping the public finances on a sustainable path is crucial so we can
continue helping the British people when needed, without burdening future
generations with high debt repayments."

 

The amount of interest the government paid on its debts soared last month.

 

Debt repayment is pegged to the Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of
inflation - which was 7.8% in January - leading to interest payments of
£6.1bn last month. That was the highest amount for a January since records
began in April 1997.

 

It was also £4.5bn more than January last year, although below the all-time
high of £9bn in June last year.

 

The ONS figures showed that total public sector debt stood at £2.32 trillion
at the end of the month, or around 94.9% of gross domestic product.-BBC

 

 

 

Credit Suisse denies wrongdoing after big banking data leak

Credit Suisse has hit out after a massive data leak has brought to light the
hidden wealth of several clients of the bank.

 

Data on more than 18,000 bank accounts, holding more than $100bn (£73.6bn),
was leaked to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung by a whistleblower.

 

It includes personal, shared and corporate accounts, as well as those opened
as far back as the 1940s.

 

Nearly 50 media organisations have spent months poring over the data.

 

In their investigations, they suggest they have found evidence Credit Suisse
accounts had been used by clients involved in serious crimes such as money
laundering or drug trafficking.

 

But the Swiss bank rejected the allegations in a statement on Sunday, saying
it strongly rejected the allegations and insinuations about the bank's
alleged business practices or lack of due diligence carried out.

 

 

"The matters presented are predominantly historical, in some cases dating
back as far as the 1940s, and the accounts of these matters are based on
partial, inaccurate, or selective information taken out of context", it
said.

 

In reports published by media organisations such as The Guardian and the New
York Times, it has been claimed the bank opened or maintained accounts for
high-risk clients, including criminals and individuals involved in human
trafficking.

 

Holding a Swiss account is not illegal and the leak also reportedly
contained data of clients who had done nothing wrong.

 

The data was shared with more than 40 media organisations around the world
by non-profit journalism group, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting
Project.

 

It includes bank accounts dating back decades. The majority were opened from
2000 onwards, although the bank's current operations are not included.

 

Credit Suisse also said on Sunday that it had reviewed a large volume of
accounts potentially associated with the matters raised.

 

"Approximately 90% of the reviewed accounts are today closed or were in the
process of closure prior to receipt of the press inquiries, of which over
60% were closed before 2015," it said, although it would not comment on
specific clients mentioned.

 

The bank added it was "deeply aware of its responsibility to clients and the
financial system as a whole to ensure that the highest standards of conduct
are upheld".

 

"These media allegations appear to be a concerted effort to discredit not
only the bank but the Swiss financial market-place as a whole, which has
undergone significant changes over the last several years," it said.

 

'Shameful role'

In a statement published by German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, the
anonymous source explained their motivation for leaking the records more
than a year ago.

 

"I believe that Swiss banking secrecy laws are immoral. The pretext of
protecting financial privacy is merely a fig leaf covering the shameful role
of Swiss banks as collaborators of tax evaders," they wrote.

 

It is not known if the whistleblower is an individual or a group.

 

They also acknowledged "having an offshore Swiss bank account does not
necessarily imply tax evasion or any other financial crime".

 

Credit Suisse pointed out it had taken "significant additional measures over
the last decade, including considerable further investments in combating
financial crime".

 

It follows other scandals for the Swiss bank, including the departure of two
of its top executives after allegedly breaking Covid regulations and spying
on former staff.-BBC

 

 

 

McDonald's pig policy fight escalates with board nominations

Billionaire Carl Icahn has stepped up his fight with McDonald's over the
welfare of pigs used in its food chain.

 

Mr Icahn, whose no-nonsense reputation for shaking-up companies made him a
Wall Street legend, wants to put two people on McDonald's board.

 

He owns only 200 McDonald's shares but, reportedly spurred on by his animal
welfare activist daughter, that gives him leverage to agitate for change.

 

McDonald's says it has led the way in improving animal welfare standards.

 

The battle centres on claims about pregnant sows being kept in small crates,
a practice Mr Icahn said was "obscene".

 

He said McDonald's had not lived up to a promise to phase out the sourcing
of pork from pigs housed in so-called gestational crates, a practice
targeted by animal rights activists.

 

Mr Icahn had asked all McDonald's pork suppliers in the US to move to
"crate-free pork", along timeframes he had set.

 

Now Mr Icahn has proposed that Leslie Samuelrich and Maisie Ganzler stand
for election at the 2022 annual meeting, a statement by the fast food giant
said.

 

Activist investors such as Mr Icahn - one of a handful of feared corporate
raiders said to have been the model for Gordon Gekko in the 1987 movie Wall
Street - normally focus on companies they believe need restructuring.

 

But he told the Wall Street Journal earlier this month that he was moved to
do something at McDonald's by his daughter, an animal lover who has worked
for the Humane Society.

 

McDonald's pledged to stop ordering pork from suppliers putting pregnant
pigs in crates back in 2012. The firm said it had "led the industry" since
then and about a third of US pork suppliers have moved to group housing
systems.

 

It said it expected to source 85% to 90% of its pork from these suppliers by
the year's end. All of the pork it buys will come from these suppliers by
2024.

 

McDonald's said in a statement on Sunday that it would continue to work with
the industry to improve standards, but that some of Mr Icahn's demands were
unreasonable.

 

The chain also noted that Mr Icahn was the majority owner of Viskase, which
makes and supplies packaging for the pork and poultry industry.

 

It added that he had "not publicly called" on Viskase to make similar
commitments. Mr Icahn did not immediately respond to a BBC request for
comment.

 

Carl Icahn has said he was moved to put pressure on McDonald's by his
daughter

As the founder and controlling shareholder of Icahn Enterprises, Mr Icahn
has a net worth of $16.8bn (£12.3bn), according to Forbes.

 

He previously spent several months advising former US President Donald Trump
on regulatory reform, before stepping down amid controversy.

 

However, he is unlikely to succeed with the nominations, observers said.

 

"Mr Icahn's profile means McDonald's feels a need to respond even though his
stake is so small," Mak Yuen Teen, a professor at NUS Business School in
Singapore, told the BBC.

 

"It does seem that McDonald's has been rather slow in fulfilling this
particular commitment made 10 years ago. It's only now that it's
accelerating the fulfilment when activists are publicly highlighting it."

 

McDonald's said it sourced only approximately 1% of US pork production, and
that it did not own any sows, or produce or package pork in the country.

 

It said the board would evaluate Mr Icahn's nominees "as it would any other
candidates".-BBC

 

 

 

Menzies Aviation faces £560m takeover by Kuwaiti rival

Menzies Aviation, one of Scotland's largest firms, is likely to be taken
over by a Kuwait-based rival.

 

The Edinburgh-based ground services company, formerly bookseller John
Menzies, works in 37 countries.

 

Three previous offers from National Aviation Services, which works in
Africa, Asia and the Middle East, had been rejected.

 

A fourth offer of £560m has now been recommended to shareholders in a
statement from company directors.

 

The firm started in 1833 selling Charles Dickens books and The Scotsman
newspaper, and became a high street name across the UK.

 

It became one of Britain's biggest newspaper distributors, expanding into
air freight from 1987.

 

 

The company cut more than 17,500 jobs worldwide in March 2020 because of the
downturn in air travel due to the pandemic, but remained one of Scotland's
biggest businesses.

 

National Aviation Services (NAS) is a subsidiary of the Kuwait-based
logistics conglomerate Agility.

 

NAS has expanded across emerging markets in recent years and now owns a 19%
stake in Menzies Aviation after purchasing millions of pounds worth of
shares in the past month.

 

Its final offer of 608p per share follows previous bids of 460p, 510p and
605p.

 

"The board has considered the final proposal and indicated to NAS that it
would be willing unanimously to recommend an offer at the financial terms of
the final proposal to Menzies shareholders," the board said in a statement.

 

"Accordingly, the board is in discussions with NAS in relation to these
terms and will be providing NAS with access to management and due diligence
information."

 

It added that NAS had confirmed to the board that "the financial terms of
the final proposal are final and will not be increased," although this could
change if someone else tried to take over Menzies Aviation.

 

Philipp Joeinig, Menzies Aviation's chairman and chief executive, described
previous offers as "unsolicited and highly opportunistic" which did not
reflect the company's true value.

 

Menzies Aviation has 25,000 employees in 37 countries, providing passenger,
baggage and aircraft handling services.

 

Every board of directors has its price, and after some "highly
opportunistic" attempts at locating it, a Kuwaiti rival has settled on 608
pence per John Menzies share.

 

That's a long way from the 460 pence, and then 510 pence which were
dismissed by Menzies' directors as "highly opportunistic".

 

It's also a long way from the price in January, which averaged precisely
half the level on which buyer and target company have now agreed.

 

The directors' agreement is unanimously to recommend the offer to
shareholders. The rest is usually a formality.

 

And so goes another Scottish headquarters, and a company worth more than
half a billion pounds - its independence a victim of the consolidation in
airport ground handling services. Starting 35 years ago, John Menzies has
built up a world-class company in handling cargo and fuelling aircraft.

 

Its roots go back to 1833, in bookselling and publishing, and it became best
known in its home country as a distributor and retailer of newspapers, by
the 1960s running more than 350 railway station kiosks and 161 other shops.

 

It is 60 years since it floated shares, handing a fifth of them to
employees.

 

But the short-termism of the market is what left it vulnerable to a
longer-term Kuwaiti investor and rival, with the deep pockets to keep
consolidating.

 

Menzies Aviation shed its distribution business in 2018 to focus on
aviation, having got the knack of expansion through "acquisition, innovation
and stellar contract wins".

 

So having expanded at least partly through acquisition, in the Netherlands,
USA, Australia, Norway, Sweden and South Africa, then buying the world's
largest aircraft-fuelling business, it's hard to criticise when it is itself
acquired.

 

It had to move swiftly to adapt, first, to the collapse in cargo trade with
the financial crunch of 2008, and drastically to cut staffing when the
global aviation industry tanked due to Covid lockdowns. Uncertainty over the
pace of the sector's recovery left it vulnerable.

 

The sale highlights the Scottish economy's lack of a healthy pipeline of
similar companies. It is also a blow to its local supply chain when Scotland
loses the benefits of hosting a large corporate headquarters.-bbc

 

 

 

HSBC boosts profitability goal on higher rates, profit doubling

(Reuters) - HSBC (HSBA.L) brought forward its key profitability target by a
year and more than doubled its annual profit as expected bad loans from the
COVID-19 pandemic failed to materialise, and it pointed to rising interest
rates lifting its income.

 

Like global peers, HSBC, one of Europe's largest banks, is taking advantage
of lower-than-expected impairment charges as its borrowers reap the benefit
of government support in markets hit by coronavirus, while economic recovery
also helps firms.

 

HSBC's shares shed 3.4% in afternoon trade on Tuesday, compared to a fall of
1.4% in the benchmark FTSE index (.FTSE) as global stocks stumbled after the
Ukraine crisis intensified. read more

 

"We have good momentum coming into 2022 and are confident that we can
continue to execute against our strategy," Group Chief Executive Noel Quinn
said in the results statement.

 

London-headquartered HSBC said it would buy back up to $1 billion of its own
shares after the conclusion of an existing $2 billion buyback programme.

 

It said that if central bank interest rates rose worldwide as expected, the
resulting improvement in lending margins would meet its goal of a
double-digit return on equity in 2023, a year sooner than expected.

 

"Given their large Asia footprint, it will be interesting to see if the
zero-COVID policy in the region will adversely impact their performance
relative to their other more UK-centric London rivals in 2022," said
Sudeepto Mukherjee, head of financial Services at consultancy Publicis
Sapient.

 

Quinn, who has run the bank on a permanent basis for the past two years, has
doubled down on Asia by moving global executives there and is investing
billions of dollars in the lucrative wealth management business.

 

The lender reported pretax profits of $18.9 billion last year, up from the
previous year's $8.8 billion, and just below the $19.1 billion average of 17
analyst estimates compiled by HSBC. Asia contributed 65% of the profit.

 

Analysts at Citi said HSBC's guidance for this year was largely in line with
consensus, "with some downside risks to provisions and upside risks to
capital return".

 

The bank said it took a $500 million charge for expected credit losses in
the quarter, mainly due to the downturn in China's troubled commercial real
estate sector.

 

HSBC expects weaker performance in its wealth management in Asia in the
first quarter of 2022.

 

HONG KONG MARKET

 

HSBC CFO Ewen Stevenson told Reuters the wealth management business would be
affected by the weakness in global markets and closures of bank branches in
Hong Kong, but the bank expected a bounceback later this year.

 

While Asia and most global economies open up, Hong Kong - HSBC's biggest
market - is tightening pandemic curbs as it battles a growing outbreak of
COVID-19, stoking worries about the economic impact. read more

 

The HSBC results come after Standard Chartered (STAN.L) raised its core
profitability goals as it bets on inflation-battling rate increases to boost
lending. read more

 

HSBC's London-listed shares have gained 29% over the past year, versus a
rise of 16% in StanChart and a surge of 25% in Barclays (BARC.L).

 

The bank reported revenue slipped 2% in 2021 on low global interest rates
and falling income in its markets business, but said rising rates this year
and beyond should help reverse the decline.

 

"After absorbing the impact of low interest rates for some time, we believe
we have turned the corner on revenue," Quinn said.

 

HSBC said it released $900 million in cash it had put aside in case
pandemic-related bad loans spiked, as opposed to the corresponding time a
year earlier, when it took a charge of $8.8 billion against expected losses.

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.-BBC

 

 

 

Markets brace for heavy falls as Russia-Ukraine crisis escalates

(Reuters) - Investors were bracing for a torrid day for Russian, Ukrainian
and wider global markets when they reopen on Tuesday, after Vladimir Putin
upped the ante in a crisis the West fears could unleash a major war.

 

In a lengthy televised address, the Russian president recognised two
breakaway regions Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine as independent
entities and described Ukraine as an integral part of Russia's history. read
more

 

Tensions have already rattled global markets this year and wiped tens of
billions of dollars off the value of Russian and Ukraine assets, but
Monday's escalation is expected to cause much worse.

 

"It is probably an understatement to say that it will be an ugly day (on the
markets) tomorrow," said Viktor Szabo, an emerging market portfolio manager
at abrdn in London.

 

"I was hoping we weren't going to get here, but this is a significant step."

 

Russian markets were still open when Putin announced his decision live on
television following phone calls to the leaders of Germany and France.

 

The rouble losses reached 3.3%, while Moscow's stock markets plunged to
their lowest level in over a year as the dollar-denominated RTS index
(.IRTS) finished the day 13.2% lower and the rouble-based MOEX Russian index
(.IMOEX) lost 10.5%.

 

Analysts at Commonwealth Bank of Australia warned traders ahead of the start
of Tuesday's Asian open that Putin's decision to recognise the
separatist-held areas of Ukraine would clearly exacerbate already high
tensions

 

"Financial market participants now wait for a response from the United
States and Europe," they added.

 

That response is expected to come in the shape of tough new sanctions.

 

Although other steps might come first, some of the most severe measures
would be to cut Russia's banks off from the SWIFT banking system and order a
complete ban on EU, UK and U.S. investment funds holding Russian government
bonds.

 

At the end of last year foreigners held just over $43 billion of OFZs, as
Russia's rouble-denominated bonds are known.

 

"We agreed (Britain) and (the EU) will coordinate to deliver swift sanctions
against Putin’s regime, and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Ukraine,"
British Foreign Minister Liz Truss said on Twitter following a call with
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

 

Yields on Russia's 10-year OFZs were expected to surge further having hit a
high of 10.6% on Monday. Russia has one of the biggest stockpiles of
international FX reserves in the world at $630 billion, but the cost of
insuring its sovereign debt against default has also soared to its highest
since early 2016.

 

Analysts were also warning of the wider impact on global market confidence,
which along with the pressures of fast-rising global borrowing costs this
year, has already been hit by the tensions.

 

Futures markets were pointing to a 1.8% fall on the S&P 500 on Wall Street
later, a 2.2% drop on Japan's Nikkei , a 2.5% drop on the Nasdaq (.NQc1) and
3.7% slump on Germany's DAX in Europe. Demand for traditional safe assets
also saw U.S. Treasuries rally.

 

"This step clearly increases uncertainty and thus creates further downside
risk for global risk assets," said Manik Narain, head of emerging market
strategy at UBS.

 

"We are going to see a negative reaction," added Ken Polcari, managing
partner at Kace Capital Advisors in Florida. "We are going to test the Jan.
24 lows which was 4,220 on the S&P 500".

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

 

Oil rises as Russia-Ukraine escalation spurs supply concerns

(Reuters) - Oil prices jumped more than $2 on Tuesday on supply disruption
worries as tensions between Russia and Ukraine escalated after Moscow
ordered troops into two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine.

 

Moscow's move drew international condemnation and U.S. officials said
Washington in coordination with allies is planning to announce new sanctions
on Russia, the world's second largest oil producer.

 

U.S. President Joe Biden has issued an executive order to halt U.S. business
activity in the breakaway regions and ban the import of all goods from those
areas. read more

 

But a Biden administration official said Russia's military action did not as
yet constitute an invasion that would trigger a broader sanctions package.
read more

 

Brent crude futures rose $2.14, or 2.24%, to $97.53 a barrel at 0710 GMT,
adding to a 2% gain on Monday. Earlier on Tuesday it hit $97.66, its highest
since September 2014.

 

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures jumped $3.60, or 3.95%, to
$94.67 a barrel versus Friday's settlement. The U.S. market was closed on
Monday for a public holiday.

 

Commonwealth Bank analyst Vivek Dhar said it was unlikely U.S. and European
governments would impose oil or gas sanctions on Russia if it invaded
Ukraine further, as that would inflict pain on themselves.

 

However, Russia itself could hold back oil and gas supplies if it sought to
retaliate against any other sanctions imposed by the West, Dhar added.

 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia of wrecking peace
talks and ruled out territorial concessions.

 

Analysts say the big question hanging over the oil market is whether Russian
energy exports would actually be disrupted if Moscow went ahead with a
fullscale invasion of Ukraine and western governments imposed sanctions
against Russian financial institutions.

 

"Having formed a base at $89 per barrel, WTI crude looks poised to surge
further on the higher trajectory, owing to heightened geopolitical risks,"
Sugandha Sachdeva, vice president of commodity and currency research at
Religare Broking said.

 

We still have a crucial hurdle in place at $95 per barrel and a break past
this level will pave the way for crude prices to traverse higher towards
$105 per barrel in the coming days, she added.

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

Volkswagen in talks with Huawei on autonomous driving unit - Manager Magazin

(Reuters) - Germany's Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) is in talks with China's Huawei
about acquiring an autonomous driving unit for billions of euros, Manager
Magazin reported on Thursday.

 

Automakers and technology firms are investing billions of dollars in
autonomous driving, aiming to take an early lead in what many consider the
future of mobility.

 

Volkswagen Chief Executive Herbert Diess said on Wednesday he expects the
car industry to see widespread autonomous driving within 25 years and that
the company was pursuing new partnerships to increase its self-sufficiency
in software. read more

 

Group leaders have been negotiating the deal, which also involves technology
systems Volkswagen is not yet proficient in, for several months, Manager
Magazine said, citing inside sources.

 

A Volkswagen spokesperson declined to comment.

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

 

U.S. sanctions on Russian banks West's most potent economic threat

(Reuters) - For NATO members, the most powerful measure against Russia were
it to invade Ukraine would be U.S. sanctions cutting off Russian state banks
from the dollar according to Russian executives, bankers, and former senior
U.S. sanctions officials.

 

The United States has warned that Russia could invade as early as this week.
Moscow denies it has such plans but says the West needs to take its concerns
about NATO expansion seriously. read more

 

Washington, and its allies in Europe, are finalising an extensive package of
sanctions if Russia were to launch an invasion according to U.S. and
European officials. read more

 

The U.S. package would expand a technology export ban to include any goods
made with U.S. components or software, as well as proposed sanctions against
specific Russian billionaires. But sanctions experts say more than any other
measure, aggressive action against Russia's state banks would hit its
economy the hardest.

 

"Banking sanctions are the most impactful measure the U.S. can carry out in
the short term," said Brian O'Toole, a former senior advisor to the director
of the Office of Foreign Assets Control or OFAC in the U.S. Treasury
Department, which designs and manages the implementation of sanctions.

 

Proposed sanctions against Russian banks would bar them from making any
transactions in U.S. dollars, essentially freezing any dollar-denominated
assets or liabilities held by the banks at home and abroad.

 

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov on Wednesday said sanctions against
Russian banks would be “unpleasant” and lead to a spike in volatility, but
said the state would make sure that all deposits with banks and all
transactions, including in foreign currencies, were secured. Russia’s
abundant hard currency reserves – now at $635bn – would help shield against
the potential blow, he said. read more

 

When asked about possible sanctions on Russian state banks, Kremlin
spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters that Russia was “preparing for
unpredictable actions” from the United States “by hedging against any
risks."

 

He said: "We could get the impression that all this information noise and
all these claims that Russia is about to attack Ukraine are being made to
further contain Russia and to create a reason to impose further sanctions -
and so they are speaking about these hellish sanctions."

 

Elina Ribakova, deputy chief economist at the Institute of International
Finance in Washington said even though Russia has enough reserves, the
potential measures "could cause a run on deposits. It will definitely have a
strong impact on the domestic financial system. It will raise the risk of
financial instability including a widening of spreads and a sell-off of the
rouble.”

 

U.S. sanctions far outweigh the power of any other jurisdiction because the
White House can potentially impose secondary sanctions on any foreign banks
continuing to deal with these institutions, said O’Toole and Tom Keatinge,
finance and security expert at the Royal United Services Institute, a
London-based think tank. The White House did not answer requests for comment
about secondary sanctions.

 

Shares in banking giant Sberbank (SBER.MM) and smaller rival VTB (VTBR.MM)
have both fallen in the past week on the prospect of sanctions, although
recovered some losses after Russia said on Tuesday that some troops
stationed near borders with Ukraine were returning to base after completing
drills

 

Sberbank holds nearly half of Russia's 21 trillion roubles in deposits and
together with state lenders VTB, Gazprombank, and Rosselkhozbank accounts
for nearly 60% of the nation’s banking assets.

 

GOING IN HEAVY

 

Sberbank, VTB and the Russian Central Bank declined to comment. Gazprombank
and Rosselkhozbank did not respond to requests for comment.

 

"Taking out Sberbank would have massive ramifications," O'Toole added.

 

The nature of the sanctions would likely hinge on the scale of a Russian
invasion.

 

A Russian invasion limited to an incursion into the rebel-held Donbass
region of east Ukraine for example, might mean the United States staggered
its targeting of the Russian state banks in order to maintain further
deterrence, potentially keeping Sberbank until last, said Daniel Fried, a
former State Department coordinator for sanctions policy in the Obama
administration.

 

But "if the Kremlin goes in big, so could we, and we might go in heavy in
any case," Fried said.

 

Sanctions on banks would be partly aimed at forcing Russia's central bank to
dig into its hard currency reserves in order to bail out the banks and keep
them afloat, O'Toole and Fried both said. The central bank declined to
comment on hard currency reserves and sanctions.

 

Russia has some defences to withstand a U.S.-led attack on its financial
stability. The hard currency reserves, high oil prices and a low debt to GDP
ratio of 18% in 2021 place it in a good position to weather a further
tightening of existing sanctions, said Chris Weafer, director of
MacroAdvisory, a Moscow-based consultancy.

 

In addition, Russian state banks curtailed their exposure to Western markets
when the United States and EU imposed limited sanctions on VTB and Sberbank
in retaliation for Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, which restricted
their ability to raise debt.

 

Today, the proposed state bank sanctions would include a system of waivers,
licenses and wind-down periods to ensure payments for dollar-denominated
commodity contracts and debt payments could be made, the sanctions experts
said.

 

Russian officials have largely focused on threats to cut off Russia from the
SWIFT financial messaging system in case of war.

 

But U.S. and European officials said last week this measure was now off the
table due to concerns from European lenders that it could mean billions of
dollars in outstanding loans they have in Russia would not be repaid. read
more

 

DOLLARS THE KEY

 

Sberbank chief executive German Gref has previously brushed off reports that
U.S. sanctions could prevent Moscow from converting roubles into dollars on
the grounds that he believed it was "impossible to execute."

 

Two senior Russian bankers interviewed by Reuters said they expected any
targeted bank to escape the worst of the impact by converting their dollar
holdings into euros.

 

Former senior U.S. sanctions officials, however, said this confidence was
misplaced as the dollars would still have to ultimately go through a U.S.
clearing bank in order to convert them.

 

"Anything that is denominated in dollars has to clear through the U.S. and
once you do that it's stuck," said O'Toole.

 

These sanctions, he said, could also lead to freezes on dollar accounts held
abroad by the Russian state banks in correspondent accounts, set up to
handle funds on behalf of another bank.

 

Igor Yurgens, vice president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and
Entrepreneurs, a powerful lobby group for Russian business, told Reuters the
Russian central bank had been working on a programme for correspondent
accounts with China through which to convert cash that might help mitigate
the impact of sanctions.

 

"Everything would be difficult, but it won't collapse," he said. The Russian
authorities "have conducted technological stress tests and consider they
will muddle through for a while."

 

Sergey Aleksashenko, a former deputy Russian central bank chairman now
living in exile in the United States, said he believed the West's sanctions
threats were no more than an escalating virtual, or information, war between
Russia and the West.

 

In this standoff, "Putin's weapon is (the movement of) tanks and the West's
is talk of sanctions. All of this is part of a great game," he said.

 

But one of Russia's top 50 billionaires interviewed by Reuters warned that
the political manoeuvring between Moscow and Washington could end up in
conflict and economic reprisals.

 

"Everyone has been playing a virtual game...But then all these virtual
events can become facts in life."

 

"Sanctions will lead to serious economic consequences," he said.

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

 

Cryptoverse: Bitcoin could be laid low by miners' malady

(Reuters) - Bitcoin miners are feeling the heat - and the pain's rippling
downstream to pressure prices.

 

The cryptocurrency's spectacular rally in 2021 drew thousands of entrants
into mining, or producing new coin. As a result the hashrate, or combined
computational power used by bitcoin miners globally, has roughly quadrupled
over the past six months to blow past 200 million "terahashes" per second.

 

But what's that got to do with the price of bitcoin?

 

A rising hashrate makes it becomes harder for miners to earn coin and cover
their costs of hardware, electricity and staff - so many are more likely to
sell, rather than hold, their newly minted cryptocurrency, exerting a
bearish force on the market.

 

"Running costs are a major factor in miners' decision to hold or sell newly
acquired coins. They are the first and most natural sellers in the crypto
space and so definitely impact prices," said Justin d'Anethan, institutional
sales director at crypto financial services firm Amber Group.

 

The total value of coins held in miners' wallets has fallen to around $75
billion from $114 billion at the start of November, as their profitability
has been squeezed by the rising hashrate as well as falling prices,
according to Oslo-based crypto research firm Arcane Research.

 

Miners have been transferring more coins to exchanges than adding to
reserves, according to crypto industry analytics firms, a sign of selling or
intent to sell.

 

Such flows are adding to pressures facing bitcoin , whose drift towards the
mainstream has seen it caught up in a selloff in global markets driven by
tensions on the Ukraine border and the Federal Reserve's policy tightening.

 

The world's dominant cryptocurrency is trading at about $37,400, which is
40% below its Nov. 10 high of $62,000.

 

WHAT IT COSTS

 

Bitcoin mining, in simple terms, is the process by which a network of
computers checks and validates a block of transactions that then get added
to the blockchain. Miners get rewarded for completing a block.

 

It's an expensive business, though, requiring not just sophisticated and
fast "rigs" costing upwards of $10,000, but also a huge amount of power. And
it's getting pricier.

 

The seven-day average of total mining cost per transaction validated has
fallen to $176.8 from a record $235.57 hit in May last year, data from
blockchain.com shows.

 

"As more miners join the network, each individually earns fewer bitcoin.
This is because network difficulty increases in order to slow the issuance
of new bitcoin," said Joe Burnett, analyst at infrastructure and mining firm
Blockware Solutions.

 

Waning mining profitability is also hitting the broader market because some
institutional investors, who are unable or unwilling to invest directly in
cryptocurrencies, instead buy shares of listed miners or ETFs that track
miners as an alternative way of gaining access to the young industry.

 

Shares of U.S.-listed crypto miners Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA.O) and
Riot Blockchain (RIOT.O) have plunged 66% and 52% respectively since early
November.

 

The Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI.O) is meanwhile trading at a roughly
5% discount to its net asset value since the fund's launch in early
February, and the Viridi Clean Energy Crypto-Mining & Semiconductor ETF has
lost 23% since the beginning of the year.

 

THE LAST BITCOIN

 

Some of the pressures on miners flow from bitcoin's inherent structure. The
decentralised blockchain was created anonymously with a final limit of 21
million coins, of which nearly 19 million has already been minted.

 

It takes around 10 minutes to mine one block and the reward for miners - who
currently get 6.25 bitcoin per block - is halved about every four years.

 

"There could be one miner or a million, it doesn't change anything. There's
only one block and a set number of bitcoins issued," said d'Anethan at Amber
Group.

 

A final note: don't lose sleep fretting about what will happen when the last
bitcoin is mined - that's not expected until the middle of the next century,
2140 to be exact.

 

The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

 

Nigeria: UK Injects £10m Into Nigeria's Energy Sector

The United Kingdom has injected £10 million into Nigeria's low carbon energy
project. The concessional aid is aimed at reducing the risks, for pension
and insurance funds' to invest in energy access projects, and support
Nigeria's COP26 commitments.

 

UK also signed an agreement with the Nigerian government that would enable a
compensation of £210,610 to the country following a successful investigation
by the British Serious Fraud Office on the use of corrupt agents in the oil
and gas sector.

 

The governments of Nigeria, United Kingdom of Great Britain, and Northern
Ireland, yesterday, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in a joint
commitment to continue the fight against corruption.

 

The MoU was signed between UK's Minister for Africa, Vicky Ford, and the
Attorney General of the Federal and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami,
who was represented by Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice,
Mohammed Umar. It sets out the terms and understanding between the
governments of the United Kingdom and Nigeria to make the compensation
payment.

During the signing of the MoU, Ford said, "The Security and Defence Dialogue
held in February 2022 between our two countries reaffirmed both the UK and
Nigeria's commitment to work together to tackle illicit financial flows,
bribery, and corruption.

 

"The UK has a zero tolerance policy to corruption and we hope that today's
signing sends a clear statement about our commitment to this."

 

She noted that in a global economy where international trade was vital, it
was more important than ever that companies operate with integrity and
transparency.

 

Illicit financial flows, bribery, and corruption have been identified as
major hindrances to economic growth, trade, stable governance, and the
security of both countries.

 

The compensation payment from the UK to Nigeria was secured after a
four-year corruption investigation led by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in
the UK. The money was obtained through a Deferred Prosecution Agreement
(DPA), which meant the prosecutor agreed to defer prosecution in exchange
for the defendant agreeing to fulfil certain requirements, such as accepting
criminal liability for offences and paying the appropriate compensation.

In this case, the DPA was agreed with Amec Foster Wheeler (AFWEL), in
relation to the use of corrupt agents in the oil and gas sector.

 

The compensation payment demonstrated that when such crimes were identified,
the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) would investigate the companies and, where
evidence was found, ensure that they faced appropriate sanctions.

 

In March 2021, the UK government returned £4.2 million to Nigeria from funds
recovered from associates of former Delta State Governor James Ibori.

 

 

However, in this case, "The Government of the United Kingdom will transfer
the compensation amount in the sum of £210,610 (118.4 million Naira) within
twenty-eight (28) days from the date of signing this MOU.

 

"In both instances, the MoU's confirm that the Nigerian government has
pledged to use the returned funds for projects that will benefit and improve
the country.

 

"The UK will remain committed to returning all illegal assets, no matter the
amount, as per the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC)."

 

UK's Director of the Serious Fraud Office, Lisa Osofsky said, "We have a
zero tolerance approach to companies who think they can bribe their way to
financial success. Bribery and corruption not only stifle real economic
growth and free trade, they also damage democracy and, therefore, risk the
security of all our countries.

 

"I am, of course, delighted that the tenacity of my SFO colleagues has
resulted in the people of Nigeria being compensated in a way that will truly
benefit them."

 

Malami, while thanking the UK for the gesture, promised that the repatriated
fund would be expended on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Abuja to Kano road,
and the Second Niger Bridge.

 

On UK's injection of £10 million of concessional financing alongside
InfraCredit to mobilise pension and insurance investments, the statement
noted that it would help to reduce the risk for pension and insurance funds
to invest in energy access projects, and support Nigeria's COP26
commitments.

 

The financing would also help Nigerian investors focus on low carbon energy,
and support off-grid, low-carbon energy projects. Additionally, the £10
million would be blended to de-risk transactions and, therefore, mobilise
domestic institutional investment from local pension funds, insurance firms
and other local institutional investors. This would help scale up domestic
financing for eligible off-grid clean energy infrastructure, such as solar
mini-grid and home systems, clean cooking infrastructure and SME cold
storage infrastructure in Nigeria.

 

UK Minister for Africa, Vicky Ford, speaking on the investment, said, "The
UK is committed to increasing both renewable energy and energy access in
Nigeria, driving clean, sustainable and resilient growth.

 

"As the world looks to transition to clean growth, we are witnessing an
era-defining opportunity for the private sector. This transaction is
particularly exciting as it brings together UK government support with the
institutional capital, which is essential to grow the sector at scale.

 

"This innovative blended finance initiative will provide affordable
long-term financing from local investors for the low carbon energy sector to
support scaling up of off-grid low carbon energy projects in unserved and
underserved communities.

 

"This initiative will support the implementation of Nigeria's Nationally
Determined Contributions plan, which Nigeria submitted to the UNFCCC before
COP26, its Energy Transition Plan, which was presented by the Nigerian
government at COP26, and Nigeria's plans to increase energy access,
including the Solar Naija programme."

 

On his part, the MD/CEO, Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), and
Chairman of InfraCredit, Uche Orji said:

 

"InfraCredit is pleased to be working with FCDO to mobilise private
investment from domestic pension funds and other institutional investors
into such an important developmental area as low carbon energy access.

 

"This programme is aligned with NSIA's other clean energy initiatives which
aims to deliver up to 250-500MW of renewable energy capacity in Nigeria that
will reduce annual CO2 emissions, alleviate poverty, create jobs and support
local economic growth."

 

Speaking at the announcement, the Minister of State for Power, Mr. Godwin
Jedy-Agba, said with the support from the UK Government's Energy Transition
Council showed the pathway to an energised economy and carbon neutrality by
2060. The assistance also highlighted the need for additional investments of
$410 billion above business as usual over the next 40 years.

 

Jedy-Agba stated, "Whereas all efforts have been geared towards unlocking
private sector activity in the clean energy transition, one major challenge
continues to be private sector access to local currency financing. This is
where local institutions such as pension and insurance funds have a key role
to play, as only these institutions possess the scale of local currency
liquidity required to accelerate the transition."

 

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, at a meeting with Ford
said the federal government looked forward to cooperate with the United
Kingdom (UK) in the security of the West African sub-region.

 

Onyeama received, in audience, the United Kingdom Minister for Africa, Latin
America and the Caribbean. He expressed gratitude to the government of the
United Kingdom for its extensive and significant support in diverse areas,
stating that the West African sub-region is facing huge security challenges,
including governance challenges.

 

He noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had a big hit on the economies of the
world and also expressed gratitude to the United Kingdom for support during
the period, particularly with vaccines and other support in the area of
health.

 

Onyeama added that the United Kingdom had been involved in the security of
the West African sub-region, saying a lot is going on in the sub-region,
particularly in Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso with the support of the United
Nations.

 

The minister said, "So, we look forward to continue to cooperate with you in
this area because we feel that it is not something that we can do alone in
the sub-region.

 

"We need the United Nations' support and also the support of European
countries. We have been engaged and in the framework of the G5 Sahel and
other initiatives."

 

Speaking further on the specific assistance the United Kingdom planned to
render Nigeria, Ford said the UK would be discussing with the Nigerian
government how to help in community policing, training and improving the
police.

 

Ford, however, emphasised that the move was a partnership and not the United
Kingdom telling Nigeria what to do.

 

She added, "This was us listening, sharing experiences, especially from the
national security areas which we may have seen and experienced both in our
country, but also, from what we are seeing across the world and bringing our
experiences together."-This Day.

 

 

 

Malawi: Livestock Reap Big for Rural Farmers in Covid-19 Lean Period

While the world is still struggling with the economic effects of Covid 19,
rural farmers are also hit by the pandemic.

 

The situation has left smallholder farmers with no opportunity to meet in
groups where they get extension services.

 

In this situation, the Sustainable Agriculture Productivity Programme (SAPP)
has introduced a fund that seeks to build on SAPP's ability to increase
productivity and promote market participation. Both of these interventions
are affected by Covid 19 Pandemic.

 

The programme which is dubbed rural 'Poor Stimulus Facility' is a grant and
loan from IFAD that the Malawi government secured in 2020 to cushion farmers
economically.

In Nkhotakota, among many other interventions, the programme is mainly
focusing on ducks and rabbits (small livestock) which multiply fast for
rapid results.

 

Chrissie George of Mthyoka village Traditional Authority Mphonde in
Nkhotakota received 5 rabbits as a startup in her stimulus facility. George
says her rabbits are multiplying fast so much that she has already passed on
5 rabbits to a fellow farmer.

 

Said George: 'It did not take long for my rabbits to give birth to 20 babies
which grew faster than I expected. In two months of keeping the rabbits, I
managed to sell six of them. This initiative is bringing us money in these
Covid 19 hard times'.

 

She adds that rabbits and ducks provide an easy relish at home as compared
to goats which are usually used for big gatherings.

 

Another farmer Alefa Njawo received ducks in the same programme. Njawo says
although it was a bit cumbersome to start realising the benefit of this
farming, the potential is still there.

 

'My three ducks have 16 eggs each. That's the advantage of this farming.
When they hatch am assured of a large flock of ducks around my house', said
Alefa with a big smile on her face.

 

SAPP provided 75 ducks and 75 rabbits to 30 households in Mthyoka Village
last November. At the moment 12 new households have received rabbits as a
pass on programme through the rural poor stimulus facility.

 

Mthyoka is a model village in Traditional Authority Mphonda in Nkhotakota,
where 42 farming families are indulging in different agriculture activities.
The village has also benefited from SAPP's goats pass on programme from
where every household has managed to get 5 goats.

 

Communication specialist for SAPP Upile Muhariwa says the programme has the
potential to promote food and nutrient security which will increase incomes
during the Covid 19 pandemic in line with the Malawi Growth and Development
Strategy.

 

The fund targeted 8000 vulnerable smallholder farming households, with 50
percent of women's participation in all the six districts of Balaka,
Blantyre, Chiradzulu, Lilongwe, Nkhotakota and Chitipa where the SAPP
Project is being implemented.-MBC.

 

 

 

First of its Kind Knowledge Seminar to Tackle Collateral Challenge Facing
MSMEs in Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — Earlier today, Kifiya Financial Technology in
partnership with the Mastercard Foundation and its knowledge partner
International Finance Corporation kicked off a first of its kind knowledge
seminar bringing together financial institutions, policymakers, and MSMEs to
discuss how to make capital more accessible to entrepreneurs by addressing
prohibitive collateral requirements. Kifiya Financial Technology is
pioneering a unique approach to the challenge through its digital lending
technology Qena, which connects businesses to credit without the need for
collateral, leveraging new approaches to credit scoring.

 

Recent figures show that, Ethiopia has an estimated 800,000 MSMEs of which
only about 130,000 have access to credit (70% micro-enterprises and 40% of
SMEs), and the total financing gap is estimated to be approximately USD $4.2
billion (https://bit.ly/3Hd0qMh). The gap is driven by a variety of factors,
including capital investment and machinery requirements, a general backlog
of foreign currency, and much larger working capital requirements.

 

Speaking to the challenges facing MSMEs, Thomas Bekele said: "In the past,
we worked with Micro Finance Institutions to purchase machinery for our
business.  As small business owners, we haven't had the chance to work with
banks. That is mainly because we do not have a property that we can use as
collateral to borrow money. Uncollateralized digital lending is a great
opportunity to grow our business. Once digital lending products start
providing loans, we plan to seize the opportunity and expand our business by
opening an outlet and buying a vehicle for delivery."

 

Financial institutions often lack platforms that enable them to interface
directly with MSMEs, understand their challenges, and co-create solutions.
By bringing together leading industry experts, researchers, bank senior
officials, entrepreneurs, regulators, policymakers, government, and other
key stakeholders, the knowledge seminar is poised to accelerate digital
lending solutions and enhance access to finance for MSMEs in Ethiopia.

 

 

Mastercard Foundation

Panelists discussing on how uncollateralized digital lending unlocks MSMEs
potential

"Ethiopia is embarking on transforming the financial sector and embracing
digital first. Digital knowledge is at its centre. And everyone needs to
partake in bridging the knowledge gap in the sector. This is the beginning
of a knowledge series to convene experts to debate, share ideas,
experiences, and lessons to provide digital financial services to small
businesses and smallholder farmers," said Munir Duri, Kifiya Financial
Technology CEO.

 

Ultimately, MSMEs are central to Ethiopia's economic growth—but a lack of
access to capital constrains their growth. Reflecting on the opportunities
presented by collateral-free digital lending, Samuel Adela, Country Head,
Ethiopia at the Mastercard Foundation said: "The bottom line here is not
just profit for businesses—it is an opportunity for Ethiopians, particularly
young Ethiopians. This is about unlocking the potential of MSMEs to deliver
critical products and services, fuel the economy, and create jobs that allow
individuals to build dignified and fulfilling lives."

 

About Kifiya

 

Kifiya financial Technologies was established in 2010 and operational in
2013 with the vision to make transactions simple affordable, secure, and
within reach through building integrated and scalable technology and
distribution infrastructures that enable access to financial and
non-financial services. Kifiya also built the capacity to develop innovative
products and services that can bring value to consumers, corporate entities,
and the government. Its technology focusing areas include e-commerce,
Logistics, Payment & Distribution services, Digital Agricultural solutions,
and Digital Lending services. Over the past five years, Kifiya has been
developing AI-based credit scoring and digital lending platform (Qena), and
appropriate products for the MSME sector to enable financial institutions to
provide credit to individuals, micro, small and medium enterprises. The
platform enables MSMEs, and individuals to apply and manage their credit
through mobile or web and get responses promptly.

 

 

Mastercard Foundation

Kifiya Financial Technology in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation
and its knowledge partner International Finance Corporation kicked off a
first of its kind knowledge seminar bringing together financial
institutions, policymakers, and MSMEs to discuss how to make capital more
accessible to entrepreneurs by addressing prohibitive collateral
requirements

About the IFC

 

IFC is the largest global development institution focused on the private
sector in developing countries. IFC, a member of the World Bank Group,
advances economic development and improves the lives of people by
encouraging the growth of the private sector in developing countries. We
achieve this by creating new markets, mobilizing other investors, and
sharing expertise. In doing so, we create jobs and raise living standards,
especially for the poor and vulnerable. Our work supports the World Bank
Group's twin goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity.
For more information, please visit: www.ifc.org

 

About the Mastercard Foundation

 

The Mastercard Foundation works with visionary organizations to enable young
people in Africa and in Indigenous communities in Canada to access dignified
and fulfilling work. It is one of the largest, private foundations in the
world with a mission to advance learning and promote financial inclusion to
create an inclusive and equitable world. The Foundation was created by
Mastercard in 2006 as an independent organization with its own Board of
Directors and management. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 


 


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INVESTORS DIARY 2022

 


Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


Companies under Cautionary

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


ART

PPC

 

 


Starafrica

Fidelity

Turnall

 


Medtech

Zimre

Nampak Zimbabwe

 


 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

 


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investigation into the business, financial condition and future prospects of
any companies referred to in this report. Other  Indices quoted herein are
for guideline purposes only and sourced from third parties.

 


 

 


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<mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> info at bulls.co.zw Tel: +263 4 2927658 Cell: +263 77
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