Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 30 November 2022
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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 30 November 2022
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ü China Covid: Factory activity shrinks more than expected
ü Twitter ends Covid misinformation policy under Musk
ü Prannoy Roy: How Gautam Adani will run India's top news network NDTV
ü China protests: Uncertainty reigns for foreign firms
ü EasyJet holiday bookings up despite cost-of-living crisis
ü Anti-London policies will slow UK's financial recovery, report says
ü Royal Mail postal workers begin fresh two-day strike
ü Nigeria: Kogi, China Partner On $60m Smart Security Architecture to Tackle Insecurity
ü Nigeria: One Month to End of the Year, Reps Pass N607.9 Billion FCT 2022 Budget
ü Nigeria: How Food Prices Surged in October - NBS
ü Nigeria: Adeleke Denies Sacking 12,000 Workers, 3 Monarchs
ü Nigeria: Naira Redesign to Encourage Expanded Financial Inclusion - CBN
ü Africa: A Stronger Private Sector Can Boost African Trade
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China Covid: Factory activity shrinks more than expected
A key measure of China's factory activity has further fallen in November, according to official figures.
The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 48 from 49.2 in October.
It comes as strict Covid restrictions and weakening global demand weigh on the world's second largest economy.
In recent days there have been violent protests against President Xi Jinping's zero-Covid measures that have seen major cities being put into lockdowns.
The non-manufacturing PMI - which measures business sentiment in the services and construction sector, also fell to 46.7 versus 48.7 in the previous month - the lowest reading in seven months.
Any number below 50 indicates a contraction compared to the previous month.
Earlier this month, the government introduced a series of measures to prop up its slowing economy. Last Friday, China's central bank changed its reserve ration for banks which gives lending institutions more cash to extend loans. This was seen as a positive move to help the struggling real estate sector.
China has seen Covid-19 cases spike in recent weeks, with more than 37,000 cases reported on Tuesday - exceeding its previous peak in April.
Frustration has turned into anger among students and workers over the country's strict zero-Covid policy.
Last weekend, thousands in China took to the streets demanding an end to the strict measures - with some even making rare calls for President Xi Jinping to stand down.
On Tuesday, Chinese health officials said the authorities would work to reduce "inconvenience" caused by the Covid pandemic.
Mi Feng, spokesperson of China's National Health Commission (NHC), told reporters that lockdowns should be "imposed and eased quickly" and that "excessive control measures should be continuously rectified".-BBC
Twitter ends Covid misinformation policy under Musk
Twitter says it has stopped enforcing its policy on misleading information about coronavirus.
According to the company's website, it stopped taking action against tweets breaching its Covid rules, on Wednesday, 23 November.
Twitter had previously reported suspending more than 11,000 accounts for Covid misinformation as of September this year.
BBC News has approached Twitter for comment.
Its other policies on false information remain on Twitter's website, without a similar notice saying they will no longer be enforced.
Under its Covid-specific policy, Twitter operated a "five-strike system" for accounts posting "demonstrably false or misleading" content that may "lead to significant risk of harm" - such as exposure to Covid or damage to public health systems.
No action would be taken against accounts tweeting disinformation once. But repeat offenders could be suspended for a matter of hours, days - or even indefinitely, if they received five strikes against their account.
Though he says the Covid reporting system on Twitter was never perfect, Dr Stephen Griffin of The University of Leeds School of Medicine says it was reassuring to know that many thousands of accounts spreading disinformation had been removed since 2020.
'Amnesty begins'
Now, some of those who fell foul of the rules are returning to the website.
For example, Twitter has reinstated the personal account of US congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, banned in January.
Millions of users voted for the reinstatement of suspended accounts in a Twitter poll, causing boss Elon Musk to tweet: "The people have spoken... amnesty begins next week."
The Tesla chief executive has vowed to make Twitter a hub for free speech online following his $44bn (£37bn) purchase.
Criticisms the platform has been slow to act on false or unproven health claims are nothing new.
Even when Twitter did introduce an option to report misleading posts in the summer of 2021 - something it now seems to be rowing back on - I heard from dozens of people who said the process was unclear and the option didn't always seem to be available.
But the site did seem to be trying to get a grip on some of its most potentially harmful posts, removing more than 10,000 accounts - like Dr Robert Malone, whose message Covid vaccines are ineffective or very dangerous is contradicted by the overwhelming weight of evidence.
Now the direction at Twitter HQ is changing, the question is whether these accounts will return or new ones will be emboldened to share incorrect information, that could influence the decisions people make about their health.
-BBC
Prannoy Roy: How Gautam Adani will run India's top news network NDTV
Radhika and Prannoy Roy, founders of leading Indian news network New Delhi Television (NDTV), have resigned as directors of a group promoting their company, bringing a conglomerate led by Gautam Adani, one of the world's richest man, closer to taking over the media firm. The BBC looks at what this means for the future of TV news in India.
Radhika Roy once recounted that NDTV that she co-founded with her broadcaster husband Prannoy Roy was a "happy accident".
The Roys launched NDTV with a single show The World This Week on the bland state-run Doordarshan in November 1988 with "no grand plan" in mind and "certainly no idea" that it would grow from being a producer of a weekly world news show to India's first private 24/7 news network and independent news broadcaster.
More than three decades later, the couple's news channel is changing hands. Gautam Adani, the third richest man in the world - behind Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos - is set to buy NDTV in one the world's most tumultuous media markets.
Mr Adani, a 60-year-old billionaire who runs a port-to-energy conglomerate, is seen by many as someone close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government. Truth to tell, his "relationship with political and social leaders, across all types of party lines, have made him acceptable to every government," according to RN Bhaskar, author of a recently published biography of the tycoon.
In March, Mr Adani's new company AMG Media Networks Limited bought a minority stake in Quintillion, a digital business news company. "The Quintillion investment is too meagre to demand Mr Adani's attention. So, does he have bigger plans?" wondered Mr Bhaskar in his book.
Now we know. With revenues of around $51m and a modest profit of $10m, NDTV may not be a lucrative buy for Mr Adani, whose sprawling group has a market capitalisation of $260bn.
But NDTV is India's best-known network that pioneered data-driven vote analysis, morning shows, and a host of tech and lifestyle programmes on TV. Today, it has a robust online presence, claiming some 35 million followers across platforms.
NDTV, the Adani group believes, is "the most suitable broadcast and digital platform to deliver on our vision". Mr Adani has offered some clues about what the vision is. "Why can't you support one media house to become independent and have a global footprint? India does not have one single [outlet] to compare to Financial Times or Al Jazeera," he told the Financial Times.
Critics of the sale are more sceptical. Many regard NDTV as one of India's few independent news networks, which has stayed away from the shouty jingoism of many of its peers. A study by Oxford University and the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found that 76% of respondents trust information from NDTV.
Mr Adani's takeover has sparked concerns that this would hurt its editorial integrity. Despite the diversity of media choices, independent journalism in India doesn't appear to be in fine fettle: the country dropped to 150 of 180 countries ranked in Paris-based Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index this year, its lowest position ever. Mr Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rejects the findings, saying the index adopts a methodology that is both "questionable and non-transparent".
The diversity of media also masks the concentration of ownership, say experts. Four daily newspapers, for example, share three quarters of the readership in Hindi, according to Reporters Without Borders. Billionaire Mukesh Ambani, who owns a $220bn retail-to-refining conglomerate, also controls Network18, one of India's largest media companies. Companies owned by Mr Adani and Mr Ambani generate revenues equivalent to 4% of India's GDP.
The takeover of NDTV is also symbolic of the troubles plaguing the news business in India, says Vanita Kohli-Khandekar, a media specialist. India has more than 400 news channels in a market that is mostly privately owned and in regional languages. News channels mopped up an estimated 8% of the $423m that TV advertising got in 2021.
"News is one of the toughest business to be in, anywhere," says Ms Kohli-Khandekar. "In India, TV news is one of the most unprofitable, politically perilous and dodgy businesses to be in." Just "two to three companies" make money from time to time, she adds.
Since people are largely not willing to pay for news, advertising accounts for a bulk of revenues for the channels. Many believe the credibility of networks has waned: many have been accused of fiddling with ratings and what an expert called the "grotesque tabloidization" of news, and partisan coverage.
NDTV's own financial woes began during an economic downturn more than a decade ago when it had to borrow $44m from a company controlled by Mr Ambani's Reliance Industries to refinance existing debts. "NDTV has struggled long and hard and it seems to be losing the fight. For the business of journalism it seems like a defeat," says Ms Kohli-Khandekar.
Time will tell whether the editorial content and tenor of the network will change under the new ownership. At a time when TV news is polarised, NDTV was "more left-of-the centre and did stories critical of the government which most others were not taking up," says Shailesh Kapoor of Ormax Media, a media consultancy. "Will they now soften their stand and move to a more neutral position because of editorial restrictions?"
Mr Adani believes there's nothing to fear. "Independence means if government has done something wrong, you say it's wrong," he told Financial Times. "But at the same time, you should have courage when the government is doing the right thing. You have to also say that."-BBC
China protests: Uncertainty reigns for foreign firms
For foreign companies that operate in China, the unprecedented protests at the weekend could not have come at a worse time.
It has been almost three years of intermittent lockdowns, disrupted supply chains and rules that have made the country uninviting to international staff. The last year has been particularly painful - as the rest of the world opened up and learned to live alongside the virus.
"In my 12 years of being in China, I have never seen the levels of social and economic disruption. The extraordinary civil unrest taking place at the moment is all due to zero-Covid fatigue," the British Chamber of Commerce's Managing Director Steven Lynch told the BBC.
"This is the lowest level of sentiment we've ever experienced, certainly for British businesses."
Protests and political instability are not good for business. But it is the Covid numbers in China that are really rattling investors.
Recent days have seen about 40,000 new cases - record highs for China - and with authorities determined to stamp out infections according to President Xi Jinping's zero-Covid strategy, that could mean more disruption to manufacturing, services and normal consumer behaviour.
More vaccinations
The European Chamber of Commerce in China, which represents more than 1,700 members across the country, on Tuesday called for a vaccination campaign to be rolled out to the entire population, and to ease current virus control measures.
"This should be preceded by a comprehensive, nationwide education campaign about Covid-19, based on the latest scientific evidence, in order to alleviate any public anxiety and to illustrate that being fully vaccinated significantly reduces the risk of contracting serious disease," it said in a statement.
The Chinese government says it is taking some action.
At a press conference on Tuesday, State Council health officials said they would speed up a push to vaccinate the elderly and more vulnerable members of society. They also announced a publicity campaign to combat vaccine hesitancy among the elderly and promote vaccines' ability to protect against severe illness and death.
But they insisted any complaints about Covid restrictions stemmed from "overzealous implementation" rather than the measures themselves.
When asked if the protests would encourage authorities to reconsider the policy, a spokeswoman for the National Health Commission, said policy would be "fine-tuned" to control the impact on society and the economy.
A good market
Many companies still want to keep business in the vast market going - even as strict Covid measures have made international operations harder.
"Many companies are doing very well despite the headwinds. Look at Starbucks, Nike, and Mercedes," Frank Lavin, former US under secretary of commerce for international trade said.
"They already have resiliency plans in place. Those who might be more vulnerable are the smaller and medium size companies doing business in China that don't have a resiliency plan. You can't expect the business plan that worked at home will work abroad," Mr Lavin added.
China's growth into the world's second-largest economy relied heavily on foreign investment and those firms are now keen to reap the reward.
The country is a growing market for cars, clothes, luxury goods and electronics as its citizens become wealthier, and also an enormous manufacturing hub with relatively cheap labour and established supply chains.
But some executives are now wondering if their China dreams will ever come to fruition.
"China has not communicated an exit strategy. There's no end in sight, there's no sign of normal life returning," Steven Lynch from the British Chamber of Commerce said.-BBC
EasyJet holiday bookings up despite cost-of-living crisis
People are protecting their spending on holidays despite the cost-of-living crisis, the boss of EasyJet has said.
Johan Lundgren told the BBC the airline had seen strong demand for flights over half term, Christmas and New Year despite the "pressure" on households.
However, he said demand outside peak periods remained below usual levels.
It came as the low-cost carrier reported a sharp bounceback in sales and narrowed its losses for the year to 30 September.
The company said it had faced "multiple headwinds" in the period, including Covid restrictions and the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which drove up fuel prices.
However, Mr Lundgren told the BBC's Today programme that there was "a great deal of pent-up demand" this summer despite the uncertainty surrounding the state of the economy.
"At the same time we see there is a strong demand in the peak periods," he said, adding that budget airlines tended to do well in downturns because "people gravitate towards value".
According to a survey of 2,000 people conducted by EasyJet, 64% plan to fly abroad in 2023, while 70% said that they would prioritise a holiday over other expenditure in their yearly budget.
Many said they would cut back on other discretionary spending, such as eating out or buying new clothes, to ensure they could travel abroad.
However, Mr Lungren said the airline needed to do more to "stimulate" demand outside peak periods and there were "big cost increases coming towards the industry".
Inflation - the rate at which prices rise - is running at a 41-year high in the UK, as energy and food prices have soared.
EasyJet said that, like all airlines, it faced cost pressures including higher fuel costs, a stronger US dollar and demands for higher wages.
Mr Lundgren declined to say how much ticket prices for next summer could rise by.
Rival budget carrier Ryanair has said its prices are rising, with boss Michael O'Leary warning that the era of the €10 ticket is over.
The airline's average fare would rise from around €40 (£33.75) last year to roughly €50 over the next five years, he told the BBC in August.
According to a recent BBC survey of more than 4,000 adults, 85% are worried about the rising cost of living, up from 69% in a similar poll in January.
As a result, nine in 10 people are trying to save money by delaying putting the heating on.=BB
Anti-London policies will slow UK's financial recovery, report says
Divisive "them and us" rhetoric about London and the rest of the UK will hinder national recovery from the cost-of-living crisis, according to a new report.
Centre for London says there is an opportunity for less antagonism and more partnership with "levelling up" likely to fade as a political slogan.
The think tank argues investment outside of London should not come at the expense of the capital.
The report, London's Contribution in the UK, concluded regional inequalities could be fixed by increasing overall spending, rather than cutting London's funding. Choking off government spending in the capital would hit the tax revenues on which investment around the UK depends, it said.
The think tank carried out focus groups involving 2,000 people from London and elsewhere to find out how people feel about London's dominant status as the country's only "global" city.
On the whole, it found people outside London did not resent the capital. However, they were not convinced by arguments about the value of the City financial sector to the UK economy, in terms of tax revenue.
And participants in the focus groups did appreciate London's international reputation and its importance for tourism.
The Centre for London analysis describes the impact of "London-plus" tourism, where London is the "gateway" to visitors but the benefits are spread far beyond.
Researchers found 71% of first-time holiday visitors to the UK came to the city.
"This London-plus tourism is estimated to contribute more than £640m in spending a year, driven by the fact that these visitors spend between 24% and 64% more nights in the UK than those who just visit one location," the report said.
Indeed, in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic, London was visited by nearly 22 million tourists - around 63% of the total number who visited England and more than 53% of those who visited the UK.
Together, they spent nearly £16bn in the capital, accounting for 55% of tourism spending in the UK.
Their spending supported one in seven of all jobs in London, 700,000 of them, and nearly 12% of the city's economic output, according to researchers.
The report also found London's arts and cultural attractions were a major draw for domestic and international visitors.
However, this is at risk, due the recently announced cuts to Arts Council funding, which have raised doubts about the future of institutions like the English National Opera. Under the plans, £24m of annual funding will be diverted outside of the capital.
Researchers also believe many Londoners are unable to access the city's wealth of cultural venues, and that cuts to public funding would make them less accessible still, particularly to low income families.
According to the report, the capital "kickstarts" innovations in public transport such as contactless payment, helping to make London fundamental to the UK's productivity and creativity.
And the report said Transport for London had entered into a private-sector partnership that allowed other cities to adapt its systems for their own network.
Former prime minister Boris Johnson made "levelling up" a key slogan of his premiership, although there was little consensus of what it meant.
With the future of levelling up unclear because of the recent political "chaos", Centre for London argues the strategy should focus on increasing overall investment spending, not cutting investment in London.
Claire Harding, research director, said: "Levelling up could help everyone in the UK, but only if it is done properly. It must not be seen as an opportunity to create divisions between places or simply reduce London's funding, which is not a strategy that the public want and would only threaten the economy.
"London's contribution has always been vital to the UK, ranging from a hub of world-class education, research and arts, to a place of pride representing the country on the global stage. We hope this report will convince policymakers to continue making the case for the city."-BBC
Royal Mail postal workers begin fresh two-day strike
Postal workers at Royal Mail have begun a fresh 48-hour strike in a row over pay and conditions.
It is the latest in a series of walkouts involving 115,000 workers and will affect letter and parcel deliveries across the UK.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents the workers, says its members want a pay rise that matches the surging cost of living.
Royal Mail said it had made a revised offer but "no talks are happening".
Postal workers walked out on Thursday and Friday last week, and another wave of strikes is planned in the run-up to Christmas - on 9, 11, 14, 15, 23 and 24 December.
Clara Challoner Walker, who runs the Cosy Cottage Soap Company in Malton, Yorkshire, said the strikes were having a "significant impact" on her business.
She uses Royal Mail because it is too expensive to send her relatively small soap and skincare orders via courier companies.
But she says the strikes are likely to damage the business during the "critical" Christmas trading period, when it makes most of its profits for the year.
"We do feel sympathy for the [Royal Mail workers]," she told the BBC. "But I would question the union bosses as to whether striking at this time of year, which is going to have such a significant impact on small businesses, is achieving what they are looking to achieve."
On strike days Royal Mail will not be able to deliver first and second class letters, but will deliver as many parcels and Special Delivery letters as possible.
The dispute began this summer after Royal Mail rejected union demands for a pay rise that matched inflation - the rate at which prices rises - which is currently 11.1%.
The union also objects to proposed changes to working conditions, such as ending a number of allowances and the introduction of compulsory Sunday working.
Royal Mail has since offered a pay deal that it says is worth up to 9% over 18 months, calling it its "best and final offer".
But CWU general secretary Dave Ward said that offer represented a "devastating blow" to postal workers' livelihoods and urged the public to "stand with their postie".
"Royal Mail bosses are risking a Christmas meltdown because of their stubborn refusal to treat their employees with respect," he said on Tuesday.
He added that postal workers wanted to "get on with serving the communities they belong to" and tackling the backlog of presents and Christmas cards that has built up in recent weeks.
Sam Smith runs Pot Gang, which sells grow-your-own vegetable and herb kits online. The firm uses Royal Mail to send hundreds of boxes to customers every day, but he said it used more expensive courier companies on strike days to prevent deliveries being delayed.
"The general public generally aren't too forgiving when it comes to [late] deliveries," he told the BBC. "It creates a bit of a customer service headache for us."
Mr Smith said he sympathised with the striking workers but that "ultimately Royal Mail is a business and has to deal with businesses".
"We need to know that things will be arriving reliably and on time for a fair price [this Christmas]," he added.
What does Royal Mail say?
Royal Mail has been struggling as it moves from its traditional business of delivering letters - which is no longer profitable - to the fast-growing world of parcel deliveries.
The company faces fierce competition from courier companies and is losing around a million pounds a day. It said the strikes have added £100m to its losses, and has announced plans to cut up to 10,000 jobs.
As well as improving its offer to workers, Royal Mail says it has promised more generous redundancy terms and a profit-sharing scheme.
Earlier this month, it asked the government to allow it to stop letter deliveries on Saturdays as it reported a sharp loss for the first half of the year.
It wants to move from a six-days-a-week letter delivery to five, from Monday to Friday only. However, parcel services would continue to run all days of the week.-BBC
Nigeria: Kogi, China Partner On $60m Smart Security Architecture to Tackle Insecurity
To tackle insecurity, especially within its borders, the Kogi State government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Chinese investors for the provision of high technology security architecture.
The first-of-its-kind smart technology will capture movements in and out of Kogi State from a command and control centre to decimate terrorists, bandits and other criminal elements that may want to infiltrate the state and other 11 states it shares boundaries with.
According to the state government, in sealing this laudable security control deal, all stakeholders, including the Army, Department of State Services, Navy, Police and local vigilantes, among others, were carried along.
The Chief Executive Officer, Kogi State Investment Promotion and Public Private Partnership Agency, Abdulkareem Siyaka, disclosed that a lot of work went into the conceptualisation and design of the project with the Chinese firm, Hytera, to eventually arrive at an investment deal that would greatly improve the state's economy while also grinding insecurity to halt in Kogi State as well as across adjoining states.
He disclosed this at the opening of a two-day interactive workshop on "Kogi State Mission Critical Support System: A 21st century integrated smart state/security architecture", held in Abuja.
He noted that the project was expected to create over 685,000 jobs, attract over N591bn investment, yearly, while also encouraging migration to rural areas in the state, adding that a 5G licence had already been acquired by the state from the Nigerian Communications Commission.
Siyaka said, "We are putting the whole state on the map, real-time, virtual, audio and visual, so as you enter Kogi State from anywhere, even though the bush, we will see you. I won't go into too much details because of the sensitivity of the architecture. But the components will be manned by a command/control centre.
"The idea is that the moment you come into the state, we will see you; if you're driving, if you're walking, you have metal, if you're talking, we will be able to pick it and then if you do something wrong, we will be able to intercept you using our field personnel on the ground etc."
The KOSIPA CEO added, "Our boss, His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Kogi State, is futuristic in everything he does. He is not a leader that jokes with the security of the state. That is why we are Number One in that area today.
"He knows that, to develop Kogi State, he will need to be ahead of criminals by using artificial intelligence, by using super crime fighting infrastructure. We are bordered by 11 states we don't have control over, so the best way to immunize, to arm ourselves is to go into this kind of project."
Governor Yahaya Bello, while declaring the workshop open, said he was confident that the project, which would be driven by 5G network and a 30Megawatt gas-powered electricity plant to be built by an American company, would not only ensure a safer Kogi State, but would improve economic and infrastructural development, greatly.
Governor Bello said, "There cannot be any meaningful development without adequate security. We are a serious government ready to harness every of our resources for the benefit of our people. We will continue to do our best. We have received several awards in terms of providing safety and security for our people. That is a call to do more and we will do more.
"I want to assure the people of Kogi State that to my last day in office, I will continue to cooperate with all our law enforcement agencies and our citizens across board to make sure we fight these criminals to a standstill."
=This Day
Nigeria: One Month to End of the Year, Reps Pass N607.9 Billion FCT 2022 Budget
President Muhammadu Buhari had on14 November transmitted the FCT budget to the House for consideration.
The House of Representatives has passed the N607.9 billion 2022 budget of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The lower chamber passed the budget on Tuesday after the Committee of Supply considered the report submitted by the House Committee on FCT.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on14 November transmitted the budget of the territory to the House.
Mr Buhari in the letter said the "budget proposal prioritises improvement in healthcare services, job creation, youth empowerment, social welfare services."
The budget has a capital projects component of N403.7 billion, overhead expenditure of N127 billion and personnel cost of N76 billion.
There has been substantial increase in the budget of the FCT in the past 12 years. The 2021 budget was N329.9 billion
The breakdown of the 2021 budget comprises N74,323,382,813 for Personnel Costs; N58,728,614,466 for Overheads; and N196,911,494,243 for Capital Projects.
The capital component of the 2022 budget has more than doubled the 2021 estimate. N403.7 billion is proposed for capital expenditure in 2022, while N196.9 billion was allocated to 2021.
Likewise, the overhead component also increased from N58.7 billion in 2021 to N127 billion in 2022.
While passing the budget, the House resolved that "In the event that the implementation of any of the projects intended to be undertaken under this Bill cannot be completed without virement, such virement shall only be effected with the prior approval of the National Assembly."
-Premium Times.
Nigeria: How Food Prices Surged in October - NBS
The report found that the average price of a 1kg onion bulb rose year-on-year by 32.6 per cent to N405.72 in the review month and by 2.2 per cent between September and October.
The average price of a number of selected food items in the country soared in October, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)'s "Food Prices Watch" published on Tuesday.
The report found that the average price of a 1kg onion bulb rose year-on-year by 32.6 per cent to N405.72 in the review month and by 2.2 per cent between September and October.
1kg of rice (local sold loose) saw an average price jump of 17.5 per cent to N487.5 in the twelve months to October 2022.
"On a month-on-month basis, the average price of this item increased by 3.40 per cent in October 2022," the statistics office added.
The average price of 1kg of Tomato rose on an annual basis, scaled up by 30.8 per cent from N454.5 and by 2.10 per cent month on month.
The price increase of 1kg bean (sold loose) averaged 18 per cent last month compared to a year earlier, climbing to N564.7.
According to the report, the average price of palm oil (1 bottle) increased by 33.2 per cent from N727.21 in October 2021 to N968.76 in October 2022. However, it grew by 4.5 per cent on a month-on-month basis.
It added that the average price of vegetable oil (1 bottle) stood at N1,106.08 in October 2022, a jump of 34 per cent compared to October 2021.
On a month-on-month basis, it rose by 2.81 per cent.
At the state level, the highest average price of rice (local sold loose) was recorded in Rivers at N630.66, while Jigawa reported the lowest at N381.54.
Ebonyi recorded the highest average price of beans (brown, sold loose) at N848.74, while the lowest was reported by Plateau at N360.03.
Abia recorded the highest price of vegetable oil (1 bottle) at N1,484.31, while Benue recorded the lowest at N650.89.
Data on a regional basis showed that the average price of a 1kg onion bulb was highest in the South-South and South-East at N670.63 and N538.31 respectively, while the lowest was recorded by the North-East at N212.83.
The South-South recorded the highest average price of 1kg rice (local sold loose) at N545.03, followed by the South-West at N519.53, while the lowest was recorded in the North-West at N435.06.
The South-East recorded the highest average price of palm oil (1 bottle) at N1,101.04, followed by the South West at N1,096.17 while the North-Central recorded the least at N742.62.
-Premium Times.
Nigeria: Adeleke Denies Sacking 12,000 Workers, 3 Monarchs
Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun state has denied sacking 12,000 workers and dethroning three monarchs in the monarchs.
Speaking on Rave FM in Osogbo during a talk show programme, "Frank Talk," the spokesperson of the governor, Olawale Rasheed, said Adeleke has neither sacked 12,000 workers nor dethroned any monarch.
According to Rasheed, the appointments and employment by the administration of Oyetola will be reviewed to ensure due process.
According to him: "There was never sack of any worker or traditional ruler. We only set up a review panel. It is impossible to sack and put a review panel in place.
"The review panel is to look at the numbers of the people that were employed, due processes of the employment, and qualification among other things.
"Before our taking over, there were issues of backdating of employment, even till last year. So order 1-5 will be operationalized by order 6 which are the panels.
"Those that were employed from July 17 till our takeover are still at work presently, they have not been sacked. The staff audit will review the employment. Within 4 hours, Adeleke has dismantled the illegality of 4 months, all the bobby traps he has dismantled them."
Recall that Adeleke signed Executive Orders 3, 4, and 5, nullifying all employment and appointments by his predecessor Gboyega Oyetola from July 17 till his inauguration on Monday.
He issued another Executive Order dethroning three of the monarchs installed by Oyetola.
He explained that executive order one to five shows the intentions of the administration to review, nullify, and set aside, and the instrumentality to effect the orders was order six which is the composition of the panel.
The order states: "All employments in the service of Osun State Government made in any capacity into any capacity in all the Ministries, Departments, Agencies, Commissions, Boards and Parastatals after July 17th, 2022 be and are hereby nullified.
"All appointments in the service of Osun State Government made in any capacity into any capacity in all the Ministries, Departments, Agencies, Commissions, Boards and Parastatals after 17th July, 2022 be and are hereby reversed.
"Executive Order number five on Chieftaincy Affairs and appointment of traditional rulers. All appointments of traditional rulers made by Osun State Government after 17th July, 2022, are hereby ordered to be reviewed to ensure there was strict compliance with due process of chieftaincy declarations and native law, custom and tradition relating to such chieftaincies.
"In the case of Ikirun, Iree and Igbajo, to avoid further breakdown of law and order, the appointments of Akinrun of Ikinrun, Aree of Ire and Owa of Igbajo are hereby put on hold pending review. Subsequently, the palaces of Akinrun of Ikirun, Aree of Iree and Owa of Igbajo should remain unoccupied, while security agencies are hereby ordered to take charge."
-Vanguard.
Nigeria: Naira Redesign to Encourage Expanded Financial Inclusion - CBN
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says the naira redesign will encourage expanded financial inclusion and other forms of electronic transactions.
Ahmed Umar, the Director, Currency Operations of CBN, said this at the 2022 workshop for business editors and members of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.
Umar, represented by Amina Halidu-Giwa, the Head, Policy Development Division, Currency Operation Department of the bank, said the redesign would encourage many un-banked people to be included in the financial system.
According to him, it will discourage excessive carrying of cash and encourage other electronic means of transactions.
He said that when the un-banked were fully captured in the financial system, it would help form adequate data for effective planning for greater economic growth.
"Naira redesign will also help in reducing cash management expenditures, give visibility and control and will help the bank to know the volume of money in circulation.
"It will also help in fighting counterfeiting and money laundering," he said.
The director said that contrary to rumours that the CBN would print other denominations apart from the redesigned N1000, N500 and N200, no other denomination would be printed.
Umar also said that the bank was not making money from the printing of the new notes contrary to insinuations.
He said that it was just a continuous process of printing money by the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc, adding that no contract was given to outsiders for the printing.
Fielding questions on why the redesign was so simple, he said "we want to solve a problem and we have limited time to do that.
"Redesigning is about change of colour or size. The ink itself is a security feature," he said.
Umar said that the redesign of the notes were long overdue noting that the N1000 notes had stayed for 17 years, N500 for 21 years and N200 for 22 years.
-Vanguard.
Africa: A Stronger Private Sector Can Boost African Trade
One of the primary explanations for the low African trade performance has been the lack of a vibrant and dynamic private sector
Among the various ways to strengthen the private sector and thus promote African trade, African governments must enable the private sector to play an active role in realising regional integration objectives.
Regional trade remains low despite the African Union establishing and operationalising the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Given their limited financial resources, most African governments must find methods to harness private investment in infrastructure.
A credible system for successful public-private sector cooperation must be established to harness private sector potential, strengthen productive capacity, and improve chances for expanding African trade,
Regional African trade is still low
Regional trade remains low despite the African Union establishing and operationalising the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). While there are significant improvements, Brookings indicates that intraregional trade accounts for just 22 to 25 per cent of Africa's overall exports. One of the primary explanations for the low African trade performance has been the lack of a vibrant and dynamic private sector to take advantage of the available opportunities in the trading system.
Africa's private sector faces several challenges compounded by regional integration initiatives for boosting trade focus on processes, including removing trade barriers, without proper attention to build productive capacities for private sector development to address the prevailing challenges effectively. Thus, moving away from these direct and process-based tactics towards an improved development focus is necessary.
The private sector plays a significant role in ensuring regional integration works for Africa. Although governments sign trade agreements, the private sector understands businesses' challenges and can take advantage of the prospects created by such contracts for regional trade. Among the various ways to strengthen the private sector and thus promote African trade, African governments must enable the private sector to play an active role in realising regional integration objectives.
Access to finance to boost African trade
Studies suggest that access to finance remains one of the significant challenges hindering Africa's private sector development. African private businesses have a hard time accessing affordable finance for their businesses. Thus, access to financial assets is a crucial area requiring creative solutions.
Only 23 per cent of African enterprises can access loans or credit lines compared to 46 per cent for non-African developing countries. Still, even this 23 per cent can only access loans at interest rates that are 5-6 per cent higher than their counterparts in other regions globally. Moreover, these high-interest rates often come with forbidding collateral requirements.
Financial access challenge is especially an issue for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) since banks usually target large enterprises. Domestic financial institutions rarely prioritise meeting the financing needs of SMEs. Nevertheless, there are ways in which governments could collaborate with the private sector to improve the financial infrastructure and boost African trade.
Value chain financing and currency unions
Consequently, the private sector must explore innovative and mutually beneficial ways of addressing the hurdles against access to credit for SMEs. For instance, SMEs and the private sector could use value chain financing and asset leasing to overcome the collateral challenge.
Agricultural sectors in Ghana and Mozambique have successfully used value-chain finance. This model involves input suppliers offering inputs, including fertilisers, on credit to farmers or members of an agricultural cooperative with the understanding that they will repay after harvesting.
Regional development finance institutions may also play an essential role in improving SMEs' access to financing since their operations are often funded by governments and development agencies, allowing them to provide loans at a cheaper cost.
The plurality of inconvertible currencies within fragmented political units raises risk and reduces trust in intraregional transactions. Currency unions may assist African countries in reducing payment risks related to currency inconvertibility. Currency unions would also reduce the transaction costs of using different currencies, boosting regional trade.
African nations are stepping up their efforts toward currency unification by establishing institutions and laws to ensure a complete currency union in the medium to long term. Governments should explore expanding integration in payment structures in the near term to cut transaction costs and thus improve African trade.
Infrastructure development
It is estimated that Africa's weak infrastructure affects business productivity by 40 per cent and per capita production growth by roughly 2 per cent. This significantly impacts Africa's private sector's competitiveness since it restricts access to markets, increases trade costs, and diminishes productivity.As a result, regional and global production and trading capacity diminish. Given their limited financial resources, most African governments must find methods to harness private investment in infrastructure.
Until recently, most private investment in Africa was in the telecommunications industry, with less going into equally important sectors such as transportation and energy. In this scenario, governments and stakeholders must encourage more significant private investment in the energy and transportation sectors to promote regional trade.
Governments should also look at new and creative methods to attract investment in infrastructure projects across the continent. Kenya and South Africa, for instance, have effectively utilised infrastructure bonds to fund road projects. Other African governments should examine this possibility while considering its influence on debt sustainability.
African nations with abundant natural resources, such as Botswana, Chad, Ghana, Libya, and Nigeria, have established sovereign wealth funds. These funds might be used to build regional and continental infrastructure. Regional development finance organisations like the African Development Bank (AfDB) may also help fund infrastructure development.
Strengthening public-private sector consultation
Although businesses and governments should be equal partners in trade, the communication gap between the two is frequently a significant obstacle to effectiveness and mutual understanding.
A credible system for successful public-private sector cooperation must be established to harness private sector potential, strengthen productive capacity, and improve chances for expanding African trade,
In this sense, African governments must have frequent talks with the business sector to understand better the challenges they confront and how to overcome them. Such information is essential in developing effective strategies to encourage entrepreneurship and improve intra-regional trade.
Purposeful and reliable leadership remains crucial in developing confidence between governments and the private sector. Leadership creates an atmosphere that can increase and maintain communication. Governments must ensure that engagement with the private sector is conducted to benefit society as a whole.
Checks and balances are critical in ensuring that a close public-private partnership does not foster rent-seeking behaviour. Transparency in interactions with the private sector, as well as the engagement of civil society in business-government dialogues, is an effective method to reduce the possibility of corruption.
Cross-border trade facilitation
More than 100 bilateral boundaries separate African nations. These boundaries impede continental trade and integration by imposing financial costs on businesses and creating uncertainties.
Measures including border control coordination, travel assurance programs, and pre-arrival customs processing may help cross-border trade, but they also need cooperation among neighbouring nations.
However, several African regional economic communities have already launched ambitious trade and transportation facilitation programs to stimulate cross-border trade. Governments and stakeholders must enhance these regional programs and include Africa's private sector in their execution.
Peace and stability paramount
Achieving security and peace is Africa's most urgent development concern. It must be an essential component of any meaningful policy package to strengthen private sector growth and boost African trade.
Civil conflicts and political turmoil are two examples of insecurity. Africa has made significant progress in the last decade. However, several countries, including Ethiopia, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), have recently had civil conflicts. These conflicts have detrimental effects on infrastructure development, private-sector investment, and entrepreneurship.
It also has significant implications for national risk premiums and, as a result, intra-African trade financing. Experts believe that trade reduces by as much as 12-25 per cent in the first year of a conflict. After that, it might take up to 25 years for the nation to revert to pre-crisis levels.
Governments must pay more attention to security and peace concerns. These are necessary prerequisites for fostering Africa's private sector growth on the continent, which is critical for strengthening African trade.
-The Exchange.
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INVESTORS DIARY 2022
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Event
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December 22
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December 25
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December 26
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CBZH
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