Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 22 June 2023

Thu Jun 22 09:11:13 CAT 2023

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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 22 June 2023 

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

ü  Ethiopia: Govt Takes Step to Secure Crucial Foreign Currency >From IMF, World Bank

ü  Kenya's Population - 5 Key Findings in the Past 20 Years of Research

ü  South Africa: Plans in Place to Avoid 'Highly Improbable' Blackout

ü  South Africa: SA Sets Sights On Green Energy Opportunities With Netherlands, Denmark

ü  Malawi's Inflation Up to 29.2 Percent

ü  Malawi: Chakwera Tells African Leaders to Include Youth, Women in Development Agenda for Africa Economic Growth

ü  Malawi: Chakwera Secures K2.6 Trillion From Afrexim Bank for Mega Farms, Development Projects

ü  Nigeria: 10 Nigerians, 15 Other African Startups Get $4m Google Fund

ü  Nigeria: Subsidy Removal - Uber, Bolt Drivers Suspend Planned Strike

ü  South Africa: SA's May Consumer Price Index Slows to 6.3 Percent, Signalling End of Interest Rate Hiking Cycle

ü  Interest rates set to rise for 13th time in a row

ü  Amazon accused of tricking Prime customers

ü  Wirecard scandal: Singapore fines financial firms over breaches

ü  Amazon accused of tricking Prime customers

ü  Canada Bread agrees to pay C$50m for role in price-fixing scheme

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

The

Ethiopia: Govt Takes Step to Secure Crucial Foreign Currency From IMF, World Bank

Addis Abeba — With the conclusion of consultation on the second Home Grown Economic Reforms Agenda with the executive committee of the Development Assistance Group (DAG), Ethiopia moves a step closer to securing the much-needed foreign currency from the Bretton Woods Institutions.

In 2019, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved close to $3 billion to support the first phase of the Homegrown Economic Reform Program, which is designed to eliminate macroeconomic imbalances and lay the foundation for sustainable and inclusive growth. A source close to the issue informed Addis Standard, that the government is currently seeking comparable financial assistance from the IMF and the World Bank to that provided three years ago.

Chaired by Eyob Tekalign (PhD), state minister for Finance, the consultation, which kicked off at the beginning of this week, focused on the economic reforms expected to be implemented in the next three years. The reforms under discussion include a more extensive liberalization of key economic sectors, such as the financial industry.

Last week, Solomon Desta, Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), stated that the government intends to allow foreign insurers to operate in Ethiopia after the establishment of an independent body to regulate the sector is realized. A few months ago, the central bank made an offer to provide five banking licenses to foreign investors over the course of five years.

The conclusion of the discussion with 27 donor organizations under the DAG banner is encouraging for Ethiopia, which is currently facing a chronic shortage of foreign currency. When he presented the proposed budget for the upcoming year to members of parliament two weeks ago, Ahmed Shide, Minister of Finance, admitted that the country is enduring a major economic imbalance. According to the budget document, the amount of external assistance acquired is less than 22% of the plan, while development partners have stopped a substantial chunk of the funding they pledged during the past two years.

Following the request of the Ethiopian government, Bretton Woods Institutions expressed their willingness to provide financial assistance subject to certain conditions. Recently, Julie Kozack, director of communications at the IMF, said that discussions are ongoing on economic policies and reforms that could potentially be supported under an IMF program.

Eyob is expected to hold further discussions about the anticipated reform interventions with the business and academic communities in the coming week. AS

-Addis Standard.

Kenya's Population - 5 Key Findings in the Past 20 Years of Research

Like many countries on the African continent, Kenya's population is growing - fast. The country's population was 8.1 million in 1963; today it stands at about 55 million people. More people have moved into urban areas too. In 1960 about 7% of the population lived in urban areas; by 2021 it stood at 28%.

Some key changes within Kenya's society have taken place alongside, and because of, this fast growth.

I'm the executive director of the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), an organisation which has been documenting population changes and dynamics in Kenya, and other countries, for 20 years. This work has helped to influence public policy and response.

Some of the key challenges identified in Kenya have been:

a large number of urban residents, especially those in informal settlements, without social services such as public health facilities;

shortage of public schools (government funded);

widespread non-communicable diseases and their risk factors in urban informal settlements;

a high number of unsafe abortions driven by high levels of mistimed and unwanted pregnancies; and

uneven progress in sustainable development goals (SDGs) targets related to mothers, children and adolescents.

These findings are key to driving effective strategies.

Urban residents without access to services

Kenya's development partners have tended to assume that urban areas and residents were well-served by social services, and didn't need special attention from government and civil society organisations. As a result, in the 1980s and 1990s, poverty alleviation programmes focused on rural areas.

However, in 2002 we produced evidence that showed huge differences in health, education and other social outcomes among residents of urban informal settlements when compared to other urban residents. For some outcomes, residents of urban informal settlements were doing as badly as rural residents, if not worse. For instance, we found that children living in slums were sicker than those living elsewhere in Kenya. They were also less likely to get treatment when they were sick.

Our work highlighted the important point that simply presenting national statistics for rural and urban areas, without breaking them down further by socioeconomic status, was highly misleading. If countries were to make progress towards various development targets, urban informal settlements needed special attention.

Understanding this led to the design of projects and programmes by governments and other agencies that targeted disadvantaged urban areas. Over time, great progress has been made and the health and other social indicators in these areas have improved.

Shortage of public schools

Free primary education was implemented in Kenya in 2003. Its main objective was to make primary education accessible to all. Research done at APHRC, however, showed that the enrolment of children in public schools went up for a couple of years and then rapidly declined.

In 2012, 63% of primary school students in Nairobi urban informal settlements were attending non-government schools, a percentage as high as it had been before the policy. This happened because there were not enough public schools to meet the demand. Parents realised that their children were not receiving the right amount of attention in overcrowded classrooms. Instead, they took their children back to the informal private schools they had been attending before the policy was rolled out.

Once our evidence was shared with the ministry of education, the Education Taskforce of 2012 adopted recommendations to include all learners, including those in non-formal schools, who met set criteria to benefit from capitation grants. This was to ensure that learners in informal settlements benefited from the government programme.

Widespread diseases in informal settlements

A key health-related finding was that non-communicable diseases, and their risk factors, showed a high prevalence in the urban informal settlements of Nairobi.

There was a huge burden of undiagnosed, untreated and uncontrolled disease. For instance, about 80% of adults diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure were previously undiagnosed. Among those who had been previously diagnosed, the majority had not received treatment in the past 12 months. Only a fraction had received treatment in the past two weeks. As a result, for every 100 people diagnosed with either condition, only one had it under control.

These findings are vital to understanding existing or potential gaps in a healthcare system. They shaped the APHRC's subsequent research programmes on developing models to improve care for chronic conditions in these settings. Some of these have been adopted by Nairobi County and other players.

Huge number of unsafe abortions in Kenya

In 2013, APHRC published the report of the first ever incidence and magnitude study on unsafe abortion. The study estimated that over 464,000 abortions had been conducted in Kenya, and an estimated 120,000 women sought care in health facilities for complications. According to the World Health Organisation, 4.7% to 13.2% of maternal deaths annually can be attributed to unsafe abortion.

An estimated half (49%) of all pregnancies were unintended and four in ten of these ended in an abortion, highlighting the need for increased access to contraception.

Uneven progress in supporting mothers and children

APHRC has been supporting the analysis of routine health information and survey data to track African countries' progress towards meeting the SDG targets related to mothers, children and adolescents. These include the reduction in maternal mortality and the end of preventable deaths of newborns and children.

The analysis - conducted for at least 18 countries - shows a general trend of improvement in various outcomes at the country level, but also huge differences between regions for some indicators. For instance in Kenya, childhood mortality has declined from 99 per 1,000 live births in 2000 to 31 in 2020. Estimates from 2014 show significant regional differences, with the worst performing sub-region (coast) having more than double the rate of child deaths compared with the best performing one (central) - 87.4 against 42.1.

The progress seen at national level can be explained by improvements in health outcomes in some regions, but not all. This analysis is important to provide evidence about how government and development partners can target resources towards disadvantaged regions if Kenya is to meet the SDG targets.

Catherine Kyobutungi, Executive Director, African Population and Health Research Center

South Africa: Plans in Place to Avoid 'Highly Improbable' Blackout

Chairman of the Management Committee National Rationalised Specifications (NRS) Association of South Africa, Vally Padayachee, says the country remains very distant from an electrical blackout even in the face of higher stages of load shedding.

Padayachee was speaking at the National Press Club on Wednesday morning.

"To give assurance to the media and the public that migrating into a blackout situation and a potential national grid collapse though technically is not impossible but it is virtually not probable at all.

"After all ... it has not happened in South Africa to date in 100 years of Eskom's existence ... we have never had a total blackout in the country. So hence we can give you the assurance that we're still far away from a blackout let alone a grid collapse," he said.

Padayachee carefully explained how electricity blackouts are caused.

"It's caused by an unexpected and sudden event in the transmission network that cascades and eventually results in generators protecting themselves and separating from the network.

"When we get to the situation where the supply cannot meet the demand, the system automatically takes over and it would get into a blackout situation. There are a number of interventions for that which prevents that from happening. Blackouts are not only caused by a lack of generation capacity - it could be caused by other [factors]," he said.

He further emphasised that even as higher stages of load shedding are implemented, this does not automatically bring a potential for a blackout.

"The Eskom System Operator does have plans and they test the plans regularly ... they get audited by NERSA as well.

"It is very important also that higher stages of load shedding does not mean we get closer to a blackout. Load shedding ... is an excellent management tool to prevent us from getting closer to a blackout or to a grid collapse.

"So it means our electricity utility members, especially Eskom, are in control of the network and are keeping it stable. Although I must admit that load shedding is not a panacea, it still causes a lot of inconvenience and impacts the economy," he said.

Preparing for higher stages

Padayachee said even though a system blackout is highly unlikely, the NRS with NERSA is developing a document - NRS 048-9 Edition 3 - which will legally provide for load shedding up to Stage 16 - not in anticipation but to allow the power utility to prepare adequately should it be needed.

The document went through rigorous and extensive consultations with over 100 comments from organisations and people.

"As the NRS we wish to reiterate and assure the public the need to plan for a potential load shedding Stage 8 up to and including load shedding at possible elevated levels and the unlikely event up to Stage 16 ... is primarily a proactive measure as a responsible organisation to enable or empower the various utilities - especially Eskom - to be in a maximum state of readiness and preparedness to respond in the event of and the need to, hopefully not, institute load shedding beyond Stage 8.

"It does not mean that the reference to Stage 16 in the NRS 048-9 Edition 3 is now a fait accompli that the electricity utilities are planning to migrate to Stage 16 load shedding. It is definitely not the case," he said.

-SAnews.gov.za.

South Africa: SA Sets Sights On Green Energy Opportunities With Netherlands, Denmark

President Cyril Ramaphosa has welcomed the enthusiasm of the Netherlands and Denmark in working with South Africa to strengthen economic relations, including exploring opportunities in green energy sectors.

"Both countries have shown great interest in becoming key trading partners in the green hydrogen and green energy sectors," President Ramaphosa said on Tuesday at the SA-Denmark-Netherlands Business Forum, which was held in Pretoria during the State visit of the two countries in South Africa.

President Ramaphosa had earlier hosted Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, who are on an official joint working visit in South Africa.

The visit seeks to solidify South Africa's relationship with Denmark and the Netherlands in the areas of green hydrogen, renewable energy and just energy transition (JET).

President Ramaphosa said South Africa's Transition Investment Plan brings about many trade and investment opportunities in the green hydrogen and green energy sectors.

"For South Africa, it is important to develop green hydrogen projects that contribute to the export market, while developing local economies," President Ramaphosa said.

He said the engagements held during the visit are important for all three countries.

"It is significant that these engagements have involved government, business, labour and other social partners. It reinforces our view that these developments need to be inclusive and need to benefit all within society.

"South Africa today is well poised to attract and implement renewable energy projects and we have the capability to build some of the components that these projects will require. From solar to biogas, wind and battery storage, these investments are leading one of the most important growth industries in South Africa.

"The development of new renewable generation capacity - alongside the recovery of our existing fleet of power stations - is vital for our long-term energy security," President Ramaphosa said.

The President said the reforms that are underway in the electricity sector will enable a more competitive, cost-effective and sustainable electricity market.

"We also need to acknowledge the investments that are breathing new life into mining, one of the country's oldest industries and still one of its most important. South Africa also offers valuable investment opportunities in manufacturing, advanced manufacturing, infrastructure and innovation," the President said.

Big investment announcements

During the engagements, companies and institutions from the Netherlands, Denmark and South Africa made investment announcements and partnerships.

A commitment of $1 billion was announced for the establishment of the SA-H2 Fund to mobilise green hydrogen investments.

The fund is supported by finance investment firm, Climate Fund Managers (CFM), and Invest International (II) of the Netherlands, Sanlam Limited of South Africa (Sanlam), the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), and the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC), in collaboration with other strategic partners.

"As the South African government, we remain committed to creating a business environment that is conducive to supporting trade and investment," President Ramaphosa said.

The visit also brought a substantial group of investors to South Africa to reinforce the high levels of cooperation and good relations between South Africa and two important European partners.

-SAnews.gov.za.

Malawi's Inflation Up to 29.2 Percent

Rise in food prices has pushed Malawi's year on year inflation to 29.2 percent in May, the highest in 10 years, according to figures from the National Statistical Office.

This, according to the NSO stats, is a 0.4 percentage point increase from 28.8 percent registered in the previous month.

The increase has been explained by a 0.9 percentage point rise in food inflation rate up from 37.9 percent in April to 38.8 percent in May.

Non-food inflation rate however declined by 0.1 percentage point from 18.5 percent in April to 18.4 percent in May.

Malawi's annual rate of inflation has been rising steadily for the past year owing to the rise in commodity prices especially food prices.

Overall inflation has risen without interruption from 7.6 percent recorded in August 2020 to the current 29.2 percent.

-Nyasa Times.

Malawi: Chakwera Tells African Leaders to Include Youth, Women in Development Agenda for Africa Economic Growth

President Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera on Monday received rare applause from delegates when he made a passionate plea to African leaders to include youth and women in development agenda if the continent is to have accelerated development.

Chakwera was speaking on Monday in Accra, Ghana during a panel discussion titled Delivering the Vision: The benefits of strong continental financial institutions.

Answering a question on how and where innovation could be used to influence national investment rules, he said as a start to the development of the region, there is need for governments to encourage inter trading especially amongst youths and women who are usually on the forefront.

"Trading amongst ourselves, which needs to be encouraged, is usually done by young people and women. As such those of us in authority need to give them the latitude to be able to do that freely," he said.

He emphasised on the need for governments to invest a lot in development of skills for women and youths and promote brain swaps between countries where youths with skills that are not available or are in short supply in one country should freely exchange to work in countries without those skills.

"We have seen young people that are so innovative in our universities and have patented their innovations and creations. You will see these young people idle at home yet governments are complaining that their countries are not developing.

"These are the things we need to invest on in order to create more wealth. The more prosperity we create, the more liberty we will have for ourselves," Chakwera said.

The President, therefore, called on countries that have capacity on the continent not to leave the least developed countries behind but deliberately bring them closer in order to ensure that the continent is developing at the same pace.

Ghana President, Nana Akufo-Addo called on African governments and the African Union (AU) to support African institutions saying developing such institutions will see the continent developing at a fast rate.

"Unless we have strong financial institutions we are not going to develop. Relying on foreign capital placed Africa at the bottom of the ladder," he said.

He, therefore, called on countries who are yet to become members or participate in African institutions like AfreximBank to do so.

Meanwhile, Afrexim Bank President and Chairman of Board of Directors Benedict Oramah has reiterated the bank's commitment to continue assisting in the development of Malawi.

Oramah said the bank will continue to support the development aspiration of the country.

"Malawi and Afrexim share a long term partnership with Malawi being one of the founding shareholders and participants of the bank.

"So over the years we have had a good relationship with the bank supporting the country in many ways.

"Right now there are transformative projects and as a bank we are helping in developing two industrial parks one in Lilongwe, the other one in Blantyre.

"We have done all the studies and now we are about to commence works, this is one of the things we discussed," he said.

Oramah said these projects will be starting soon, following President Chakwera's directive to make the projects come to light very quickly so that they create jobs, and exports thereby helping in stabilising the country's economy.

He added that the bank will also assist the country in searching for investors who will help in the development of mega farms which are one of President Chakwera's flagship programmes.

"We are also working on mega farms projects which are initiatives of government of Malawi. We are working with government to bring in investors to develop the large farms towards achieving food security in the country but also supplying the regional markets," he added.

Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale said all is set for the rolling out of the farms following the bank's commitment to finance the programme.

-Nyasa Times.

Malawi: Chakwera Secures K2.6 Trillion From Afrexim Bank for Mega Farms, Development Projects

President Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera arrives home from Ghana with US$2.6 billion (K2.6 trillion) which he has successfully secured from Afrexim Bank to finance construction of mega farms, industrial parks and special economic zones.

This follows the signing of memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Government of Malawi and the bank which President Dr Chakwera witnessed on Monday in Accra, Ghana.

In an interview with the Malawi media on Monday evening, President Dr. Chakwera was over the moon, describing the signing of the MoU as a milestone which will help transform lives of Malawians.

Chakwera described the deals as important to Malawi, saying the mega farms will contribute to food security which is at the heart of the Malawi2063.

President Dr. Chakwera, on Sunday, had a closed meeting with the President of AfreximBank, Benedict Oramah where, among other things, they discussed debt restructuring for Malawi.

"We had an interesting and candid discussion with the bank which has shown solidarity in many ways. We have been assured that the talks will continue.

"This is important as, through it, Malawi will have an Extended Credit Facility (ECF) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)," he said.

Minister of Finance, Sosten Gwengwe expressed gratitude to Afrexim Bank for opening discussion talks on Malawi's debt restructuring.

He said one of the conditions for the IMF granting Malawi an ECF is the country's ability to work on its liabilities so that when it receives the money it will not be used in servicing its loans.

Gwengwe said the country has a huge loan with the bank hence the need for the two to renegotiate a repayment plan.

He said by getting Malawi a debt restructuring plan the bank will also be able to avoid being downgraded.

"A debt restructuring plan is a win-win situation for both the bank and the country as the country will have resources it needs.

"Afrexim Bank has assisted us a lot and apart from opening discussions on debt restructuring they have also granted us funds for big projects that will help in developing the country," said Gwengwe.

-Nyasa Times.

Nigeria: 10 Nigerians, 15 Other African Startups Get $4m Google Fund

Ten Nigerians have been selected alongside 15 other African Startups to receive $4m Google for Startups' Black Founders Fund (BFF).

Of the 25 African startups selected, 72percent are led or co-founded by women, highlighting the role women play in shaping Africa's startup ecosystem.

Each of the selected startup will receive up to $150,000 in non-dilutive cash awards, up to $200,000 in Google Cloud credits, Ad support, 1:1 mentoring by industry experts and invaluable connections within Google's network.

The Black Founders Fund, now in its third year, aims to help tackle systemic racial inequality in Venture Capital (VC) funding by providing equity-free grants and mentoring to early stage Black-led high-growth businesses across Europe and Africa.

According to Google, the funding will provide the businesses with the capital needed to take their ventures to the next level and expand to new markets, supercharging economic opportunities and job creation.

Nigerian startups selected are: Akoma Health: Tech platform for accessible, culturally conscious mental health services in Africa; Evolve Credit: SaaS for digitising and managing banking services; Fez Delivery: Last-mile logistics platform for various industries; Herconomy: Female-focused fintech aiming to be Africa's first women's bank; MDaaS Global: Tech-powered diagnostic centres for affordable healthcare.

Others are: My Pocket Counsel: Legal tech platform for contract generation and management; Orda: Pan-African neobank for restaurants, offering cloud-based software; Periculum: Data company aiding in credit assessment, fraud/churn risk; Raenest: Fintech offering global financial services to freelancers/startups in Africa; TruQ: Streamlining mid-mile logistics across Africa with third-party vehicle connectivity.

Head of Startups Ecosystem, Africa at Google, Folarin Aiyegbusi, in a statement said that Startups play a major role in advancing Africa's digital transformation; adding that the early-stage investment is essential for the success of startups and the African startup ecosystem as a whole.

"We look forward to working with this group of innovative founders who are using technology to solve some of the most pressing challenges in Africa. The Google for Startups Black Founders Fund is committed to addressing the stark inequality in VC funding by providing Black founders with the resources and support they need to succeed," Aiyegbusi said.

The Black Founders Fund has since its inception facilitated over $205million in investor conversations, representing a 12-fold increase.

-Daily Trust.

Nigeria: Subsidy Removal - Uber, Bolt Drivers Suspend Planned Strike

The Amalgamated Union of App-Based Transport Workers of Nigeria (AUATWON), has suspended its planned strike to dialogue with the government.

This was disclosed in a statement by Jossy Olawale, Chairman, Media and Publicity Committee of the union, on Wednesday in Lagos.

The scheduled meeting, involving the Ministry of Labour and Employment, app-based companies and the union, was initially planned for Tuesday, June 20 but has been rescheduled to June 26 to facilitate constructive discussions.

Olawale said the planned meeting will involve the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the app-based companies (Uber and Bolt) and the union.

The union and some app companies had earlier scheduled a meeting with the ministry for June 20, but got a letter that the meeting has been rescheduled for Monday, June 26.

"As a result of this, we wish to announce that the strike would not hold until to allow the meeting to hold as stated", he said.

The chairman expressed dismay over the challenges facing workers since the fuel pump price increased by "300 per cent".

According to him, the increase has impacted negatively on workers' service delivery.

"We are concerned about the various challenges and multiplier effect the 300 per cent hike in the pump price of petrol has on our service delivery.

"The removal of fuel subsidy has created a burden of over 200 per cent loss on earnings and poor living style and capacity."

-Leadership.

South Africa: SA's May Consumer Price Index Slows to 6.3 Percent, Signalling End of Interest Rate Hiking Cycle

South Africa's consumer price index slowed faster than expected in May to 6.3% year-on-year, a 13-month low, from 6.8% in April. This may give the South African Reserve Bank the space it needs to end its tightening cycle.

At 6.3%, the May consumer price index (CPI) read was below market forecasts of 6.5% and was the lowest since April 2022 when it was 5.9%.

This means the 3% to 6% target range of the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) is now in sight, and hopefully gives the central bank space to halt a tightening cycle that has seen 10 straight rate hikes taking the prime lending rate to a 14-year high of 11.75%.

"South African headline CPI inflation just decelerated a lot faster than anyone expected... and will see a further slowing on a more pronounced base effect (July 22 inflation at 7.8% y/y was the peak)," said Razia Khan, Chief Economist Africa and Middle East at Standard Chartered Bank in London.

"We can say it loudly now: NO FURTHER SARB HIKES appear to be required in this cycle."

Significantly, food inflation braked to 12% from 14.3% in April. While still elevated, food prices seem to be finally cooling, which should bring some relief to South Africa's cost-of-living crisis.

"After peaking at an annual rate of 37.6% in August 2022, the index for oils & fats continued to fall sharply in May, recording a ninth consecutive month of...

-Daily Maverick.

Interest rates set to rise for 13th time in a row

The Bank of England is expected to raise interest rates for a 13th consecutive time later as it tries to tackle rising prices.

Official data on Wednesday showed that inflation, the annual rate at which prices go up, was stuck at 8.7% in May.

That has made it more likely for the Bank to announce a rise in its benchmark rate from 4.5%.

Interest rates remain its primary tool to lower inflation, despite debate over its effectiveness.

Analysts say an increase to 4.75% is most likely, but a bigger increase to 5% remains a possibility.

Any such change would mean further pain for some homeowners, but it could benefit savers.

The Bank rate is already at its highest level for about 15 years, rising consistently since December 2021 in response to the soaring cost of living.

The theory is that raising interest rates makes it more expensive to borrow money, meaning people have less to spend, and so bringing down demand and therefore easing price rises.

A further rise is expected to be confirmed at 12:00 BST on Thursday after a meeting of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee, which makes the decision independently of government.

In a speech he is due to give shortly after the decision is announced, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will recommit to halving inflation by the end of the year and say he feels a "deep moral responsibility to make sure the money you earn holds its value".

He is expected to tell a business event in south east England that he is "completely confident that if we hold our nerve" the target can be hit.

Labour's shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has criticised the government over the impact of rising rates on people with mortgages.

Ahead of the rate decision, she said: "Instead of squabbling over peerages and parties and ruling out any action on mortgages, the Tories should be taking responsibility and acting now."

Force banks to offer mortgage help, says Labour

Chris Mason: Sunak in a bind over rising prices

On Wednesday, the Office for National Statistics said that inflation was unchanged on the previous month at 8.7%. That was met with surprise by analysts who had expected it to fall.

The shock figure was driven by higher prices for flights and second-hand cars but supermarket food prices also continued to rise rapidly.

So-called "core" inflation, which strips out volatile factors such as direct energy and food prices, along with alcohol and tobacco prices, continued to rise last month at its fastest rate for 31 years.

Economists said this made the UK stand out from other countries such as the US and Germany where inflation is falling.

Inflation and core inflation chart

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt appeared to back further interest rate rises saying it would not "hesitate in our resolve to support the Bank of England as it seeks to squeeze inflation out of our economy."

The government's target is to halve the inflation rate to 5% by the end of the year. The official, long-term target set for the Bank is 2%.

Rob Morgan, from investment firm Charles Stanley, said: "Getting the inflation genie back into the bottle is proving troublesome for the Bank of England.

"With price momentum continually running above expectations alongside strong wages data, the Bank has no choice but to continue on a path of raising interest rates several more times."

The "mortgage bomb"

When interest rates rise, a range of loans can get more expensive. More than 1.4 million people on tracker and variable rate mortgage deals usually see an immediate increase in their monthly payments.

The increase in the Bank rate to 4.75% from 4.5% would mean those on a typical tracker mortgage would pay about £24 more a month. Those on standard variable rate mortgages would face a £15 jump.

This comes on top of increases following the previous recent rate rises. Compared with pre-December 2021, average tracker mortgage customers would be paying about £441 more a month, and variable rate mortgage holders about £282 more.

If the rate goes up to 5%, those on a typical tracker mortgage would pay about £47 more a month. Those on standard variable rate mortgages would face a £30 jump.

Eight out of 10 mortgage customers hold a fixed-rate mortgage. Their monthly payments may not change immediately, but house buyers or anyone seeking to remortgage face a sharp rise in repayments when they move on to a new deal.

The so-called "mortgage bomb" has become a huge economic and political issue. An average two-year fixed deal, which was 2.29% in November 2021, is now above 6%.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), a politically independent economics-focused think tank, says rising interest rates could mean 1.4 million mortgage holders see their disposable incomes fall by more than 20%.

Renters are also feeling the impact. "It is likely that at least part of the increases in rents we are seeing is due to high interest rates hitting landlords' borrowing costs," the IFS said.

Rents have been growing faster than wages in the UK for nearly two years, according to exclusive data given to the BBC by property portal Zoopla.

'We've got £1,750 and can't find anywhere to rent'

Meanwhile, savers should benefit from a rise in interest rates, but MPs on the Treasury Committee have criticised banks and building societies for failing to pass this on in full to loyal savers who have instant-access savings accounts.

-bbc

Amazon accused of tricking Prime customers

The US has accused Amazon of tricking customers into signing up for automatically renewing Prime subscriptions and making it difficult to cancel.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the country's consumer rights watchdog, made the claims in a lawsuit.

It cited allegedly "manipulative" website designs.

Amazon rejected the charges, calling them "false on the facts and the law".

More than 200 million people subscribe to Prime globally. The service, which offers shipping perks, access to streaming movies and more, costs $139 a year or $14.99 monthly in the US and £95 per year in the UK.

The FTC said Amazon used website designs that pushed customers into agreeing to enrol in Prime and have the subscription automatically renew as they were making purchases.

The company attempted to make it difficult for users to opt out of auto-enrolment because "those changes would also negatively affect Amazon's bottom line", the agency alleged in the complaint, filed in federal court in Seattle.

It also said Amazon put customers seeking to cancel through a cumbersome "four-page, six-click, fifteen option" process, which the FTC said was known internally as "Iliad" in a nod to the Greek epic about the "long, arduous Trojan War".

Though Amazon altered the cancellation process shortly before the lawsuit was filed, the FTC said the company's tactics broke laws aimed at protecting shoppers.

"Amazon tricked and trapped people into recurring subscriptions without their consent, not only frustrating users but also costing them significant money," FTC Chair Lina Khan said.

The FTC is seeking a court order to force Amazon to change its practices, as well as financial penalties in an unspecified amount.

Amazon said it had been in the middle of discussing the issues with the agency when the lawsuit was filed without notice.

"The truth is that customers love Prime, and by design we make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up for or cancel their Prime membership," the company said.

The FTC has repeatedly warned online firms against using "dark patterns" to manipulate shoppers.

It had been investigating Amazon's Prime programme since 2021.

It said the company had attempted to delay the probe on multiple occasions, including by refusing to deliver documents in a timely manner.

Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf, a senior analyst at Insider Intelligence analyst said the FTC was "making an example of Amazon".

"It's quite common for companies to make it more difficult to cancel an account than it is to create one," she said.

Aggressive policing

Ms Khan, who was appointed to her post by President Joe Biden, made her name critiquing US competition policy related to Amazon.

She has promised to move more aggressively to police online shopping and the power of America's tech giants.

The lawsuit marks the third action from the FTC involving Amazon in recent weeks.

The company agreed to pay $25m last month to settle charges it had violated child privacy laws by keeping recordings children made on Alexa.

It agreed to pay another $5.8m to resolve claims that Ring, the doorbell company Amazon purchased in 2018, had violated privacy protections by giving staff unrestricted access to customer videos and failing to implement precautions against hackers.-BBC

Wirecard scandal: Singapore fines financial firms over breaches

Singapore's financial regulator has fined four companies over breaches related to the Wirecard scandal.

The penalties total S$3.8m ($2.8m; £2.2m), the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) says.

The MAS said that while the breaches were serious, it did not find any "wilful misconduct" by employees at the financial institutions.

Separately, two former employees of the payments firm Wirecard were sentenced to jail in the city state this week.

In a statement, the MAS said it had imposed the fines on Singaporean banks DBS, OCBC and the local businesses of US-based Citigroup and insurance firm Swiss Life.

DBS, which is Singapore's biggest bank, received the largest penalty, a S$2.6m fine.

It failed to "adequately establish the source of wealth of higher risk customers" and "inquire into the background and purpose of unusually large transactions," the MAS said.

Wirecard boss on trial in biggest German fraud case

Wirecard scandal: German MPs question ex-boss

Earlier this week, a Singapore court handed out prison sentences to two former Wirecard Asia Holdings employees for conspiring to misappropriate money.

James Aga Wardhana was jailed for 21 months, while Chai Ai Lim was handed a 10-month term.

The sentences were first criminal convictions in the world related to the Wirecard scandal.

German payments firm Wirecard filed for insolvency in 2020 after disclosing a €1.9bn ($2.1bn; £1.6bn) hole in its accounts.

Its former boss, Markus Braun, went on trial in December accused of involvement in the biggest fraud case in German history.

Prosecutors have accused Mr Braun of signing off financial reports that he knew were inaccurate. They also said Wirecard faked documents to show it had money that in reality, it never did.

Mr Braun has denied any wrongdoing. The trial is expected to last well into 2024.

In April this year, German regulators fined and banned accounting firm EY for its handling of audits for Wirecard.

The ban forbids EY from conducting from accepting major new audit mandates for two years.-BBC

Amazon accused of tricking Prime customers