Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 11 March 2025

[Bulls n Bears]

 <https://bullszimbabwe.com/> 

 


 

 <http://www.bullszimbabwe.com> Bullszimbabwe.com         <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw?subject=View%20and%20Comments> Views & Comments        <https://bullszimbabwe.com/category/blogs/bullish-thoughts/> Bullish Thoughts        <http://www.twitter.com/BullsBears2010> Twitter         <https://www.facebook.com/BullsBearsZimbabwe> Facebook           <http://www.linkedin.com/pub/bulls-n-bears-zimbabwe/57/577/72> LinkedIn          <https://chat.whatsapp.com/CF6wllAfScU9Wr6dXxoQnO> WhatsApp         <mailto:bulls at bullszimbabwe.com?subject=Unsubscribe> Unsubscribe

 


 

 


Major International Business Headlines Brief:::  11 March 2025 

 


                                                                                  

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

 


 

ü  Nigeria: Dangote, NNPCL Back to Negotiation Over Naira-for-Crude Deal

ü  South Africa: We Cannot Afford to Scrap R10-Billion Budget for Early Childhood Development

ü  Nigeria: Naira for Crude Policy Remains in Place - Nigerian Govt

ü  Nigeria More Competitive Than It Has Been in 25 Years - - Report

ü  Africa: UK Charity Calls to Close Gender Employment Gap for Disabled

ü  Rwanda's New Portal to Visualise Land Transactions, Prices in Real Time

ü  Rwanda: Kagame, World Bank Regional Official Discuss Partnerships

ü  Uganda: Charlene Ruto Champions Youth and Women in Agriculture During Oyam Visit

ü  Nigeria: NNPC Clarifies Reports On Naira Crude Contract

ü  Uganda: Charlene Ruto Visits Uganda's Abja Farms, Calls for Greater Youth Participation in Agriculture

ü  Stocks fall in US and Asia over Trump tariffs concerns

ü  Facebook was 'hand in glove' with China, BBC told

ü  From chatbots to intelligent toys: How AI is booming in China

ü  Thousands report outages of Musk's X platform in US and UK

ü  Ontario says it will slap a 25% surcharge on US-bound electricity

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

Nigeria: Dangote, NNPCL Back to Negotiation Over Naira-for-Crude Deal

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) on Monday said discussions are currently ongoing towards emplacing a new naira-for-crude contract with local refiners.

 

The company reacted after the reported collapse of the naira for crude deal between the NNPCL and the local refiners, prompting marketers, stakeholders and Nigerians to express mixed feelings.

 

The deal, which lasted barely six months, was said to have collapsed, raising fear of increase in prices of petroleum products and further depreciation of naira against the dollars.

 

Daily Trust reports that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had directed the sale of crude oil to Dangote in naira as part of move to bring down the cost of premium motor spirit (pms) otherwise known as petrol.

 

 

In October 2024, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved that 450,000 barrels intended for domestic consumption be offered in Naira to Nigerian refineries, with the Dangote Refinery acting as a pilot project.

 

But findings by our correspondent indicated that the deal which was signed in October 2024 and is expected to lapse at the end of March 2025 might have collapsed.

 

Sources said this was due to "irreconcilable" differences bothering on product delivery and other issues.

 

Daily Trust reports that under the scheme which commenced in the first week of October 2024, the NNPCL was expected to supply 385,000 barrels of crude oil to the 650,000 bdp Dangote Refinery located in Ibeju-Lekki Lagos.

 

 

However, findings showed that there has been a consistent low supply of allocations to Dangote Refinery, forcing it to resort to importation.

 

Daily Trust earlier reported that there has been a sharp decline in the volume of crude allocated to the Naira-for-Crude scheme.

 

A document reviewed late January indicated that for February 2025, the scheme has been allocated only four cargoes, and for March, just two cargoes totalling 950,000 barrels (1.9 million barrels in total for the month). This represents an allocation of 61,290 barrels per day - far below the 385,000 bpd target under the scheme.

 

The shortfall has left Dangote Refinery with no option than to import crude oil from outside Nigeria. It recently received 12 million barrels of crude oil from the United States.

 

There was no official comment yet from Dangote on the reported collapse of the naira for crude deal but a source close to the refinery confirmed that it is true. He did not provide further clarification.

 

 

But the NNPC Limited while clarifying the development said it has noted recent reports circulating on social media regarding the alleged unilateral termination of the crude oil sales agreement in Naira between NNPC and Dangote Refinery.

 

Chief Spokesperson of the NNPC, Olufemi Shoneye said, "To clarify, the contract for the sale of crude oil in Naira was structured as a six-month agreement, subject to availability, and expires at the end of March 2025.

 

"Discussions are currently ongoing towards emplacing a new contract. Under this arrangement, NNPC has made over 48 million barrels of crude oil available to Dangote Refinery since October 2024. In aggregate, NNPC has made over 84 million barrels of crude oil available to the Refinery since its commencement of operations in 2023.

 

"NNPC Limited remains committed to supplying crude oil for local refining based on mutually agreed terms and conditions..."

 

Experts, Nigerians lament collapse of deal

 

There are concerns among Nigerians, experts and marketers over the negative implication of the deal on fuel supply and the local currency.

 

They said the arrangement ordered by the president was responsible for the relative stability recently recorded in the foreign exchange. They said the development would further trigger depreciation of the naira resorting to an increase in prices of petroleum products.

 

A petroleum industry player, Akinrinade Akinade in a chat with our correspondent warned that the development would affect the prices of petroleum products.

 

He called for the intervention of President Tinubu who initiated the scheme in the first place.

 

He said, "I read it like you. It has not been confirmed yet. It was the President that ordered the NNPC to do it. It is not final."

 

According to him, the scheme was felt largely "in the value of naira to dollar."

 

"It was one of the reasons the dollar had some air space. If that one changes, we might see another devaluation of the naira because the refineries would have to be looking for dollars to source their crude. This will also affect the price of petroleum products," he said.

 

Solution is to increase crude production - Marketer

 

An industry player and marketer, Adetunji Oyebanji said the deal was not sustainable ab initio because of the forward contracts the federal government had committed to.

 

He stated that the only solution was to increase crude production to 2.5m barrels daily from the present 1.7m.

 

He said, "I am sure all of you are aware that they (NNPC) have committed a lot of their crude for the loan that they took initially at the beginning of this administration.

 

"So, they have committed a good portion of the contract. You cannot enter into a contract like that, then because local refineries have suddenly shown up, you now go and cancel all those crude contracts because a lot of people are pressing this narrative that NNPC just wants to sell products to foreigners so that local refineries have to go abroad to buy. Not only NNPC but the IOCs (International Oil Companies), a lot of crude they produce to banks for facilities and so on and so forth.

 

"So, when they started talking about this crude for naira, I was wondering how they are going to succeed? Where are they going to get the crude from? Unless you increase the crude production to about 2.5m barrel a day, you would never find the extra crude to give to local refineries. That is the only solution."

 

Another analyst, Tunde kugbeha said, "Anyway the Tinubu's directive to conduct crude oil transactions in naira, is to strengthen the local currency, reduce dependence on the U.S. dollar, and ease pressure on Nigeria's foreign exchange reserves.

 

"By reversing this policy, the NNPC is effectively reinforcing dollar demand, which could further weaken the naira maybe to N2000 this time and with food being cheap now we should expect to be paying more."

 

He added, "The official reason given is that the NNPCL has already committed its crude production to forward contracts, leaving no supply available for domestic refiners under the naira-for-crude arrangement. However, this raises concerns about whether the policy was properly implemented...

 

"If the government is serious about promoting the use of the naira, there may need to be a policy review or direct intervention to ensure that domestic refiners can access crude in local currency as originally planned. Otherwise, this move could undermine confidence in government policies and fuel further instability in the forex market."

 

A lawyer, Adeusi Anthony said the decision would impact on the value of the naira, saying, "NNPC's decision to switch back to selling crude oil in dollars instead of naira is a major policy reversal..."

 

He added, "When they first introduced naira payments, the idea was to boost the local currency, which I considered to be a very good policy, it was meant to ease pressure on forex demand, and improve liquidity in Nigeria's financial system.

 

"But in reality, it seems like challenges such as naira instability and hesitation from international buyers made the shift difficult to sustain. In other words, demand from the International market for the naira has not been nearly as much as expected.

 

"By returning to dollar transactions, NNPC is likely trying to make crude sales smoother, and attract more buyers. However, this could put more pressure on the naira and Nigeria's forex reserves.

 

"In the long run, building investor confidence is paramount. Going forward, a lot will depend on the government, how this plays out will depend on the government's ability to stabilize the local currency. I still think, though, that the best idea in my modest opinion is to leave the erstwhile policy as it were, for the long term interest."

 

 

Read the original article on Daily Trust.

 

 

 

 

South Africa: We Cannot Afford to Scrap R10-Billion Budget for Early Childhood Development

The budget speech Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana planned to present on 14 February included a R10-billion allocation for Early Childhood Development (ECD) over three years.

This would have grown the ECD subsidy from R17 to R24 per child per day, increased funding for ECD infrastructure, and allowed 700,000 more children to be subsided, bringing the total of children on ECD subsidies to 1.5-million.

After an impasse between governing parties, the speech was postponed to Wednesday, 12 March.

The Real Reform for ECD Movement wants the government to stay committed to increase funding for the sector.

 

My name is Lashiwe. For the past 11 years, I've run an ECD centre in a Gauteng township. Sixty-five children rely on me for care, love, and safety. But every day, I'm not sure if we'll have enough to provide even the basics -- food, learning materials, and a safe space for them to grow.

 

I'm one of hundreds of thousands of women who feed, clean and care for children in South Africa daily. Yet 90% of us earn under the minimum wage. Without us, our country and its citizens will not work.

 

Only a minority of ECD centres in the country receive subsidies from the government. R17 can barely get you a loaf of bread, but this is what our government pays ECD centres per child per day. It's getting harder and harder to keep going. The subsidy has stayed the same since 2019. It is meant to cover salaries, food, learning materials, and the building's upkeep.

 

 

I'm among more than 1,000 educators in the Real Reform for ECD Movement, which is calling on the government to commit to increasing funding for ECDs. Our children cannot continue to wait for our political leaders to decide that they matter. One election cycle is a lifetime in the eyes of a four-year-old.

 

I regularly attend meetings of our local forum of ECD centres. Very few of our members receive any support from the government - monetary or otherwise.

 

Many parents in our communities cannot pay for ECD. High rates of unemployment, low wages, and inflation mean that their children are left out of early education and start school unprepared. The proposed increase to the ECD Budget is a critical lifeline.

 

Parents, like Mavimbela from the East Rand, are faced with impossible choices. "My children go to a good pre-school around the corner, but I cannot afford it. Without the subsidy, my children may stop going altogether," Mavimbela told me.

 

 

Dingane, who runs a small centre nearby, faces unthinkable daily decisions. She has to choose between food for the children and facilities for her centre so she can meet some of the compliance requirements. She hopes these upgrades would maybe help her qualify for an ECD subsidy. But there are no guarantees.

 

At another centre, owner Lerato has been waiting for years for the subsidy. Every year, the number of children whose families cannot pay fees only grows, but Lerato has not sent them home. She finds ways to feed and teach them. "I'm tired, and I need help," she told me.

 

South Africa is filled with impressive educators like Dingane and Lerato. It is because of them that children are safe, learning, and fed. But our country cannot ask for so much and give so little.

 

Subsidies work

 

The Department of Basic Education's 2021 ECD Census confirmed what we have known for years: subsidised ECD centres have lower fees and are more likely to offer fee exemptions to families who can't afford their monthly fees.

 

We can do better. In townships and rural areas, we wrestle between affordability and quality. This is not a choice we should be forced to make, it's not what our children deserve, and it's not what will make our country strong.

 

We know that children who attend well-resourced ECD centres are more likely to perform better academically throughout their lives.

 

Only 68% of children between 3-5 attend an ECD programme and less than half of four- to five-year-olds who attend early learning programmes are developmentally on track. One in four children in South Africa is stunted by age five, and four out of five children can't read for meaning by grade 3. Caring for children is the right thing to do today, and if we take it seriously, we can break the cycle of poverty.

 

Our government must recognise that quality ECD is not a luxury, it's a necessity. We have big challenges in township and rural communities, but we can overcome them if we are taken seriously. It's clear that the time for action is now, the government must approve a budget that prioritises early childhood development. Our children's futures depend on it.

 

Mparadzi is an ECD centre principal and a member of the Real Reform for ECD Movement.

 

The views expressed are not necessarily those of GroundUp.

 

Read the original article on GroundUp.

 

 

 

 

Nigeria: Naira for Crude Policy Remains in Place - Nigerian Govt

Mr Adedeji said there has been no decision at the policy level to discontinue this approach nor is it being considered.

 

The Nigerian government on Monday said the policy framework enabling the sale of crude oil in naira for domestic refining remains in force.

 

The Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji, who also chairs the technical subcommittee on the presidential initiative on naira for crude sales, made this known in reaction to reports alleging unilateral termination of the crude oil sale agreement between NNPC and Dangote Refinery.

 

In a statement on Monday, the government said the reports do not reflect the realities of the ongoing work under the Federal Executive Council Initiative on the domestic sale of crude oil and refined products in Naira.

 

 

"Our attention has been drawn to reports suggesting that the naira-based crude oil supply arrangement with local refineries has been discontinued, forcing them to rely solely on international crude purchases. These reports do not reflect the realities of the ongoing work under the Federal Executive Council Initiative on Domestic Sales of Crude Oil and Refined Products in Naira.

 

"As the committee driving the implementation of this initiative, we wish to provide an update on the Federal Executive Council initiative and confirm as follows: the policy framework enabling the sale of crude oil in naira for domestic refining remains in force," Mr Adedeji said.

 

He explained that the initiative was designed to ensure supply stability and optimise the utilisation of local refining capacity.

 

He said there has been no decision at the policy level to discontinue this approach nor is it being considered.

 

"After implementing the policy for some months, evidence abounds that it is the right way to go and it will continue to help the economy. The engagement process for crude oil supply to domestic refineries therefore remains in place by structured agreements, balancing factors such as availability, demand, and market conditions.

 

"There is no exclusion of local refineries from access to domestic crude. The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) is actively ensuring compliance with the Domestic Crude Oil Obligations provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act," he said.

 

He added that the framework for domestic crude transactions is designed to promote a competitive and efficient pricing environment.

 

"We remain committed to ensuring the efficient execution of this initiative in line with its core objectives - enhancing local refining, reducing foreign exchange exposure, and stabilising the domestic fuel supply," he said.

 

In July last year, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) directed NNPC Ltd to engage Dangote Refinery and other local refineries to resolve the dispute over the sale of crude oil to them.

 

The FEC, presided over by President Bola Tinubu, also directed that crude oil sales to the refineries be made in naira and that the refineries, located in Nigeria, sell their refined products to the Nigerian market in naira.

 

Last October, the Nigerian government said it had officially commenced the sale of crude oil and refined petroleum products in Naira.

 

Read the original article on Premium Times.

 

 

 

 

Nigeria More Competitive Than It Has Been in 25 Years - - Report

The report said the path to a more capital-rich and more diverse Nigerian economy can only be built on a competitive naira.

 

Nigeria is more competitive than it has been at any point in the last 25 years, a research report by a fellow at Chatham House, an independent policy institute headquartered in the United Kingdom, has claimed.

 

The report, entitled "Nigeria's Economy Requires a Competitive Naira," was authored by David Lubin, Michael Klein Senior Research Fellow, Global Economy and Finance Programme.

 

It examined the implications of the devaluation exercise on the monetary and fiscal policies and reforms of President Bola Tinubu's administration.

 

 

"With the naira's fall, Nigeria is arguably now more competitive than at any time in the past 25 years," the report said.

 

It said the depreciation of the naira has had two "hugely positive consequences"--improvement in Nigeria's balance of payments and substantial support to the Nigerian budget.

 

The report said the World Bank argued that a misaligned exchange rate hit Nigeria's budget harder in recent years than the cost of the government's fuel subsidies.

 

Naira's depreciation

 

Nigeria's naira has depreciated significantly since Mr Tinubu took over office in 2023. Over the past 18 months since his assumption, the country's local currency, the naira, has shed over 70 per cent of its value.

 

The fall in the value of the currency began following the move to unify the exchange rate and remove costly fuel subsidies. Within this period, the value of the local currency against the dollar depreciated from ₦461.6/$1 to ₦1,5 00/$1 and above.

 

 

The aftermath of the devaluation has had far-reaching consequences for the government, businesses, and households.

 

However, the report explained that because of the naira's fall, alongside the removal of petrol subsidies, Nigeria's fiscal deficit narrowed from 6.4 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in early 2023 to 4.4 per cent in early 2024.

 

"The current account - the broadest measure of a country's trade balance - is now firmly in surplus. Capital, albeit mostly in speculative form for the time being, is re-entering the country," the report, published last Tuesday, noted.

 

As a result, it said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has added to its foreign exchange reserves, which now exceed $40 billion.

 

 

"Having an adequate stock of reserves is the sine qua non for financial stability in developing countries. So the progress the CBN has made is to be congratulated," the report noted.

 

It said gross reserves are at a prudent level now, more or less equal to Nigeria's stock of external debt, but that they could usefully go higher than this.

 

According to the report, when the official exchange rate allows dollars to be sold for fewer naira than they are worth, the government's revenues from oil and gas royalties, customs and excise duties, and the large part of VAT and corporate income tax that is paid in dollars, are all much lower in local-currency terms than they should be.

 

Inflation

 

In recent months, Nigeria's inflation rate has been on a constant rise. However, last month, the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, said the country's annual inflation rate dropped to 24.48 per cent in January from 34.80 per cent in December 2024, after it rebased the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

 

It noted that the rebased CPI reflects an updated price reference period (base year) of 2024 and a weight reference period of 2023.

 

The report said the uglier consequence of Nigeria's currency's slide has been its effect on inflation, which ended 2024 at 35 per cent, painfully high by any standards.

 

"Although reported inflation fell sharply in January to 24.5 per cent, this was thanks to last month's introduction of a new set of weights and a new base year for the Consumer Price Index," the report said.

 

It noted that defeating inflation remains a huge immediate challenge for Nigerian policymakers - not least because the urban poor suffer the most from it.

 

"A stronger naira is tempting because as surely as its collapse pushes inflation up, a naira that gains in value would push inflation back down, as imports become cheaper in local-currency terms," the report said.

 

However, it said the problem with this approach is that it would accelerate the disappearance of all the gains in competitiveness that have been won through the currency's decline.

 

The report said Nigeria desperately needs to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and long-term capital that will help add to the economy's productive capacity.

 

"It is something of a tragedy that this country of 230 million people has failed to attract more than $2 billion worth of net FDI inflows annually in recent years," the report stated.

 

It says a currency that stays competitive is a necessary - although by no means sufficient - condition to encourage more productive capital to enter the country.

 

Recommendation

 

Instead of relying on a stronger naira, the report recommended that a more rapid decline in inflation would be better supported by monetary transmission mechanisms and to raise public revenues.

 

"Higher deposit rates would help to kill inflation, promote financial inclusion and help Nigeria to mobilize domestic savings into the financial system," the report noted.

 

It said the path to a more capital-rich, more diverse Nigerian economy can only be built on a competitive naira.

 

It explained that the Tinubu-led government is firmly focused on raising revenues, but its importance cannot be overstated, not least since it offers a way of helping bring inflation down without sacrificing the naira's competitiveness.

 

Read the original article on Premium Times.

 

 

 

Africa: UK Charity Calls to Close Gender Employment Gap for Disabled

Nairobi — A British charity for the disabled, citing World Bank data, says the world could gain trillions annually in Gross Domestic Product if women were employed at the same rate as men. Failure to close gender employment gaps reduces a country's economic growth by 20% on average, according to the data.

 

In many countries, women face multiple challenges when seeking employment or starting a business. Gender discrimination alone can drive women into poverty, but the risk increases if paired with disabilities.

 

In recognition of International Women's Day, Sightsavers International, a British nongovernmental agency that aims to prevent avoidable blindness and ensure equality for the visually impaired, cited the World Bank's figures showing that global GDP would increase from $106 trillion to $127 trillion if women were employed at the same rate as men.

 

Michelle Madau, a 41-year-old beautician from Zimbabwe, is living with osteogenesis imperfecta, a brittle-bone disease. Despite her disorder, she helps people like her learn how to run a business.

 

 

"I am mentoring the upcoming beauticians who are disabled and I am availing myself, making sure I am there when needed, speaking to them, helping them build up their own businesses," Madau said. "Of course, not all of them are in the beauty industry; whichever line of business I am familiar with, I am always there to assist them because I also want to see them win, just like I am winning right now."

 

Lydia Rosasi, 29, works at the office of the Kenyan government spokesperson, where she assists people living with blindness, deafness and other disabilities in accessing government communications.

 

She says she bettered herself to stand out in the job market.

 

"For me, one of the greatest pillars in terms of navigating this double bias has been education and skills development. This has been the crucial thing that has kept me afloat as I go through these challenges," Rosasi said. "For example, in 2021, I joined the IT Bridger Academy and at that time the digital skills were gaining a lot of prominence in the job market. So it gave me confidence and the capabilities that opened my doors. And then I have found supportive mentors and leaders who have been very important."

 

Many African women struggle to get jobs, either because they were married off or became mothers at a young age, leaving them unable to finish their studies. Others encounter discrimination or sexual violence in their workplaces.

 

Experts say empowering girls with education and allowing them to finish school is one way to reduce the gender employment gap.

 

Lianna Jones works on economic empowerment at Sightsavers. She says closing the gender gap requires policy reforms and cultural change.

 

"In terms of closing the gender gap in employment and entrepreneurship, this requires coordinated interventions at multiple levels," Jones said. "At the policy level, we need to eliminate discriminatory laws and regulations that restrict women's economic participation. Women with disabilities need specialized approaches that address both gender- and disability-related barriers simultaneously, and lastly, we need to challenge social norms to engage with community leaders, men, and boys."

 

According to Equal Measures 2030, a coalition of national, regional and global leaders from feminist networks, civil society and international development, women in at least 77 countries are prohibited from working in the same jobs or sectors as men. In Africa, only five countries have a full set of laws mandating workplace equality for women.

 

Read the original article on VOA.

 

 

 

 

Rwanda's New Portal to Visualise Land Transactions, Prices in Real Time

Rwanda on Monday, March 10, launched a land dashboard which is a fully automated platform that analyses and visualises land data including use, transactions, ownership and values in real time, according to its developers.

 

The National Land Authority (NLA) observed that the Rwanda Land Dashboard was developed in partnership with GanzAfrica Foundation - a capacity delivery institution in Rwanda, to develop an interactive land dashboard - to make land statistical data available to the public.

 

The dashboard updates itself every 24 hours to reflect what happened in terms of land transactions and use in the previous day.

 

 

It shows the state of land based on its current use versus the planned one, whether designed for agriculture, residential, transportation, or forestry purposes, among others, which helps track progress.

 

ALSO READ: Rwanda to deploy new system for improved land services

 

NLA indicated that the dashboard is an innovative platform designed to enhance land governance, transparency, and access to land- related data in Rwanda, adding that it will serve as a vital tool for policymakers, researchers, development partners and the general public in making informed decisions.

 

Marie Grace Nishimwe, Director General of NLA, and Chief Registrar of Land Titles, said that the dashboard will support the development of natural capital accounting, land cover analysis, and other related needs.

 

"This powerful platform allows us to better track and analyse trends in land administration, providing us with real-time insights that will support informed decision-making, improve operation efficiency, and guide our overall strategy moving forward," she said.

 

 

"The insights gained will be crucial in shaping evidence-based policies and contributing to academic research, benefiting the entire land administration sector, and we are confident that this tool will prove invaluable to researchers, policymakers, and anyone involved in land management."

 

She underscored the importance of real-time monitoring of land services that is expected to be enabled by the dashboard.

 

"This dashboard will allow us to see where we do have a lot of transactions and where we are delaying the services, so that we can also make better decisions. The dashboard also enables data-informed decision-making by offering actionable insights for strategic development," Nishimwe said, adding that dashboard will promote transparency.

 

ALSO READ: How automation of 10 land services solved accessibility issues

 

 

For the Minister of Environment, Valentine Uwamariya, the dashboard strengthens Rwanda's commitment to sustainable environment as "it provides the data we need to ensure that development aligns with environmental conservation."

 

Uwamariya pointed out that it will help to identify trends, anticipate challenges, and guide strategic decisions that support both economic development but also social equity, underlining the need for quality data to ensure a dashboard that is really useful.

 

"For financial institutions and investors, they will benefit from credible up-to-date land valuation data, reducing risks in mortgage lending, property investments, and real estate development," the minister said, adding this will create an environment where financing for land-based projects is more secure, and investment decisions are backed by solid data.

 

"For private sector developers, they will have a clear picture of land availability, land ownership structures, and market trends, making it easier to plan and execute projects while ensuring compliance with national regulations. And this particularly is crucial in sectors such as housing, commercial real estate, and industrial development," she said.

 

ALSO READ: Electronic land certificates will curb frauds - NLA

 

However, participants at the dashboard launch exposed a concern over land prices that are reported by owners or buyers, saying that they may be less than the actual ones. Among the reasons for that, they cited the attempt by some people to evade tax imposed on the sale of land whose value is more than Rwf5 million. This situation risks impairing the quality of land value data in the dashboard.

 

Referring to the tendency among people to under-report the value of land sale, Aimé Tsinda, a researcher in urban planning and environment, suggested the development of a feature that can work in such a way that inaccurate prices are not accepted in the land system.

 

"We can reflect on how this can be improved," he said.

 

NLA's Nishimwe said that by continuing to build effective systems, and scaling up property valuation, inaccurate prices provided by people on land sale agreements will be identified.

 

Read the original article on New Times.

 

 

 

 

 

Rwanda: Kagame, World Bank Regional Official Discuss Partnerships

President Paul Kagame on Monday, March 10, received Qimiao Fan, the World Bank's Country Director for Rwanda, Kenya, Somalia, and Uganda.

 

They discussed existing and future partnerships, according to the Office of the President.

 

ALSO READ: Rwanda, World Bank explore ways to deepen partnership

 

This marks Qimiao's second visit to Rwanda following his appointment to position in September 2024.

 

In October, he met with Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente and they discussed Rwanda's development journey and future priorities.

 

During that meeting, Qimiao outlined the World Bank's focus on supporting Rwanda's ongoing development efforts, particularly in key areas such as sustainable infrastructure, education, healthcare, and social protection.

 

ALSO READ: World Bank approves $200mn for skills development in Rwanda

 

The World Bank Group launched a six-year Rwanda Country Framework in 2020, covering the period from 2021 to 2026.

 

As part of this initiative, in September 2024, the World Bank approved $200 million in funding for the Priority Skills for Growth and Youth Empowerment programme, aimed at equipping over 200,000 young people in Rwanda with essential skills.

 

Read the original article on New Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Uganda: Charlene Ruto Champions Youth and Women in Agriculture During Oyam Visit

During her visit to Abja Farms in Myene, Oyam District, Ms Ruto engaged in discussions on climate-smart agriculture, youth empowerment, and economic sustainability.

 

Kenya's First Daughter, Charlene Ruto, has called on youth and women to embrace agriculture and agribusiness as viable economic ventures, emphasizing resilience and innovation as key drivers of success.

 

During her visit to Abja Farms in Myene, Oyam District, Ms Ruto engaged in discussions on climate-smart agriculture, youth empowerment, and economic sustainability.

 

Hosted by Jane Frances Acilo, the farm's director, the visit explored strategies for tackling climate challenges while fostering agricultural innovation.

 

 

Ms Ruto stressed the importance of patience in entrepreneurship, encouraging young people and women to start small but remain committed to building sustainable enterprises.

 

"Even small-scale ventures, with the right mindset and innovation, can transform lives and contribute to food security," she said.

 

The visit also set the stage for future exchange programs, providing young farmers with hands-on training in climate-resilient farming techniques.

 

Ruto reaffirmed the SMACHS Foundation's commitment to backing youth-led initiatives that promote food security and climate adaptation in East Africa.

 

Oyam District leaders, who attended the event, commended Acilo and Abja Farms for creating jobs and championing climate-smart agricultural practices.

 

They underscored the critical role of agribusiness in economic development and poverty alleviation.

 

Acilo expressed her gratitude for the visit, emphasizing the need for stronger collaboration between government agencies, private sector players, and development partners.

 

"Agriculture holds the key to addressing unemployment and climate change. We must continue supporting youth and women to seize opportunities in this sector," she said.

 

The visit marks a significant step toward expanding opportunities in agribusiness and strengthening regional partnerships for a more sustainable future.

 

Read the original article on Nile Post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nigeria: NNPC Clarifies Reports On Naira Crude Contract

Contrary to reports that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has unilaterally suspended the naira-for-crude oil swap deal with domestic refiners, including Dangote Refinery and other private operators, NNPC has clarified that the contract for the sale of crude oil in Naira was structured as a six-month agreement. It also said the agreement was subject to availability, and expires at the end of March 2025.

 

Media reports on Monday had said that the naira-for-crude arrangement, introduced on October 1, 2024, to allow local refiners to purchase crude oil in naira instead of dollars, had been terminated by the NNPC. The reports, quoting sources, had claimed that NNPC had informed local refiners that it had already committed its crude oil production to forward contracts, leaving no supply available for domestic refineries.

 

 

A statement by the Chief Corporate Communications Officer

 

NNPC Ltd, Mr Olufemi Soneye, said the contract for the sale of crude oil in naira expires at the end of March 2025 and was structured as a six-month agreement, subject to availability.

 

The statement added that discussions were currently ongoing towards emplacing a new contract.

 

The statement read: "NNPC Limited has noted recent reports circulating on social media regarding the alleged unilateral termination of the crude oil sales agreement in Naira between NNPC and Dangote Refinery.

 

"To clarify, the contract for the sale of crude oil in Naira was structured as a six-month agreement, subject to availability, and expires at the end of March 2025. Discussions are currently ongoing towards emplacing a new contract.

 

"Under this arrangement, NNPC has made over 48 million barrels of crude oil available to Dangote Refinery since October 2024. In aggregate, NNPC has made over 84 million barrels of crude oil available to the Refinery since its commencement of operations in 2023.

 

"NNPC Limited remains committed to supplying crude oil for local refining based on mutually agreed terms and conditions."

 

Read the original article on This Day.

 

 

 

 

Uganda: Charlene Ruto Visits Uganda's Abja Farms, Calls for Greater Youth Participation in Agriculture

Oyam, Uganda — Charlene Ruto, Kenya's First Daughter, has visited Abja Farms in Myene, Oyam District, where she held discussions on climate-smart agriculture, youth empowerment, and economic sustainability.

 

Hosted by Jane Frances Acilo, Director of Abja Farms, the visit provided a platform to explore strategies for addressing climate challenges and enhancing agricultural innovation in the region.

 

Charlene Ruto emphasized the importance of patience in entrepreneurship. She encouraged youth and women in particular to challenge themselves by starting small scale projects in agriculture and agribusiness. Ruto highlighted that with commitment, resilience, and innovation, even small-scale ventures can grow into sustainable enterprises that drive economic transformation and enhance food security.

 

 

The visit also opened the door for future exchange programs, providing young people with opportunities to gain practical experience and expertise in climate-smart farming techniques.

 

Charlene Ruto reaffirmed the SMACHS Foundation's commitment to supporting youth-led initiatives that contribute to climate resilience and food security in East Africa.

 

Top Oyam District leaders attended the event and commended Jane Frances Acilo and Abja Farms for their contributions to job creation, climate adaptation, and community development. They acknowledged the significant impact of agricultural entrepreneurship on improving livelihoods and fostering sustainable development in the region.

 

Host Jane Frances Acilo expressed her gratitude for the visit and reaffirmed her commitment to empowering young people and women through agriculture. She stressed the need for continued collaboration among government agencies, private sector players, and development organizations to enhance the effects of agribusiness in addressing climate change and unemployment.

 

"This visit marks an important step toward strengthening partnerships and creating more opportunities for young people in the agricultural sector. As stakeholders in sustainability and food security, there is a collective responsibility to support youth-driven and women-led initiatives that contribute to a greener and more resilient future," she said.

 

Read the original article on Independent (Kampala).

 

 

 

Stocks fall in US and Asia over Trump tariffs concerns

Stock markets fell sharply in the US on Monday as investors raised concerns about the negative economic impact of President Donald Trump's tariffs.

 

It followed the president saying in a TV interview that the world's biggest economy was in a "period of transition", when asked about suggestions of a potential recession.

 

Since those remarks were broadcast on Sunday, top Trump officials and advisers have sought to calm investor fears.

 

"The previous notion of Trump being a stock market president is being re-evaluated," Charu Chanana, an investment strategist at investment bank Saxo, told the BBC.

 

 

In a Fox News interview broadcast at the weekend but recorded on Thursday, Trump appeared to acknowledge concerns about the economy.

 

"I hate to predict things like that," he said. "There is a period of transition because what we're doing is very big. We're bringing wealth back to America. That's a big thing."

 

On Monday in New York, the S&P 500, which tracks the biggest companies listed in the US, ended the trading day 2.7% lower, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2%.

 

On Tuesday, Asian stocks fell sharply at first before recovering. Japan's Nikkei 225 closed down 0.6% and South Korea's Kospi ended 1.3% lower.

 

The dollar slid further against the pound and the euro on Tuesday, having fallen sharply since the beginning of the month.

 

The tech-heavy Nasdaq was hit particularly hard, sinking 4%.

 

Tesla shares fell by 15.4%, while artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia was down more than 5%. Other major tech stocks including Meta, Amazon and Alphabet also fell sharply.

 

However, there was little sign of the turbulence spilling into Europe as the FTSE 100 index, which tracks the biggest companies listed in the UK, and the German Dax both opened flat on Tuesday. The French Cac 40 opened slightly higher.

 

Stocks slide as Trump warns of US economy 'transition'

Trump expands exemptions from Canada and Mexico tariffs

"Trump is keeping political leaders guessing regarding his next moves on tariffs, but the problem is that he's also keeping investors guessing and that's reflected in the dire market mood," said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at financial services firm KCM Trade.

 

"Whilst recession talk may be premature, the mere prospect of this coming to fruition is enough to put traders into a defensive mindset."

 

Ruth Foxe-Blader of Foxe Capital told the BBC's Today programme that Monday had been a "very difficult and chaotic day for the stock market in the US" and "the markets hate chaos".

 

She said investors were reacting to Trump's policies - but also selling tech stocks they felt were overvalued.

 

Lindsay James, an investment strategist at Quilter Investors, said the drop in Tesla share price "comes down to hard numbers" with new orders halving in Europe and China over the past year.

 

She added there was "an element" of Elon Musk's politics "having a brand impact", but "there's other angles" including competition from Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers and investors "getting more worried about an economic slowdown".

 

After trading closed on Monday, a White House official told reporters: "We're seeing a strong divergence between [the] animal spirits of the stock market and what we're actually seeing unfold from businesses and business leaders."

 

They added: "The latter is obviously more meaningful than the former on what's in store for the economy in the medium to long term."

 

In a separate statement later in the day, White House spokesman Kush Desai said "industry leaders" had responded to Trump's agenda, including tariffs, "with trillions in investment commitments".

 

Last week, the main US markets fell back to the level seen before Trump's election victory last November, which had initially been welcomed by investors due to hopes of tax cuts and lighter regulation.

 

Investors fear Trump's tariffs - which are taxes on goods applied as they enter the country - will lead to higher prices and dent growth in the world's largest economy.

 

The president introduced the measures after accusing China, Mexico and Canada of not doing enough to end the flow of illegal drugs and migrants into the US. The three countries have rejected the accusations.

 

More than 80% of USAID programmes 'officially ending'

Bourbon is out, patriotism is in - How Canadians are facing Trump threats head on

Ontario says it will slap a 25% surcharge on US-bound electricity

 

Economist Mohamed El-Erian said investors were initially optimistic about Trump's plans for de-regulation and lower taxes, while under-estimating the likelihood of a trade war.

 

He said the recent falls in the stock market, which started last week, reflect the adjustment of those bets.

 

"It's a complete change in what the market expected," he added, noting that investors are also responding to signs that businesses and households are starting to hold off on spending due to uncertainty, which could hurt economic growth.

 

But Kevin Hassett, an economic adviser to President Trump, has pushed back against those projecting this bleak outlook.

 

In an interview with CNBC, Hassett said there were many reasons to be optimistic about the US economy and that that tariffs imposed on Canada, Mexico and China were already bringing manufacturing and jobs to the United States.

 

"There are a lot of reasons to be extremely bullish about the economy going forward," he said.

 

He admitted there were some "blips in the data" for this quarter, which he pinned on the timing of Trump's tariffs and the "Biden inheritance".-BBC

 

 

 

Facebook was 'hand in glove' with China, BBC told

BBC Sarah Wynn-Williams - close up photo of an early-middle aged woman, who has long blond-light-brown hair. She is wearing make up and is looking directly at the camera. BBC

Sarah Wynn-Williams says she watched Facebook grow from "a front row seat"

A former senior Facebook executive has told the BBC how the social media giant worked "hand in glove" with the Chinese government on potential ways of allowing Beijing to censor and control content in China.

 

Sarah Wynn-Williams - a former global public policy director - says in return for gaining access to the Chinese market of hundreds of millions of users, Facebook's founder, Mark Zuckerberg, considered agreeing to hiding posts that were going viral, until they could be checked by the Chinese authorities.

 

Ms Williams - who makes the claims in a new book - has also filed a whistleblower complaint with the US markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), alleging Meta misled investors. The BBC has reviewed the complaint.

 

Facebook's parent company Meta, says Ms Wynn-Williams had her employment terminated in 2017 "for poor performance".

 

It is "no secret we were once interested" in operating services in China, it adds. "We ultimately opted not to go through with the ideas we'd explored."

 

Meta referred us to Mark Zuckerberg's comments from 2019, when he said: "We could never come to agreement on what it would take for us to operate there, and they [China] never let us in."

 

 

Facebook also used algorithms to spot when young teenagers were feeling vulnerable as part of research aimed at advertisers, Ms Wynn-Williams alleges.

 

A former New Zealand diplomat, she joined Facebook in 2011, and says she watched the company grow from "a front row seat".

 

Now she wants to show some of the "decision-making and moral compromises" that she says went on when she was there. It is a critical moment, she adds, as "many of the people I worked with… are going to be central" to the introduction of AI.

 

In her memoir, Careless People, Ms Wynn-Williams paints a picture of what she alleges working on Facebook's senior team was like.

 

Mr Zuckerberg, she says, did not get up before midday, loved karaoke and did not like to be beaten at board games, such as Risk. "I didn't realise that you were supposed to let him win. I was a little naive," she told us.

 

However, Ms Wynn-Williams says her allegations about the company's close relationship with China provide an insight into Facebook's decision-making at the time.

 

Eyevine Two people - one of them Mark Zuckerberg - are playing chess. The chess board is perched on a blue, patterned foot stool. Mark Zuckerberg is playing with white pieces, his opponent black. Mr Zuckerberg is clenching his right fist and smiling.Eyevine

Mark Zuckerberg loves board games, but hates losing - according to Sarah Wynn-Williams

 

"China is Mark Zuckerberg's white whale," meaning a goal that he obsessively pursued, says Ms Wynn-Williams.

 

The country is the world's biggest social media market, but access to Facebook remains blocked there, alongside the likes of X and YouTube.

 

"It's the one piece on the board game that he hasn't conquered," she says.

 

Ms Wynn-Williams claims that in the mid-2010s, as part of its negotiations with the Chinese government, Facebook considered allowing it future access to Chinese citizens' user data.

 

"He was working hand in glove with the Chinese Communist Party, building a censorship tool… basically working to develop sort of the antithesis of many of the principles that underpin Facebook," she told the BBC.

 

Ms Wynn-Williams says governments frequently asked for explanations of how aspects of Facebook's software worked, but were told it was proprietary information.

 

"But when it came to the Chinese, the curtain was pulled back," she says.

 

"Engineers were brought out. They were walked through every aspect, and Facebook was making sure these Chinese officials were upskilled enough that they could not only learn about these products, but then test Facebook on the censorship version of these products that they were building."

 

Meta told the BBC that such claims about China had been "widely reported" at the time.

 

Sarah Wynn-Williams Photo of Joel Kaplan, Mark Zuckerberg and Sarah Wynn-Williams outside in the sunshine. They have their arms around each others' backs as they pose. Joel Kaplan, a tall man with dark brown hair - is wearing a light blue and dark blue horizontal-striped polo shirt. He is wearing sunglasses. Mark Zuckerberg has short ginger hair, and is wearing a grey T-shirt. Sarah Wynn-Williams has long light-brown hair, and is wearing sunglasses and a navy blue frilled top.Sarah Wynn-Williams

Sarah Wynn-Williams pictured with Mark Zuckerberg (c) and Joel Kaplan, now Meta's chief global affairs officer

 

In her SEC complaint, Ms Wynn-Williams also alleges Mr Zuckerberg and other Meta executives had made "misleading statements… in response to Congressional inquiries" about China.

 

One answer given by Mr Zuckerberg to Congress in 2018 said Facebook was "not in a position to know exactly how the [Chinese] government would seek to apply its laws and regulations on content"

 

Meta told the BBC that Mr Zuckerberg gave accurate testimony, adding it did not operate services in China.

 

Mark Zuckerberg / Facebook Mark Zuckerberg running in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China. He is wearing a grey T-shirt and black shorts. And is accompanied by at least five other runners. The photo was first posted in 2016 on Mr Zuckerberg's social media.Mark Zuckerberg / Facebook

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg went running around Beijing's Tiananmen Square on a visit to China in 2016

 

Most Facebook executives didn't allow their own children on Facebook - according to Ms Wynn-Williams. "They had screen bans. They certainly wouldn't allow them to use the product."

 

And yet she says reports from 2017 - that the company had been using algorithms to target and categorise vulnerable teens - were true.

 

"The algorithm could infer that they were feeling worthless or unhappy," she alleges.

 

The company - which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp - could, she claims, identify when a teenage girl had deleted a selfie on its platforms, and then notify a beauty company that it would be a good moment to target the child with an advert.

 

Ms Wynn-Williams says she "felt sick" at the thought and tried to push back, "although I knew it was futile".

 

"They said: 'The business side thinks this is exactly what we should be doing. We've got this amazing product, we can get young people, which is a really important advertising segment.'"

 

Meta told the BBC this was false - it has never offered tools to target people based on their emotional state - and that the research it previously did was to help marketers understand how people express themselves on Facebook, not to target ads.

 

Emma Lynch / BBC Sarah Wynn-Williams - a woman with long blond hair, wearing a blue dress - sits on a chair opposite the BBC's Katie Razzall, who has her back to the camera.Emma Lynch / BBC

Ms Wyn-Williams wants Meta to change as it "influences so much of our day-to-day life"

 

Overall, Ms Wynn-Williams says the company has not done enough to address the issue of young people's safety on social media.

 

"This is one of the most valuable companies in the world. They could invest in this and make it a real priority and do more to fix it."

 

Facebook said it was transparent about advert-targeting and had shared updates regarding its approach to creating age-appropriate advert experiences for teens.

 

It also said it had introduced "Teen Accounts" for tens of millions of young people with built-in protections. It also said it was giving parents more oversight over their teens' use of the app.

 

As well as poor performance, Meta says the 45-year-old was also fired for "toxic behaviour" after she had made "misleading and unfounded allegations of harassment".

 

But Ms Wynn-Williams told the BBC she was let go after she had complained about inappropriate comments by one of her bosses - Joel Kaplan, who is now Meta's chief global affairs officer.

 

Meta told us she had been paid by "anti-Facebook activists" and she was not a whistleblower.

 

"Whistleblower status protects communications to the government, not disgruntled activists trying to sell books," it said.

 

Bloomberg via Getty Images A photo of five people, smartly dressed in suits, standing in a line during the 60th presidential inauguration in the rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington DC.Bloomberg via Getty Images

Mark Zuckerberg (l), along with Jeff Bezos (c) and Elon Musk (r), attended the inauguration of President Trump in Washington DC in January

 

In regard to Ms Wynn-Williams' book, Meta has confirmed to the BBC that it has launched legal action in the US to "halt the further distribution of defamatory and untrue information".

 

To counter this, a legal representative for Ms Wynn-Williams said: "Meta has made a number of false and inconsistent statements about Sarah since the news of her memoir broke... while Meta's statements are trying to mislead the public, the book speaks for itself".

 

We asked her why she was speaking out now. She said she wanted Meta to change as it "influences so much of our day-to-day life" and we need to ensure "we get the future we deserve".

 

"We're in this moment where tech and political leaders are coming together and as they combine forces, that has a lot of consequences for all of us.

 

"I think it's really important to understand that and to understand you look at all these engineers who are influencing the highest level of government."BBC

 

 

 

>From chatbots to intelligent toys: How AI is booming in China

China is embracing artificial intelligence, from educational tools to humanoid robots in factories

Head in hands, eight-year-old Timmy muttered to himself as he tried to beat a robot powered by artificial intelligence at a game of chess.

 

But this was not an AI showroom or laboratory – this robot was living on a coffee table in a Beijing apartment, along with Timmy.

 

The first night it came home, Timmy hugged his little robot friend before heading to bed. He doesn't have a name for it – yet.

 

"It's like a little teacher or a little friend," the boy said, as he showed his mum the next move he was considering on the chess board.

 

Moments later, the robot chimed in: "Congrats! You win." Round eyes blinking on the screen, it began rearranging the pieces to start a new game as it continued in Mandarin: "I've seen your ability, I will do better next time."

 

China is embracing AI in its bid to become a tech superpower by 2030.

 

DeepSeek, the breakthrough Chinese chatbot that caught the world's attention in January, was just the first hint of that ambition.

 

Money is pouring into AI businesses seeking more capital, fuelling domestic competition. There are more than 4,500 firms developing and selling AI, schools in the capital Beijing are introducing AI courses for primary and secondary students later this year, and universities have increased the number of places available for students studying AI.

 

 

China says it is ready for 'any type of war' with US

DeepSeek: How China's 'AI heroes' overcame US curbs to stun Silicon Valley

"This is an inevitable trend. We will co-exist with AI," said Timmy's mum, Yan Xue. "Children should get to know it as early as possible. We should not reject it."

 

She is keen for her son to learn both chess and the strategy board game Go – the robot does both, which persuaded her that its $800 price tag was a good investment. Its creators are already planning to add a language tutoring programme.

 

 

BBC/ Joyce Liu Timmy in a grey sweatshirt sits next to his mother, who is wearing a red sweater. She is adivising him on his next chess move - the boards sits in front of them and the robot is on the other side.   BBC/ Joyce Liu

Learning to live with AI is "inevtiable", Yan Xue says

Perhaps this was what the Chinese Communist Party hoped for when it declared in 2017 that AI would be "the main driving force" of the country's progress. President Xi Jinping is now betting big on it, as a slowing Chinese economy grapples with the blow of tariffs from its biggest trading partner, the United States.

 

Beijing plans to invest 10tn Chinese yuan ($1.4tn; £1tn) in the next 15 years as it competes with Washington to gain the edge in advanced tech. AI funding got yet another boost at the government's annual political gathering, which is currently under way. This comes on the heels of a 60 billion yuan-AI investment fund created in January, just days after the US further tightened export controls for advanced chips and placed more Chinese firms on a trade blacklist.

 

But DeepSeek has shown that Chinese companies can overcome these barriers. And that's what has stunned Silicon Valley and industry experts – they did not expect China to catch up so soon.

 

 

A race among dragons

It's a reaction Tommy Tang has become accustomed to after six months of marketing his firm's chess-playing robot at various competitions.

 

Timmy's machine comes from the same company, SenseRobot, which offers a wide range in abilities – Chinese state media hailed an advanced version in 2022 that beat chess Grand Masters at the game.

 

"Parents will ask about the price, then they will ask where I am from. They expect me to come from the US or Europe. They seem surprised that I am from China," Mr Tang said, smiling. "There will always be one or two seconds of silence when I say I am from China."

 

His firm has sold more than 100,000 of the robots and now has a contract with a major US supermarket chain, Costco.

 

BBC/ Xiqing Wang Tommy Tang in a navy blue suit and glassesBBC/ Xiqing Wang

Customers abroad are often surprised to hear the robots are Chinese-made, Tommy Tang says

 

One of the secrets to China's engineering success is its young people. In 2020, more than 3.5 million of the country's students graduated with degrees in science, technology, engineering and maths, better known as STEM.

 

That's more than any other country in the world - and Beijing is keen to leverage it. "Building strength in education, science and talent is a shared responsibility," Xi told party leaders last week.

 

Ever since China opened its economy to the world in the late 1970s, it has "been through a process of accumulating talent and technology," says Abbott Lyu, vice-president of Shanghai-based Whalesbot, a firm that makes AI toys. "In this era of AI, we've got many, many engineers, and they are hardworking."

 

Behind him, a dinosaur made of variously coloured bricks roars to life. It's being controlled through code assembled on a smartphone by a seven-year-old.

 

The company is developing toys to help children as young as three learn code. Every package of bricks comes with a booklet of code. Children can then choose what they want to build and learn how to do it. The cheapest toy sells for around $40.

 

"Other countries have AI education robots as well, but when it comes to competitiveness and smart hardware, China is doing better," Mr Lyu insists.

 

The success of DeepSeek turned its CEO Liang Wenfeng into a national hero and "is worth 10 billion yuan of advertising for [China's] AI industry," he added.

 

"It has let the public know that AI is not just a concept, that it can indeed change people's lives. It has inspired public curiosity."

 

Six homegrown AI firms, including DeepSeek, have now been nicknamed China's six little dragons by the internet – the others are Unitree Robotics, Deep Robotics, BrainCo, Game Science, and Manycore Tech.

 

BBC/Joyce Liu Black robots in blue and red jerseys play football on a green carpet of artificial grass.BBC/Joyce Liu

Robots play football at an AI fair in Shanghai

 

Some of them were at a recent AI fair in Shanghai, where the biggest Chinese firms in the business showed off their advances, from search and rescue robots to a backflipping dog-like one, which wandered the halls among visitors.

 

In one bustling exhibition hall, two teams of humanoid robots battled it out in a game of football, complete in red and blue jerseys. The machines fell when they clashed – and one of them was even taken off the field in a stretcher by their human handler who was keen to keep the joke going.

 

It was hard to miss the air of excitement among developers in the wake of DeepSeek. "Deepseek means the world knows we are here," said Yu Jingji, a 26-year-old engineer.

 

'Catch-up mode'

But as the world learns of China's AI potential, there are also concerns about what AI is allowing the Chinese government to learn about its users.

 

AI is hungry for data - the more it gets, the smarter it makes itself and, with around a billion mobile phone users compared to just over 400 million in the US, Beijing has a real advantage.

 

The West, its allies and many experts in these countries believe that data gathered by Chinese apps such as DeepSeek, RedNote or TikTok can be accessed by the Chinese Communist Party. Some point to the country's National Intelligence Law as evidence of this.

 

But Chinese firms, including ByteDance, which owns TikTok, says the law allows for the protection of private companies and personal data. Still, suspicion that US user data on TikTok could end up in the hands of the Chinese government drove Washington's decision to ban the hugely popular app.

 

That same fear – where privacy concerns meet national security challenges - is hitting Deepseek. South Korea banned new downloads of DeepSeek, while Taiwan and Australia have barred the app from government-issued devices.

 

Chinese companies are aware of these sensitivities and Mr Tang was quick to tell the BBC that "privacy was a red line" for his company. Beijing also realises that this will be a challenge in its bid to be a global leader in AI.

 

"DeepSeek's rapid rise has triggered hostile reactions from some in the West," a commentary in the state-run Beijing Daily noted, adding that "the development environment for China's AI models remains highly uncertain".

 

But China's AI firms are not deterred. Rather, they believe thrifty innovation will win them an undeniable advantage – because it was DeepSeek's claim that it could rival ChatGPT for a fraction of the cost that shocked the AI industry.

 

 

BBC/ Joyce Liu A child in a purple jacket operates a blue and orange AI-powered toy he built using code BBC/ Joyce Liu

A child plays with an AI toy from Whalesbot he built using code

So the engineering challenge is how to make more, for less. "This was our Mission Impossible," Mr Tang said. His company found that the robotic arm used to move chess pieces was hugely expensive to produce and would drive the price up to around $40,000.

 

So, they tried using AI to help do the work of engineers and enhance the manufacturing process. Mr Tang claims that has driven the cost down to $1,000.

 

"This is innovation," he says. "Artificial engineering is now integrated into the manufacturing process."

 

This could have enormous implications as China applies AI on a vast scale. State media already show factories full of humanoid robots. In January, the government said that it would promote the development of AI-powered humanoid robots to help look after its rapidly ageing population.

 

Xi has repeatedly declared "technological self-reliance" a key goal, which means China wants to create its own advanced chips, to make up for US export restrictions that could hinder its plans.

 

The Chinese leader knows he is in for a long race – the Beijing Daily recently warned that the DeepSeek moment was not a time for "AI triumphalism" because China was still in "catch-up mode".

 

President Xi is investing heavily in artificial intelligence, robots and advanced tech in preparation for a marathon that he hopes China will eventually win.-BBC

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thousands report outages of Musk's X platform in US and UK

Elon Musk's social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, experienced massive outages throughout Monday morning that impacted thousands of users in the US and UK.

 

The outage came as platform monitor Downdetector said it had seen tens of thousands of reports from US users of technical issues affecting the platform.

 

There were more than 8,000 outage reports from UK users shortly before 14:00 GMT, following a brief but notable surge of reports on Monday morning.

 

Connection issues lasted for some users into the afternoon.

 

Many users trying to access the platform and refresh feeds on its app and desktop site during Monday's outages were met with a loading icon.

 

Musk claims the outages stemmed from a "massive cyber-attack" that originated "in the Ukraine area".

 

But the technology billionaire, who has been a frequent critic of Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelensky, offered no evidence to support the claim and did not say whether or not he thought state actors were involved.

 

Earlier, he posted on X that "either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved".

 

The BBC has approached the Ukrainian embassy in Washington DC for comment.

 

"We're not sure exactly what happened but there was a massive cyber-attack to try and bring down the X system with [Internet Protocol] addresses originating in the Ukraine area," Musk said in an interview with the Fox Business channel.

 

Alp Toker, director of Netblocks, which monitors the connectivity of web services, said its own metrics suggested the outages could well be linked to a cyber-attack.

 

"What we've been seeing is consistent with what we've seen in past denial of service attacks, rather than a configuration or coding error in the platform," he told the BBC.

 

He said the organisation has seen several major outages spanning more than six hours on Monday, "each having global impact".

 

"This is amongst the longest X/Twitter outages we've tracked in terms of duration, and the pattern is consistent with a denial of service attack targeting X's infrastructure at scale," he added.

 

A distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack is an attempt to take a website offline by overwhelming it with internet traffic.

 

Musk has previously claimed that the platform has been targeted by DDoS attacks, but these have not been confirmed.

 

Also on Monday, Musk called US Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona, a "traitor" for going to Ukraine over the weekend. Kelly had said the visit "proved to me we can't give up on the Ukrainian people".

 

Kelly replied on X: "Elon, if you don't understand that defending freedom is a basic tenet of what makes America great and keeps us safe, maybe you should leave it to those of us who do."-bbc

 

 

 

 

Ontario says it will slap a 25% surcharge on US-bound electricity

Canada's most populous province Ontario is slapping a retaliatory 25% surcharge on electricity it sends to US states in response to President Donald Trump's tariffs on Canadian goods.

 

Ontario leader Doug Ford confirmed the move in a news conference on Monday morning, saying it will increase costs about $10 (£7.75) per megawatt-hour for US customers.

 

Roughly 1.5 million American homes in the northern border states of New York, Michigan and Minnesota will be impacted.

 

Ford said that the surcharge on energy will remain until the threat of tariffs from the US "is gone for good."

 

 

"President Trump's tariffs are a disaster for the U.S. economy. They're making life more expensive for American families and businesses," Ford said in a statement on Monday.

 

He added that Ontario will be using the revenue from its retaliatory tariffs on energy to support local workers and businesses impacted by US tariffs on Canada.

 

Canada's federal government has also imposed its own dollar-for-dollar reciprocal tariffs on $30bn worth of US goods exported north. The list of products impacted ranges from clothing to perfume to orange juice.

 

President Trump has threatened Canada repeatedly with a blanket 25% tariff on all Canadian exports to the US - a move that economists have warned could result in job losses in Canada while increasing prices for Americans.

 

The US has threatened similar tariffs on neighbouring Mexico as well.

 

Last week, Trump imposed the levies but quickly reversed course, saying he would temporarily spare carmakers from tariffs until 2 April.

 

He later carved out further exemptions on goods shipped under North America's free trade pact, the US-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) agreement, which Trump signed in his first term. The measures also reduced tariffs on potash - a key ingredient for fertiliser needed by US farmers - from 25% to 10%.

 

Trump, however, is still expected to impose tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium some time this week.

 

The trade war tensions have rattled markets and raised fears of economic turbulence.

 

The S&P 500 share index, which tracks the biggest listed American companies, has plunged to its lowest point since September, after Trump imposed the tariffs last week and later declined to rule out the possibility of a recession.

 

In a Fox News interview that was taped on Thursday, Trump said "I hate to predict things like that" in response to the possibility of a severe economic downturn, after saying that the tariffs could bring about a "period of transition."

 

"It takes a little time, but I think it should be great for us," Trump said.-bbc

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 


 


 Invest Wisely!

Bulls n Bears 

 

Cellphone:         +263 71 944 1674 | +27 79 993 5557 

Email:                <mailto:bulls at bullszimbabwe.com> bulls at bullszimbabwe.com

Website:             <http://www.bullszimbabwe.com> www.bullszimbabwe.com 

Blog:                  <http://www.bullszimbabwe.com/blog> www.bullszimbabwe.com/blog

Twitter (X):        @bullsbears2010

LinkedIn:           Bulls n Bears Zimbabwe

Facebook:           <http://www.facebook.com/BullsBearsZimbabwe> www.facebook.com/BullsBearsZimbabwe



 

 

 


 

INVESTORS DIARY 2025

 


Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


Companies under Cautionary

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


CBZH

GetBucks

EcoCash

 


Padenga

Econet

RTG

 


Fidelity

TSL

FMHL

 


 

 

 

 


 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

 


 

 


DISCLAIMER: This report has been prepared by Bulls ‘n Bears, a division of Faith Capital (Pvt) Ltd for general information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for any securities. The information contained in this report has been compiled from s believed to be reliable, but no representation or warranty is made or guarantee given as to its accuracy or completeness. All opinions expressed and recommendations made are subject to change without notice. Securities or financial instruments mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors. Securities of emerging and mid-size growth companies typically involve a higher degree of risk and more volatility than the securities of more established companies. Neither Faith Capital nor any other member of Bulls ‘n Bears nor any other person, accepts any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from any use of this report or its contents or otherwise arising in connection therewith. Recipients of this report shall be solely responsible for making their own independent investigation into the business, financial condition and future prospects of any companies referred to in this report. Other  Indices quoted herein are for guideline purposes only and d from third parties.

 


 

 


 (c) 2025 Web:  <http://www.bullszimbabwe.com> www.bullszimbabwe.com Email:  <mailto:bulls at bullszimbabwe.com> bulls at bullszimbabwe.com Tel: +27 79 993 5557 | +263 71 944 1674

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20250311/f6be7c17/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 9458 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20250311/f6be7c17/attachment-0002.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image005.png
Type: image/png
Size: 34378 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20250311/f6be7c17/attachment-0003.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: oledata.mso
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 65571 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20250311/f6be7c17/attachment-0001.obj>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image007.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 29356 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20250311/f6be7c17/attachment-0003.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image008.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 29321 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20250311/f6be7c17/attachment-0004.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image009.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 29361 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20250311/f6be7c17/attachment-0005.jpg>