ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria’s government has agreed the immediate payment of 407 billion naira ($2.1 billion) owed to fuel importers under a subsidy scheme, the finance ministry said on Wednesday.
Africa’s biggest oil producer imports most of its gasoline requirement because of its dilapidated refining system, which President Muhammadu Buhari is keen to revive.
Firms bringing in subsidised imports have struggled to finance their purchases with low dollar availability and shrinking credit lines.
Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun has approved the payment of 407 billion naira for “subsidy claims to oil marketers”, said Marshall Gundu, a spokesman for her ministry.
“The president has directed that payments be made immediately in order to bring to a quick end the lingering fuel crisis,” said Gundu.
Fears of a fuel scarcity prompted Nigerians to resort to panic-buying in the last few weeks, forming long queues at petrol stations in major cities.
Some of the money to be paid to importers dates back to 2014 and this is the first significant payment since Buhari came to power in May.
A severe fuel crisis crippled the country in May because of a standoff between importers and the outgoing administration led by Buhari’s predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, over whether their debts would be honoured.
Buhari, who kept the petroleum portfolio for himself, does not want to phase out the costly and fraud-ridden subsidy scheme just yet, putting him at variance with members of his own party, the All Progressives Congress, and his minister of state for oil.
($1 = 198.9700 naira)
(Reporting by Camillus Eboh; Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Gareth Jones)
The Third India-African Forum Summit took place in New Delhi on October 26-29, 2015. This Summit was arranged to develop trade between the emerging economies of Africa and India and explore improving relationships in other areas on a bilateral and continental level such as involvement in United Nations .The intent of this summit was shown by a higher representation from Africa (over 50 leaders) compared to the previous summits where only 10-15 African nations were present.
Developing relations in a new era
India is now Africa’s fourth largest trading partner behind China, the United States and the European Union nations. At this summit discussions were held at different levels addressing a number of issues with the intention of improving dealings between the attending nations. For instance, India proposed to increase concessionary credit to $10 billion over 5 years to enable further trading opportunities with African nations. Currently the trade figure between India and Africa stands at $70 billion – a substantial increase from $3bn in 2000 when India started showing significant growth. As more African nations are showing an improvement in economic growth, the discussions in this summit were an opportunity to work on higher goals.
Areas of further progress and new development
India’s trading with Africa is mainly in importing of oil and other raw energy products to support its own economy’s growth in areas such as manufacturing. This summit saw further discussion between India and its main trading countries such as Nigeria, South Africa and Angola on further trade in light of falling oil prices. Africa allows foreign investment in its oil industry unlike Saudi Arabia and certain Asian countries. It is expected that oil trade between Africa and India would further expand and flourish, as India imports 90% of its oil from Africa and the commodity is increasingly available in conflict-free areas.
Further agreements were reached to offer 50,000 scholarships for students from Africa to study in India over 5 years. India has also agreed to provide training and construction of more educational institutions across Africa as well as expand the Pan Africa E-Network. The continuation of duty free provision to 34 countries will allow further advantages to increase trade between attending nations
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also announced the joint co-operation in challenging the effect of climate change. India and the more developed African nations are known to have high rates of pollution and so any steps to control this situation on a collective basis would be beneficial. Growth on a scale not previously known to developing countries was acknowledged as being encouraged without any serious effect on the environment.
One of the obstacles to further growth of India and African nations, as with other nations, is terrorism. The biggest problems are in Somalia with Al Shabab and in Nigeria with Boko Haram. Somalia is in a particularly fragile situation and can ill afford to drive away investment. Nigeria is India’s biggest trading partner in Africa and so would benefit from efforts to control terrorism. The summit was also told that there would be improved arrangements in the deployment of troops in areas where conflict still exists. This would require the involvement of the African Union and the United Nations.
A summit too high?
Internet searches on interviews with African leaders provided little information on what African nations sought from this summit. The few interviews reported related to information about late arrivals by some leaders and non-attendance by others. There was also a similar lack of information from African academics and think tanks. This raises doubts about the importance they place on the event. Given that South Africa will host a summit of African nations with China in December, it is not clear how much importance is placed on developing trade with India.
India has had a long relationship with Africa because of a colonial past where several African nations are part of the Commonwealth. The Indian diaspora in Africa numbers approximately 3 million people and this provides an added advantage in developing links with India. While China’s trade figures with Africa are substantially higher than India’s at $200 billion, it has been noted that China has a more neo-colonial approach to foreign trade. Ultimately Africa should use investment to increase its own competiveness and capacity and not be dominated. India relies on Africa whilst being a more solid trading partner and this was one clear outcome of the Third India African Forum Summit this year. Africa’s stance in the forthcoming summit with China will be an interesting indicator.
The Middle East is a region often portrayed as under threat from fracking, but with surging domestic demand, shale oil and gas hold significant potential.
A refresher for those who need it, hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the process of drilling around 3,000 meters down into the earth before pumping in large volumes of fracking fluid (water mixed with sand and chemicals) at high pressure, to fracture the earth’s shale and release trapped gas and oil. The process has been in use in the US since the 1940s, unlocking the country’s resources of an estimated 567 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of shale gas and 58 billion barrels of shale oil. And it has revolutionized the country’s energy: in 2014 the US produced more than 33 billion cf of shale gas and if it continues at this same rate it is set to achieve self-sufficiency by 2020. With significant resources, Russia, China, Canada, and Latin America have quickly followed suit. As have India and other Asia-Pacific countries, though to a lesser extent.
The positives: fracking has the potential to boost the world’s natural gas resources by 47%, raise national energy supplies, increase self-sufficiency, and create jobs and income. It also has a significantly lower environmental impact than say, coal mining. But it comes with concerns, not least in regard to water supply. The fracking fluid contains chemicals which reportedly can contaminate groundwater supplies. It also requires huge quantities of water, about 2 to 5 million gallons per process, depleting pure water resources. And all this water must be transported to each fracking site, coming with more environmental costs.
Large quantities of methane are also released during the process, a substance which has 25 times greater greenhouse effect than carbon dioxide. And there are worries that fracking can cause small earthquakes. As a result, France, which is thought to have Western Europe’s biggest shale oil deposits, has introduced a five-year ban, and Germany has recently followed suit.
Significant potential for fracking in the Middle East and Africa
The Middle East, which currently holds half the world’s conventional oil resources and 40% of its gas, is often portrayed as a region under threat from fracking as its traditional oil and gas customers become self-sufficient producers. But while it has perhaps been slower to exploit shale than most other regions, there is in fact significant potential in the Middle East and Africa. Thomas Ahlbrandt, who led a US Geological Survey in 2000, comments: “US source rocks are modest compared to the Silurian, Jurassic, Cretaceous and Tertiary source rocks in the region. The Silurian is found in Algeria, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Jordan, while the giant North Field, shared by Iran and Qatar, is the conventional leg of a huge unconventional gas accumulation”. And the region is no longer ignoring the potential.
For example, Oman is on track to become the first Middle Eastern country to produce shale gas and oil.With an estimated 48 Tcf of natural gas and 6.2 billion barrels of oil technically recoverable, it is developing an ambitious drilling program which it hopes will produce at least 1 billion cf of gas per day by 2017. Working with US Apache and Shell Egypt, exploration of four potential basins is also underway in Egypt, where there is an estimated 100 Tcf and 6 billion barrels technically recoverable. Similarly, Kuwait’s state-owned Kuwait Oil Company has identified a viable shale gas deposit and is moving to extract. Libya is seeking foreign companies to conduct joint studies on the development of an estimated 121 Tcf and 26 billion barrels. And, as of March 2015, Bahrain has an exploration program in place in the Bahrain Field, exclusively with OXY.
Shale resources could be important for the region
Scarce in water sources and dependent on groundwater, one may ask why the Middle East and Africa region is pursuing fracking. Perhaps the key reason is the surging domestic demand for energy. Consumption rates have risen, resources have become more unstable, and conventional oil prices are fluctuating.
The UAE already imports gas from Qatar through the Dolphin pipeline and is looking at the potential of importing gas from America to cope with rising demand. But it could instead exploit an estimated 205 Tcf and 22.6 billion barrels of shale resources. Traditionally resource-poor Jordan has already signed an agreement with the Saudi Shale Rock Corporation with hopes of production by 2017 to meet demand.And in Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest consumer of crude oil for electricity, there are hopes that an estimated 600 Tcf of technically recoverable shale gas (more than double its conventional gas reserves) could stem a potential energy crisis. The national oil company ARAMCO has already carried out an appraisal drilling, and aims to produce 200 million cf of shale gas by 2018 to supply a new power station.
Unprecedented environmental protests across the region
But fracking is not being taken well everywhere across the region. In South Africa, environmental protests resulted in the government putting in place a shale exploration suspension in 2011.Heavily dependent on coal for 75% of its energy supply, the country could significantly benefit from tapping into its estimated 485 Tcf, predominantly found in the Karoo Basin. And Shell was one of three companies given an exploration permit back in 2010. But while the suspension has since been lifted and fracking regulations have been gazetted, it is still being strongly opposed by a coalition of environmentalists, farmers, and local residents. And recently, a two-year Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) was launched.
There’s a similar story in Tunisia, where civil rights organizations have pushed the Tunisian Minister of Industry to put fracking on hold until wide scale social dialogue has taken place.
And in the most obvious example there is Algeria, where the drilling of shale reserves has led to the breakout of an unprecedented environmental protest movement. Looking to profit from potential reserves of 707 Tcf and 5.7 billion barrels across six basins, the government has signed agreements with a number of companies, put in place tax breaks on shale drilling, and has begun a 20 year development program with a $70 billion investment. But since January this year, there have been wide scale demonstrations, sit-ins, civil disobedience, and clashes with police in Warkalah and Ain Al Saleh in the heart of the Sahara. Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has vowed to continue the exploratory work, while promising to protect the public’s health and the environment.
Indeed, if the region is to be successful as a shale gas and oil producer, it must prioritize wide scale social dialogue and environmental concerns. Otherwise there is a risk that demonstrations, which are potentially dangerous in such an area, could turn into political pressure that prevents any shale exploration at all.
In 2010 South Africa hosted the first World Cup to be held on the African continent. Following ex-President Sepp Blatter’s scandal of corruption and vote-rigging this summer, FIFA is once again turning to the Middle East and Africa for solutions and a new vision for the organization’s future.
Since the founding of FIFA in 1904 all but one President has been European, with the exception of Brazilian João Havelange. But the candidate list confirmed by FIFA last week boasts a truly 21st century roster; four out of the seven candidates hail from the Middle East and Africa, signaling not only the globalization of football but also the millions of fans represented in this region.
The Untapped Potential
Andrew Walsh of the sports research group SPORT+MARKT, notes an “increasing awareness of the scope for growth in Africa’s key football markets”. And it’s not just FIFA that is gaining interest in the region, but all of football leadership. “Africa is a hot-bed of untapped potential for clubs due to the sheer numbers of fans there. No other continent on earth harbors such a high ratio of football interest,” Walsh added.
And he’s not exaggerating. In a 2011 study, SPORT+MARKT revealed that 72 per cent of Africa’s 1.12 billion people, aged between 16-69, have an interest in football, roughly 800 million football fans. The study shows that 55 per cent of them are interested in the Premiership, while 39 per cent actively support an English top flight team.
In comparison, Europe’s entire population is 742.5 million people- the fact that there are millions more African football fans than the entire population of Europe illustrates why FIFA’s newly diverse potential presidential candidates mirror the future of football.
The Odds
Despite the numbers, many sport bookies seem to favor Frenchman Michel Platini as the likely winner of the upcoming elections. But as a long-time FIFA executive currently on suspension alongside Blatter, many Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) members doubt that he will be able to oversee the far-reaching reform needed following Blatter’s regime- especially since he’s trying to hold onto his UEFA presidency at the same time.
The FIFA presidency requires full attention to achieve necessary reform, so it’s likely that when it comes to the vote UEFA members will swing behind a candidate that will bring a fresh-start to the organization.
The Candidates
Likely candidate Jordanian Prince Ali bin al-Hussein ran against Blatter in this summer’s elections and nearly won, with UEFA’s backing as well as the support of Asian and African regional football associations. A former FIFA Vice President, veteran politician, and current President of the West Asian Football Federation, Prince Ali seems like a worthy contender to Platini. However in the last Vice Presidential election, Prince Ali lost to Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim, another candidate with a strong running for the presidency.
Sheikh Salman also has an impressive track record and a proven ability to consolidate votes. A Bahraini FIFA Vice President, Salman is on the task force to untangle football disputes between Israel and Palestine, and has targeted match-fixing, grassroots development, and women’s involvement during his time as President of the Asian Football Confederation, an organization mired by historic corruption and transparency issues.
“Turn FIFA around really quickly”
Salman currently denies allegations of human rights abuse concerning the violent suppression of pro-democracy campaigns in Bahrain in 2011, where over 150 athletes were imprisoned. Salman is a historic Blatter fan and a backer of the controversial Qatari and Russian World Cup bids, but he reckons he’ll “turn FIFA around really quickly”
Musa Bility, Liberian Football Association President and oil mogul, is also plagued by a controversial history concerning his 6-month football ban in 2013 and allegations that he won his presidency by buying votes for $500 a piece.
Among all the candidates, Tokyo Sexwale has the most divergent CV: a millionaire mining tycoon and anti-apartheid activist, Sexwale was imprisoned for 13 years in Robben Island alongside Nelson Mandela. A former FIFA Vice President, Sexwale was also key member of South Africa’s winning World Cup bidding team, and a chief organizer of the competition. Though the bid has drawn allegations for bribery, Sexwale has not been accused of any wrongdoing and has publicly criticized the payments, calling it “worrisome” for the future of football in a BBC interview.
Despite FIFA’s need for a fresh-start, many candidates have a history of wrongdoing to address. Currently embroiled by scandal, FIFA needs a new figurehead fast to clean up the mess and criminal reputation Blatter left behind. Recovering from collapse will be tricky without strong leadership, but it’s undoing offers a once-in-a-lifetime chance to build an international governing body fit for it’s purpose. It would be a true crime to waste it.
In a tightly monitored and relatively peaceful election, the people of the Ivory Coast have re-elected Alassane Ouattara, former Prime Minister and former deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, as President of their country in a landslide. Fifty-five percent of eligible voters participated in the election casting 84 percent of their votes for Ouattara, keeping him in power until 2020 in the cocoa-rich country.
Voter turnout was decidedly lower than the 80 percent rate for the hotly contested 2010 vote, but it was substantially above that of the previous presidential elections in 2000 and 1995.
Pascal Affi N’Guessan, his closest rival and also a former Prime Minister, won 9 percent of the vote. N’Guessan is the head of ex-president Laurent Gbagbo’s Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) party. N’Guessan’s presidential run attempted to bring FPI back into political relevance after sitting out the parliamentary and local elections after Gbagbo’s arrest during the 2010 post-election crisis.
Laurent Gbagbo and the 2010 Election
Ouattara finds himself in a very different position than he did after the disputed 2010 election which resulted in the ousting of two-term president Laurent Gbagbo. In 2010, Gbagbo received 38% of the vote in the initial election but faced a run-off with second-place Ouattara because of the country’s election rules requiring the winner to have 50% of the vote. In the run-off, Ouattara received 54% to Gbagbo’s 46%, according to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), but that vote was disputed by the Constitutional Council, which then determined that Gbagbo had won 51% of the vote after citing evidence of irregularities. Both candidates declared victory, and both took the presidential oath of office.
The United Nations, the ECOWAS, the African Union, the European Union, the United States, and former colonial power France declared support for Ouattara. They determined that the election was not compromised with former Prime Minister Ouattara winning a fair and free election at the ballot box. Gbagbo was told to abdicate the presidency by most of the international community. The body charged by the Ivory Coast Constitution with determining electoral disputes, however, declared Gbagbo to be the winner.
An ugly, bloody post-election civil war ensued pitting Gbagbo’s military against rebel forces supporting Ouattara with help from French troupes and UN peace-keeping forces. Four months of fighting, causing over 3,000 deaths and a deeper divide within the country, ended with Ouattara’s soldiers capturing and arresting Laurent Gbagbo. Ouattara then took power and the International Criminal Court indicted and arrested Gbagbo for crimes against humanity during the post-election civil war. Gbagbo is imprisoned in The Hague, Netherlands and is facing trial two weeks after the 2015 elections. Hardline members of his party, the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), disavowed their latest candidate N’Guessan, however, and requested supporters to boycott the polls. Voter turnout was markedly lower in areas considered Gbagbo’s traditional strongholds.
Division in the Ivory Coast
The outcome of Laurent Gbagbo’s ICC trial will have a substantial impact on the course of the next five years in the political climate of the Ivory Coast. The verdict, resulting in either an acquittal or conviction, will affect the balance of power in the FPI and its political support in the opposition. Most are expecting that Gbagbo will be convicted, but an acquittal would be a game changer. It could unite the opposition to Ouatarra and have a substantial impact on current political sympathies and the election in 2020.
The opposition parties in the Ivory Coast are currently deeply divided and in a state of disarray. Despite a few claims of voter intimidation and unequal access to state media, this election is universally considered valid, and there will be no civil war to determine who will be President. Over 10,000 police officers and soldiers were deployed all over the country to keep the peace during this year’s election.
All is still not well in the country with a continuing north-south divide, but progress is apparent, and Ouattara cites a growing economy based on its cocoa exports. Investors are flooding into the world’s top cocoa grower and their fears of upheaval are, temporarily, alleviated. Official observers considered the election peaceful and transparent. The President congratulated all Ivorians for their maturity and exemplary behavior.
Economic Growth and Optimism for the Future
Ouattara has presided over an unprecedented economic turnaround during his time in office. He is a noted economist known for transforming his country into one of the largest economies among its peers in West Africa after being decimated by civil war. The Ivory Coast economy is expected to expand about 10% this year, after averaging close to 8% the previous three years. The gain is greater and more rapid than most of its West African peers. Critics of the President believe he needs to do a better job of alleviating overall poverty and encourage further reconciliation after decades of violence and division within the country.
President Ouattara is optimistic about the future of his country. He believes that the people of the Ivory Coast are committed to a path of stability and reinforcement of democracy that his government is trying to foster. Hope is that the country continues its development and that peace will accompany it. Citizens must engage with their government and with their fellow citizens in peaceful political discussion and debate for progress to continue.
Mr. Ouattara believes that continued healthy growth in the economy will ease tensions that have divided the country in the past. An important element of reconciliation is improving living conditions, and this is already happening with investment in power infrastructure and the increasing availability of potable water. There is new hope in the country, and President Ouattara believes it will continue during his time as its leader.
ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria plans to set up a $25 billion infrastructure fund to invest in the transport and energy sectors in Africa’s most populous nation, a spokesman for Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said on Thursday.
Laolu Akande said money for the planned fund would come from local and international sources including Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund and domestic pension funds.
“The vice president disclosed that other sovereign wealth funds have already indicated an interest in the fund, which would be used to address the nation’s decaying road, rail and power infrastructures,” said Akande.
He did not say when exactly the fund would be set up.
The nation of 170 million people is Africa’s top oil producer, but it requires infrastructure development to help boost economic growth.
The West African nation’s economy, the biggest on the continent, has been hammered by the fall in oil prices. The country relies on crude exports for around 70 percent of government revenues.
Osinbajo, who has been asked to oversee economic policy by President Muhammadu Buhari, referred to the infrastructure fund proposals while speaking to diplomats, including ambassadors from Italy and Canada, the vice presidency said in a statement.
Osinbajo also reiterated the administration’s view that Nigeria’s currency, the naira, does not need to be devalued, the statement said.
“It is not a solution. We are not exporting significantly. The way things are, devaluation will not help the local economy,” he was quoted as saying.
His comments come days after former central bank governor Lamido Sanusi said Nigeria would have to devalue and loosen monetary policy to stimulate its economy.
The naira was officially devalued last November and underwent a de facto devaluation again in February.
Godwin Emefiele, the current central bank governor, has repeatedly said the currency was “appropriately” priced and has ruled out another naira devaluation.
(Reporting by Felix Onuah; Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Reuters)
This week, more than 27 million Egyptians in 14 of the country’s 27 provinces began voting in the first round of long-delayed elections to choose a new parliament. The country has been without one since Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court dissolved the People’s Assembly in 2012, a body which was dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood. In place, current President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi – former head of the Egyptian Armed Forces who helped oust the Brotherhood’s President Mohamed Morsi in 2013 – has held all legislative powers, ever since he was overwhelmingly elected in 2014 with 96.6% of the vote.
But where Sisi has hailed this election a milestone in the country’s path to prosperity, and the final stage in the country’s three-step transition to stability (step one being the vote on a new constitution, step two, the election that made him president), Egyptian voters appear less interested and critics have called it a sham.
Low turnout in the first round of Egyptian parliamentary elections
Turnout has been low. On Wednesday, the head of the Electoral Commission reported that voter participation was 26.56%, even after the government declared a half-day holiday on Monday to encourage more to vote. Reuters put that figure at 10% on Sunday.
Egypt’s foreign ministry spokesman has strongly rebuffed claims that the low turnout represents a failed political environment. He insists the country is moving toward stability. “Anyone with a basic knowledge of Egypt’s political landscape should know that this year’s parliamentary elections are subject to many complex factors,” he said, citing, for example, Egypt’s continuing development of stable political opposition parties.
But whether low turnout can be called evidence of voter fatigue (Egyptians have voted seven times since the removal of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011), or disenchantment (most of the more than 5,000 candidates are perceived to support Sisi who has cracked-down on opposition groups and extremism), it seems that Sisi is losing some of his cult-like adoration.
What will the new parliament look like?
Held under heavy security – reportedly 185,000 soldiers and 180,000 police were deployed as a result of ISIS militant attacks over the past year -, this is the first phase of a two phase vote to select 596 MPs. The second round is set for November. 448 will be voted in as independents, 120 on party lists, and 28 as presidential appointees. There are quotas for women, Christians, youth, farmers, workers, and Egyptians abroad.
The independents list – which will form 75% of the assembly – tends to favor wealthy, well-connected, pro-government candidates. And the liberal, pro-market Free Egyptians Party, founded by telecoms tycoon Naguib Sawiris, who famously offered to buy an island for people fleeing Syria, has already seen 65 of its candidates qualify for the runoffs in 51 constituencies. Pro-Sisi coalition, For the Love of Egypt, an alliance of businessmen, politicians, and former NDP members, is also doing well, having secured all 60 party seats on offer in this first round.
Slow signs of reform
Many of these businessmen – who strongly supported Sisi’s rise to power – believe he can deliver the stability needed, and open up investment opportunities. But relations are also strained.
On election, Sisi – widely seen as a friend of economic reform – promised a rebalancing of government finances, a reduction of state debt and energy subsidies, reforms of the investment environment, a broadened tax base, the introduction of a value-added tax, labor reforms, and more. It is a commitment he repeated at the World Economic Forum in Davos, stating his intent to remove obstacles to private-sector development and resolve disputes between investors and the government.
But evidence of actual significant reform is slow. And in a country where half the population is under 25, average per capita yearly income growth has sat at around 2% since 1980. Unemployment has increased to 12.7%. Inflation is just under 10%. The economy is only projected to grow 5% in 2015-2016 (roughly the same as in 2009-2010 under Mubarak). And the main stock index is down 23% this year, more than twice the decline of the MSCI Emerging Market Index.
Sisi has focused his efforts on using the military (his preferred approach to achieving stability) to oversee huge infrastructure projects, such as the expansion of the Suez Canal area. Many think this strategy does little for long-term economic growth and reveals a suspicion of the private sector.
Courting foreign investment
Courting foreign investment should be essential for Sisi, if he is to fulfil his promises. Foreign direct investment is currently at $6.4 billion (year ending June 2015), compared with an average of almost $10 billion in the four years preceding 2011. Government debts to foreign oil and gas companies – who provide the essential fuel for industry and power stations – have grown to $5.7 billion, so many of them have pulled back or exited altogether. And the foreigners who once held around $10 billion of domestic bonds have left, and not yet returned.
But there are positives to be drawn. With Sisi holding a tight grip on the security and safety of Egypt, many believe that financial and economic policies will be the only area in which a parliament will be able to play. Particularly one with its own interests in business. And these elections are also a signal that Egypt is committed to creating stability – both political and economic – whether or not there is still a long way to go. Good news, perhaps, for future foreign investment.
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – South Africa will publish a draft carbon tax bill for further comment next week, keeping the door open to delay its controversial implementation for the second time beyond 2016, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene said on Wednesday.
The carbon tax, part of government efforts to reduce harmful emissions in Africa’s worst polluter, was postponed two years ago to 2016 after alarming industry it would further erode profits amid a global commodities slump and higher electricity tariffs.
“On any tax proposals we take the trouble of engaging with industry before we can implement,” Nene told reporters ahead of tabling his three-year budget outlook.
“So whether it will be implemented in 2016 as we announced or later, will depend on discussions we are having,” he said.
Former Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in 2014 delayed the introduction of a carbon tax by one year to 2016, tweaking its policies to better protect industry from a proposed tax price of 120 rand per ton of carbon equivalent.
The postponement was welcomed by mining and other carbon-intensive companies, such as steel giant ArcelorMittal and petrochemical group Sasol, who have said the new tax will erode profits against a backdrop of rising electricity tariffs and sluggish economic growth.
The tax, expected to be phased in over time, was due to start on Jan 1, 2015 and is one of several green initiatives, including greater vehicles emission taxes South Africa wants to implement to reduce its carbon footprint.
Should the new carbon tax bill, which was approved by cabinet, be sent for public comment, it is unlikely that it would be made law before Nene’s budget policy speech in February, given that the legislative process at parliament was winding down already.
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – South Africa will borrow $4.5 billion from international markets over the medium term with government debt set to rise to nearly 2.4 trillion rand by 2018/19, the National Treasury said on Wednesday.
New bond issuance for 2015/16 would rise to 175 billion rand, marginally up from the 173 billion rand estimated in February.
Treasury said borrowing requirement would rise over the next three years, with borrowing for 2015/16 fiscal year revised to 176.3 billion rand forecast in February’s main budget before gradually rising to reach 186.1 billion rand in 2017/18.
Treasury said it would focus on mitigating the risk of sharp increases in loan repayments, and would continue its program of switching short-dated bonds in exchange for longer-dated ones.
“Further rand depreciation and higher inflation would push up the level of debt and debt-service costs,” Treasury said.
The rand has lost over 13 percent in value against the dollar in 2015 as combination of weak domestic factors and slowing growth globally, particularly in China, have seen the unit tumble to all-time lows.
Minister Nhlanhla Nene said the rise in government debt over the next three years would amount to 600 billion rand, while stabilizing as a percentage of GDP to 49.4 percent in 2018/19.
RABAT (Reuters) – The Moroccan government plans to spend 15.5 billion dirhams ($1.61 billion) on subsidies, down from 23 billion dirhams budgeted for this year, the 2016 draft national budget seen by Reuters showed.
The kingdom expects subsidies of only 14 billion dirham in 2015 – down from budgeted 23 billion – thanks to lower energy prices.
Morocco started to repair its public finances three years ago after huge deficits in 2012 when the government spent billions to calm Arab Spring-like protests.
Morocco has done more than most North African countries to make painful changes required by international lenders to curb deficits, such as ending fuel subsidies and freezing public sector hiring. The government still controls the prices of wheat, sugar and cooking gas.
In another move to step up with the subsidy reform, the government is planning to fully liberalize gasoline and diesel prices on December 1.
The government has said gross domestic product (GDP) would grow by 3 percent in 2016, down from an estimated 5 percent in 2015.
The forecast is more ambitious than that of Morocco’s planning agency, which had said the economy would grow by 2.6 percent in 2016 as agricultural output fell from an exceptional 2015.
Agriculture accounts for more than 15 percent of the economy, with this year’s cereal harvest hitting a record 11 million tonnes.
The budget deficit is expected to come in at 3.5 percent of GDP in 2016, down from 4.3 percent in 2015, while inflation is seen at 1.7 percent, according to government estimates.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also announced the joint co-operation in challenging the effect of climate change. India and the more developed African nations are known to have high rates of pollution and so any steps to control this situation on a collective basis would be beneficial. Growth on a scale not previously known to developing countries was acknowledged as being encouraged without any serious effect on the environment.
The Middle East, which currently holds half the world’s conventional oil resources and 40% of its gas, is often portrayed as a region under threat from fracking as its traditional oil and gas customers become self-sufficient producers. But while it has perhaps been slower to exploit shale than most other regions, 
Economic Growth and Optimism for the Future
Low turnout in the first round of Egyptian parliamentary elections
