Browsing: Chad

• Africa is loosing out on bad minerals for loan deals, AfDB warns.
• AfDB is developing initiatives to  help countries’ address the bad loans.
• China alleged to be the leader in bad minerals for loan deals with Africa.

Africa’s natural resources are being traded for loans from international lenders and that is why the continent is underdeveloped, the Head of the African Development Bank, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has decried.

In an interview with The Associated Press in Lagos, Nigeria, Dr Adesina called for an end to “loans given in exchange for the continent’s rich supplies of oil or critical minerals used in smartphones and electric car batteries.”

The Head of Africa’s biggest lending bank, AfDB, said some countries have gained control over mineral mining in places such as Congo and have left some African countries in financial crisis owing to such ‘mineral for loans deals.’

“They are just bad, first …

• In West Africa, half of the 11.6 million individuals, who were set to receive food aid between June to August, will not get any support.
• Only about 6.2 million people will get support. They are mainly refugees, displaced individuals, malnourished children under the age of 5, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and girls.
• Populations at risk as spread across Burkina Faso, Chad, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and north-eastern Nigeria.

Millions of people grappling with West Africa’s hunger crisis will not receive emergency assistance between June and September due to limited funding. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), almost half of the 11.6 million individuals, who were set to receive food aid between June to August, will not get any assistance.

The shock revelation comes as WFP and authorities in the Sahel region struggle with the worst hunger crisis in 10 years.

Populations in Mali and Chad will …

In the last 20 years, Africa’s external debt has grown fivefold to about $700 billion. According to Chatham House, a policy centre in London, Chinese lenders account for about 12 per cent of that amount. As of November 2022, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank considered 22 low-income African countries to either be in debt distress or facing potential external debt distress.…

The major petroleum groups had long been reluctant to become involved in Chadian oil fields. The fields in the central/western and northern parts of the country were located in areas of chronic insecurity.

Then, an unprecedented arrangement was made. The World Bank agreed to finance using public funds. The pipeline would later allow the private operators Exxon, Chevron, and Petronas to transport their crude oil to the Cameroonian port of Kribi. This would enable shipping to European or American refineries, where the oil could be offered on the market at prices that the cost of the transport infrastructure would not burden.

Chad faces military challenges on most of its borders which should be factored as a risk. In the west, in the region of Lake Chad, the army has been fighting the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram since 2015. On the border with Sudan, Eastern Chad has seen conflicts between …

African Ministers and Heads of Delegation of Ministries in charge of Housing and Urban Development, African Finance Ministers, the Directors and Management of Shelter Afrique, and representatives of international, regional and national institutions, the private sector and civil society, have agreed to enhance mechanisms for the mass production of decent and affordable housing in the continent to achieve social and economic development.

During a three-day summit at the 40^th Annual General Assembly of shelter-Afrique that was held in Yaunde Cameroon, the participants resolved to address the challenges that have hindered the efforts to provide decent and affordable housing in Africa.

In a research concluded by the Shelter-Afrique, a pan African housing finance and development institution, shows that the overall shortage of housing in Africa is estimated at 56 million housing units with out of this, more than 90 per cent are in affordable housing bracket.

The Managing Director …

While Nigeria is the largest exporter for Sesame seeds, there’s still a lot of untapped potential of the lucrative export business this even as the seeds demand increases  globally.

According to United states market based research report known as Hexa Research the Global sesame seeds market size is expected to hit $17.77 billion by 2025.

The fueling market demand was associated with its Increased application of the product as an anti-oxidant in various pharmaceutical formulations.

With the world production of Sesame seeds estimated to be 4. 8 million tonnes, ten [10] countries accounts for over 80% of it which includes Myanmar, India, China, Tanzania, Sudan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Uganda, and Niger.

Africa, accounts for over 45 per cent of the crop, and in the last 10 years has become as a fast-growing supplier of sesame seed in the world market.

Of the Sesame seeds global production, over two million …

South African regulators have put on notice Communications companies in country who are charging unbearable prices for mobile data, this is after South Africa was ranked 136th worldwide for its mobile data pricing this year in a study that was conducted based on the cost of 1 gigabyte (1GB) of mobile data.

The research was conducted by Cable.co.uk between the month of December 8, 2020 and February 25, 2021, with 6 148 mobile data plans in 230 countries gathered and analyzed.

South Africa’s data costs an average of $2.67 (R38.93) for 1GB of data from a sample of 60 plans measured on February, 25. The study found the cheapest data cost $0.12, while the most expensive was $34.95.

Data prices are keenly looked at by South African consumers after the Competition Commission found South Africa’s major mobile providers, Vodacom, Telkom, MTN, and Cell C, were charging too much for mobile …

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a disbursement under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) of about $69.49 million to Chad to address urgent balance of payment needs stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is the second funding in three months under RCF to address financing needs arising from the pandemic, which brings the country’s total IMF support since COVID -19 pandemic outbreak to $183.60 million. The board also confirmed the cancellation of the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement which was to expire end of September this year.

The IMF’s second RCF will provide timely support for the implementation of additional measures to address the COVID-19 crisis and lessen its severe impact. Chad’s authorities are also taking steps to ensure transparency and accountability in the use of COVID-related resources, including an ex-post audit of crisis-related spending and the publication of crisis-related procurement contracts.

The Chadian economy continues …

FAO’s latest update says that large numbers of desert locust swarms that have formed in Kenya and Ethiopia since January could move west in the coming weeks…

Africa has some of the most expensive mobile data services in Africa. With the increase in connectivity via smartphones, people in emerging markets can use their portable devices for more things each passing day. Most of us have a smartphone with mobile data that we can carry anywhere and as soon as we step home we switch to our Wi-Fi not to overuse our mobile data; which is most of the time unfairly overcharged.

However some people do not have the privilege to afford both mobile data and internet at home, so they opt for the more expensive but more portable mobile data. Everyday, people in emerging African countries are forced to take this decision and are sometimes charged the most expensive prices in the world for mobile data. What is important to know also is the dependency and impact of smartphones in lower income communities.

With a difficulty in …