Browsing: Russia-Ukraine crisis

The crisis has thrown the energy market into chaos, sending fossil fuel prices soaring. This has birthed the global demand for thermal coal, especially from the Asian and European markets; with most countries in both regions having been dependent of Russia, as the country is the world’s third largest supplier of thermal coal used chiefly for power generation. Coal plants that had been scheduled for closure in Europe have been reopened, to fill the deficit in mitigating fuel costs and generating electricity; as the alternative gas, is inarguably more expensive. With energy security under threat, climate policies and commitments have taken a back seat. The EU recently declared that natural gas now qualifies for green investments.

The African coal market is projected to enjoy double its revenue for the next one year. The prevailing energy gap has created a window of opportunity for African coal producing nations. According to a …

Trends suggest Kenya has outstanding resilience due to the quick bounce seen after the last election. Analysts believe the future leader must actively concentrate on transformation to allow the coupling of infrastructure investments to overall sustainability.

The future administration must establish legislation supporting political stability and social harmony to unleash industrial sector development. The adjustments will generate jobs, attract international investors, and lessen import dependency.…

Every African region has felt the effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with West Africa also bearing the burden of a war miles away in Europe.

• At a period when West Africa has been facing a severe food crisis since 2011, the Ukraine conflict has complicated matters further.
• For most West African nations, the expenses of regulating rising prices are already too high.
• The West African economic crisis and the Russia-Ukraine scenario highlight the perilous linkages between diplomatic sanctions, commerce, and food security.

Africa’s post-Covid recovery hampered

The Russian-Ukrainian conflict has hampered Africa’s potential recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic by raising food and fuel costs, interrupting the trade of services and goods, constricting fiscal space, limiting green transitions, and slowing the flow of development funding across the continent.

The crisis has jeopardized homes, communities, and nations across Africa. Before 2020, African countries were among the world’s fastest-growing. The COVID-19 pandemic …

Dangote also plans to launch an oil refinery that would produce 650,000 barrels per day. Currently, the Dangote Group is the second-largest employer in Nigeria after the federal government, and a new plant is a tremendous opportunity to replace Russian fertilizer imports with African jobs that create warehousing, transport, and logistics infrastructure that help to reduce poverty.

Global wheat, sunflower, and oil crude prices have soared to unprecedented levels. Africa is heavily reliant on food imports from both countries, and the Continent is already experiencing price shocks and disruptions in the supply chain of these commodities.

Over the past decade, the Continent has seen growing demand for cereal crops, including wheat and sunflower, which has been mainly supported by imports than local production. Africa’s wheat imports increased by 68 per cent between 2007 to 2019, surging to 47 million tonnes.…

Many exports from Ghana to the US benefit from duty-free tariff preferences under the American Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme. Exports from Ghana to the US that have enjoyed AGOA preferences include yams, apparel and cocoa (beans, powder or paste).

Ghana has exported US$131 million worth of yams to the US since 2012, avoiding a standard import duty of 6.4 per cent under AGOA. Cocoa exported to the US has amounted to US$2.5 billion over the last two decades.

Miss Rosa Whitaker, the President and the CEO of the Whitaker Group (TWG), is significant to the success of AGOA in Africa, facilitating the export of over 9,000 agricultural and manufactured goods to the United States.

Whitaker advocates for African countries to research what the US market is demanding and be alert to new opportunities. She pointed out the success of Ghana’s cocoa …

Again, the blatant abuse of, and racism against Africans in Ukraine is another knocker that will not see Africans get swayed easily since they feel they are still being treated like lesser humans.

For America and its allies to gain Africa’s support on any agenda they have, they have to do a lot more to convince Africans than they have had to prior to the covid-19 menace and the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

It is evident that the US, Europe and their allies do not care much for Africa. During the pandemic, the US, Europe and their allies hoarded vaccines and denied the continent the opportunity for equal and timely administration. This, however, was a blessing in disguise in that the vaccines have largely proven not to be effective. A win for Africa!

Since Russia’s operation started in Ukraine, a powerful alliance of friends has worked together to isolate the largest Slavic …

Since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine crisis, fertilizer prices have risen by 21 per cent.

It was noted that “the recovery of Africa has been impeded by greater inflation and tighter global financial conditions as well as rising interest rates,”

To counter external shocks, such as the Ukraine crisis, she urged public and private sector partnerships to enhance intra-African agri-food, industry, and service trade. She also urged the continent’s recovery from Covid-19 to get back on track.

When asked if Africa needs a second Marshall Plan, Keita said that Africa already has an effective one, in the AfCFTA, that may help it prepare for unpredictable times.…

In the construction sector, the price of steel and cement has increased exponentially. And, things are not getting better.

The Kenya Transporters Association has instructed its members across the country to raise freight rates by at least 5 per cent in order to maintain their companies under the current circumstances. The notification issued on March 14 was to help the freighters avoid a total collapse of the sector.

In a petition to parliament, the Consumers Federation of Kenya called for the elimination or reduction of the current 16.5 per cent value-added tax on liquefied petroleum gas to 8.5 per cent.

Pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) put the treasury under pressure to increase the VAT on all petroleum goods in 2018. The IMF said that the implementation of the VAT would ensure that the government is able to meet its financial obligations.…

Countries like China, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia have already made significant investments in natural resources mining in Africa such as cobalt, lithium, copper, iron, and gold.

Africa’s top nickel producers are Madagascar, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Côte d’Ivoire.

China’s Tsingshan Holding Group is the world’s largest nickel producer and it has an enormous investment in Zimbabwe.

Tsingshan Holding Group, however, faces US$8 billion in trading losses from the Russia-Ukraine crisis due to expectations that nickel prices will go down. In Zimbabwe, the Chinese company is building Africa’s largest iron ore mine and steel plant. The project is expected to be the Southern African country’s largest employer. With the ongoing crisis, losses could put Tsingshan’s investment in Zimbabwe at risk.…

Prices of essential and non-essential commodities will increase as fuel and gas prices skyrocket due to dwindling supplies. Air and marine freight prices have increased significantly. As a result, customers should brace for price increases caused not by the government’s actions but by direct and indirect conflict repercussions.

Numerous businesses have been forced to reduce or halt output due to the economic crisis. Zimbabwe is in danger of exhausting what remains of its productive capability unless drastic measures are taken to pique the interest of foreign investors.

Russia is the world’s second-largest supplier of petroleum products. Now that they are embroiled in a conflict with Ukraine, they cannot supply numerous markets, resulting in supply limits. When supply falls far behind demand, prices tend to rise, which is our situation.…