🔅 Africa is divided over Russia
26 countries backed a UN resolution against Moscow, but 19 abstained.
In today’s issue, WHO says that a clinical trial of Ebola vaccines will soon start. Angola is lowering its interest rates (unlike most other countries)…
Markets
🔻 Nigerian SE: 47,524.38 (-0.02%)
🔻 Johannesburg SE: 64,392.43 (-0.21%)
— Ghana SE: 2,461.71 (+0.00%)
🔻 Nairobi SE: 128.79 (-1.2%)
🔺 US S&P 500: 3,661.49 (+2.36%)
🔻 Shanghai Composite: 3,016.36 (-0.30%)
*Data accurate as of close of markets across the continent
Angola: Unlike most other central banks, Angola has started to lower interest rates, delivering a rate cut in September for the first time since 2019. Inflation is forecast to fall to 16% this year and around 10% at the end of next year. Foreign currency reserves are currently at seven months of import cover, a level the central bank governor says he is happy with.
Global Markets: The minutes of the US Federal Reserve's September meeting, released yesterday, show that central bankers are still very concerned about the persistence of inflation. Officials said that the cost of taking too little action outweighed the cost of taking too much action. In other words, expect more rate hikes.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
African countries are divided over Russia
On Wednesday, the United Nations General Assembly condemned Russia's "illegal annexations" of Ukrainian territories.
Twenty-six African countries backed the resolution rejecting Moscow's referendums in four Ukrainian regions, but nineteen others abstained.
The countries that abstained include Mali, the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, the Republic of Congo, South Africa, Sudan, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Eritrea. Four countries -- Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and Sao Tome and Principe -- were absent from the meeting.
Three of these countries hosted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's July continent tour. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba visited Africa earlier this month in an effort to counter Russia's apparent visit, but he was forced to cancel his trip after Moscow increased its bombing of Ukraine.
The General Assembly of the 193 member countries had convened in an emergency session following Russia's increase in air strikes in Ukraine, including in the capital Kyiv.
The US-led resolution passed with 143 votes in favour, five against, and 35 abstentions, including from China, India, and Pakistan.
Russia, Belarus, Syria, North Korea, and Nicaragua were the five countries that voted no.
ACROSS THE CONTINENT
Other Headlines
🇺🇬 World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that a clinical trial of vaccines to combat the Sudan strain of Ebola could begin within weeks as the disease reached Uganda's capital. On September 20, the East African country declared an Ebola outbreak, citing the Sudan strain as the source of the infections. It has so far confirmed 54 Ebola cases and 19 fatalities. Meanwhile, President Yoweri Museveni has ordered traditional healers and churches to stop treating people.
🌍 As a global push to invest more sustainably gathers steam, many African countries have implemented financial market policies related to environmental, social, or governance issues. For instance, Uganda's central bank launched a five-year strategic plan this year that promoted a "Sustainable financial system". At the same time, the Namibia Stock Exchange required listed companies to establish a social, ethical, and sustainability committee. Sustainability policy rankings are topped by Mauritius, Kenya, and Egypt, which require banks to incorporate climate change into their risk management and reporting.
🇹🇩 A severe drought followed by the worst floods in 30 years has caused food prices to skyrocket and leave a record 2.1 million people in Chad acutely hungry. According to the United Nations Children's Fund, 10% of all children under five suffer from severe malnutrition due to climate disasters, and one in every three will experience stunted growth.
AROUND THE WORLD
Rare protest against President Xi before party congress
A rare protest in Beijing targeted President Xi Jinping and China's Covid restrictions just days before a historical Communist Party congress.
Two posters were removed from the city, one of which read: "We don't want to take the Covid test; we just want to eat. We want freedom, not constraints. We want dignity, no lies. We don't want a Cultural Revolution; we want reform. We don't want leaders; we want votes. We can be citizens because we are not slaves." Another poster encouraged residents to "go on strike at school and work to remove dictator and national traitor Xi Jinping."
The week-long 20th Party Congress begins on Sunday and will draw approximately 2,300 top officials and party delegates to the capital. China's Xi Jinping is expected to get a third term in power, unprecedented in China's recent history.
To combat small Covid outbreaks in Beijing as the congress approaches, city authorities are enforcing much stricter measures than in the rest of China.
Many people who travelled to other cities over the recent National Day holiday discovered that their online health codes, which are required for cross-country travel, suddenly indicated they were at risk of Covid infection, preventing them from boarding trains or flights back to Beijing.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Proverb of the Day
"One who has to yet learn to walk cannot climb a ladder."
— Ethiopian Proverb.