🔅 China-Africa's Billion-Dollar Trade Boom
Plus: Kenyan Sexual Partner Counts: High or Low?, Enslavers bred slaves like it was a cattle business, Mercenaries in the DRC?, And much more… ☕
Photo of the day: Berbera, Somaliland
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Markets:
🔺 Nigerian SE: 52,657.69 (+0.12%)
🔺 Johannesburg SE: 80,128.63 (+1.08%)
— Ghana SE: 2,434.44 (0.00%)
🔺 Nairobi SE: 125.67 (+1.13%)
🔺 US S&P 500: 4,023.51 (+1.28%)
🔺 Shanghai Composite: 3,264.81 (+0.76%)
Brazil and Argentina Team Up to Take on the Dollar: This could be the start of something big: Brazil and Argentina are teaming up to discuss creating a new currency—which they’re tentatively calling the “sur”—at the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States summit in Buenos Aires this week. It’s not a new idea—Brazil’s president, Lula, and his finance minister, Fernando Haddad, have been discussing a common South American for some time already. The idea is to reduce reliance on the US dollar and make regional trade easier.
*Data accurate as of the close of markets across the continent
ECONOMY
China-Africa's Billion-Dollar Trade Boom
The latest figures are in, and China and Africa are trading big... like, really big.
Trade between China and Africa reached a record high of $282 billion last year, a significant 11% increase from the previous year. China has been Africa's largest trading partner since 2009.
What’s driving the gains?
The growth can be attributed to China's increasing demand for natural resources such as crude oil, copper, cobalt, and iron ore from Africa. With its trade disputes with Australia, China has been looking to Africa as an alternative source.
Additionally, higher commodity prices, China's reopening after the Covid-19 pandemic, and Beijing's efforts to boost imports from Africa by allowing duty-free trade and providing $10 billion in trade finance to support African exports, have also contributed to the increase.
China’s top African trade partner is South Africa, from which it obtains diamonds, gold, and iron ore. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is another key partner as the world’s biggest producer of cobalt, used for electric car and smartphone batteries.
Zimbabwe and Angola, which sent $23.25 billion in goods — mostly oil — to China, are also significant players. However, flooding at South Africa's Port Durban, through which most of these countries export their goods, affected trade between China and the region.
What else is being traded?
While Africa primarily exports raw materials, it imports finished products such as machinery, electronics, textiles, and more from China. In an effort to boost imports from Africa, China recently allowed several African countries to start exporting some of their products duty-free, including chilli peppers, cashew nuts, sesame seeds, spices, avocados, tea, coffee, and roses.
However, the trade between China and Africa has its critics. Some argue that it is too one-sided and favors China over Africa. Chinese ambassador Qin Gang, however, has defended the trade by pointing to the hospitals, highways, airports, and stadiums that China has built in Africa. He also argued that African countries owe three times more debt to Western institutions than to China.
OTHER HEADLINES
Across the Continent
🌍 Slave Breeding: When Humans Were Treated Like Cattle | After the US was banned from importing enslaved people in 1808, enslavers started breeding humans. Yes, breeding—as in making more enslaved people by forcing sexual relations between males and females and between enslavers and their female slaves. The goal? To have as many slave children as possible to trade as stock. It was a business: they bred enslaved people for specific physical characteristics and expected girls to start reproducing from 13. In some cases, freedom was promised to those who could produce as many as fifteen slave children. The implications were severe—not only did it violate fundamental human rights, but it also resulted in families being torn apart and perpetuated the idea that black people were inferior. You can read more about this here.
🇨🇩 🔫 Russian Mercenaries’ Mysterious Presence in DR Congo | Rwanda recently accused the Congolese government of bringing in Russian mercenaries to fight against the M23 rebels. If this is true, it would undoubtedly complicate the conflict, which regional organizations like the East African Community are trying to resolve. When asked about the presence of mercenaries in Congo last October, President Tshisekedi said, “No, we don’t have to use mercenaries.” But President Kagame has a different opinion, saying, “When you hear a situation is relying on mercenaries, you know that situation is a mess.” He warned that the situation would only get worse if mercenaries were brought in.
🇿🇦 “South Africa’s Security Services are Missing in Action” | The outgoing CEO of Eskom, the South African power company, claims the country’s security services are “missing in action” when it comes to tackling the “astonishing” level of corruption in the company. ANDRÉ de Ruyter says it’s not surprising that the security services have gone AWOL, with the country experiencing a staggering 143 assassinations per year—including more than 40 political ones. De Ruyter has been on the receiving end of one of these “hits” himself, falling ill from suspected cyanide poisoning. “I was unstable and very confused,” he told The Telegraph. “I was not walking properly and gasping for air.” De Ruyter also found out that Eskom employees were actively sabotaging the company. De Ruyter is due to step down in March.
🇰🇪 ⚧ Kenyan Sexual Partner Count: High or Low? | A recent survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics has determined that Kenyan men have an average of 7.4 sexual partners while women have an average of 2.3. It also found that only 24% of women and 45% of men used a condom during their last sexual intercourse. The results have us asking: Who are these men having sex with if women have 70% fewer sex partners? Which of the two is under/over-counting?? Click reply and write us your theory.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Proverb of the Day
“No one became wealthy because they broke a holiday and no one who gained weight because they broke a fast.”
— Ethiopian Proverb.
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