🔅 Congo-Brazzaville’s Cruise-tastic Moment
Plus: Sudan's Ceasefire is Not Enough, Nigeria's Debt Servicing Woes, G7's Minerals Plan Puts Africa in the Hot Seat, And much more... ☕
Photo of the day: Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
Markets:
🔻 Nigerian SE: 51,028.62 (-0.29%)
🔻 Johannesburg SE: 78,500.86 (-0.38%)
— Ghana SE: 2,664.60 (0.00%)
🔻 Nairobi SE: 107.84 (-0.75%)
🔻 US S&P 500: 4,130.98 (-0.57%)
🔻 Shanghai Composite: 3,367.03 (-0.09%)
Global Markets: Facebook's Latest Cuts | Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg announced that another 10,000 people would be getting the axe in an effort to make the company more efficient. Already, some of the unlucky ones have taken to social media to announce their job search. Facebook's IT teams are the first to go, followed by business and admin teams next month. London-based Instagram staff, meanwhile, are either getting cut or being relocated. And, with other big names like Amazon and Google joining the layoff party, the tech world is in for a wild ride.
*Data accurate as of the close of markets across the continent
TOURISM
Congo-Brazzaville’s Cruise-tastic Moment
Congo-Brazzaville just had a pretty epic moment: the first-ever cruise ship carrying foreign tourists swept its coasts.
It is a sign of a new era of economic diversification, according to Lydie Pongault, minister of tourism.
Indeed, the arrival of the cruise ship is a major win for Congo-Brazzaville; tourism is one of the six pillars of the National Development Plan and a way to diversify the country's economy away from oil.
It's also a welcome sign for Pointe-Noire, the economic and oil capital of Congo-Brazzaville, which already hosts high-end hotels and is home to a lot of business tourism.
What's so special about the cruise ship?
The SH Vega is pretty fancy:
It's 115 meters of steel and flies a Finnish flag, and it offers excursions on the continent. It's also charting an epic course, coming from Angola and then moving on to Sao Tome and Principe.
The only thing is that port authorities haven't said how often they can expect cruise ships, and Congo-Brazzaville still has a lot of ground to cover to improve its tourism sector.
But with numerous transport infrastructures, economic dynamism, and so much more, there's no doubt that Pointe-Noire could soon become a seaside resort drawing in international visitors.
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OTHER HEADLINES
Across the Continent
🇸🇩 Sudan's Ceasefire is Not Enough | The attempt at a 24-hour ceasefire starting on Wednesday in Sudan was shaky from the start. Fighters from rival factions have been clashing in Khartoum and other parts of the country, and civilians have been fleeing in droves. The UN estimates that 330 people have been killed and 3,300 wounded in the fighting since it began last Saturday, though the toll is likely much higher. The truce between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces is the most significant attempt yet to stop the violence, but it’s not been enough to bring relief to the country’s overwhelmed hospitals. With power outages, a lack of medical supplies, and 12% of the country’s 22 million children suffering from malnutrition, the conflict has once again derailed Sudan’s attempt to establish democratic rule.
🇳🇬 Nigeria's Debt Servicing Woes | Nigeria’s government spent 96.3% of its revenue on debt servicing in 2022. And the country’s woes are only going to get worse, according to the World Bank. The naira redesign policy has made cash scarce, and the resulting economic instability has pushed an estimated 13 million Nigerians into poverty. On top of that, the federal deficit was 5.0% of GDP in 2022—over the 3% limit—which is only driving the public debt stock higher. Oh, and did we mention that the government spent $14.37 billion just on debt servicing and payments between 2015 and 2022? Looks like Nigeria's incoming president has his work cut out for him...
⛏️ G7's Minerals Plan Puts Africa in the Hot Seat | Attention, everyone: Africa is the new hot spot for critical minerals, at least according to the G7 Group, which just released a Five-Point Action Plan for Critical Minerals Security. With China and the Democratic Republic of the Congo supplying a majority of the world’s cobalt and Latin America taking the lead in copper production, the G7 Group wants to diversify the global supply chain and prevent economic and security risks. To do this, they’re encouraging investment in alternative critical minerals markets, with Africa at the top of their list. The continent already produces a lot of the world’s manganese, platinum, palladium, and uranium, and there are a ton of untapped resources in countries like Zimbabwe, Mali, South Africa, Namibia, and Nigeria. South Africa is taking the initiative and hosting the African Critical Minerals Summit this November, connecting producers and users of the minerals needed to power modern technology, supply chains, and energy production. The G7 Group is hoping this will be the place where deals are made to prevent economic and security risks.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Proverb of the Day
“A great leader is an ordinary person with extraordinary wisdom.”
— Malawian Proverb.