🔅 Game closes shop

Game closes across East and West Africa

Oct 06, 2022

Good morning ☕

In today’s issue, Game closes shop in East and West Africa, extreme poverty will not be tackled by 2030, says the World Bank, and Uganda’s Museveni apologises for his son’s behaviour…

Markets Today

📉 Nigerian SE: 48,836.70 (-0.09%)

📉 Johannesburg SE: 65,612.75 (-1.06%)

📈 Ghana SE: 2,461.52 (+0.06%)

📉 Nairobi SE: 124.29 (-1.87%)

📉 US S&P 500: 3,771.48 (-0.51%)

📉 Shanghai Composite: 3,024.39 (-0.55%)

*Data accurate as of close of African markets

South Africa: Massmart Holdings announced on Wednesday that it had launched staff conversations about closing its Game stores in East and West Africa, following the failure of efforts to find domestic buyers for the stores. Massmart CEO Mitch Slape stated last year that the company was in talks to sell all of its stores in Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania to reduce losses in that underperforming segment of its business.

Global Markets: The Chinese economy is stagnating as it adjusts to a strict zero-Covid policy and decreasing global demand. The country may not be experiencing high inflation like the United States and the United Kingdom, but it is experiencing other issues: the world's factory has suddenly been faced with fewer buyers for its products both domestically and abroad. Trade conflicts with the United States are also stifling growth.

HUNGER

Goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030 unlikely to be met — World Bank

white and green braille machine — Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

The World Bank said in a new report released on Wednesday that the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine make it unlikely that the world will fulfil a long-standing objective of eradicating extreme poverty by 2030.

After decades of poverty reduction, the COVID-19 epidemic marked a historic turning point, with 71 million more people living in extreme poverty in 2020. Around 9.3% of the world's population was living on less than $2.15 per day, and the prolonged war, slower growth in China, and increasing food and energy prices threaten to hinder efforts to reduce poverty even more.

Barring strong economic growth, an estimated 574 million people, or around 7% of the world's population, will still subsist at that income level come 2030.

The World Bank has urged fundamental policy changes to increase growth and kick-start poverty-eradication efforts. Failure to eliminate poverty in developing nations would have far-reaching consequences on high-income countries, including climate change and the flow of migrants.

To shift course, the World Bank recommended that governments increase cooperation, eliminate expansive subsidies, focus on long-term growth, and use measures such as property and carbon taxes to collect income without harming the poorest people.

Poverty reduction had already slowed in the five years leading up to the pandemic. Sub-Saharan Africa, which has a poverty rate of roughly 35% and accounts for 60% of all people, was at the epicentre of extreme poverty levels.

Other Headlines

🇺🇬 On Wednesday, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni apologized for his son's social media outburst, which included a threat to invade Kenya and insults about the country's recent elections. Museveni's 48-year-old son, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, tirade on Twitter earlier this week sparked outrage in Kenya, with strong calls for a formal explanation from Uganda. "I beg our Kenyan brothers and sisters to forgive us," Museveni, who has ruled Uganda since 1986 and has the backing of party officials to run again in the 2026 elections, added.

🇪🇹 The African Union (AU) has invited Ethiopia's government and Tigray forces to peace negotiations to end the country's two-year civil conflict. The talks are scheduled to take place this weekend in South Africa. According to Ethiopia's prime minister's national security adviser, the government has accepted the offer. In August, combat erupted in the northern Tigray region, breaching a five-month humanitarian ceasefire. Both sides blamed the revival of fighting on the other.

Elon Musk Twitter deal back on in U-turn

blue and white heart illustration — Photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash

Elon Musk, the billionaire, has changed his mind about buying Twitter yet again and is now eager to proceed with acquiring the social media network.

Mr Musk agreed to pay the fee he proposed months ago in a letter to the company before attempting to back out of the contract. The unexpected reversal comes just weeks before the two sides were scheduled to appear in court. Twitter, which had sued Mr Musk to push the merger to proceed, was thought to have the better case.

The apparent victory for Twitter propelled its stock up more than 20% to more than $52 per share. However, the value remained lower than the takeover price, indicating that investors remain sceptical that the deal will be completed. Later that day, Mr Musk tweeted: "Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app".

When Mr Musk first announced his intention to buy Twitter for $44 billion, he stated that he wanted to clean out spam accounts on the platform and keep it as a free-speech space.

But the billionaire, a frequent Twitter user notorious for his rash decisions, backed out of the deal just a few weeks later, expressing concerns that the number of false accounts on the platform was higher than Twitter stated.

Twitter officials refuted the allegations, claiming that Mr Musk, the world's richest person with a net worth of more than $220 billion, wanted to leave because he was concerned about the price.

The two sides engaged in lengthy court papers, private conversations, and harsh public spats on Twitter, where Mr Musk had more than 100 million followers before the case was set to go to trial on October 17. In one such interaction, Mr Musk sent an emoji for faeces to Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal.

Proverb of the Day

"No matter how hot your anger is it cannot cook yams."

— Nigerian Proverb.

Baobab

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