🔅 Nigeria: Fueling Debate on Subsidy Removal
Plus: South Africa's Power Outages Terminated?, Happiest African Countries: Mauritius Leads, Iran's Building Boats for the Ivory Coast, And much more... ☕
Before we start, we’d like to make a recommendation. If you're interested in staying ahead of the curve in #AfricaTech,
is a must-read. Their well-researched insights into the continent's thriving startup ecosystem are informative and engaging, making it one of the most valuable resources out there. You can check out and join its thousands of other smart readers here.Photo of the day: Sunset on the Zambezi River, Zimbabwe.
Markets:
🔺 Nigerian SE: 52,994.13 (+3.40%)
🔺 Johannesburg SE: 77,113.70 (+5.56%)
🔺 Ghana SE: 2,758.42 (+12.87%)
🔻 Nairobi SE: 114.26 (-10.36%)
🔺 US S&P 500: 4,099.37 (+7.20%)
🔺 Shanghai Composite: 3,315.36 (+6.38%)
*Data accurate as of the close of markets across the continent
ECONOMY
Nigeria: Fueling Debate on Subsidy Removal
The Nigerian government is about to pull the plug on its costly but popular fuel subsidies.
But it is taking steps to make sure the transition doesn't hit the country's most vulnerable segment too hard.
What's the plan?
The government's got an $800 million World Bank loan to scale up its national social program, and is considering cash transfers and mass transit buses for workers. It's also registered ten million households on its vulnerable list.
But is that enough?
According to the World Bank, that might not be. It's predicting over 11 million Nigerians being pushed into poverty by 2022, with the total number of people classified as poor reaching over 100 million.
So, the government is also entering discussions with the incoming administration of President-elect Bola Tinubu, and Labour Minister Chris Ngige recommended Tinubu's new administration give public sector workers pay raises.
What do Nigerians think about this?
Many Nigerians see cheap fuel as one of the only benefits they receive from the state, because of the country's failure to deliver basic services like electricity and security.
So, although the government has taken steps to ease the transition, it's still a very contentious issue. And one that will be closely watched.
Share Baobab with friends and colleagues for free daily updates on African business, money, and current affairs.
OTHER HEADLINES
Across the Continent
🇿🇦 South Africa's Power Outages Terminated? | South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that the national state of disaster that was declared two months ago to deal with the country’s electricity crisis has been terminated. But there's no celebration, because it doesn’t look like the power problems are going away any time soon. The government still has to contend with six-hour-long blackouts every day, and analysts say it could be another year before the situation improves. Ramaphosa did appoint a cabinet minister whose job is to fix the electricity crisis, and he declared a state of disaster in February to exempt essential services like hospitals from power cuts and buy electricity from other countries. But the blackouts have only decreased slightly since then, and they’re still happening in two-hour blocks. The electricity crisis is partly the result of years of mismanagement and corruption at the state-run power company, Eskom, and it’s a major contributor to the country’s economic woes.
😁 Happiest African Countries: Mauritius Leads | How do you measure happiness? If you’re the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, you consider a range of economic, social, and environmental factors, and then compare them across countries to determine which ones are the happiest. So, what are the top ten happiest countries in Africa? Mauritius came in first, followed by Libya, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Gambia, Algeria, Liberia, Congo, Morocco, and Mozambique. The UN report also found that global happiness has remained “remarkably resilient” despite the pandemic, and benevolence to others is about 25% higher than it was pre-pandemic.
🇨🇮 Iran's Building Boats for the Ivory Coast | Iran is out here making moves. After hosting the first Scientific and Economic Cooperation Conference of Iran and West African Countries (IRANWAC) a few weeks ago, the Middle Eastern nation has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ivory Coast to build 50 passenger ships. Iran's Vice President for Economic Affairs, Mohsen Rezaei, was present at the signing of the agreement. It's the latest in Iran's plan to expand its influence beyond the Middle East, and with its ISOICO shipbuilding complex being the largest in West Asia, it looks like the West African nations are about to get a whole lot of new ships.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Proverb of the Day
“Even the king of the forest, the lion, protects himself against flies.”
— Ghanaian Proverb.