🔅 Safaricom opens its mobile network in Ethiopia
It becomes the country's first private operator
Good morning ☕
In today’s issue, Safaricom opens its mobile network in Ethiopia, WHO links child deaths to cough medication, and the IMF warns the globe is entering a period of increasing uncertainty…
Markets Today
📉 Nigerian SE: 47,260.89 (-3.23%)
📈 Johannesburg SE: 65,832.69 (+0.34%)
— Ghana SE: 2,461.53 (0.00%)
📉 Nairobi SE: 123.63 (-0.53%)
📉 US S&P 500: 3,759.08 (-0.64%)
📉 Shanghai Composite: 3,024.39 (-0.55%)
*Data accurate as of close of African markets
Nigeria: According to the CEO of Nigeria's national oil company, an illegal connection line from one of its main oil export ports in the sea has been discovered after going undetected for nine years. The 4-kilometre connection was found during a six-week theft crackdown amid a drop in oil exports figures from the country.
Global Markets:Â Hong Kong says it would give away 500,000 airline tickets worth $254.8 in an effort to improve the city's struggling tourism economy. In recent weeks, the city relaxed some coronavirus regulations. However, major airlines are battling to return to pre-pandemic travel schedules.
HEALTH
WHO links deaths in Gambia to cough medication made in India
The World Health Organization has issued a product alert on four cough syrups manufactured by Maiden Pharmaceuticals in India, which have been linked to 66 child deaths in The Gambia.
This followed an examination into the deaths of children attributed to kidney failure. The health agency is conducting additional investigations in collaboration with Maiden Pharmaceuticals and Indian authorities. It has also encouraged regulators to put a halt to the sale of the syrups.
The Indian health ministry has yet to provide an official response to the WHO's product notice.
Laboratory research indicated that the syrups contain excessive levels of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol, both of which are poisonous to humans and can be fatal.
According to the WHO, the syrups have been sold only in The Gambia but may have been distributed to other countries via informal marketplaces.
India manufactures one-third of the world's medications, most of which are generic drugs.
ACROSS THE CONTINENT
Other Headlines
🇪🇹 Safaricom of Kenya opened its mobile network in Ethiopia on Thursday, becoming the continent's first private operator in one of the continent's largest telecoms markets. Ethio Telecom, a state-owned company, has had a monopoly in Ethiopia, Africa's second-most populated country with an estimated 118 million people, until recently. Safaricom leads a group that includes South Africa's Vodacom and Britain's Vodafone. Its network was planned to be live in April, but it was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic and logistical issues.
🇺🇬 According to the World Health Organization, the death toll from the Ebola outbreak in Uganda has risen. So far, 63 cases, including 29 deaths, have been confirmed. On September 20th, Uganda announced an Ebola epidemic after confirming its first case in the Mubende district of central Uganda.
🇳🇦 Namibia has confirmed 54 swine flu cases out of 190 suspected cases. The central Otjozundjopa region and the area surrounding Windhoek were the most hit, with each location reporting 24 positive cases. H1N1 influenza, often known as swine flu, is an acute viral respiratory infection that causes fever, headache, myalgia, and other flu-like symptoms in humans. In 2009-10, Namibia suffered a large-scale swine flu outbreak, with over 8,000 suspected cases reported. 102 persons tested positive during the outbreak, and one died.
AROUND THE WORLD
IMF warns that the globe is entering a period of increasing uncertainty
According to the International Monetary Fund chief, the globe faces increased recession risks and a shift from an era of relative stability to a period of breakdown in international relations and more frequent natural disasters.
The IMF's managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, said that a series of economic shocks had unleashed persistently high inflation, impacting the cost-of-living crisis in countries around the world.
In her opening remarks ahead of the Washington-based fund's annual conference of up to 190 member countries next week, she said coping with the consequences of Covid-19, Russia's war in Ukraine, and climate change was made more difficult by geopolitical fragmentation.
With high oil costs impacting GDP, covid problems in China, slowing momentum in the US economy, and increasing interest rates from major central banks, she warned that the threats to global economic activity were mounting.
The IMF has reduced its growth forecasts three times, to 3.2% in 2022 and 2.9% in 2023.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Proverb of the Day
"Don't procrastinate or you will be left in between doing something, having something and being nothing"
— Ethiopian Proverb.