🔅 WFP’s Race Against Time
Plus: Pope Francis’ clean-up operation, The Gambia’s VP is dead, Kenya’s president’s sensational abduction claims, And much more… ☕
Photo of the day: Seychelles
If you’re new around here, hit that subscribe button. We’ll get you smarter on African business, money and current affairs in less than 5 minutes a day, for free.
Markets:
🔻 Nigerian SE: 52,615.51 (-0.16%)
🔺 Johannesburg SE: 79,865.48 (+0.61%)
🔻 Ghana SE: 2,437.43 (-0.05%)
🔻 Nairobi SE: 119.37 (-1.08%)
🔻 US S&P 500: 3,950.45 (-1.02%)
— Shanghai Composite: 3,224.41 (0.00%)
Nigeria’s Debt: Nigeria’s Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed has a plan — cut the debt service-to-revenue ratio from 80% to 60% this year. Last year, the International Monetary Fund estimated that Nigeria spent a whopping 80% of its revenue on debt servicing, which could potentially have risen to 100%. Nigeria plans to produce 1.6 million barrels of oil daily this year and is hopeful that this will be enough to help lower the cost of living and keep debt in check.
Ghana’s Cry for Help: Ghanaians have seen inflation skyrocket, international reserves dwindle, and debt payments soar to a staggering 70-100% of government revenue. What’s more, the government is expected to miss a $41 million interest payment due on a $1 billion Eurobond today. As a result, a group of aid and campaign groups are joining forces to ask creditors to cancel a large portion of the country’s debt. The groups, including Oxfam, Christian Aid, Caritas Ghana, Debt Justice and ActionAid, have made their plea clear: wealthy private lenders should bear some of the burden of the crisis they helped create.
*Data accurate as of the close of markets across the continent
HUNGER
WFP’s Race Against Time
The World Food Program has been working hard to prevent a famine in Somalia and has managed to postpone it — for now.
“We’ve been fortunate so far, given the climate shocks inside Somalia,” said WFP Executive Director David Beasley. “But we’re not out of this yet.”
What’s the current situation?
Although support from donors such as the US (who announced $411 million in funding for Somalia’s crisis last month) has helped the World Food Program avert famine for the time being, Beasley warned that “we still could end up with a famine technically in Somalia” because “famine-like conditions” already exist.
“Once you officially declare to be a famine, well, it’s too late,” Beasley said. Experts said more than 8 million Somalis are badly food insecure because of drought and high food prices. Thousands have died.
But Somalia is not the only region facing a crisis:
When Beasley took office in 2017, some 80 million people worldwide were on the brink of starvation. Now, that number has ballooned to 350 million.
Beasley noted the economic devastation and supply-chain disruptions caused by the pandemic, as well as the conflict in Ukraine, which has resulted in the longest bread lines in the world.
What’s Russia’s got to do with this?
Russia has been a top global supplier of food and fertilizer, but Western sanctions have created obstacles to exporting its food and fertilizers.
Beasley said that despite a wartime deal brokered by the UN to allow grain and other agricultural supplies to flow through the Black Sea from Russia and Ukraine, the situation is still dire and could potentially lead to a food shortage or destabilisation of nations if it is not addressed.
“It will take several years to develop alternatives around the world,” he said. “But in the meantime, we’ve got to have that fertilizer and we got to do it in a way that’s not exploited by Russia. And that’s extremely important.”
OTHER HEADLINES
Across the Continent
🇨🇩 Pope Francis’s Clean-up Operation: Poor Traders Pay the Price | Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is getting a makeover in preparation for Pope Francis’s four-day visit. Sanitary police have been sent out to demolish the makeshift stalls that crowd the downtown streets, leaving many traders out of business, and their livelihoods in tatters. The Catholic Church is trying to distance itself from the evictions, saying they were only aware of the clean-up operations and requested they be done “in the most sober way.” But traders are angry, with one vendor saying she will “starve to death” without her stall. Another vendor questioned why the authorities had to wait for the Pope’s visit to start the clean-up operation.
🇬🇲 The Gambia’s VP Takes His Final Bow | President Adama Barrow announced that The Gambia’s Vice President, Badara Alieu Joof, had died “after a short illness”, for which he had been seeking treatment in India. Joof was appointed VP in 2022 and had previously served as Education Minister. He was the fourth deputy to serve under Barrow since his historic win in 2016 against former strongman Yahya Jammeh. Joof had worked in the Gambian civil service and later in the World Bank as an Education Specialist for West and Central Africa, which helped inform his time as Minister of Higher Education, Research, Science, and Technology.
🇰🇪 Kenya’s Election Drama: A Wild Plot to Abduct and Kill | President William Ruto has dropped a bombshell accusation that there was a plot to abduct and murder the head of the electoral commission during last year’s election. The president was declared the winner, taking 50.5% of the vote. His opponent’s party, ODM, calls the president’s claims a “well-choreographed chorus.” Ruto said the plot was “sanctioned by the highest office” and that “threats were dire, the promised rewards lavish, and the pressure relentless.”
🇷🇼 Rwanda’s Role in Britain’s Immigration Policy Challenged | Britain’s deportation policy of sending some asylum-seekers to Rwanda is being challenged. The news comes after Britain paid Rwanda 140 million pounds under the deal struck in April, but with no one actually sent to the East African country as of yet. The deportation plan is meant to deter migrants from attempting to cross the English Channel. Still, human rights groups have slammed the policy as immoral and inhumane, citing Rwanda’s poor human rights record.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Proverb of the Day
“Once you have been tossed by a buffalo, a black ox looks like a buffalo.”
— Kenyan Proverb.
Like Baobab?
Don’t keep it to yourself abeg. Share it with friends and colleagues using the easy one-click button below:
Otherwise, let us know how we’re doing by replying to this email.