Category: Business

GENEVA —

A U.N. official says a funding shortage means humanitarian aid will have to be cut for many of the nearly 10 million people in Democratic Republic of Congo facing multiple crises because of lack of money.

Conflict in the eastern DRC has forced 5.3 million people to flee their homes, Africa’s largest number of internally displaced people. Additionally, conflict in neighboring countries has prompted more than half a million refugees to flee to the DRC.

The U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator in the DRC, David McLachlan-Karr, says millions of people in the eastern provinces are victims of long-simmering inter-ethnic conflicts and conflicts over natural resources.

He says the situation is particularly concerning in Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu provinces, as well as territories in northern Tanganyika. These protracted conflicts, he says, have left millions of people destitute and in urgent need of assistance.

He says it will be difficult to provide that aid because only 27% of the U.N.’s nearly $2 billion appeal for this year has been funded.

”[It is] impacting our ability to reach the most vulnerable. And those populations, of course, leave us with a very stark choice. Who do we assist when we have such a reduced amount of assistance, forcing us to prioritize … in the DRC, which is a vast country with multiple crises,” McLachlan-Karr said.

For example, he said, the country is prone to repeated epidemics of many diseases, including Ebola, cholera, measles, and malaria. Currently, he says, the DRC is facing a lethal meningitis outbreak.

McLachlan-Karr said a recent World Food Program and UNICEF survey found 26.7 million people suffering from acute hunger in the DRC.

“They are literally living day to day in a precarious situation with an inadequate nutritional intake, leading to, essentially, a weakened condition, which, of course, makes them more prone and vulnerable to diseases across the country,” he said.

McLachlan-Karr said priority needs include food, shelter, health care, water and sanitation, education, as well as psychosocial counseling for victims of gender and sexual abuse.

Source: Voice of America

LOS LLANOS DE ARIDANE, SPAIN —

“It’s worse than a plague,” said Pedro Antonio Sanchez, fuming over the volcanic grit coating his bananas, the main source of wealth on the Canaries’ island of La Palma.

“It’s worse than a pest or disease because it scratches [the fruit],” said Sanchez, gesturing at the black sandy deposits that have rained down since the volcano erupted on September 19.

The volcano has caused major damage to banana plantations in La Palma, the second-largest producer in the Atlantic Canary Islands, where the crop accounts for 50 of the island’s economy, industry figures show.

Once the ash lands on the bananas, it is almost impossible to remove.

And it causes further damage in the handling, transport and packing, with the huge bunches, which are known as “pineapples” and can weigh up to 70 kilos (150 pounds), carried on the shoulders.

“You have to blast it off with water or something — to be honest, I don’t know how to do it,” said Sanchez, 60, who owns a small plantation. “When the dew forms overnight, it really makes the grit stick, and in the morning it just won’t come off.”

Can’t be sold

The skin blackens in the form of a scratch but nothing like the brownish-black markings that show the fruit is ripe.

And although the banana is perfect, it is rejected and cannot be sold.

“European quality regulations ban the sale of bananas with more than four square centimeters of scratches per fruit, even if they are perfect inside and can be eaten without risk,” said Esther Dominguez of ASPROCAN, which represents banana producers in the Canary Islands.

The volcano’s eruption has predominantly hurt the Aridane valley on the western flank of La Palma, although the problem caused by volcanic ash and grit has affected a much wider area.

It is not just the Aridane valley, because the wind changes direction and ash is blown all over. So 100 percent of the island is affected,” Juan Vicente Rodriguez Leal, head of the Covalle agricultural cooperative, told AFP.

“So we are going to have a significant loss of at least one year’s crop,” he said, estimating losses of “around 120 to 130 million euros [$140 to $150 million].”

The plantations are also suffering from a lack of water after the lava destroyed the area’s irrigation pipeline.

Bananas need a lot of water and the current shortage “is the biggest threat,” Sanchez said.

La Palma has long suffered from water shortages. It has no rivers, lakes or reservoirs, so the island gets its water from underground aquifers or rain collected by pine trees and transferred to the ground.

Bananas “need a lot of irrigation every seven days. Now we’re irrigating every 15 days to save water, and although they’re not going to dry out, the fruit feels the impact,” Sanchez said.

A third of Canaries’ crop

In 2020, La Palma produced 148,000 metric tons of bananas, or 34.5% of the Canaries’ overall crop, ASPROCAN figures show.

In terms of production, it is second only to Tenerife, which is three times larger.

One-tenth of La Palma’s 700 square kilometers (270 square miles) is dedicated to agriculture, of which 43% is planted in bananas, according to the Biosphere Reserve of La Palma.

More than 80% of the banana plantations in the Canaries are modest plots of less than 2.5 acres (one hectare), with many farmers living hand to mouth.

Although Sanchez enjoys the work, he’s had enough of living on the bread line.

“There are months when you bring in 1,000 euros ($1,150) or a bit more, but it’s normally less,” sometimes even as little as 300 euros, he said.

“It just doesn’t make me feel like working.”

Source: Voice of America

LAGOS —

Google plans to invest $1 billion in Africa over the next five years to ensure access to fast and cheaper internet and will back startups to support the continent’s digital transformation, it said on Wednesday.

The unit of U.S. tech company Alphabet Inc made the announcement at a virtual event where it launched an Africa Investment Fund, through which it will invest $50 million in startups, providing them with access to its employees, network and technologies.

Nitin Gajria, managing director for Google in Africa told Reuters in a virtual interview that the company would among others, target startups focusing on fintech, e-commerce and local language content.

“We are looking at areas that may have some strategic overlap with Google and where Google could potentially add value in partnering with some of these startups,” Gajria said.

In collaboration with not-for-profit organization Kiva, Google will also provide $10 million in low interest loans to help small businesses and entrepreneurs in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa so they can get through the economic hardship created by COVID-19.

Small businesses in Africa often struggle to get capital because they lack the necessary collateral required by banks in case they default. When credit is available, interest rates are usually too high.

Google said a program pioneered last year in Kenya in partnership with Safaricom that allows customers to pay for 4G-enabled phones in instalments would be expanded across the continent with mobile operators such as MTN, Orange and Vodacom.

Gajria said an undersea cable being built by Google to link Africa and Europe should come into service in the second half of next year and is expected to increase internet speeds by five times and lower data costs by up to 21% in countries like South Africa and Nigeria.

Source: Voice of America

WASHINGTON —

Consumers around the globe face higher prices for a wide variety of everyday purchases, as supply chain problems bedevil markets for all manner of goods, and energy prices spike to highs not seen in years.

That means consumers around the world are paying more for items like food, clothing and household supplies, and for major purchases like cars, appliances and homes. The impact is felt most acutely by low-income families, who find that their limited incomes cover fewer of their immediate needs than before.

The question on the minds of many economists, however, is whether surging prices really are “transitory,” as senior officials in the United States have been saying for months, or are they the beginning of a period of more sustained price growth than most of the world’s major economies have seen in decades.

In testimony before Congress last week, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that “frustrating” global supply chain problems resulting from the end of pandemic lockdowns have extended a period of inflation longer than he and other central bankers had originally expected. But he said he remained confident that they would eventually resolve themselves.

“The current inflation spike is really a consequence of supply constraints meeting very strong demand, and that is all associated with the reopening of the economy, which is a process that will have a beginning, a middle and an end,” Powell said. “We see those things resolving. It’s very difficult to say how big those effects will be in the meantime or how long they will last.”

Inflation concerns

Some economists, however, worry that the Fed is underestimating the forces driving prices on everything from food to automobiles.

“There are very many reasons to think that this inflation is not transitory — that it’s going to be with us for quite a while,” Desmond Lachman, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, told VOA.

On Tuesday, the price of the global benchmark for oil, Brent crude, rose to $82.56 per barrel, hitting a level not seen in three years. Worldwide, prices for food, fuel and consumer goods are on the rise.

The price of natural gas has more than tripled in Europe and Asia this year, leading to economic slowdowns in much of Europe and power cuts in China. Even in the United States, which normally has a plentiful supply of the fuel, prices are jumping on concern that there may be shortages in the winter months.

The big picture

In the United States, a widely watched inflation index, which excludes food and energy prices in order to minimize volatility, has been persistently above an annualized rate of 3.6% since the summer — far higher than the rate of less than 2% in recent years. Housing prices, a major element of inflation indices, are rising sharply.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve continues to pursue policies that make it cheap to borrow money, which many economists believe is creating more inflationary pressure.

“When you put the whole picture together, and you consider that the Fed has got its pedal to the metal at the same time as the administration is engaging in a record amount of peacetime budget stimulus, all of this doesn’t look to me like inflation is coming down anytime soon,” said Lachman.

Central bank tools

However, not all economists are as concerned as Lachman.

“In some sense [inflation] does seem a little more than transitory,” Jonathan Wright, a professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University, told VOA. “If you’d asked me a few months ago, I would have been more confident that this was limited to a few special sectors,” he said. “Now it seems to be something broader, the costs of shipping being a big part of that.”

However, Wright said he agrees with Powell that the eventual resolution of the supply chain bottlenecks, like the current backlog of dozens of container ships off the coast of California and the glut of shipping containers at rail yards in the American Midwest, will address much of the problem. He said he doesn’t anticipate prolonged inflation.

In part, he said, that’s because central banks, like the Fed, have a better understanding of how and when to act against spikes in inflation than they did the last time the U.S. faced a major inflation crisis in the late 1970s.

“The Fed is very aware of the problem,” he said. “If inflation comes in meaningfully above target next year, the Fed will tighten [monetary policy] quickly towards the end of the year.”

Inflation expectations

A question related to the impact of supply chain pressures on inflation is whether rising prices could become a self-reinforcing phenomenon separate and apart from the economic realities driving them.

That could happen if consumers, as a group, come to believe that prices are going to continue to rise at a high rate, and therefore begin making purchases that they might otherwise have postponed. The injection of more spending into the marketplace would create the upward pressure on prices that the consumers were trying to avoid in the first place.

In a press call on Tuesday, Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and Karen Dynan, a senior fellow at the organization and a professor of economics at Harvard University, responded to a question from VOA about inflation expectations.

Dynan said that she didn’t expect a relatively short period of inflation to move public expectations very much.

“We have had decades in the United States, and in some other rich countries, where inflation has been at 2%. Over the last decade, it’s been kind of hard to keep it that high. So I don’t know that the experience of a few months is going to kind of undo all that,” she said.

Posen said he believes that the effects of consumer expectations are “exaggerated” and that an aggressive anti-inflationary stance by the Fed, combined with broad international price competition, will help to keep inflationary pressures in check.

Source: Voice of America

GENEVA —

The World Food Program warns food insecurity and hunger are rising in northern Ethiopia as the conflict in Tigray spills over into neighboring regions.

The U.N. food agency reports it has completed the first round of food distributions in northern Ethiopia’s Amhara and Afar provinces. The operation, which began in mid-August, has reached an estimated 300,000 people affected by the spread of the conflict in Tigray into their territories.

However, the World Food Program reports distributions in Tigray are lagging. It says trucks continue to be stuck in the Afar region and are unable to deliver enough crucial supplies for millions of Tigrayan civilians living under dire conditions.

A U.N. analysis of the severity of food insecurity in June estimates up to 400,000 people in Tigray are on the verge of famine. WFP Spokesman Tomson Phiri says anecdotal reports from all three conflict-affected regions suggest food shortages are on the rise.

“In Afar and Amhara, our teams have seen hundreds of thousands of people displaced from their homes,” Phiri said. “It is absolutely vital that we have the full cooperation and support of all parties to the conflict so that we can reach all affected populations with urgently needed food assistance before we have a humanitarian catastrophe on our hands across all of northern Ethiopia.”

The United Nations reports thousands of people have been killed and millions forcibly displaced from their homes since November, when the conflict between the Ethiopian military and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front began. The U.N. says an estimated 5.2 million people or 90 percent of Tigray’s population needs humanitarian aid.

Phiri says WFP aims to reach nearly 3.5 million people across all three regions in the next round of food distributions. However, he acknowledges several obstacles stand in the way of reaching that goal.

“The food pipeline in Tigray remains hand-to-mouth, with a multitude of issues affecting the free movement of convoys…Additionally, the vast majority of commercial trucks are not able to return from Tigray which is one of the major impediments to the delivery of cargo as we struggle to convene convoys,” Phiri said.

Phiri notes a total of 637 trucks have managed to reach Tigray, carrying only 11 percent of the humanitarian aid needed in the region. He says to adequately feed the population, 100 trucks loaded with lifesaving supplies must arrive every day into the beleaguered province.

Source: Voice Of America

ABUJA —

Many Nigerians are optimistic as Africa’s largest economy gears up to launch the continent’s first central bank-backed digital currency, the eNaira. Authorities hope to tap into the popularity of cryptocurrency so it can better monitor digital currency transactions, curb black market trading in the paper naira and also help integrate millions of Nigerians into banking. But critics say the digital currency will also give Nigeria’s central bank more control.

The launch of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) digital currency, or the eNaira, was initially scheduled for October 1 as part of activities to mark Nigeria’s Independence Day – but was postponed by authorities.

The CBN’s communications director, Osita Nwanisobi, did not disclose the new launch date in a statement released on the bank’s social media handle.

But local reports say the eNaira website recorded more than one million hits in the hours ahead of the initial launch – what blockchain experts like Janet Kaatyo say is a welcome development.

“It is going to make cross border payments easier and it is going to make it easier for the naira to be widely used and accepted,” said Kaatyo. “So, Nigeria is gradually getting to the point where cryptocurrency is seen as an unstoppable force.”

Kaatyo believes the eNaira will promote blockchain technologies like cryptocurrency, which Central Bank authorities banned in back in February, citing its volatility and investment risk for citizens.

The CBN then promised to provide a safer alternative – the eNaira. Authorities and experts say the eNaira will ease monetary transactions and improve long-term value for Nigeria’s currency, compared to its paper counterpart, which has hit its lowest value since 2003.

The CBN also says the eNaira saves on printing and distribution costs for cash.

Digital strategist, Daniel Yerimah says the eNaira will also help address money laundering and corruption.

“Everything built on blockchain is very safe and secure. Another thing again is it’s universal, parts of the benefits they intend to achieve with the eNaira is it will be used for both international and local trade and also it’s going to be to fight corruption,” Yerimah said.

But some experts warn the emergence of the eNaira will cut off roles played by intermediary banks and give the central bank more control over citizens’ financial rights.

However, blockchain analyst Jadel Chidi disagrees.

“There’s a direct link between the Central Bank and the individual who uses the eNaira but that will not put the other banks out of business,” Chidi said. “What I see is that the CBN will eventually create a portal where each eNaira user will be able to access their e-wallet through the database they already have with their bank.”

In recent years Nigeria has seen a move toward cryptocurrencies as citizens looked for alternatives to the weakening naira.

Now millions are waiting to see if they can benefit from Nigeria’s digital currency.

Source: Voice Of America

WASHINGTON —

Add U.S. military officials to the crescendo of voices warning Mali’s interim government against brokering any deal to use mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group to help with security and counterterrorism.

For weeks, U.S. and French officials have publicly tried to dissuade Malian leaders from moving forward with a reported deal that would pay Wagner $10.8 million a month for 1,000 mercenaries to train Mali’s military and provide security for senior officials.

Now, the Pentagon says such a deal could cost Mali in multiple ways.

“Given the Wagner Group’s record, if these reports are true, any role for Russian mercenaries in Mali will likely exacerbate an already fragile and unstable situation,” U.S. Defense Department spokesperson Cindi King told VOA.

King also warned a deal between Mali and the Wagner Group “would complicate the international response in support of the transition government.”

The U.S. had been providing training and other support to Mali as it tries to confront the threat from various terrorist groups, including the Islamic State affiliate IS-Greater Sahara and the al-Qaida-affiliated Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, also known as JNIM.

But that support was suspended following the August 2020 coup that saw elements of the Malian military depose the country’s elected leaders.

More recently, France announced this past June that it would bring home some 2,000 counterterrorism forces it had stationed in Mali and neighboring countries.

Mali’s interim government has so far denied a deal with Russia’s Wagner Group is in the offing, but the country’s prime minister told VOA last week that the actions of the U.S., France and others have left the interim government with few choices.

“The security situation keeps deteriorating by the day,” Choguel Maiga told VOA in an interview on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

“We have to find new partners who can help,” he said. “We can seek partnership either with Russia or with any other country.”

Some Western officials with knowledge of the potential deal between Mali and the Wagner Group have called the potential deployment of the Russian mercenaries “a real concern.”

The officials point to what they describe as a destabilizing impact of about 2,000 Wagner mercenaries in the Central African Republic, where allegations of human rights abuses and exploitation have been rampant.

Russia has denied any abuses by contractors there and has welcomed talk of the potential deal between Mali’s interim government and Wagner.

They are combating terrorism,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during a news conference at the U.N. last week. “And they have turned to a private military company from Russia in connection with the fact that, as I understand, France wants to significantly draw down its military component.”

“We don’t have anything to do with that,” Lavrov said, adding, “at the government level, we are also contributing to providing for military and defense capacities of Mali.”

Many Western governments, though, insist that there is little practical difference between the Kremlin and the exploits of the Wagner Group, run by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Prigozhin, sometimes called “Putin’s cook” because of his catering company’s work for Russian President Vladimir Putin, is thought to have extensive ties to Russia’s political and military establishments, according to U.S. intelligence officials.

The U.S. State Department sanctioned Prigozhin and Wagner back in July 2020, as well as several front companies for the group’s operations in Sudan.

Source: Voice Of America

WASHINGTON —

Journalist Tesfalem Waldyes, the founder and editor-in-chief of Ethiopia Insider, an Ethiopian news and analysis website, is in police custody, according to media reports.

Tesfalem’s colleagues and friends said his whereabouts hadn’t been known since Saturday, but federal police confirmed his detention to the BBC, saying there is nothing to be concerned about.

Police didn’t give additional details. Shortly after the detention, Befeqadu Hailu, the executive director of the Center for Advancement of Rights and Democracy, said Tesfalem went missing after covering the Irreecha festival in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital. Irreecha is a cultural event celebrated by Ethiopia’s ethnic Oromo community.

Befeqadu also said via Twitter that Tesfalem’s plan for Sunday was to report on the festival, which also took place at a second location, Bishoftu.

The annual event is traditionally held in Bishoftu, a town located in the Oromia region, about 40 kilometers south of Addis Ababa.

After covering the event in Addis Ababa, Tesfalem posted a video on Ethiopia Insider’s Facebook page that showed attendees expressing their criticism of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration.

Attendees also demanded the release of political prisoners, chanting, “Jawar, Jawar!”

Jawar Mohammed, an Oromo activist and opposition leader, has been imprisoned, charged with terrorism and other crimes alongside other prominent Oromo politicians.

In 2014, Tesfalem was among three journalists and six bloggers, who became known as the “Zone 9 Bloggers” and were arrested for inciting violence among other charges, including terrorism. He spent more than one year in prison and was later released. Zone 9 Bloggers were recipients of the Committee to Protect Journalists’ International Press Freedom Award in 2015.

The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists says at least seven journalists are imprisoned in the country.

Separately, Prime Minister Abiy was sworn in for a second term on Monday.

The event comes as the national government remains engaged in a nearly year-old armed conflict with rebels in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region.

Source: Voice Of America