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A round-up of recent news from the UK, Africa and around the world.
A Lloyds TSB International's expat survey has found that 15% of Britain's overseas workforce doesn't plan to return. Expatriates have stated that a better quality of life (74%), being financially better off (64%) and a lower cost of living (52%) are the main reasons for not returning to the UK. Tony Wilcox, Managing Director – Expatriate Banking, Lloyds TSB International, says: “From economic woes to August's riots, the UK has faced a catalogue of bad news in recent months. Coupled with expats' view that the quality of life is higher and they are financially better-off abroad, it's not surprising that so many have cancelled their plans to return to the UK.”
The number of City-type jobs is now forecast to fall by 27,000 over 2011 as a whole and to remain largely flat through 2012. These are the findings of London, City & Regional Prospects, a new regular publication by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) - one of the country's leading economic consultancies, renowned analysts of the London economy and the only commentators to both track the history and prepare forecasts for the number of City jobs. In April this year, Cebr projected that around 2,000 jobs would be added over the course of 2011 and a further 3,000 in 2012. This figure has now been revised down to a loss of 27,000 jobs. Downward revisions were caused by the prospect of tighter financial regulation as the results of the Vickers Commission report came in, as well as by the turmoil created by the debt crisis in the Eurozone taking its toll on market activity and confidence. This takes the overall number of City‐type jobs to 288,000 on average in 2011, back to levels last seen in 1998 and well below the peak of 354,000 in 2007. Longer term estimates show employment in City‐type jobs remaining broadly flat in both 2012 and 2013, before starting to slowly expand – an increase of between 3,000 and 4,000 jobs is expected for each of 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Employers risk losing their most valuable staff if they fail to address a growing “crisis of trust” in senior leaders, the CIPD's quarterly Employee Outlook survey has revealed. The institute's research showed that staff who reported low trust in their managers, excessive stress at work or job dissatisfaction were much more likely to be in the 22 per cent of people looking for a new job. This is despite the fact that improving pay is the top reason staff give for leaving a job. Overall trust in leaders is low across the board, with only a third (34 per cent) of employees agreeing they trust their senior management teams and 38 per cent disagreeing. Nearly half (47 per cent) of employees who strongly distrust their senior management are currently looking for a new job compared to just 8 per cent of workers who strongly trust their leaders. More than half (57 per cent) of dissatisfied employees are looking for a new employer compared to only 8 per cent of employees that are satisfied at work. And people who face excessive work pressures on a daily basis are almost twice as likely to be looking for a new job (39 per cent) than those who experience this level of pressure once or twice a month (21 per cent). The research also found significant regional variations in staff trust in leaders, with employees in Wales, North East England, North West England and Scotland least trusting of their leaders, while workers in South West England, London and the East of England are generally more trusting.
Attaining a university degree has become even more crucial to an indiv¬idual's ability to climb the ladder of social mobility over the past decade, despite a record number of graduates in the workforce, according to a study reported in the Financial Times. The report by the Resolution Foundation think-tank examined two groups of people, the first born in 1958, the second in 1970, as they moved into what is considered the peak period of earnings – their 30s and 40s – during the 1990s and the 2000s. The study found that holding a degree was more valuable for future earnings in the second decade and a better bulwark against downward mobility. In the 1990s, those with A-levels but no degree were 20.1 per cent more likely to move down the social mobility scale. By the 2000s, that figure had grown to 49.6 per cent. Those with only GCSEs or NVQ level 2 reaching their earnings peak in the 1990s were 42.2 per cent more likely to move downwards, while by the 2000s the figure had risen to 67.5 per cent. The Resolution Foundation study, which looked at households on low to middle incomes, is part of a larger work on social mobility to be released in the next few weeks. The findings have implications for efforts to reduce income inequality. While 16 per cent of people from low to middle income households earn a degree, some 39 per cent of those from higher earner households do so. The benefits of a university degree – the ability to move up the ladder of social mobility – were also evident from the study, although the difference was not as stark as the risks of falling downwards for those without degrees. In the 1990s, those without a degree were 37 per cent less likely to improve their position. By the 2000s, that was little changed, with those who had only A-levels being 36.6 per cent less likely to move up than those who obtained degrees.
The Stanford Graduate School of Business in California has announced a $100 million gift from Robert and Dorothy King for research into eliminating poverty in the developing world. This is the second-largest publicly announced gift in the American school's history. The $100 million will be used to create The Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies, which will train organizations and entrepreneurs. An additional $50 million will be set aside for matching funds to study and teach innovation and social enterprise university-wide. If all funds are matched, the total amount could reach $200 million. Robert King is a Stanford graduate and founder of an investment management firm R. Eliot King & Associates. The Kings made the gift because of what they learned over the past 50 years of hosting international students from countries including China and Zimbabwe to attend Stanford. The mission of the Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies is “to stimulate, develop, and disseminate research and innovations that enable entrepreneurs, managers, and leaders to alleviate poverty in developing economies. The Institute's work is based on the belief that a critical route for economic growth is through the creation of new entrepreneurial ventures and by scaling existing enterprises.” The Institute also plans to work with a variety of developing world partners to build capacity on the ground.
The cost of ineffective management is costing UK businesses billions according to a recent survey. The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) suggests that three quarters of UK employees waste on average 1.51 hours a week due to poor management from above. When taking this into account the cost of ineffective managers per employee per year is £900 – based on a 48-week year – which equates to £19.3billion for UK plc as a whole. Employees stated the worst inadequate management practices as unclear communication (33%), lack of support (33%), micro management (26%) and lack of direction (25%). Of the 2,000 UK employees surveyed, 13% said they have witnessed managers showing discriminatory behaviour towards employees, while nearly a third (27%) have witnessed bullying or harassment from their managers.
The UK government has announced details of a new scheme to recruit 5,000 female business mentors in order to increase the number of female entrepreneurs in the UK. The government argues that British women are naturally more entrepreneurial than their counterparts in other countries, but are less likely to set up their own businesses. They claim that better use of women's skills could be worth billions of pounds to the British economy each year and that if women started businesses at the same rate as men, there would be an additional 150,000 extra start-ups each year in the UK. If the UK had the same level of female entrepreneurship as the US, there would be approximately 600,000 extra women-owned businesses, contributing an extra £42bn to the economy.
The Nairobi Stock Exchange has changed its name to the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), paving way for introduction of a wider range of products. The name change, which is the first since the exchange was established as a voluntary association of stockbrokers registered under the Societies Act in 1954, is one of the steps that were to be completed as part of a demutualisation process that has been put on hold due to a pending court case. It will widen the NSE's scope beyond a “stock” exchange to a “securities” market where other products such as futures, derivatives and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are traded.
Women in developing economies in particular appear worse off today than they were last year, giving credence to the impression that women bear the brunt of economic downturns, according to Sandra Burmeister, CEO of the Landelahni Recruitment Group. In South Africa, women earn on average 34% less than their male counterparts, compared to 33% a year ago. The pay gap is at its lowest in the non-profit sector at 5%. In the public sector it is 27%, with the private sector pay gap rising to 35.5%. When it comes to industry sectors, the trade, transport and hospitality sector performs best at a 24% pay gap, followed by commercial services, agriculture, manufacturing and building at 35%. This means, in effect, says Burmeister that women work for free for four months a year, while men work and get paid for a full year. According to a recent World Economic Forum (WEF) survey of 134 countries, the gender gap as measured by economic participation and opportunity, education, health and political empowerment widened in 41% of the 134 countries surveyed. Globally, the average gender pay gap for similar work was 35%, up from 34% in 2009. A WageIndicator survey covering 37 countries confirms that men earn considerably more than women. Europe exhibits the narrowest pay gap, with an average of just under 20%. Africa shows a 29% gap, followed by the Americas, with a gap of about 33%. Asia shows the widest differential at a 40% pay gap. Denmark leads the way as one of the world's most egalitarian countries. On average a professional woman earns 91% of the pay of her male peers. By contrast, India and Brazil exhibit a wide income gap, with a female worker earning 64% of that of her male peers in the same occupation and with the same qualifications. In Sub-Saharan Africa, SA comes second after Lesotho in terms of gender equality, followed by Mozambique, Namibia and Uganda, with Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali and Chad trailing at the bottom of the list. According to the WageIndicator survey, the gender pay gap widens with age. For women under 25 years, the gender pay gap is 15%. Between the ages of 25 and 34 years, it widens to 19%. This widening trend accelerates in the middle-age group (35-50 years) to reach 25%. Finally, during the later years of their working career, the earnings gap widens at a slower rate, with women over 50 experiencing a pay gap of 27%.
Now open to applications, TeenBiz is the UK's first business start-up initiative for young people aged 18 and under. It was founded by Claire Young, a finalist on the 2008 run of the BBC television series, The Apprentice. The scheme aims to provide teenage entrepreneurs with the tools needed to start their own businesses. It is designed to ignite an entrepreneurial interest among students who want to take their ideas to the next step and require assistance to make this happen. The objective is to help 100 young people who have fresh ideas, hunger and drive, to commence business operations over the next three years. Every month one student will receive up to £500 of funding. The money can be used towards a range of start-up costs, primarily equipment required in the early stages of setting up a new business. Additionally, successful applicants will receive a mentor and a 'Business in a Box' start-up pack – including a virtual PA service, business cards and the loan of office space. Sponsors of the scheme have also donated vouchers for stationery and a website. TeenBiz is open to all students, of all academic levels – from 13 to 18-years-old, all over the UK. Applications are accepted at any time. Grants will be made commencing 1 January 2012. Click here to access the scheme website and submit an online application - teenbiz.org.uk
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is seeking designs for their new project that will be a permanent memorial to honor the victims of slavery and the trans-Atlantic slave trade.' Artists, designers, sculptors and other visual arts professionals are invited to submit proposals. This call for participation offers the selected artist a unique opportunity to design a memorial that will insert the slave trade tragedy into the collective memory of humanity and raise awareness regarding the contributions of the victims of slavery. The memorial will be located in a prestigious public space on the grounds of the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York along the East River bank. The winning design will be inherently egalitarian, expressing the cross-cultural and global impact of the slave trade, while honoring those who have died and those who have shared their struggle. The memorial will be an architecturally designed sculpture embodying each affected region of the transatlantic slave trade – Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, and the Americas erected on the grounds of the UN. The theme chosen for the competition is 'Acknowledging the Tragedy; Considering the Legacy; Lest We Forget.' As an outstanding artistic complement to the landscape of the UN Headquarters, the memorial must be designed to reflect the competition's theme. The permanent memorial will serve to deepen, both visually and spiritually, the visitor's experience of the iconic site and also represent the symbolism of the United Nations. Proposals must be submitted by December 19, 2011. The winner's prize for the completion of the design is 50,000 USD. The open international design competition will be administered through UNESCO's headquarters in Paris. Through a collaborative effort, the Permanent Memorial Committee and Advisory Board will develop its guidelines and establish a panel of internationally acclaimed design professionals, artists, and other relevant stakeholders to be jurors for this competition. The project will be released at the end of the competition in spring 2012. For more information about the memorial or to enter this competition, visit www.unslaverymemorial.org .
MTN South Africa clinched the number one spot in the diversity management category in the overall Best Employers 2011 ratings due to the high value placed on meeting employee needs and driving Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) opportunities within their operations. The Best Empowered Employers category, as part of the annual CRF Institute's Best Employers campaign, is measured using standard BEE scorecard elements, but much more than that, it also assesses the level of transformation embedded in the corporate culture of an organisation and specifically looks at how black and female staff members are being managed, promoted and rewarded as well as the leadership thinking of the organisations. The Best Empowered Employer category lists the top ten companies that are managing diversity most effectively. MTN South Africa led the way ahead of Legal Aid South Africa, Exxaro Resources, SAP South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Joburg Market (Pty) Ltd, Tsogo Sun Group, Ernst & Young, Microsoft SA (Pty) Ltd, Vodacom Group Limited and Telkom. According to the latest research resulting from the campaign, 96% (up 4% from last year) of the country's best employers have diversity as a key strategic priority. Samantha Crous, Country Manager of CRF Institute South Africa, said that this is an important indication of the direct correlation between a robust transformation strategy and being a good employer in general. Other findings showed that more than 80% of companies have gender and ethnic and/ or racial background as part of their diversity management programme, and 74% of companies treat succession planning for black and female candidates as high priority with 40% of internal positions available in organisations filled by black and female succession candidates. According to Crous, being ranked as a Best Empowered Employer means that a company has met the standards of the CRF Institute scorecard, but a strong focus is also placed on industry recruitment practices, training programmes, succession plans and the involvement of senior leadership in on-boarding. Mentoring and coaching, as well as statistics around absenteeism and attrition among these staff groups are also reviewed.
Sub-Saharan Africa's economy is expected to grow by 5.25% in 2011, but if global growth slows, South Africa will be particularly hard hit, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF predicted that the region's economy would grow 5.75% in 2012. "In particular, our projection for 2012 is highly contingent on global economic growth being sustained at about 4%," according to an IMF report on sub-Saharan Africa's economic outlook. South Africa, a middle-income country with slower growth compared to the regional average, had yet to see its output and employment return to pre-crisis levels. South Africa was forecast to grow at about 3.5% for 2011 and 2012. The IMF said the main economic threat to the region was the strong possibility that global growth would decelerate further, particularly in 2012. Although advanced economies had become less important as a market for sub-Saharan African exports, they still accounted for nearly half of the region's exports. Between 1990 and 2010, the share of sub-Saharan Africa's exports to advanced economies declined from 78% to 52%. Over the same period, the share of sub-Saharan Africa's imports from those countries declined from 73% to 43%, the IMF said. Demand from emerging trade partners helped the region weather the slowdown in economic activity in 2009 and 2010. But, activity in these countries, such as China and India, was also expected to slow down. Non-traditional partners -- led by the large economies of Brazil, India, and China -- now account for about 50% of sub-Saharan Africa's exports and almost 60% of its imports. The IMF found there had been a substantial increase in trade within sub-Saharan Africa. Intra-regional trade now accounted for about 14% of sub-Saharan Africa trade, compared with only 7% in 1990. The IMF said by 2010 South Africa had become an "engine of trade" in the region, accounting for 4% of total imports from the rest of sub-Saharan African and for 6% of total exports. India and Brazil were also making substantial investments in the region. Whereas most Indian investment is concentrated in Mauritius, and Brazil's investment is focused on Angola, Mozambique, and more recently Liberia, Chinese investment is present in most sub-Saharan African countries. Top destinations of Chinese investment in the region are South Africa, Nigeria, Zambia, Niger, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to the report.
The International Money Fund (IMF) has predicted that Ghana's economy will be the fasted growing in the world this year. Ghana's economy is experiencing a tremendous growth stimulated by government's fiscal consolidation and the burgeoning oil production.
Proparco has committed $13 million while BIO has pledged $7million. The funds are part of Oragroup's fundraising for an expansion program, which plans to raise $85million in equity and debt by the end of 2011. Oragroup is looking for $200 million for acquisitions over the next two years. Since its acquisition by ECP, Oragroup has focused on improving operational performance through the reduction of the cost-to-income ratio and the cost of risk, in a bid to support organic growth. ECP is the company's majority stakeholder and also controls the company's board. Headquartered in Benin, the Oragroup operates under the brand Orabank, and has in excess of $850 million in assets under management. Oragroup was granted a license to open the first private-sector led banking unit in Benin in 1988. Since then, the bank has expanded its presence to Gabon, Chad, Mauritania and Guinea. Until June 2011, Oragroup was known as the Financial Bank Group.
Chinese vehicle manufacturer FAW and Japan's Isuzu Trucks have both announced plans to build new production facilities at the Coega Industrial Development Zone, with FAW SA confirming it was building a $100m truck and car assembly plant. Isuzu said it too was planning an assembly plant at Coega. The new investments are another endorsement of government attempts to attract foreign automotive investment to SA and could create thousands of new jobs in the Port Elizabeth area. FAW is China's third-largest vehicle manufacturer by volume and, according to MD Richard Leiter, last year turned over $44bn and sold 2,25-million vehicles. But Mr Leiter would not reveal the shareholding structure of FAW SA nor the sales achieved in SA in recent years. FAW SA plans to open a truck assembly plant next year with the aim of producing 5000 units a year, "mainly for export into Africa". The truck plant would create 400-500 new jobs. Mr Leiter said the second phase was to build a passenger car assembly line by 2014, which could build up to 30000 cars a year. Mr Leiter said the 400000m² plant would initially be an assembly plant, but FAW SA would increase local content and eventually move towards full manufacture. Mr Leiter said the company would launch a range of cars, imported until the plant was up and running, to be distributed by motor and industrial group Imperial. Isuzu Trucks MD Arthur Boyle said the company was "looking seriously at Coega "as a site for its own assembly plant, but that the project was "still at the feasibility study stage". He said the plant had already been designed by Isuzu in Japan but the firm was "in the process of establishing costs". He said the products from the proposed plant would mainly be for the local market and for export into Zambia and Malawi.
The stock exchanges of the BRICS emerging market bloc - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - have announced an initiative to cross-list benchmark equity index derivatives on each other's boards, in an effort to expose investors to opportunities in the world's leading developing markets. Following that, the alliance will develop innovative products to track the BRICS exchanges. The initiative brings together the BM&F BOVESPA from Brazil, Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange (MICEX) from Russia, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) as the initial China representative, and South Africa's JSE Limited. The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and the BSE Limited (formerly known as Bombay Stock Exchange) have signed letters of support and will join the alliance after finalising outstanding requirements. These seven exchanges represent a combined listed market capitalisation of US$9.02-trillion, equity market trading value per month of $422-billion and 9 481 companies listed. They also accounted for over 18% of all exchange-listed derivative contracts traded by volume worldwide, as of June this year. From a global perspective the alliance pointed to the growing relevance of the BRICS economies and financial markets in the coming decade and further underlined the reason for the BRICS relationship, he said. The second phase will also include the development of products combining exposures to equity indices of all alliance partner exchanges. The third phase may include product developments and cooperation in additional asset classes and services. The interest in the BRICS economies is prompted by above-average growth predicted for these regions, as well as the rising consumer power generated by growing middle classes in each nation.
A group of the world's leading impact investors have joined forces with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to invest $25m in a new growth fund to support African agriculture. The African Agricultural Capital Fund (AACF) brings together J.P. Morgan's dedicated Social Finance Unit with the Gates, Gatsby and Rockefeller foundations. As East Africa struggles with skyrocketing food prices and the region's worst drought in 60 years, the fund will deliver much needed growth capital to boost the productivity and profitability of Africa's undercapitalized agriculture sector. Over the next five years, Pearl Capital Partners (PCP), a specialised African agricultural investment fund manager based in Kampala, Uganda, will invest the AACF's $25 million in at least 20 agriculture-related businesses in East Africa. The initiative aims to infuse equity and expertise into a sector that has suffered from under-investment, and pave the way for raising the productivity and incomes of at least a quarter of a million households. PCP's model focuses on building the skills of local management teams rather than infusing management expertise from abroad, making it a sustainable approach to investing on the continent. Under the new fund's impact investment philosophy, PCP will aim to have both a strong financial return and significant social impact. Successful agribusiness development creates positive financial returns for the fund's investors. At the same time, agribusinesses are vital sources of employment, secure markets and improved products for millions of smallholder farmers across East Africa. New investments will need to demonstrate that they benefit large numbers of farmers and have an environmentally benign footprint. AACF is being capitalised by a unique consortium of impact investors in conjunction with USAID. In order to attract investors to East Africa's fledgling but increasingly profitable agribusinesses, USAID's Development Credit Authority is guaranteeing 50% of an $8 million commercial loan from J.P. Morgan's Social Finance Unit to AACF. The fund is also supported by $17 million in equity investment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation. The fund will also have access to $1.5 million in USAID-funded business development services, primarily funded under President Obama's flagship Feed the Future initiative, to improve investee companies' operations, competitiveness, and access to markets.
A $430-million fund which will give Zimbabwean children and pregnant women free medical care at public hospitals was launched on Monday with the help of the European Union and Unicef. The Zimbabwe health care system, which has collapsed from years of economic crisis, requires $436-million over the next five years to improve capacity, particularly the delivery of maternal care, according to Unicef. The fund is supported by various donor agencies and EU member countries such as Ireland, Norway, Sweden and Britain. The money will supply medicine and basic equipment to clinics and hospitals around the country. Health Minister Henry Madzorera welcomed the funding, saying it will bring major relief and revitalise the ailing health sector. Over the past few years, Zimbabwe has been hit by recurring diarrhoea and cholera outbreaks, which left scores dead. Zimbabwe's health delivery system is slowly showing signs of recovery as a result of contributions from aid agencies.
Zambia's newly elected President, Michael Sata, has outlined plans to review the higher education sector as well as establish three new universities, to fulfil his election manifesto. Job creation for higher education graduates would also be prioritised. Sata, who came to power last month after defeating former president Rupiah Banda, said he also had plans for the establishment of universities and technical colleges in each of the country's nine provinces and intended rehabilitating existing institutions. Staff recruitment would be scaled up to meet demand in these institutions. In his inaugural speech in parliament, Sata, who is the leader of the Patriotic Front, said the majority of those who had voted him to power were young people struggling to find jobs. Job creation in the copper-rich country would be a priority during his presidency, to absorb graduates from colleges and universities. The new government regarded education as key to unlocking human potential, "leading to prosperity and national development", according to the president. He added that there was a need for a "paradigm shift" in order for the country's graduates to be able to compete at the international level. In the short term two colleges and a mission would be converted into universities, with 18 months being set as the timeframe for the conversion of the colleges of Palabana and Chalimbana into universities and with Lubwa Mission - the birthplace of the country's founding President Kenneth Kaunda - also being turned into a university. Sata said one of the universities would be named after Kaunda, who had set a good example not only for Zambia but also for Africa when he had agreed to the peaceful transfer of power in 1991 on being defeated by Frederick Chiluba. The president suggested that the education system needed extensive review.
A team of experts from the World Bank has commended the Sierra Leone Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources for the successful implementation of the first phase of the West Africa Regional Fisheries Programme, funded by the World Bank and the NEPAD Agency for the past one year. The Partnership for Africa Fisheries is a regional programme implemented by NEPAD that is aimed at supporting a politically-led process to strengthen Africa's ability to define and take forward effective reforms in fisheries governance and to build the capacity of West African countries including Sierra Leone, Liberia, Senegal among others to effectively manage their fisheries industries. Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Dr. Soccoh Kabia noted that illegal fishing and poor management of the country's territorial waters were key challenges to the ministry as the country was losing millions of dollars through illegal fishing activities.
South Africa's National Development Plan seeks to create a "virtuous cycle of growth and development" by removing the most pressing constraints to investment and job creation in order to eliminate poverty and sharply reduce inequality in the country by 2030. The wide-ranging draft plan builds on the government's New Growth Path, which targets 5-million new jobs by 2020, setting an ambitious target of reducing South Africa's unemployment rate from 27 percent in 2011 to 6 percent by 2030 by creating 11-million new jobs. This will require meeting the corollary target of annual average gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 5.4% between now and 2030, and the National Development Plan focuses strongly on economic interventions to achieve job-creating growth. However, its scope is much wider than that, ranging from improving the country's infrastructure while integrating the rural economy and transitioning to a lower-carbon economy, to improving the quality of education, achieving quality universal health care, building safer communities, reforming the public service and beating corruption. At its heart, the plan envisages a shift away from a paradigm of entitlement to a paradigm that promotes the development of capabilities, the creation of opportunities, and the participation of all citizens. To increase both employment creation and economic growth, the plan proposes raising exports, improving the functioning of the labour market to help the economy absorb more labour, supporting small business through better coordination of the activities of small business agencies, improving the country's skills base through better education and vocational training, increasing investment in social and economic infrastructure in order to lower costs, raise productivity and bring more people into the mainstream of the economy and reduce the regulatory burden in sectors where the private sector is the main investor, such as broadband internet connectivity, to achieve greater capacity and lower prices.
In its continued efforts to promote economic growth and reduce poverty in Mali, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a general budget support loan of USD 53 million for the west African country. The loan will finance the Second Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Support Programme for Mali (GPRSSP-II). The action follows three years of good economic performance which has resulted in notable poverty reduction in Mali. The loan is provided by the AfDB's concessional or 'soft loan' arm, the African Development Fund. The AfDB's previous support to Mali had helped it prepare and execute a national development budget and make economic and financial reforms. The Board considered the success of Malian reform as exemplary. They also considered it a role model other low-income countries where the Bank has aligned poverty strategies to improve business climate, transparency, ownership and decentralization, as well as reduced the time-frame between loan approvals and their effective implementation. From the perspective of further growth and poverty reduction outcomes, the Bank noted that the development reform process in Mali is essentially government-owned and that the current programme will lead to optimum mobilization of domestic resources, more transparency in public finance management, including at the local authority level.
Kenya Airways registered 18 percent growth in passenger volume in its second quarter, aided by route expansion and greater flight frequency in Africa, it said on Thursday. The airline, 26 percent owned by Air France-KLM, said passenger numbers rose to 1,004,476 in the three months from July to September. The amount of cargo carried was up 13.5 percent at 16,021 tonnes, on improved conditions and increased sales. Kenya Airways said in a statement that new destinations launched in the second half of 2010 included Italy, Mozambique, and Malindi in Kenya, while Chad and Burkina Faso were launched in the first half of 2011. It plans a rights issue to raise an unspecified amount of money for route and fleet expansion. The airline wants to double its fleet in the next five years to extend its network in Africa. Passenger haulage within Kenya was up 42 percent to 202,826, while the rest of the continent excluding Kenya generated 14 percent growth to 509,570. Africa contributes about 60 percent of the airline's revenue. Among the routes to see higher passenger numbers were Bamako, Dakar. The airline also introduced flights to Ouagadougou and N'Djamena, through Cotonou. Europe registered an 11 percent increase in passenger numbers to 158,247, while volume to and from Middle East, the Far East and India rose 19 percent to 133,833.
Botswana's economy grew by 9.6 percent in the second quarter compared to a 2.2 percent contraction in the first quarter, mainly due to increases in the construction and mining sectors, the country's Central Statistics Office said. On a year-on-year basis, gross domestic product expanded by 12.4 percent in the second quarter, after growing 6.5 percent in the first quarter. Botswana is centrally located in southern Africa, sharing borders with Zambia and Zimbabwe in the North, South Africa in the South and Namibia in the North West. Botswana has maintained one of the world's highest economic growth rates since independence in 1966. Through fiscal discipline and sound management, Botswana transformed itself from one of the poorest countries in the world to a middle-income country with a per capita GDP of $13,100 in 2010. Two major investment services rank Botswana as the best credit risk in Africa. Diamond mining has fueled much of the expansion and currently accounts for more than one-third of GDP, 70-80% of export earnings, and about half of the government's revenues. Botswana's heavy reliance on a single luxury export was a critical factor in the sharp economic contraction of 2009.Tourism, financial services, subsistence farming, and cattle raising are other key sectors. Botswana has adopted a system of producing Development Plans to guide the overall development of the country. They contain Government strategies planned to be undertaken over the Plan period. Programs and projects to be implemented to achieve such strategies are also included in the Plan. The Plan also contains estimates of revenue expected over the entire period as well as expenditure and manpower growth projections. The current National Development Plan is the tenth in the series of NDPs.
Tullow Oil plc has announced that new Production Sharing Contract (PSC) arrangements have been agreed with the Government of Mauritania and its Joint Venture partners. These arrangements will enable the Group to progress the appraisal and development of existing discoveries and pursue exploration in a new contract area covering 10,725 square kilometres with Tullow as operator. The new arrangements, reached through transactions with partners and PSC awards from the Government, result in the exploration areas of the PSCs previously known as PSC-Area A and PSC-Area B being replaced by a new, single Exploration PSC called C-10. Tullow will operate this new PSC with a 59.15% interest. The existing Banda, Tevet and Tiof discoveries have been ring-fenced under their original PSC terms and extensions of up to 18 months have been granted to allow appraisal and development activities to be completed. Petronas will continue to operate Chinguetti Field on the basis of the original equities. Tullow will now work closely with the Government of Mauritania and its Joint Venture partners on the near-term commercialisation of the existing discoveries and the initiation of a high-impact exploration programme. The development of the Banda gas and Banda oil rim discoveries will be prioritised and it is expected that the results of initial development studies will be presented to the Government in early 2012. The high impact exploration programme is expected to include a minimum of two wells over the next three years. Following the various agreements with partners and the Government of Mauritania, Tullow has significantly increased its equity position in the region.
The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF), U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) say the new African Cocoa Initiative (WCF/ACI), a Global Development Alliance partnership to invest in sustainable cocoa programs in West Africa, will be launched in the coming weeks.Cocoa is one of the most significant crops in West and Central Africa, 90 percent of which is grown on two million small family farms. WCF/ACI is a five-year, US$13.5 million program in the four producing countries of Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Cameroon and Nigeria that will develop their cocoa sector in four critical areas: foster public-private cooperative investments in cocoa and agriculture, improve the genetic quality and productivity of the cocoa varieties under cultivation, expand farmer education and training programs, and improve the agriculture input supply chains that serve the farmers. Through WCF/ACI, the partner institutions, USAID, WCF and IDH, are contributing significant funding and expertise to improve farmer incomes, alleviate poverty, strengthen government and regional institutions, and help advance food security throughout the region. This advances the goals of the U.S. government's Feed the Future Initiative to increase agricultural productivity and the economic well-being of smallholder farmers. The four national governments have each endorsed WCF/ACI and are committing their agencies to participating and investing in its
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