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Remittances set to fall in 2009 in West Africa |
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Friday, 14 November 2008 09:35 |
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For the first time in over a decade remittances to sub-Saharan Africa are set to fall in 2009, increasing people's vulnerability to poverty, officials at the World Bank say. |
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AFRICA: Investment key to doubling rice production |
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Wednesday, 05 November 2008 21:27 |
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Greater investment to double rice production in Africa is needed to reduce food insecurity as well as improve livelihoods, specialists urged. |
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African free trade zone is agreed |
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Wednesday, 05 November 2008 21:25 |
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The leaders of three African trading blocs on Wednesday agreed to create a free trade zone of 26 countries with a GDP of an estimated $624bn (£382.9bn). |
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SWAZILAND- A tale of two countries |
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Monday, 03 November 2008 15:18 |
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The irony is not lost on Swazis: the population is among the world's poorest, and yet the kingdom is classified as a "middle-income country". How come? According to Musinga Timothy Bandora, resident coordinator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), "A nation's wealth is measured by several factors; this includes gross national product." In the case of Swaziland, ruled by sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarch, if the nation's wealth were equally distributed, each Swazi would receive US$100,000. In per capita income terms, Swaziland ranks somewhere between Armenia and Paraguay, with export earnings based on agriculture and textiles; but, in terms of the share of the national wealth, the richest 10 percent of Swazis control over 50 percent of the country's income, a level of inequality worse than in Brazil or South Africa, and beaten only by Namibia. |
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Mozambique to cancel concessions of inactive mines |
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Monday, 03 November 2008 15:15 |
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Mozambique will cancel the mining concessions of companies that fail to exploit their mines, Mineral Resources Minister Esperanca Bias said on Friday. Bias told reporters that some companies, granted concessions for gold and other resources including nickel, copper and zinc ores or bauxite, were not working the mines, in contravention of mining laws. "The government's aim is not to apply fines but to cancel licences. The government planned to see serious work, and under the terms of the law they must present an activity report," she said. The Mozambican government has issued 296 licenses to 115 companies for mining concessions. Bias said Mozambique had depleted all the concession areas available for the surveying and mining of coal. |
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Ethiopian Humanitarian aid "needed until June 2009" |
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Monday, 03 November 2008 15:13 |
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The government and Ethiopia's humanitarian partners should prepare for significant increases in vulnerability until at least June 2009 if rains are poor between October and January, an early warning agency has said. In its latest food security alert , the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS Net) [http://www.fews.net/] stated that food insecurity could deepen in parts of the country should below-normal rains fall in the October-December/January season. "Regardless, food aid and nutrition interventions remain a priority," the agency said. "Water-provisioning activities (catchments and increased water trucking) during the coming dry season (December-March) may also be necessary." |
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Mozambique African Development Bank provides budgetary aid |
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Monday, 03 November 2008 15:00 |
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The African Development Bank (ADB) has approved a loan of US$93.4 million to fund the second stage of the Plan of Action to Reduce Absolute Poverty (PARPA II) in Mozambique for the 2008/2010 period, officials have said.
This budgetary aid, according to a statement from the ADB cited by Mozambican newspaper Notícias, aims to boost transparency and accounting mechanisms in use of public resources, on both a national and district level. |
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Botswana still has challenges despite featuring in top 10 reformers |
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Monday, 03 November 2008 14:53 |
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Although Botswana has acted on the recommendations of the 2004 World Bank report on the country’s investment climate, on the ground, it seems it is the same old story of the more things change the more they remain the same. A new report by the World Bank, titled Doing Business 2009, has shown that since the country moved to correct impediments of doing business in Botswana, the reforms have moved the country from position 52 in the world to 38 in terms of ease of doing business. However, government critics say that the reforms still remain a myth since there are still long queues at the Registrar of Companies, which shows that it still takes someone two weeks or more to register a company. The organised business, which deals with businesspeople on a day to day basis, has punched holes on the reforms undertaken by government and the report itself. |
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Zambia Freezes Non-Essential Spending in Budget Crunch |
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Wednesday, 22 October 2008 16:14 |
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Zambia's government has frozen financing for all non-essential projects and may delay further cuts to fuel taxes to keep its budget deficit below two percent of GDP, Finance Minister Ng'andu Magande said on Tuesday.
The copper-rich southern African nation has been financially squeezed by the global financial crisis, which has led to a drop in commodities prices and reduced investor interest in emerging markets in Africa and elsewhere. |
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