When the world&#8217;s best airport opens a new terminal, expectations are pretty high. CNBC&#8217;s Uptin Saiidi travels through Changi&#8217;s Terminal 4 where automation is everywhere.
&#8212;&#8211;
Subscribe to us on YouTube: http://cnb.cx/2wuoARM
Subscribe to CNBC Life on YouTube: http://cnb.cx/2wAkfMv
Like our Facebook page: 
https://www.facebook.com/cnbcinternational
Follow us on Instagram: 
https://www.instagram.com/cnbcinternational/
Follow us on Twitter: 
<a class="twitter-timeline" data-width="500" data-height="750" data-dnt="true" href="https://twitter.com/CNBCi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">Tweets by CNBCi</a><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Changi Airport: How to get through Terminal 4 without talking to anyone | CNBC International

It may be under international sanctions but the North Korean economy is growing. CNBC’s Xin En Lee explores the business dealings of the reclusive state.
&#8212;&#8211;
Subscribe to us on YouTube: http://cnb.cx/2wuoARM
Subscribe to CNBC Life on YouTube: http://cnb.cx/2wAkfMv
Like our Facebook page: 
https://www.facebook.com/cnbcinternational
Follow us on Instagram: 
https://www.instagram.com/cnbcinternational/
Follow us on Twitter: 
<a class="twitter-timeline" data-width="500" data-height="750" data-dnt="true" href="https://twitter.com/CNBCi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">Tweets by CNBCi</a><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Who’s doing business with North Korea? | CNBC Explains

<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT" data-reactid="38">
Africa’s mobile internet connections are set to double in the next five years, a study showed on Monday, thanks to affordable smartphones and the roll-out of high-speed networks.
<div id="attachment_289699" style="width: 970px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-289699" class="wp-image-289699 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Internet_Mobile_Pixabay.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="637" />Africa set to top 1 billion mobile internet connections in five years: Report</div>
A report by research and consulting firm Ovum in London estimates that mobile broadband connections will rise from 419 million at the end of this year to 1.07 billion by the end of 2022.
“Data connectivity is growing strongly in Africa, and there are also good prospects on the continent in areas such as digital media, mobile financial services, and the Internet of Things,” said Matthew Reed, Practice Leader Middle East and Africa at Ovum.
“But as Africa’s TMT market becomes more convergent and complex, service providers are under increasing pressure to make the transition from being providers of communications services, and to become providers of digital services.”
Mobile phone operators such as MTN Group, Orange and Bharti Airtel are investing heavily in high-speed networks to meet demand from users who are increasingly using phones for everything from paying their bills to streaming videos and surfing the internet.
Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by Hugh Lawson
</div>

Africa set to top 1 billion mobile internet connections in five years: study

Hussein Sayed | FXTM
Oil prices continued to march higher on both sides of the Atlantic early Monday. In the early trading hours, Brent reached a high of $62.44, a level last seen in July 2015, and represents a 40.8% surge from June’s lows. There’s no doubt that OPEC and co. have been a major influencer of the most recent rally, but oil traders have a new political risk to consider, in the coming days and weeks. The anti-corruption crackdown in Saudi Arabia resulting in the arrest of 11 princes, and dozens of senior officials, led many traders to question how oil prices will be affected.
<div id="attachment_131944" style="width: 490px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-131944" class="wp-image-131944 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/hqdefault-50.jpg" alt="" width="480" height="360" />Brent touches a new 2-year high, what’s next?</div>
Given that OPEC’s strategy is unlikely to change, and the 1.8 million barrels a day production cuts will be extended when the organization meets on 30 November, fundamentals remain supportive for high prices. The last thing Saudi may be thinking of is returning to the market share battle, as prices above $60 provide great support for the listing of Aramco in 2018 and these prices are essential for the Kingdom’s economic transformation plans. From the demand side, the outlook is also positive, with the global synchronized economic growth at its strongest levels since the financial crisis. The critical question now, is how the political situation develops from here. I think current market fundamentals justify a price of $60 &#8211; $62, but any further extension in the rally, would likely be an additional political risk premium.
The response from the U.S. shale industry is of great importance at the current stage. Exports from the U.S. have risen to a record 2.13 million bpd in the week through 27 October according to EIA, and after five consecutive weeks of falling rig counts, are we going to see a reversal due to the rising oil prices?  Most probably. As we approach $60 for WTI most of the U.S. shale companies will become profitable, and such additional output, will put a limit on any price gain.
The backwardation in Brent has fuelled speculative long positions to benefit from rolling over future contracts. However, given net long positions have reached record highs, a short squeeze will likely pressure prices despite the geopolitical risk premium.
Overall, I think prices are currently approaching the higher end of the trading range for the rest of the year, and will be looking for a mean reversion towards or below $60 in the weeks to come.

Op-Ed: Brent touches a new 2-year high, what’s next?

Economic growth is expected to rise to 3.4 percent in sub-Saharan Africa next year from 2.6 percent in 2017, the IMF said in a report on Monday, but warned that rising debt and political risks in larger economies would weigh down future growth.
<div id="attachment_43288" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-43288" class="wp-image-43288 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/imf-headquarters.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="340" />IMF Headquarters, Washington, D.C., United States.</div>
Nigeria and South Africa are the biggest economies in Africa south of the Sahara, but both nations have been clouded by political uncertainty linked to the tenure of their leaders.
The IMF said a good harvest and recovery in oil output in Nigeria would contribute more than half of the growth in the region this year while an uptick in mining and a better harvest in South Africa as well as a rebound in oil production in Angola will add to growth.
But political uncertainty loomed large in Nigeria, where President Muhammadu Buhari is afflicted by illness, causing speculation about whether he is well enough to run Africa’s biggest economy.
<div class="DPSlot_container_2dHIN DPSlot_inline_1oeo6 in-article-tag">
<div id="dpslot_native_3245796587684568_AFKBN1CZ0JQ-OZABS" data-google-query-id="CJHuwsP3l9cCFeylUQod4wAM6w">
<div id="google_ads_iframe_/4735792/africa.reuters.com_2__container__">
South Africa has been clouded by the rule of Jacob Zuma, who has battled scandals, including corrupt allegations ahead of his ANC party’s conference in December to elect a new party leader.
“Key downside risks to the region’s growth outlook emanate from the larger economies, where elevated political uncertainty could delay needed policy adjustments and dampen investor and consumer confidence,” the IMF said in a report launched in Harare.
“A further pickup in growth to 3.4 percent is expected in 2018, but momentum is weak, and growth will likely remain well below past trends in 2019.”
To help maintain growth, countries should diversify from dependence on commodities and oil, implement fiscal reforms to stimulate growth and attract private investment.
The IMF said public debt would rise to 53 percent of GDP this year from 48 percent in 2016. More worryingly, most countries were now borrowing from local banks, which could distabilise the domestic financial sector and fuel inflation.
Debt servicing costs were also up, but high debt levels were in particular complicating the economic outlook for six nations, including Zimbabwe, which is gripped by a crunch forex shortage.
“Debt servicing costs are becoming a burden, especially in oil-producing countries &#8230; and are expected to absorb more than 60 percent of government revenues in 2017,” IMF said.
While some countries had made progress in reducing their fiscal deficits, others, like Africa’s most advanced economy South Africa would see the deficit widen.
South Africa last week raised its estimate for this year’s budget deficit, saying the country faced sluggish economic growth, shortfalls in revenue and costly bailouts of struggling state-owned companies.
Inflation pressures are easing especially in east Africa, which was hit by drought and the governments there increased maize imports to cut food prices. But in other places like Zimbabwe the high cost of imports is raising price pressures.
<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT" data-reactid="56">
Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe Graphic by Jeremy Gaunt Editing by Toby Chopra
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

IMF says rising debt, political risk dim sub-Saharan Africa’s economic outlook

Global wine production this year is set to fall to its lowest level since 1961 after harsh weather in western Europe damaged vineyards in the world’s largest production area, international wine body OIV said on Tuesday.
<div id="attachment_25995" style="width: 1290px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25995" class="wp-image-25995 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/eco-tourism-and-lebanese-wine-cnbc-international-kTpKxe0v2BA.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" />Global output is expected to fall to 246.7 million hectoliters in 2017, down 8% from in 2016.</div>
Global output is expected to fall to 246.7 million hectoliters in 2017, down 8 percent from last year, the Paris-based International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) said in its first estimates for the year.
A hectoliter represents 100 liters, or the equivalent of just over 133 standard 75 cl wine bottles.
The global decline reflects a plunge in output in the European Union, where the world’s top three producers &#8212; Italy, France and Spain &#8212; are each projected to see a sharp drop.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive, estimates the bloc’s wine grape harvest will shrink to a 36-year low in 2017 as adverse weather from spring frosts and summer heatwaves takes its toll.
In France, the weather has affected most of the main growing regions including Bordeaux and Champagne, and the government has projected production will sink to its lowest in decades.
The OIV’s projections, which exclude juice and must (new wine), put Italian wine production down 23 percent at 39.3 million hectoliters, French output down 19 percent at 36.7 million and Spanish production down 15 percent at 33.5 million.
Reduced global production may erode a surplus over demand seen in recent years, when consumption was curbed by the effects of a world financial crisis in 2008.
The OIV said it was initially assuming a consumption range of 240.5 to 245.8 million hectoliters based on medium and longer-term trends, but did not yet have firm demand data for 2017.
However, the impact of reduced production on actual market supply and prices depends on levels of stocks from previous years and the quality of wine in landmark regions.
In France, the world’s leading exporter by value, producers have pointed to the prospect of good quality wine.
Outside Europe, the United States, the world’s fourth-largest producer and the biggest consumer, was expected to see output remain little changed at 23.3 million hectoliters, down 1 percent, the OIV said.
Production in Australia was expected to rise 6 percent to 13.9 million hectoliters while Argentina was projected to post a 25 percent jump to 11.8 million after a weather-hit 2016, the OIV said.
The preliminary world estimates lacked data from some countries, notably China, for which the OIV provisionally assumed stable production compared with last year at 11.4 million hectoliters.
<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT" data-reactid="49">
Editing by Luke Baker and Jason Neely
</div>

World wine output set to fall to lowest since 1961: OIV

<div id="article_deck" class="content">
<div class="group-container last">
<div class="group">
<div style="width: 540px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a class="enlargeThisImage" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/23/wolf-of-wall-street-warns-raising-money-through-icos-is-the-biggest-scam-ever.html#"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2017/10/23/104789212-Jordan_Belfort.530x298.jpg?v=1508745273" alt="Motivational speaker Jordan Belfort speaks on 'The Art of Prospecting' at a real estate agents' conference at the Gold Coast Convention Centre on June 1, 2014 on the Gold Coast, Australia." width="530" height="298" data-enlarged-image="https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2017/10/23/104789212-Jordan_Belfort.1910x1000.jpg?v=1508745273" /></a>Jono Searle | Newspix | Getty Images Motivational speaker Jordan Belfort speaks on &#8216;The Art of Prospecting&#8217; at a real estate agents&#8217; conference at the Gold Coast Convention Centre on June 1, 2014 on the Gold Coast, Australia.</div>
<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/sam-meredith/" rel="author">Sam Meredith</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/@smeredith19">@smeredith19</a>
<div class="caption"></div>
<ul>
<li>Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) have become a primary means of fundraising for projects built on blockchain technology.</li>
<li>&#8220;It is the biggest scam ever, such a huge gigantic scam that&#8217;s going to blow up in so many people&#8217;s faces. It&#8217;s far worse than anything I was ever doing,&#8221; Jordan Belfort told the Financial Times in an interview published Sunday.</li>
<li>So far this year, ICOs have raised more than $3 billion, according to Coinschedule.com.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Jordan Belfort, the infamous penny-stock broker formerly known as the &#8220;Wolf of Wall Street,&#8221; has urged investors to dismiss the current craze of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), calling them the &#8220;biggest scam ever.&#8221;
<div class="group-container ">
<div class="group">
In an interview with <a class="inline_asset" title="https://www.ft.com/content/739f8954-b61a-11e7-a398-73d59db9e399" href="https://www.ft.com/content/739f8954-b61a-11e7-a398-73d59db9e399">The Financial Times</a> published Sunday, Belfort warned promoters of ICOs were &#8220;perpetuating a massive scam of the highest order on everyone.&#8221;
ICOs have become a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/04/icos-may-be-seen-as-securities-by-u-s-and-singapore-regulators.html">primary means of fundraising</a> for projects built on blockchain technology. Companies create and issue digital tokens that can be used to pay for goods and services on their platform or stashed away as an investment. But investors don&#8217;t typically get equity stakes in a company like they do with an initial public offering (IPO). The projects or firms put out white papers describing the platform, software or product they&#8217;re trying to build, and then people buy those tokens using widely-accepted cryptocurrencies (like bitcoin and ethereum) or fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar.
<div id="inline_movable_ad"> All of that is done without any regulatory oversight, and both regulators and members of the financial industry have expressed concern about the potential for money laundering and fraudulent activities.</div>
In September, China&#8217;s central bank banned ICO funding amid concerns that the exercise may involve financial scams while British regulators have said investors should be prepared for the value of their tokens to drop to zero.
</div>
</div>
<div class="group-container ">
<h4 class="subtitle">&#8216;ICO funding far worse than anything I was ever doing&#8217;</h4>
<div class="group"></div>
</div>
<div class="group-container last">
<div class="embed-container image">
<div style="width: 540px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a class="enlargeThisImage" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/23/wolf-of-wall-street-warns-raising-money-through-icos-is-the-biggest-scam-ever.html#"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2014/01/04/101310093-wolf-of-wall-street04.530x298.jpg?v=1481908153" alt="A scene from &quot;The Wolf of Wall Street&quot; starring Leonardo DiCaprio" width="530" height="298" data-enlarged-image="https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2014/01/04/101310093-wolf-of-wall-street04.1910x1000.jpg?v=1481908153" /></a>Source: Thewolfofwallstreet.com A scene from &#8220;The Wolf of Wall Street&#8221; starring Leonardo DiCaprio</div>
<div class="caption"></div>
</div>
<div class="group">
Belfort, who spent 22 months in jail after pleading guilty to securities fraud and money laundering, said while most investors probably did not have bad intentions with ICOs, it would only take a small proportion of people trying to scam the others for it to become a &#8220;disaster&#8221;.
&#8220;It is the biggest scam ever, such a huge gigantic scam that&#8217;s going to blow up in so many people&#8217;s faces. It&#8217;s far worse than anything I was ever doing,&#8221; Belfort told the Financial Times.
Digital currencies are pseudonymous, decentralized and encrypted, making it harder to track each of the transactions made, and the individuals behind them. Theoretically, anyone with an internet connection and a digital wallet can be part of a coin sale event. That, many worry, leaves plenty of room for people to launder money or engage in other fraudulent behaviors — especially in countries where corruption is rampant.
However, start-up companies argue ICO funding is a legitimate method of raising money and it is representative of a broad grassroots movement to unsettle big banks and venture funds. A frequent refrain from bitcoin enthusiasts and cryptocurrency stakeholders is that the blockchain system is actually problematic for would-be launderers.
That is, every transaction of a blockchain-based token is permanently recorded on a publicly view-able digital ledger. Although the parties associated with each exchange are hidden behind pseudonymous IDs, it is possible for investigators to track down who has done what if their activities go through a cooperating exchange.
So far this year, ICOs have raised more than $3 billion, according to Coinschedule.com.
</div>
</div>

‘Wolf of Wall Street’ warns raising money through ICOs is the ‘biggest scam ever’

U.S. short-term rental service Airbnb Inc registered 1.2 million guest arrivals in Africa last year driven by the plugged-in millennial generation, its senior official said on Tuesday.
<div id="attachment_287353" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-287353" class="wp-image-287353 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Airbnb_Flickr.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="678" />Airbnb</div>
Airbnb has shaken up the market for travel accommodation, competing with hotels by allowing people to rent out their homes or apartments, either in full or as part of a house-share.
Presenting the latest figures at the Johannesburg City Hall, Chris Lehane, Airbnb’s Global Head of Public Policy and Public Affairs, said growth in inbound visitors to Africa jumped from 572,000 in the period 2015-16 to 1.2 million in September 2016- September 2017.
South Africa is the leading country on the continent in total guest arrivals, followed by Morocco.
Close to 60 percent of trips in the past year were booked by millennials and 18 percent of guests are travelling as part of a family.
“Millennials in particular are looking for authentic and real experiences. They don’t want mass travel, they want the sort of healthy, sustainable, authentic and real travel,” Lehane said.
Usually defined as people who reached adulthood around 2000, millennials use online travel sites that aggregate thousands of hotels and make choices based on peer reviews, according to leisure-and-hospitality industry advisor Grant Thornton.
They want to feel like locals in a bar or food market where they can hang out with people from the neighbourhood and tuck in to locally sourced food.
Airbnb this year launched Experiences in South Africa, an offer through which locals create unique activities, giving travellers access and deep insights into communities and places they may not otherwise come across.
Lehane said the firm will invest $1 million through 2020 to “promote and support community-led tourism projects in Africa”, where 100,000 listings were reached last year.
<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT" data-reactid="49">
Reporting by Nqobile Dludla, editing by Ed Osmond
</div>
<div class="PrimaryAsset_container_2pnvl" data-reactid="33"></div>

Airbnb Africa arrivals more than double to 1.2MN

The economy of sub-Saharan Africa is seen growing more slowly this year than previously forecast, largely due to weak investment and productivity, the World Bank said on Wednesday.
<div class="PrimaryAsset_container_2pnvl" data-reactid="36">
In a report, it forecast growth in the region to be 2.4 percent in 2017, down from the 2.6 percent that it projected in April. But growth was seen rising to 3.2 percent in 2018 and 3.5 percent in 2019, forecasts unchanged from earlier this year.
<div class="DPSlot_container_2dHIN DPSlot_inline_1oeo6"></div>
In its latest Africa Pulse report, the Bank said the region would be helped by better commodity prices. Lower prices have slowed overall growth in the resource-rich region in the last few years, cutting government revenues.
Sub-Saharan Africa’s growth was an estimated 1.3 percent in 2016, the lowest for two decades.
The Bank said the downgrade to 2017 projections was due to various conditions, including the failure of Nigeria &#8211; which has Africa’s biggest economy &#8211; to meet expectations.
“Regional per capita output growth is forecast to be negative for the second consecutive year, while investment growth remains low, and productivity growth is falling,” it said.
Nigeria escaped from its first recession in 25 years in the second quarter as oil revenues rose following the cessation of militant attacks on energy facilities in the Niger Delta that last year cut crude production by around a third.
However, the pace of growth was slow.
The Bank said Nigeria’s expected 1 percent growth in 2017 was 0.2 percentage points below the April forecast because the increase in oil production was below projections due to maintenance work. It said growth in the non-oil sector has remained subdued.
World Bank chief economist for Africa Albert Zeufack said sub-Saharan Africa’s recovery would partly be driven by Nigeria and South Africa, the continent’s second biggest economy which also exited recession in the second quarter.
Growth in South Africa is projected to rise from 0.6 percent in 2017 to 1.1 percent in 2018 and 1.7 percent in 2019. The forecast for 2019 was revised down by 0.3 percentage points.
Zeufack said the two countries need “deeper reforms” to get back to pre-2014 levels of growth and their political uncertainty needs to be reined in, adding that they make up about half of Sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP growth.
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari spent much of this year in Britain receiving treatment for an unspecified illness. And South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma in August survived a no-confidence vote in parliament that could have forced him out of office.
<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT" data-reactid="55">
Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram, Editing by Jeremy Gaunt and Toby Chopra
</div>
</div>

Sub-Saharan Africa to grow at a slower rate this year, World Bank says

Girls are least likely to be in school in South Sudan, with nearly three-quarters of school-age girls out of the classroom, followed by Central African Republic, Niger and Afghanistan, all countries hit by conflict, a report said on Tuesday.
Nine of the top 10 countries where girls fail to get a education are in Africa, while other crisis crippled countries, including Somalia and Syria, failed to make the list due to insufficient data.
<div class="DPSlot_container_2dHIN DPSlot_inline_1oeo6"></div>
“Over 130 million girls are still out of school &#8211; that’s over 130 million potential engineers, entrepreneurs, teachers and politicians whose leadership the world is missing out on,” said Gayle Smith, president of the ONE Campaign that published the index ahead of the International Day of the Girl.
“It’s a global crisis that perpetuates poverty.”
<div></div>
In South Sudan, 73 percent of girls aged 6 to 11 are not in school, in the Central African Republic there is only one teacher for every 80 students and in Niger only 17 percent of girls and women are literate, the report found.
“This index shines a necessary spotlight on the barriers that girls face to accessing a quality education in Africa,” said Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen, CEO of children’s humanitarian organization, Plan International.
“The quality of a country’s education is linked to the resources governments invest in it,” said Albrectsen, who called for the closing of the education funding gap and addressing the barriers preventing girls from going to school.
The report found exceptions, however, such as Burundi, one of the poorest countries in the world, that outperformed 18 wealthier countries when it came to girls’ education.
Thousands of girls are kept from school due to poverty, early marriage, dangers in traveling to class and having too many chores at home, according to the United Nations’ children’s organization, UNICEF.
In Ethiopia, two in every five girls marry before their eighteenth birthday while just one percent of girls in Burkina Faso complete secondary school, according to the report.
Attitudes towards education for girls are starting to change across Africa &#8211; as more parents see sending their daughters to school not only as a chance to improve their futures, but also to boost the family’s fortunes, experts say.
But generations of women have been left behind, with women accounting for almost two-thirds of the world’s illiterate adults.
“Extreme poverty and gender inequity drive the injustice that not only keeps girls out of school, but forces them into child marriages,” said Fiona Mavhinga, a lawyer and one of the first girls in Zimbabwe supported by international educational charity Camfed to go to university.
Without an education young woman are “locked away from a better future,” she said.
<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT" data-reactid="50">
Reporting by Adela Suliman; editing by Ros Russell.
</div>

Going to school? Unlikely if you’re a girl in South Sudan, report says

Hilton Worldwide (<a href="http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=HLT.N">HLT.N</a>) plans to spend $50 million over the next five years to renovate and rebrand 29 hotels in Africa, it said on Thursday, joining other chains keen to tap growing business and international travel on the continent.
One property will open in the Kenyan capital Nairobi by the end of this year and another in the Rwandan capital Kigali in 2018, it said in a statement.
There was 11 percent growth in Sub-Saharan African tourism in the past year, according to data from the U.N. World Tourism Organisation.
Hilton said the remaining additions to its 19 existing African properties would be operational within the next five years.
“The model of converting existing hotels into Hilton branded properties has proved highly successful in a variety of markets and we expect to see great opportunities to convert hotels to Hilton brands through this initiative,” said Patrick Fitzgibbon, Hilton’s senior vice president for development in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Earlier this week, Hyatt Hotels &amp; Resorts said it would open six new hotels on the continent by 2020.
<div data-reactid="45"></div>
<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT" data-reactid="46">
Reporting by George Obulutsa; Editing by Mark Potter
</div>

Hilton to add 29 hotels to its chain in Africa over five years

Hyatt Hotels &amp; Resorts will open six new hotels in Africa by 2020, the company said in a news release on Tuesday, underscoring the growth of business and international travel on the continent.
The company will open its first hotels in Algeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Senegal and open new hotels in two countries where it already has a presence: Morocco and Tanzania. The hotels will create approximately 2,100 jobs, Hyatt said.
Hyatt is looking for more opportunities to expand in East Africa, it said, citing continued government investment in infrastructure, an expanding middle class and a growing international recognition of the region’s stability.
The new hotels will double Hyatt’s presence in Africa. Potential countries for further expansion could include Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, Ghana and Ivory Coast, Hyatt said.
There was 11 percent growth in Sub-Saharan African tourism in the past year, the company said, citing the UN World Tourism Organisation.
The first half of 2017 saw a 14 percent year-on-year increase in international arrivals in East Africa.
<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT" data-reactid="45">
Reporting by Katharine Houreld; editing by Jason Neely
</div>

Hyatt to double its Africa presence, open six hotels by 2020

François Conradie | NKC African Economics 
There is a growing fear in Cameroon that Sunday, October 1, might see serious violence. The reason for that is that separatists in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions on the Nigerian border have chosen the day to mobilise, because it is the 56th anniversary of the birth in 1961 of the Federal Republic of Cameroon, when French Cameroon united with the formerly British Southern Cameroon.
A fair number of protest events have been planned on the themes that have disrupted life in the region for the past year: greater autonomy for the region, greater respect for English-speakers’ rights, and better opportunities for professionals from the region.
But a few groups want to go further: they intend to use the occasion to declare the full independence of the two regions that make up the Anglophone Cameroon, and have reportedly chosen a national anthem, a flag, a passport and a new currency.
Given the tensions to which the region has been subject over the past few months, people seem to be taking the danger seriously. Many people are leaving the Anglophone region for the weekend, and the government has sent reinforcements of security forces to the region.
There are reports that some radical separatists have threatened people with violence if they do not join protests, leaving people caught between a rock and a hard place. In late August President Paul Biya pardoned a number of Anglophone activists who had been in detention for their role in unrest and dropped all charges against them; this step was welcomed in the region but there is now a risk that, if the weekend is messy, he may be less conciliatory next week.
A return to federalism (President Ahmadou Ahidjo abandoned the federal model in 1972 and imposed centralised rule) would do much to cool tempers in the English-speaking regions, but we see little chance of activists achieving that by means of protest movements, especially if those call for full independence.
It is more likely that renewed protest action will draw the anger of the State and lead to yet more centralisation. The prospects of an opening up of the environment while Mr Biya is in charge are slim. The size of protest events at the weekend, and the government’s response, merit watching.

Cameroon – Apprehension about the country’s 56th anniversary

Construction firm Commisimpex has gone to a French court in its fight with the Congo Republic over what it says are more than $1 billion in unpaid bills, the latest step in a decades-old saga that has weighed on the nation’s economy.
Commisimpex, which worked on construction and public works projects from the early 1980s until a Congolese court ordered it into liquidation in 2012, wants Total, Eni and other energy firms to pay taxes and royalties to the company instead of paying the state.
Commisimpex, which has pursued Congo in courts in Europe and the United States for nearly two decades, launched its latest legal challenge in October 2016 at the commercial tribunal in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, documents seen by Reuters showed.
Details of the case have not been publicised by any parties involved until now, a sensitive time for the government as it starts another round of talks with the International Monetary Fund on support for an economy battered by weak oil prices.
The legal saga has weighed on Congo’s sovereign rating and forced a temporary default on a Eurobond this year.
Commisimpex has won several other court cases abroad, but Congo has not paid. In 2012, Congo said the firm owed 1.3 billion euros ($1.54 billion) in social security payments built up over 30 years. A Congolese court then ordered the firm into liquidation.
The construction firm filed its latest petition to the French commercial tribunal and served a summons to the Congolese unit of France’s Total and other firms informing them of its action.
A Commisimpex spokeswoman said the firm was pursuing $1.25 billion in unpaid bills and interest.
Commisimpex is seeking to activate a guarantee on oil field revenues it says it secured in 1986 as collateral against debt, the summons sent to Total showed.
Commisimpex said Congo used “as security all revenues, and notably all moneys owed, royalties, taxes rights, etc. whether present, future or eventual originating directly or indirectly from &#8230; hydrocarbon deposits.”
It applies to the Likouala, Loango, Tchibouela, Emeraude, Yanga, Sendji and Sendji Compl. oil fields, which were then operated by Elf Aquitaine SA, Elf Congo, Agip and Agip Congo.
Elf was later absorbed into French giant Total, while Italy’s Eni took over Agip.
Commisimpex’s petition lists Elf Aquitaine, Total E&amp;P Congo, Eni and Eni Congo as defendants.
A lawyer for Elf Aquitaine said it would not comment on the case. Eni declined to comment. A spokesperson for Total did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Five smaller firms &#8211; Congorep, SNPC, Kontinent Congo, AOGC and Petro Congo &#8211; which acquired stakes in the fields at a later date are also listed.
Petro Congo said it was not aware of the case. The other companies did not respond to telephone calls and emails.
Congolese government spokesman Thierry Moungalla said: “The Congolese state will, of course, defend its position which is that these taxes cannot be subject to seizure.”
He described references to a guarantee in the Commisimpex documents as “allegations” and said it was up to the company to present proof to the court.
Oil accounts for about three-quarters of Congo’s revenues, and weak global crude prices have hit the country hard. Losing taxes or royalty payments would add to the economic pain.
Congo has opened talks with the IMF to support its economy. But Congo’s debt load has come under scrutiny by the IMF, which last month said Brazzaville had not fully disclosed its debt situation during a visit by IMF officials in March.
An IMF delegation began another week-long visit on Tuesday during which it said it would finalise its debt assessment.
Rating agency Standard &amp; Poor’s said last week it would consider raising Congo’s foreign currency ratings if the government reached a settlement with Commisimpex.
Earlier this year, Commisimpex briefly secured the freezing of a $21 million coupon payment Congo made to holders of its $363 million Eurobond. But its effort to secure the funds was unsuccessful, a U.S. court ordered them to be released, but the move temporarily pushed the bond into default.
($1 = 0.8469 euros)
<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT" data-reactid="59">
Additional reporting by Valentina Za in Milan, Bate Felix and Emmanuel Jarry in Paris, and Christian Elion in Brazzaville; Editing by Tim Cocks and Edmund Blair
</div>

Construction firm chases oil taxes, royalties in $1BN Congo debt row

North Korea&#8217;s foreign minister on Monday accused President Donald Trump of declaring war, saying that gives the rogue regime the right to take countermeasures.
That includes the right to shoot down strategic U.S. bombers, even when they are not flying in North Korean airspace, Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho told reporters in New York.
&#8220;The whole world should clearly remember it was the U.S. who first declared war on our country,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;Since the United States declared war on our country, we will have every right to make countermeasures, including the right to shoot down United States strategic bombers even when they are not inside the airspace border of our country.&#8221;

North Korea accuses US of declaring war

François Conradie | NKC African Economics
&nbsp;
On Monday, September 18, the Higher Independent Electoral Instance (Isie) announced that municipal elections that were supposed to take place in December had been postponed indefinitely. The step was agreed at a meeting that brought together the prime minister’s office, the State president’s office, representatives of political parties and the Isie.
According to the Isie’s statement, the “majority of participants was in favour of the postponement.”
These elections had first been scheduled to take place in October 2016, then in March 2017, then in December. No municipal elections have been held in Tunisia since 2010, before the revolution that led to the flight of President Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali.
The Isie has been subject to underhanded interference for months, and last week Parliament was unable to pick new members to the body because a number of deputies were not in the chamber, apparently in a deliberate move to make sure there was no quorum.
The disappointing postponement will further sour the national mood, which has been affected by the passing of the ‘Reconciliation in the Administration’ Act, on Wednesday, September 13. This new law grants amnesty to civil servants who worked in government under Mr Ben Ali and who were accused of acts of administrative corruption but who did not take bribes.
The law was backed by the two main parties in government: the Islamist Ennahdha and the conservative secular Nidaa Tounes, which is home to a number of veterans of Mr Ben Ali’s dominant party, the Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD). Nidaa is the party of both President Beji Caid Essebsi and Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, and Mr Essebsi in particular has come in for criticism for his sponsorship of the law.
Many in the opposition (particularly on the left) and in civil society deplore the law as a whitewashing of corruption under the RCD and as threatening a potential return to dictatorship; on Saturday, September 16, the opposition and civil society, led by a collective called ‘manich msamah’ (we will not excuse), led a march in Tunis that brought together at least several hundred people.
Hamma Hammami, the leader of the leftist Popular Front (PF), expressed the feelings of many when he said: “Beji Caid Essebsi is today the head of the counter-revolution along with Rached Ghannouchi [Ennahdha’s leader].”
Doubt has now been cast on the government’s commitment to reining in corruption. With the reconciliation law, it seems that the government has chosen to sweep some old crimes under the carpet for the sake of retaining experience in the civil service, but this will be at the expense of probity and the support of the broader population for the government.
Nidaa and Ennahdha have seemingly connived to push back the local authority elections for fear of doing badly as voters react to these unpopular steps. Unfortunately, this means that overspending in government and ineffective revenue collection (meaning turning a blind eye to smuggling and tax cheating) can be expected to remain problems.

Tunisia – Municipal vote postponed indefinitely amid criticism of ruling parties

Danny Bradlow | University of Pretoria
The formation of the BRICS – the bloc made of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – was supposed to be the harbinger for a new approach to global economic governance. The leading emerging markets and developing countries were becoming major players in the global economy. And they expected to play a commensurate governance role.
BRICS leaders have now been meeting annually for nine years. They recently met for the ninth BRICS Summit in Xiamen, China. They have positioned themselves as a force for transforming global economic governance so that it’s more responsive to the concerns of developing economies. They are seeking a more just and equitable global economy.
The question is: how effective have they been in reforming global economic governance and the fairness of the global economy?
The honest answer is that as a group, BRICS hasn’t been an effective force at all. This is for a number of reasons.
<h2>What’s not happened</h2>
The following examples illustrate the point.
At least formally the G20, which consists of 20 major economies including the five in BRICs, has supplanted the G7, made up of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US, as the premier forum for global economic governance. But the agenda in these meetings is still largely set by the most powerful countries which now include China but not the other BRICS.
The IMF and World Bank have both changed their voting arrangements to give a louder voice to developing economies and emerging economies. This has particularly benefited China, India and Brazil. But BRICS hasn’t supported South Africa’s call for a third African seat on the board of the IMF. This has left Africa as the most underrepresented region on the board.
BRICS countries, together with other G20 developing countries, have become more active participants in organisations responsible for developing international financial regulatory standards. This means that they now can participate in the writing of standards that guide the international financial system. But the system continues to be more responsive to the interests of the rich and powerful than those of the developing world.
New international financial institutions have been created, including the BRICS’ New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement, which provides financial support for BRICS countries experiencing balance of payments problems. Unfortunately, the New Development Bank operates in a less transparent and less accountable way than other multilateral development banks. For example, it’s harder for outsiders to access information on the operational policies and practices of the bank than those of the World Bank or the African Development Bank. Unlike those other banks, there isn’t yet a mechanism to hold the New Development Bank accountable if it causes harm.
The New Development Bank also risks repeating the tragic mistakes of these other institutions, which for many years concentrated only on economic issues in their operational decision making. Following a number of scandals they began to pay more attention to the social, human rights and environmental impact of their operations.
Members of the New Development Bank seem to share this concern. The BRICS leaders have reiterated their commitment to achieving
<blockquote>sustainable development in its three dimensions &#8211; economic, social and environmental- in a balanced and integrated manner.</blockquote>
But it’s hard to see how they expect the bank to meet this commitment if it continues to place more emphasis on speed in project implementation than on identifying and managing the adverse environmental, human rights and social effects of its projects. To fulfil their commitment to promote a more just and equitable global economy the BRICS will need to up their game.
<h2>How to fix the problem</h2>
Achieving a just and equitable international economic order requires governments to take seriously their commitment to protect and promote human rights as set out in the UN Charter and other human rights treaties.
The starting point is a commitment to respect and promote the rights of each individual affected by each project, programme or policy that governments undertake or support. This requires developing a good system to forecast the impact of a project on the environment, society as well as human rights. And to have a plan to manage them.
Another element is accountability. Any person adversely affected by a project should have access to a mechanism that can provide them with an effective remedy.
Finally, the relevant decision makers must be able to show how their proposed activity is using the maximum available human and financial resources to fulfil the human rights of all the people affected by their decisions. This suggests that the relevant decision makers bear the burden of explaining why the proposed allocations are the most feasible. This includes governments, international organisations as well as private parties.
There are reasons to think the BRICS leaders could be persuaded to adopt a human rights based approach to making global economic governance more democratic and responsive to the needs of developing countries and for a more just, equitable and sustainable global economy. They, and their colleagues in other developing countries, are governing societies with continuing, and some cases worsening poverty, inequality, unemployment and environmental degradation levels. And they don’t seem to have an effective strategy for meeting this challenge.
&nbsp;
This article was first published in The Conversation.

International News

Changi Airport: How to get through Terminal 4 without talking to anyone | CNBC International

Who’s doing business with North Korea? | CNBC Explains

Africa set to top 1 billion mobile internet connections in five years: study

Op-Ed: Brent touches a new 2-year high, what’s next?

IMF says rising debt, political risk dim sub-Saharan Africa’s economic outlook

World wine output set to fall to lowest since 1961: OIV

‘Wolf of Wall Street’ warns raising money through ICOs is the ‘biggest scam ever’

Airbnb Africa arrivals more than double to 1.2MN

Sub-Saharan Africa to grow at a slower rate this year, World Bank says

Going to school? Unlikely if you’re a girl in South Sudan, report says

Hilton to add 29 hotels to its chain in Africa over five years

Hyatt to double its Africa presence, open six hotels by 2020

Cameroon – Apprehension about the country’s 56th anniversary

Construction firm chases oil taxes, royalties in $1BN Congo debt row

North Korea accuses US of declaring war

Tunisia – Municipal vote postponed indefinitely amid criticism of ruling parties

BRICS needs a new approach if it’s going to foster a more equitable global order

News Tips

Advertise With Us

International News

Changi Airport: How to get through Terminal 4 without talking to anyone | CNBC International

Who’s doing business with North Korea? | CNBC Explains

Africa set to top 1 billion mobile internet connections in five years: study

Op-Ed: Brent touches a new 2-year high, what’s next?

IMF says rising debt, political risk dim sub-Saharan Africa’s economic outlook

World wine output set to fall to lowest since 1961: OIV

‘Wolf of Wall Street’ warns raising money through ICOs is the ‘biggest scam ever’

Airbnb Africa arrivals more than double to 1.2MN

Sub-Saharan Africa to grow at a slower rate this year, World Bank says

Going to school? Unlikely if you’re a girl in South Sudan, report says

Hilton to add 29 hotels to its chain in Africa over five years

Hyatt to double its Africa presence, open six hotels by 2020

Cameroon – Apprehension about the country’s 56th anniversary

Construction firm chases oil taxes, royalties in $1BN Congo debt row

North Korea accuses US of declaring war

Tunisia – Municipal vote postponed indefinitely amid criticism of ruling parties

BRICS needs a new approach if it’s going to foster a more equitable global order

News Tips

Advertise With Us

Newsletters