OPEC+ likely to agree 432,000 bpd increase in June



OPEC says Chinese lockdowns hitting demand



Formal talks start at 1100 GMT



Updates with analyst



By Maha El Dahan, Ahmad Ghaddar and Alex Lawler



LONDON, May 5 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;OPEC+ is likely stick to its plan for modest oil output increases on Thursday, arguing that the producer group cannot be blamed for global supply disruptions and saying China&#8217;s coronavirus lockdowns threaten the outlook for demand.



Five OPEC+ delegates said the group was set to agree to increase its June output target by 432,000 barrels per day, in line with its existing plan to unwind output curbs made during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.



The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, which together make up OPEC+, hold formal ministerial talks at 1130 GMT after a meeting of the advisory Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee.



The meeting comes against a backdrop of surging oil prices, which hit their highest since 2008 at more than $139 a barrel in March after Russia&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine exacerbated supply concerns that were already fuelling a price rally.



&#8220;I do not think a new decision will be made,&#8221; one of the delegates said. Another said it was &#8220;highly expected&#8221; that the meeting would be short and stick to the plan.



The OPEC+ meeting comes a day after the European Union proposed a phased embargo on Russian oil in its toughest measures yet over the war in Ukraine, which Moscow calls a &#8220;special military operation&#8221;.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL5N2WW23E&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



The embargo will likely force Russia to reroute flows to Asia and cut production steeply, while the EU will compete for the remaining available supply &#8211; both factors likely to support elevated crude prices.



&#8220;OPEC+ continues to view this as a problem of the West’s own making and not a fundamental supply issue that it should respond to,&#8221; said Callum Macpherson from Investec.



He said only Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had capacity to lift supply significantly, adding: &#8220;If they were to do so, the ensuing falling out with Russia could bring an end to OPEC+.&#8221;



OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo said on Wednesday it was not possible for other producers to replace Russian exports of more than 7 million bpd. &#8220;The spare capacity just does not exist,&#8221; he said.



The Brent crude oil benchmark rose on Thursday to trade above $111.&nbsp;O/R



The United States has repeatedly asked OPEC to raise production, but the Saudi-led organisation has resisted the calls amid strained relations with Washington.



The West&#8217;s energy watchdog, the International Energy Agency, agreed last month to release record volumes of oil stocks to help to cool prices and offset supply disruptions from Russia.



(Reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar, Alex Lawler, Maha El Dahan and Rowena Edwards; Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by David Goodman and Edmund Blair)

Silhouette of oil pump jack on rig

OPEC+ set to stick to modest oil output rise amid price rally

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Africa’s most vulnerable hit by Russia’s war in Ukraine, says IMF￼

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="416" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/106970721-1636033270223-gettyimages-1232591117-AFP_98Y9XM.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-415885" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/106970721-1636033270223-gettyimages-1232591117-AFP_98Y9XM.jpeg 740w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/106970721-1636033270223-gettyimages-1232591117-AFP_98Y9XM-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/106970721-1636033270223-gettyimages-1232591117-AFP_98Y9XM-160x90.jpeg 160w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /><figcaption>A doctor monitors a Covid-19 patient in the Covid-19 intensive care unit of the community hospital in Germany on April 28, 2021.
RONNY HARTMANN | AFP | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>

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South Africa may be entering fifth COVID wave – health minister

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="541" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/CYIFVHKDXJPVFFWNHLFFC7DITI-820x541.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-414941" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/CYIFVHKDXJPVFFWNHLFFC7DITI-820x541.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/CYIFVHKDXJPVFFWNHLFFC7DITI-300x198.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/CYIFVHKDXJPVFFWNHLFFC7DITI-136x90.jpg 136w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/CYIFVHKDXJPVFFWNHLFFC7DITI-768x507.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/CYIFVHKDXJPVFFWNHLFFC7DITI-1536x1014.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/CYIFVHKDXJPVFFWNHLFFC7DITI.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Photo: via Reuters</figcaption></figure>



ZURICH/LONDON, Jan 27 (Reuters) &#8211; Nestle said on Thursday it will start paying&nbsp;cocoa&nbsp;farmers cash if they send their children to school rather than out to tend crops as part of a push to purchase all of its&nbsp;cocoa&nbsp;through a fully traceable, directly sourced supply chain by 2025.



Chocolate makers are coming under mounting pressure from investors, consumers and governments to make sure the&nbsp;cocoa&nbsp;beans they source are not produced using child labour or in illegal&nbsp;cocoa&nbsp;plantations in protected forests, both of which are common in West Africa.



The food group behind KitKat chocolate bars and Smarties confectionery said it will triple its current annual spending on sustainable&nbsp;cocoa&nbsp;to give a total investment of 1.3 billion Swiss francs ($1.41 billion) by 2030.



&#8220;Nestle&#8217;s new initiative focuses on the root causes for child labour and the living income gap farmers and their families face,&#8221; Nestle Chief Executive Officer Mark Schneider said during a webcast.



He said the new income accelerator programme was a major step towards farming practices that benefit farmers and the environment, but acknowledged the path to a living income for&nbsp;cocoa&nbsp;households would be long and winding.



A recent survey by the University of Chicago found that among children in agricultural households in Ivory Coast and Ghana cocoa growing areas 45% were engaged in <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-cocoa-childlabour-ivorycoast-ghana-idUKKBN2742FU.">child labour</a>.



Ivory Coast&#8217;s Prime Minister Patrick Achi said his country welcomed the new programme, saying it would help companies and countries meet the requirements set out in looming due diligence legislation, notably in the European Union.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/u-s-supreme-court-rules-for-nestle-cargill-over-slavery-lawsuit/">U.S. Supreme Court rules for Nestle, Cargill over slavery lawsuit</a></h3>



&#8220;We must at all costs and by all means deal with the root cause of the ills on which we all agree, which is the income of the farming population,&#8221; he said during the webcast, adding that Ivory Coast and Ghana&#8217;s living income differential had so far yielded mixed results.



To qualify for the payments from Nestle, farmers have to send their children to school, prune&nbsp;cocoa&nbsp;trees, plant shade trees and diversify their income with other crops or livestock.



To check that children really are attending school and farmers are following the rules, IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative, will monitor the programme with other third parties.



Children casually helping on family farms outside of school time do not fall under the <a href="https://www.ilo.org/ipec/facts/lang--en/index.htm">International Labour Organization&#8217;s definition of child labour. </a>



The sustainability schemes which chocolate makers have used to date have had limited success in tackling human rights and environmental issues in&nbsp;cocoa, and Western governments are now looking to legislate.



Nestle said 51% of the&nbsp;cocoa&nbsp;it used in 2021 was directly sourced and traceable, versus 46% in 2020. By 2025, it wants to be able to trace 100% of its&nbsp;cocoa&nbsp;back to specific farms under its in-house sustainability scheme, the Nestle&nbsp;Cocoa&nbsp;Plan.



&#8220;We&#8217;re very confident this will be a game changer on the road to reducing the risk of child labour,&#8221; Magdi Batato, head of operations at Nestle, told Reuters in an interview this week.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-step-forward">&#8216;BIG STEP FORWARD&#8217;</h2>



Under the new programme, farmers will receive direct cash payments via mobile transfer of up to 500 Swiss francs ($543) a year, which Batato said represented 20-25% of a farmer&#8217;s average annual income. The incentive will then be levelled at 250 francs after two years and progressively extended to all of Nestle&#8217;s 160,000&nbsp;cocoa&nbsp;farmers by 2030.



Unlike current premiums that are paid per tonne and can encourage overproduction, Nestle, which used over 436,000 tonnes of&nbsp;cocoa&nbsp;in total in 2020, said it would pay farmers and their spouses directly, independently of volumes produced.



&#8220;An incentive to the household is much more inclusive of the smaller farmers, really making sure that nobody gets left out,&#8221; Alexander von Maillot, Nestle&#8217;s head of confectionary, said in the interview.



Nestle is going to launch KitKat products next year made with&nbsp;cocoa&nbsp;from farms that received cash incentives. Von Maillot said the company&#8217;s efforts might ultimately lead to higher prices for consumers.



&#8220;Over time, there might be an increased price for some of the products, definitely,&#8221; he said, adding that consumers were willing to pay if responsible business practices justified the price. Batato said operational efficiencies would also help finance the investment.



The VOICE Network, a global grouping of non-governmental organisations and trade unions working on sustainability in&nbsp;cocoa, said Nestle&#8217;s cash transfer plan was &#8220;a big step forward&#8221;.



It added, however, that cash transfers were not a substitute for a commitment to paying a fair overall price for the bean and farmers were still vulnerable to low world market prices. 



($1 = 0.9200 Swiss francs) 



(Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz and Maytaal Angel, Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Paul Simao)

CYIFVHKDXJPVFFWNHLFFC7DITI

Nestle to give cocoa farmers cash to keep children in school

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="615" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/56HHVKWINZOFND6QDCR6OVOAWQ-1-820x615.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-414692" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/56HHVKWINZOFND6QDCR6OVOAWQ-1-820x615.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/56HHVKWINZOFND6QDCR6OVOAWQ-1-300x225.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/56HHVKWINZOFND6QDCR6OVOAWQ-1-120x90.jpg 120w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/56HHVKWINZOFND6QDCR6OVOAWQ-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/56HHVKWINZOFND6QDCR6OVOAWQ-1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/56HHVKWINZOFND6QDCR6OVOAWQ-1-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>A logo of cloud service provider Oracle is seen at the company&#8217;s offices at Eastpoint Business Park, Dublin, Ireland October 18, 2021. Picture taken October 18, 2021. REUTERS/Tom Bergin</figcaption></figure>



STOCKHOLM/JOHANNESBURG, Jan 19 (Reuters) &#8211; Oracle opened a data centre in South Africa on Wednesday to provide local cloud services across Africa for the first time, joining the likes of Microsoft and Amazon in setting up facilities in the southernmost country on the continent.



Africa will be the U.S. company&#8217;s 37th &#8220;cloud region&#8221; &#8211; an area that allows customers to get faster access from a local data centre, in this case in Johannesburg.



Oracle is racing to open at least 44 cloud regions this year as it plans to catch up with cloud computing rivals such as Microsoft, Amazon and Google.



Though Oracle has no plans for more data centers in Africa this year, more could come next year as the company explores areas such as West Africa, Cherian Varghese, regional managing director for Middle East and Africa, told Reuters.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-read-more-imf-chief-says-omicron-could-dent-global-economic-growth">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/imf-chief-says-omicron-could-dent-global-economic-growth/">IMF chief says Omicron could dent global economic growth</a></h3>



Increased demand for faster computing from African banks and telecom firms has attracted big cloud operators into the largely untapped market, with Microsoft the first to launch data centers in South Africa, followed by Amazon and Huawei.



Fast connectivity provided by a submarine communication cable and being Africa&#8217;s most developed economy have made South Africa a key location for cloud operators, with over 50 data centres in the country, mostly near Cape Town and Johannesburg.



However, South Africa comes with infrastructure challenges, such as high power prices and frequent power cuts, meaning additional costs have to be set aside for back-up power.



Smaller cloud operators are also trying to grab a piece of the fast-expanding market for data localisation.



U.S.-based Digital Realty is buying a majority stake in a Johannesburg-based date centre operator for $3.5 billion, while Vantage Data Centres has also announced plans to invest up to a billion dollars to set up a data centre in South Africa. 



(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee, European Technology &amp; Telecoms Correspondent, based in Stockholm, and Promit Mukherjee in Johannesburg Editing by Mark Potter)

Logo of cloud service provider Oracle is seen at the company’s offices at Eastpoint Business Park, Dublin

Oracle opens data centre to provide cloud services across Africa

<figure class="wp-block-image is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49668784568_cc4a0dd9f1_b.jpg" alt="White House Press Briefing | Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director … | Flickr" width="840" height="560"/><figcaption>Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House Coronavirus Taskforce, addresses his remarks at a coronavirus update briefing, March 2020,| Via Flckr</figcaption></figure>



The world is on high alert due to the new omicron Covid strain — but delta is still responsible for most of the current infections globally, the World Health Organization pointed out on Monday.



“Over 99% of cases around the world are due to the delta variant and more deaths are occurring in the unvaccinated,” WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan told CNBC’s “<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/asia-squawk-box/">Squawk Box Asia</a>” on Monday. “I think that’s our priority while we wait to find out more about [the omicron] variant.”



Last week, the global health agency recognized the omicron variant, first referred to as lineage B.1.1.529, as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/26/who-labels-newly-identified-covid-strain-as-omicron-says-its-a-variant-of-concern.html">a variant of concern</a>. That means it could be more contagious, more virulent or more skilled at evading public health measures, vaccines and therapeutics. The strain was first identified by South African scientists.



Delta, on the other hand, was first detected in India.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-are-health-experts-worried"><a></a>Why are health experts worried?</h2>



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/26/covid-variant-emerges-in-south-africa-heres-what-we-know-so-far.html">Health experts are concerned</a>&nbsp;about the omicron variant’s transmissibility given its unusual constellation of mutations and profile that differs from previous variants of concern.It’s really important that everybody out there who’s still unvaccinated, or has received only one dose, must get a full course of vaccination.Soumya SwaminathanCHIEF SCIENTIST, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION



“The profile of the mutations strongly suggest that it’s going to have an advantage in transmissibility and that it might evade immune protection that you would get, for example, from a monoclonal antibody or from the convalescent serum after a person’s been infected, and possibly even against some of the vaccine-induced antibodies,” U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/news/meet-press-november-28-2021-n1284846" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday</a>.



“So it’s not necessarily that that’s going to happen, but it’s a strong indication that we really need to be prepared for that,” Fauci added.



WHO’s Swaminathan told CNBC that scientists need time to conduct experiments and collect data that would help them answer some of the fundamental questions surrounding the new variant.



“What we would like to know is, is this variant more transmissible, even more than delta? We would like to know if there is a different clinical pattern, is it less severe, more severe when it causes disease?” she said, adding, “And thirdly, and very importantly, is this variant able to evade immune responses either after natural infection or after vaccines.”



She also called on countries where the omicron variant has been detected to share their clinical data and genomic sequence data through WHO’s platforms for scientists to study.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>How fast is the variant spreading?</h2>



The omicron variant has now been detected in multiple places, including the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/27/the-world-is-on-alert-as-the-uk-reports-cases-of-omicron-covid-variant.html">United Kingdom</a>, Israel, Belgium,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/suspected-omicron-case-found-germany-regional-minister-2021-11-27/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Germany</a>, Italy, Hong Kong,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/28/netherlands-australia-find-omicron-variant-cases-as-travel-restrictions-spread.html">the Netherlands, Denmark, and Australia</a>. Many countries have stepped up restrictions on travel from southern Africa to try and contain the spread of the new strain.



Covid vaccine makers&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/PFE" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pfizer</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/BNTX" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BioNTech</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/MRNA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Moderna</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/JNJ" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Johnson &amp; Johnson</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/AZN-GB" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AstraZeneca</a>&nbsp;said&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/26/pfizer-biontech-investigating-new-covid-variant-jj-testing-vaccine-against-it.html">they are investigating and testing the omicron variant</a>.



WHO’s Swaminathan said that for the moment, it should be assumed that the existing vaccines will provide some protection, if not full protection against the new strain.



“It’s really important that everybody out there who’s still unvaccinated, or who has received only one dose, must get a full course of vaccination,” she said.



“I think we still have a huge number of people around the world who haven’t had their first course of vaccines and we also know that at the moment, it’s the delta variant that’s the major cause of the pandemic around the world,” Swaminathan added.



<a href="https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/coronavirus-data-explorer?zoomToSelection=true&amp;amp;facet=none&amp;amp;pickerSort=asc&amp;amp;pickerMetric=location&amp;amp;Interval=7-day+rolling+average&amp;amp;Relative+to+Population=true&amp;amp;Align+outbreaks=false&amp;amp;country=~OWID_WRL&amp;amp;Metric=People+vaccinated+%28by+dose%29" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Information compiled by Our World In Data</a>&nbsp;showed around 43% of the world population has been fully vaccinated against Covid-19. But only a small percentage of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose.



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/27/vaccine-inequality-could-cost-the-global-economy-trillions-report.html">The WHO has repeatedly criticized global vaccine inequity</a>&nbsp;as most shots have been administered in affluent or middle-income countries, including booster doses.

49668784568_cc4a0dd9f1_b (1)

Delta variant is still the ‘major cause of the pandemic’ despite worries about omicron, WHO says

<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51309386815_f3e912b4a7_b.jpg" alt="President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses the nation on developm… | Flickr"/><figcaption> Flickr President Cyril Ramaphosa</figcaption></figure>



South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday that authorities were considering making COVID-19 shots compulsory for certain places and activities, as a rise in infections linked to a new variant threatens to become a fourth wave.



Only a quarter of South Africans are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 despite a sufficient supply of doses, owing partly to logistical problems getting them out to rural areas, but also to vaccine hesitancy and apathy among the population.



Kenya&#8217;s government last week issued a directive that residents must show proof of vaccination by Dec. 21 to access services, making it one of the first countries in Africa to issue a vaccine mandate.



&#8220;We have &#8230; been undertaking engagements with social partners and other stakeholders on introducing measures that make vaccination a condition for access to workplaces, public events, public transport and public establishments,&#8221; Ramaphosa said in an address to the nation.



If the country does not consider the option of a vaccine mandate, it will &#8220;continue to be vulnerable to new variants and will continue to suffer new waves of infection&#8221;, he said, adding that vulnerable people might also be offered booster shots.



But he said authorities would not be considering lockdown restrictions in Africa&#8217;s most industrialised country for the time being.



Separately, Zambia&#8217;s health minister Sylvia Maseko said the southern African nation would require public servants to be vaccinated to come to work, and that anyone seeking access to a government building will need to prove they have had the jab.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-travel-ban">TRAVEL BAN</h2>



South Africa has seen a near-tripling of daily reported cases in the past week, mainly of the new Omicron variant first identified by South African virologists.



&#8220;If cases continue to climb, we can expect to enter a fourth wave of infections within the next few weeks, if not sooner,&#8221; Ramaphosa warned.



Scientists have so far detected relatively few cases of the Omicron variant, mainly in South Africa but also in Botswana, Hong Kong and Israel. But they are worried by its high number of mutations, which have raised concerns that it could be more vaccine-resistant and transmissible.



A doctor who was amongst the first in the country to flag the possibility of a new variant said on Sunday however that its symptoms so far appeared to be mild and treatable at home.



South African officials are furious about a British ban on flights from southern African countries, which several other countries have copied. Many South Africans feel they are being punished for their transparency and hard work in keeping tabs on the way the virus is mutating.



In Sunday&#8217;s address, the president slammed rich Western countries for their knee-jerk imposition of travel bans and urged them to reverse the actions.



&#8220;This is a clear and completely unjustified departure from the commitment that many of these countries made at the meeting of G20 countries in Rome last month,&#8221; Ramaphosa said.



&#8220;The prohibition of travel is not informed by science, nor will it be effective in preventing the spread of this variant.&#8221;

51251769362_61ea3d6d86_b

South Africa mulling compulsory COVID-19 jabs for some places, activities

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/GettyImages-1233035258-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-411043" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/GettyImages-1233035258-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/GettyImages-1233035258-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/GettyImages-1233035258-120x80.jpg 120w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/GettyImages-1233035258-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/GettyImages-1233035258-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/GettyImages-1233035258-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>UKRAINE &#8211; 2021/05/21: In this photo illustration the International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen on a smartphone screen. (Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



DAKAR, Nov 8 (Reuters) &#8211; The International Monetary Fund on Monday said it had agreed a three-year loan programme with Congo Republic worth around $1.1 billion to help stabilise the debt-burdened economy.



The Central African oil producer&#8217;s efforts to secure IMF funding have been hampered by the lender&#8217;s concerns about the long-term sustainability of its debt as the government struggles to restructure billions of dollars in loans.



But earlier this year, China agreed in principle to reschedule its $2.4 billion debt and Swiss energy trader Trafigura approved a restructuring of its original $1 billion loan.



&#8220;Projected at 94 percent of GDP at end-2021, debt is sustainable but significant vulnerabilities persist,&#8221; the Fund said in a statement.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-read-more-imf-chief-georgieva-says-very-optimistic-about-reaching-loan-deal-with-zambia">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/imf-chief-georgieva-says-very-optimistic-about-reaching-loan-deal-with-zambia/">IMF chief Georgieva says ‘very optimistic’ about reaching loan deal with Zambia</a></h3>



Potential cash-flow issues and sensitivity to oil price shocks were key risks, it said, forecasting a return to growth of 2.4% in 2022, from a contraction of 0.2% this year.



Despite its deals with China and Trafigura, Congo has so far failed to reach a similar agreement with Glencore, which lent the Congo Republic $850 million between 2015 and 2016 to be repaid with future oil deliveries over five years.



The IMF said the government would need to improve its debt management strategy and debt statistics.



(Reporting by Bate Felix Writing by Alessandra Prentice Editing by Aaron Ross, Hereward Holland and Bernadette Baum)

In this photo illustration the International Monetary Fund (

IMF agrees $1.1 bln loan deal with Congo Republic

<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/MZRRFP7THBIUVAC2PF3TRCVGD4.jpg" alt="World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus waits for the arrival of Swiss Interior and Health Minister Alain Berset before a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the opening of the 74th World Health Assembly at the WHO headquarters, in Geneva, Switzerland May 24, 2021. Laurent Gillieron/Pool via REUTERS"/><figcaption>World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus waits for the arrival of Swiss Interior and Health Minister Alain Berset before a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the opening of the 74th World Health Assembly at the WHO headquarters, in Geneva, Switzerland May 24, 2021. Laurent Gillieron/Pool via REUTERS</figcaption></figure>



Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who has steered the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, is on course to serve a second five-year term as head of the World Health Organization (WHO) after being the only candidate nominated by 28 countries.



Tedros, a former health and foreign minister of Ethiopia, was the first African elected WHO director-general in May 2017.



The clean slate for the May election comes even as the European Commission suspending funding to WHO programmes in the Democratic Republic of Congo over a major sexual abuse scandal, as reported exclusively by Reuters on Thursday.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/exclusive-eu-suspends-funding-who-programmes-congo-after-sex-scandal-2021-10-28/">read more</a>



Some 83 aid workers, a quarter of them employed by the WHO, were involved in sexual exploitation and abuse during Congo&#8217;s 2018-2020 Ebola epidemic, an independent probe said last month.



Health ministers from the WHO&#8217;s 194 member states are also due to hold an exceptional assembly in November amid mounting pressure for reform pursuant to the organisation&#8217;s handling of the pandemic.



Tedros drew support from France and Germany, among other European Union members, and three African countries &#8211; Botswana, Kenya and Rwanda &#8211; the official nomination list showed. Britain, China, Russia and the United States were not among them.



&#8220;WHO can announce that a single candidate was proposed by member states by the 23 September 2021 deadline: Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is the incumbent director-general,&#8221; the agency said in a statement. The nominations were kept secret to limit lengthy campaigning.



Earlier, the agency sent a letter to member states informing them of the confidential nominations contained in the sealed envelopes submitted by the deadline&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/tedros-sole-nominee-who-chief-western-diplomats-tell-reuters-2021-10-29/">read more</a>



Ethiopia declined to nominate Tedros for a second term due to friction over the conflict in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, making it necessary for other countries to step in and do so.



The issue is so sensitive that the African Union has not even discussed the appointment, including at its latest summit this month, African diplomats said.



Tedros has led the global response to COVID-19, the worst public health crisis in a century, which broke out in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019 and has killed 5.2 million people.



The United States, under former President Donald Trump, accused him of being &#8220;China-centric&#8221;, a charge he denies.



Relations have warmed since Joe Biden&#8217;s administration took office in January.



But he annoyed China with public calls in July for it to share Wuhan lab audits and provide more data on early COVID-19 cases. WHO investigators have yet to regain access to the country to probe the origins of coronavirus.



&#8220;STAYING POWER&#8221;



The United States and Germany have led major donors in demanding fundamental reforms to the WHO&#8217;s structure, financing and capacity to deal with outbreaks.



The European Commission informed the WHO on Oct. 7 that it was immediately suspending funding to its Congo programmes due to concerns over its handling of the sexual abuse scandal. Tedros went to Congo 14 times during the epidemic but says that he was unaware of the allegations.<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/exclusive-eu-suspends-funding-who-programmes-congo-after-sex-scandal-2021-10-28/">&nbsp;read more</a>



&#8220;We have received the (EU) letter and we are now considering a response,&#8221; WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris told a briefing on Friday.



A European source, asked whether the Congo scandal could have an impact on Tedros&#8217; re-election, said: &#8220;Nope. He personally is taking the right steps and measures. As long as there is not a direct link to him. Which I don’t see.&#8221;



An African ambassador in Geneva, declining to be identified, said: “Dr. Tedros has done a very good job dealing with a severe pandemic with severe repercussions. He has tried to contribute within the capacity and the resources of WHO and to realize a more equitable distribution of vaccines at the global level.&#8221;



“He is a friend of Africa, he has done a lot of work and deserves a lot of support,&#8221; the ambassador said.



Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, speaking at a news briefing with Tedros on Thursday, where the WHO launched a $23.4 billion plan to bring COVID-19 vaccines and drugs to poorer countries, told him:



&#8220;I wish you all luck in your endeavour and I salute your staying power and your ability to keep focus on this agenda, servicing your broad membership and the whole world.&#8221;

Bilateral meeting on the sidelines of annual World Health Assembly in Geneva

Tedros sole nominee as WHO chief, U.N. agency says

<figure class="wp-block-image is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://p0.pxfuel.com/preview/1021/382/489/oil-rig-industry-oil.jpg" alt="oil rig, industry, oil, sky, fuel and power generation, oil industry, nature, clear sky, silhouette, fossil fuel | Pxfuel" width="709" height="474"/><figcaption>Oil Rig: Image via Pxfuel</figcaption></figure>



Finance and health ministers from the world&#8217;s 20 biggest economies (G20) said on Friday they would take steps to ensure 70% of the world&#8217;s population is vaccinated against COVID-19 by mid-2022 and created a task force to fight future pandemics.



They could not reach agreement on a separate financing facility proposed by the United States and Indonesia, but said the task force would explore options for mobilising funds to boost pandemic preparedness, prevention and response.



&#8220;To help advance toward the global goals of vaccinating at least 40 percent of the population in all countries by the end of 2021 and 70 percent by mid-2022 &#8230; we will take steps to help boost the supply of vaccines and essential medical products and inputs in developing countries and remove relevant supply and financing constraints,&#8221; the G20 ministers said in a communique seen by Reuters.



The previous goal had eyed vaccinating 70% of the world&#8217;s population by the autumn of 2022.



&#8220;We establish a G20 Joint Finance-Health Task Force aimed at enhancing dialogue and global cooperation on issues relating to pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, promoting the exchange of experiences and best practices, developing coordination arrangements between Finance and Health Ministries, promoting collective action, assessing and addressing health emergencies with cross-border impact and encouraging effective stewardship of resources,&#8221; the statement said.



The ministers said they were setting up the new body because the COVID-19 pandemic had exposed &#8220;significant shortcomings&#8221; in the world’s ability to coordinate its response.



They pledged to support &#8220;all collaborative efforts&#8221; to provide access to safe, affordable, quality and effective vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and personal protective equipment, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.



To reach the vaccination goals, they said they would work to boost the supply of vaccines and essential medical products and inputs in developing countries, while removing constraints on supply and financing, but gave no specific details.



They also called for boosting the resilience of supply chains through voluntary technology transfer hubs in various regions, such as the newly established mRNA Hubs in South Africa, Brazil and Argentina, and through joint production and processing arrangements.



The call for a voluntary mRNA technology transfer means that talks on the idea of a temporary waiver of intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines and therapies &#8211; originally proposed by South Africa and India and now championed by the United States &#8211; remain stuck at the World Trade Organisation.



German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said the G20 had not discussed patents.



&#8220;We have a lot of vaccines available worldwide but the reality is there are still areas in the world where the share of those vaccinated is very low,&#8221; Scholz told journalists on the sidelines of the summit.

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OPEC+ expected to stay the course on oil output plans

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="554" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/EG2MO3JSP5PDNCLG2GCZGK4LBU-820x554.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-412552" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/EG2MO3JSP5PDNCLG2GCZGK4LBU-820x554.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/EG2MO3JSP5PDNCLG2GCZGK4LBU-300x203.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/EG2MO3JSP5PDNCLG2GCZGK4LBU-133x90.jpg 133w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/EG2MO3JSP5PDNCLG2GCZGK4LBU-768x518.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/EG2MO3JSP5PDNCLG2GCZGK4LBU.jpg 960w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>A person walks past the Bank of England in the City of London financial district, in London, Britain, June 11, 2021. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



LONDON, Oct 6 (Reuters) &#8211; British ships ferried over 3 million enslaved African people across the Atlantic Ocean. Lloyd&#8217;s of London insured many of those vessels, the people chained below deck sometimes categorized as “perishable goods”, alongside cattle, by the market&#8217;s underwriters.



Lloyd&#8217;s involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade is not included in the market&#8217;s permanent exhibition at its modernistic City tower but that is set to change.



&#8220;The legacy of slavery is racism. You can&#8217;t do what you have to do to make slavery work unless you constitute the enslaved people as less than human,&#8221; said Nick Draper, a former JPMorgan banker who was founding director of the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery (LBS) at University College London



&#8220;We did it on the basis of ethnicity, race and skin colour. It&#8217;s embedded in British and European culture – that&#8217;s what we are working through now.&#8221;



Along with other financial institutions in London, the insurance market has been forced to confront its racist past following last year&#8217;s Black Lives Matter protests.



Lloyd&#8217;s and the Bank of England have each hired a historian to delve into their roles in the slave trade and are planning on publicizing the results in the next year.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/feature-kenya-slum-dwellers-battle-covid-19-downturn-with-virtual-currency/">Kenya slum dwellers battle COVID-19 downturn with virtual currency</a></h3>



The exhibitions will shine a light on the fortunes coined off a barbarous system and the role played by some of the City’s most venerable grandees in keeping it afloat, including people such as John Julius Angerstein, known as ‘the father of Lloyd&#8217;s&#8217;.



The 18th-century industry titan was chairman of the market when a large chunk of its business was based on the slave trade and Lloyd&#8217;s says there is evidence to suggest he was a trustee of estates in the Caribbean that held enslaved people.



His portrait hangs in the market’s HQ.



Chairman Bruce Carnegie-Brown wants Lloyd&#8217;s to be upfront about its past but he doesn’t want paintings removed.



&#8220;I&#8217;d rather tell the story than cancel them,&#8221; he told Reuters.



The African-Caribbean Insurance Network (ACIN), set up to boost Black and minority ethnic representation in the London insurance market, disagrees. It said firms should review &#8220;organizational artefacts, and remove any with racist connotations&#8221; according to recommendations submitted to the London market last year.



ACIN co-founder Junior Garba, a Lloyd&#8217;s underwriter, said it was better to place artefacts in museums.



&#8220;We can&#8217;t ignore the history. We can explain it, we can educate.&#8221;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-deep-roots">DEEP ROOTS</h2>



The roots of the slave trade are deep and broad in London&#8217;s famed institutions.



Angerstein&#8217;s art collection, including works by Rubens, Raphael and Rembrandt, formed the nucleus of London&#8217;s National Gallery when it was founded.



The gallery makes no mention of Angerstein&#8217;s links to the slave trade on its website. It does say he belonged to the Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor, an organisation with abolitionist interests.



In an email to Reuters, The National Gallery said it was working with LBS to clarify the links between slave-ownership, art collection and philanthropy in Britain and will publish initial results later this year. Angerstein will be included in that study.



According to research by Draper, Angerstein was &#8220;a beneficiary of slavery in the marine insurance business on which he founded his career and fortune&#8221;. There is no evidence that he was a slave trader.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2019/how-ghana-is-cashing-in-on-slave-heritage-tourism/">How Ghana is cashing in on slave heritage tourism</a></h3>



A decision on what to do with the portraits of Angerstein and other prominent Lloyd&#8217;s names will be made after Victoria Lane, previously archivist at Shakespeare&#8217;s Globe theatre, completes her review.



Lane, who began work at Lloyd&#8217;s last month, is trawling through art, swords, silverware and documents held by the market. Lloyd’s declined to make her available for interview.



The Bank of England removed 10 portraits and busts of former governors and directors with links to the slave trade earlier this year and plans to explain their role in an exhibition at its museum next year, a spokesperson said.



Statues of two politicians with links to the slave trade look set to stay at Guildhall, the ceremonial centre of the City of London, after an earlier decision to remove them.



The financial district’s municipal authority will this week discuss a report that recommends retaining monuments of twice Lord Mayor William Beckford and merchant John Cass, both of whom made fortunes off slavery, with &#8220;explanatory plaques or notices&#8221; placed next to them.



The report says over 2,000 responses to two consultations showed &#8220;low demand&#8221; for removing the statues.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">LEGACY</h2>



Europe’s sugar colonies in the West Indies were built on slave labour from Africa during the 17th and 18th centuries and the City of London was the financial centre of the trans-Atlantic trade in humans.



Historians estimate between one and two-thirds of the British marine insurance market was based on the slave trade in the 18th century, in particular, insuring the ships returning to Europe with produce from the plantations.



Lloyd&#8217;s was one of three major British 18th century marine insurers. The other two, Royal Exchange and London Assurance, were later folded into insurers AXA and RSA.



AXA apologised for its association with the slave trade and said it was working to make its workplace more inclusive.



RSA said there were aspects of its history which &#8220;don’t reflect the values we hold today&#8221;, adding that the firm was committed to tackling injustice.



The legacy of the slavery industry persists, experts say.



Fewer than 1 in 10 management roles in financial services are held by Black, Asian or other ethnic minority people, according to a discussion paper published by UK regulators in July.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2020/senegal-slave-island-moved-by-george-floyds-death-renames-europe-square/">Senegal slave island, moved by George Floyd’s death, renames Europe Square</a></h3>



The Bank of England has set itself a target of 18-20% of senior managers to be Black, Asian and minority ethnic in February 2028, compared with 8.2% in November 2020.



The lack of progress in diversifying the City is putting pressure on the Financial Conduct Authority to act and it said in July that senior manager pay may need to be linked to improvements in hiring.



ACIN recommends insurance firms set targets for ethnic minority representation at senior levels.



Only 2% of the nearly 50,000 strong Lloyd&#8217;s of London insurance market is Black. It has an &#8220;ambition&#8221; for a third of all new hires to come from ethnic minorities.



&#8220;Legacy is part of the response,&#8221; said Oliver Kent-Braham, co-founder of digital insurer Marshmallow.



&#8220;What&#8217;s important is that companies make sure they have really unbiased interview processes that are not heavily weighted towards junior levels &#8230; making sure that companies are hiring from everywhere.&#8221;



(Additional reporting by Bart Meijer in Amsterdam and Koh Gui Qing in New York; Editing by Carmel Crimmins)

EG2MO3JSP5PDNCLG2GCZGK4LBU

London’s finance district, steeped in slavery, confronts its past

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="670" height="455" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2842126-444647947.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-412485" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2842126-444647947.jpg 670w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2842126-444647947-300x204.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2842126-444647947-133x90.jpg 133w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 670px) 100vw, 670px" /><figcaption>Supporters of Sudan’s head of the Supreme Council of Beja Prefectures and Independent Umudiyyahs rally in the city of Port Sudan, on Sept. 26, 2021. (AFP) Photo via: Arab News</figcaption></figure>



CAIRO, Oct 3 (Reuters) &#8211; Sudan is about to run out of essential medicine, fuel and wheat after political protests forced the closure of Port Sudan, the main port in the east of the country, the cabinet said on Sunday.



Members of eastern Sudan&#8217;s Beja tribes have blocked roads and forced Red Sea ports to close in recent weeks in protest at what they say is the region&#8217;s lack of political power and poor economic conditions there.



The cabinet acknowledged eastern Sudan&#8217;s &#8220;just cause&#8221; and stressed the right to peaceful protest, but warned that the closure of Port Sudan and highways connecting the east with the rest of the country was &#8220;harming the interests of all Sudanese&#8221;.



In a statement, it pledged to work on a political solution to the problems of eastern Sudan and called on the protesters to start a dialogue with the government.



The demonstrators agreed last month to allow the resumption of exports of crude oil from landlocked South Sudan via a terminal on the Red Sea.



They had also forced the closure of a pipeline that carries imported crude to the capital Khartoum.



This is a developing story.



(Reporting by Mahmoud Mourad; Editing by Catherine Evans)

2842126-444647947

Sudan running out of essential medicine, fuel and wheat due to port blockade

<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://bp.com/content/dam/bp/country-sites/en_za/south-africa/home/home/covid19_slider.jpg" alt="Home"/><figcaption><a rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.bp.com/en_za/south-africa/home.html"> BP </a> Image via :&nbsp;Copyright/RalphBronzin</figcaption></figure>



&nbsp;BP&nbsp;and&nbsp;Eni&nbsp;are&nbsp;seeking to&nbsp;raise&nbsp;up&nbsp;to $2 billion for their emerging&nbsp;oil&nbsp;and&nbsp;gas&nbsp;joint&nbsp;venture&nbsp;in&nbsp;Angola&nbsp;as both firms attempt to reduce their own debt to help build&nbsp;up&nbsp;renewables businesses, banking and industry&nbsp;sources&nbsp;said.



BP&nbsp;and&nbsp;Eni&nbsp;announced in May that they had entered into talks to merge their&nbsp;oil,&nbsp;gas&nbsp;and liquefied natural&nbsp;gas&nbsp;(LNG) operations in&nbsp;Angola&nbsp;to form one of Africa&#8217;s largest energy companies.



Spinning off&nbsp;oil&nbsp;and&nbsp;gas&nbsp;assets is seen as a way for them to squeeze more out of such assets as they try to reduce their greenhouse&nbsp;gas&nbsp;emissions and shift towards renewable energy.



It is also seen as a way to remove debt from the parent company to the independent&nbsp;joint&nbsp;venture, making it easier for the parent companies to&nbsp;raise&nbsp;money for low-carbon businesses.



BP&nbsp;and&nbsp;Eni&nbsp;have in recent weeks contacted a number of leading western banks to request proposals to&nbsp;raise&nbsp;$1.5-$2 billion for the&nbsp;joint&nbsp;venture, four&nbsp;sources&nbsp;said.



&#8220;They are trying to deconsolidate the&nbsp;Angolan assets and want to&nbsp;raise&nbsp;cash for the&nbsp;joint&nbsp;venture&#8217;s&nbsp;upstream operations,&#8221; one of the&nbsp;sources&nbsp;said.



BP&nbsp;and&nbsp;Eni&nbsp;declined to comment.



However, many western banks are unlikely to lend the money due to growing investor and government pressure for them to reduce investments in fossil fuels, particularly in countries where environmental standards are not tightly monitored, the&nbsp;sources&nbsp;said.



On Friday, a senior U.S. climate envoy said that Western fossil fuel companies investing in Africa face a significant risk of regulatory action that&#8217;s getting more explicit as the world moves to try to tackle dangerous climate change.

BP_Connect_Kapiti,_New_Zealand

BP, Eni seek to raise $2 bln for Angola joint venture

<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50952193293_13f8a326b9_b.jpg" alt="President Cyril Ramaphosa joins healthcare workers to rece… | Flickr"/><figcaption>President Cyril Ramaphosa: Image via Flickr </figcaption></figure>



South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has eased restrictions aimed at combating the coronavirus pandemic to the country&#8217;s lowest alert level, the second such loosening this month as the country looks to open up its economy ahead of the summer holiday season.



In a televised address, Ramaphosa announced the country would move down one level in a five-tier system of restrictions, where five is the highest, to an &#8216;adjusted level 1&#8217; as South Africa emerges from its third wave dominated by the Delta variant of the virus.



&#8220;The current trends in the progression of the pandemic mean that a number of the restrictions in place can be eased,&#8221; Ramaphosa said.



In addition to relaxing a curfew, now in place from midnight to 4 a.m., Ramaphosa announced that the maximum number of people permitted to gather outdoors will increase to 2,000 from 500, while the maximum number of people allowed at funerals could double to 100.



However, with local government elections set for Nov. 1, Ramaphosa urged people to get vaccinated to help prevent a resurgence of infections, as vaccine hesitancy crimped an inoculation programme that has struggled to get out of the starting blocks.



&#8220;Campaign activities pose the greatest risk to a surge in new infections,&#8221; he said, adding that should South Africa reach its target of vaccinating 70% of its adult population by December, an estimated 20,000 lives could be saved.



Thus far around 8.6 million people, or more than one-fifth of all adults, have been fully vaccinated, he said.



On Sunday, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases said the country had exited its third and worst COVID-19 wave, with the national 7-day moving average of daily case numbers and percentage of people testing positive for the coronavirus showing sustained decreases.



South Africa has reported just under 88,000 COVID-19 deaths and a total of 2.9 million laboratory-confirmed cases, the worst in Africa on both counts, since detecting its first infection in March last year, the latest data showed.&nbsp;

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South African president Ramaphosa eases COVID-19 restrictions to lowest level

<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/image.png" alt="" class="wp-image-412379" width="673" height="446" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/image.png 792w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/image-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/image-136x90.png 136w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/image-768x509.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 673px) 100vw, 673px" /><figcaption>FILE PHOTO: Euro, Hong Kong dollar, U.S. dollar, Japanese yen, pound and Chinese 100 yuan banknotes are seen in this picture illustration, January 21, 2016. REUTERS/Jason Lee/Illustration</figcaption></figure></div>



Central banks that launched massive emergency support to fight the pandemic last year are now planning a global turn in the other direction, with gaps already emerging in their perceived risk of inflation, the need to respond to it, and the pace of the likely return to normal monetary policy.



They are confronted with common supply shocks and common risks around a pandemic that continues to shape commerce.



&#8220;Globally we are still in for a long process,&#8221; of reopening and adapting to the post-pandemic economy, St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said this week in a Reuters interview.



But the reopening, and particularly the associated inflation, is being felt differently across the developed world, testing officials&#8217; understanding of the post-pandemic economy and their ability to hit a shared 2% inflation target without derailing global growth.



The heads of the world&#8217;s four major central banks gather for a mostly virtual European Central Bank forum on Wednesday, and if last year was marked by a uniform rush to stave off the worst, their exit strategies are already diverging.



That&#8217;s led to major policy scuffling both in Europe and the United States over how much inflation risk central banks should tolerate as they try to make up for sluggish prices in the years since the Great Recession a decade ago &#8211; a major gamble, in effect, over whether the post-pandemic world will work the same as before.



Policy divergence among the world&#8217;s major central banks can influence markets worldwide, shifting capital flows, exchange rates and trade patterns. There may even be limits on how far a central bank like the Fed might go in normalizing policy or raising interest rates if major partners like the ECB aren&#8217;t moving in the same direction.



It is still early in the transition from the pandemic, but differences are already emerging.



“The key challenge is to ensure that we do not overreact to transitory supply shocks,” ECB President Christine Lagarde said at her bank&#8217;s premier research conference on Tuesday, and policy “must remain focused on steering the economy safely out of the pandemic emergency&#8221; rather than squelching any short-term increase in prices.



Like the ECB, the Fed is also banking on inflation easing largely on its own. But discussion of the risks has become more prominent, and in projections last week virtually all Fed officials said it was more likely inflation would run hotter than expected than otherwise.



Even as Lagarde spoke, Fed Chair Jerome Powell testified to the U.S. Congress about &#8220;bottlenecks, hiring difficulties, and other constraints&#8221; that have led the Fed to project inflation this year at 4.2%, twice the official target, and may make it more persistent.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cost-of-living-crisis">COST-OF-LIVING CRISIS?</h2>



The potential problems are manifold. The pandemic still rages, and while businesses and consumers have adapted to a large degree, it still shapes who is showing up for work, what goods and services get produced, and how fast those goods are moved around the planet and how smoothly those services are delivered.



Workers are moving back into jobs, but more slowly in many places than anticipated. The supply shocks that began with the first coronavirus shutdowns in 2020 continue to reverberate, whether in the form of fuel shortages in the UK, German auto plants waiting for computer chips, U.S. factories lacking industrial goods, backlogged shipping routes, or rising prices.



The Fed last week said it was nearing its first steps to wind down the emergency bond buying launched in March of 2020, and half of U.S. policymakers at their most recent meeting now say interest rates may need to increase next year.



For the Bank of England, the tipping point may already be in view, with markets expecting a rate increase no later than February, and yearly price increases of 4% beginning to show in public opinion.



&#8220;Talk of a &#8216;cost of living&#8217; crisis is gaining traction &#8230; and the public may be looking at the BoE to lean against inflation risks coming out of the pandemic,&#8221; Deutsche Bank economist Sanjay Raja wrote in a note to clients on Friday.



Japan&#8217;s core consumer inflation index, by contrast, remained flat in August, indicating that country&#8217;s decades-long battle with weak prices continues. Wholesale prices are rising, pushed by global commodities inflation, but growth is weak and Bank of Japan policy expected to remain loose.



The ECB has downplayed any post-pandemic policy shift.



Bondbuying through its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme will decline under the legislation that authorized it. But the bank is expected to expand other programs to partly compensate, with Lagarde arguing inflation remaining below the 2% target is a bigger risk than prices soaring persistently above it.



Looking back on the last decade it&#8217;s a natural concern.



By 2012 all the major central banks had fixed 2% as their preferred inflation target, then proceeded to persistently run short of it through a decade of sluggish growth.



The policy bias is now to err on the other side &#8211; and to hope the world cooperates.

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Central banks parse inflation risk as turn from pandemic policy begins

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="496" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/GettyImages-1164991485-820x496.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-412262" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/GettyImages-1164991485-820x496.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/GettyImages-1164991485-300x182.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/GettyImages-1164991485-149x90.jpg 149w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/GettyImages-1164991485-768x465.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/GettyImages-1164991485-1536x930.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/GettyImages-1164991485-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Sudanese army vehicles ride in a convoy escorting ex-president Omar al-Bashir (unseen) back to prison after his appearance in court in the capital Khartoum on August 31, 2019 to face charges of illegal acquisition and use of foreign funds. &#8211; Authorities &#8220;seized 6.9 million euros, $351,770 and 5.7 million Sudanese pounds at (Bashir&#8217;s) home which he acquired and used illegally,&#8221; said judge Al-Sadiq Abdelrahman. (Photo by Ebrahim HAMID / AFP) (Photo credit should read EBRAHIM HAMID/AFP via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



KHARTOUM, Sept 21 (Reuters) &#8211; Sudanese authorities said they had foiled an attempted coup on Tuesday, accusing plotters loyal to ousted president Omar al-Bashir of a failed bid to derail the revolution that removed him from power in 2019 and ushered in a transition to democracy.



Sudan&#8217;s military said 21 officers and a number of soldiers had been detained in connection to the coup attempt, and a search continued for others involved. All locations affected by the attempt were under army control, it said.



The coup attempt points to the difficult path facing a government that has reoriented Sudan since 2019, winning Western debt relief and taking steps to normalise ties with Israel, while battling a severe economic crisis and facing down challenges from those still loyal to Bashir.



A ruling body known as the Sovereign Council has run Sudan under a fragile power-sharing deal between the military and civilians since the overthrow of Bashir, an Islamist shunned by the West who presided over Sudan for nearly three decades.



Elections are expected in 2024.



&#8220;What happened is an orchestrated coup by factions inside and outside the armed forces and this is an extension of the attempts by remnants since the fall of the former regime to abort the civilian democratic transition,&#8221; Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said in a televised statement.



&#8220;This attempt was preceded by extensive preparations represented by lawlessness in the cities and the exploitation of the situation in the east of the country, attempts to close national roads and ports and block oil production.&#8221;



The streets of the capital Khartoum appeared calm, with people moving around as usual and no unusual deployments of security forces, a witness said.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-read-more-paris-club-creditors-to-cancel-14-bln-owed-by-sudan">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/paris-club-creditors-to-cancel-14-bln-owed-by-sudan/">Paris Club creditors to cancel $14 bln owed by Sudan</a></h3>



Early on Tuesday morning, a witness said military units loyal to the council had used tanks to close a bridge connecting Khartoum with Omdurman, just across the River Nile.



A government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said plotters had tried to take control of state radio in Omdurman.



The suspected instigators of the coup attempt had been arrested and were being interrogated, government spokesman Hamza Balol said on state TV, adding that the last pockets of rebellion at Al Shajara camp in south Khartoum were being dealt with.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">COUPS AND CONFLICTS</h2>



It was not the first challenge to the transitional authorities. They say they have foiled or detected previous coup attempts linked to factions loyal to Bashir, who was deposed by the army after months of protests against his rule.



In 2020, Hamdok survived an assassination attempt in Khartoum.



Those involved in the latest effort would be held to account, Hamdok said on Tuesday.



&#8220;For the first time, there are people who were arrested during their implementation of the coup,&#8221; he said, repeating earlier calls for the reform and restructuring of Sudan&#8217;s sprawling security apparatus.



Sudan has gradually been welcomed into the international fold since the overthrow of Bashir, who is sought by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over alleged atrocities in Darfur in the early 2000s.



The ICC&#8217;s chief prosecutor held talks with Sudanese officials last month on accelerating steps to hand over those wanted over Darfur.



Despite a peace deal signed last year with some Sudanese rebels, there has been increased unrest in the western region of Darfur as well as local clashes in Sudan&#8217;s east.



This week members of the Beja tribe blocked Port Sudan and highways leading to it.



Sudan&#8217;s economy has been in deep crisis since before Bashir&#8217;s removal and the transitional government has undergone a reform programme monitored by the International Monetary Fund.



Underlining Western support for the transitional authorities, the Paris Club of official creditors agreed in July to cancel $14 billion of Sudan&#8217;s debt. But Sudanese are still struggling with rapid inflation and shortages.



(Reporting by Ali Mirghani in Khartoum, Khalid Abdelaziz and Nafisa Eltahir in Cairo and Nadine Awadalla in Dubai Writing by Aidan Lewis and Tom Perry; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Giles Elgood and Angus MacSwan)

SUDAN-TRIAL-BASHIR

Sudan says coup thwarted, accuses Bashir loyalists

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="535" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-990518068-820x535.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-407478" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-990518068-820x535.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-990518068-300x196.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-990518068-123x80.jpg 123w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-990518068-768x501.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-990518068-1536x1002.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-990518068-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>FILE: A Caterpillar Inc. mining truck drives past an open pit excavation at the Mutanda copper and cobalt mine in Mutanda, Katanga province, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012. Glencore Plc tumbled the most in two years as its African troubles escalated dramatically after U.S. authorities demanded documents relating to possible corruption and money laundering. The worlds biggest commodity trader said Tuesday that its been subpoenaed by the U.S. Department of Justice to produce documents with respect to compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and United States money laundering statutes. Our editors select archive images from Glencores Katanga Mining Ltd. and Mutanda operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



KINSHASA, June 22 (Reuters) &#8211; Commodity trader and miner Glencore said on Tuesday it will restart operations at the world&#8217;s largest cobalt mine, Mutanda in south-east Democratic Republic of Congo, towards the end of this year and return to production in 2022.



Glencore put the mine, which is also capable of producing large amounts of copper, on care and maintenance in November 2019 citing falling cobalt prices, increased costs, and higher taxes.



On Monday company officials discussed the re-opening of the mine with Congo&#8217;s mining minister Antoinette N&#8217;Samba in Kinshasa, the ministry said in a statement.



Mutanda produced 103,200 tonnes of copper and 25,100 tonnes of cobalt hydroxide in 2019 compared with 199,000 tonnes and 27,300 tonnes respectively in 2018. It has five copper production lines and three cobalt hydroxide lines.



(Reporting by Hereward Holland; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)

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