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‘The Davos underground’: A final take on the secretive parties of the world’s rich and powerful

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="461" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107361594-1705663400079-gettyimages-1934702395-DAVOS_WEF_2024-820x461.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-449214" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107361594-1705663400079-gettyimages-1934702395-DAVOS_WEF_2024-820x461.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107361594-1705663400079-gettyimages-1934702395-DAVOS_WEF_2024-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107361594-1705663400079-gettyimages-1934702395-DAVOS_WEF_2024-160x90.jpeg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107361594-1705663400079-gettyimages-1934702395-DAVOS_WEF_2024-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107361594-1705663400079-gettyimages-1934702395-DAVOS_WEF_2024-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107361594-1705663400079-gettyimages-1934702395-DAVOS_WEF_2024.jpeg 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, during a panel session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 18, 2024. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Executives at some of the world’s leading artificial intelligence labs are expecting a form of AI on a par with — or even exceeding — human intelligence to arrive sometime in the near future. But what it will eventually look like and how it will be applied remain a mystery.



Leaders from the likes of OpenAI, Cohere, Google’s DeepMind, and major tech companies like Microsoft and Salesforce weighed the risks and opportunities presented by AI at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.



AI has become the talk of the business world over the past year or so, thanks in no small part to the success of ChatGPT, OpenAI’s popular generative AI chatbot. Generative AI tools like ChatGPT are powered large language models, algorithms trained on vast quantities of data.



That has stoked concern among governments, corporations and advocacy groups worldwide, owing to an onslaught of risks around the lack of transparency and explainability of AI systems; job losses resulting from increased automation; social manipulation through computer algorithms; surveillance; and data privacy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-agi-a-super-vaguely-defined-term"><a></a>AGI a ‘super vaguely defined term’</h2>



OpenAI’s CEO and co-founder Sam Altman said he believes artificial general intelligence might not be far from becoming a reality and could be developed in the “reasonably close-ish future.”



However, he noted that fears that it will dramatically reshape and disrupt the world are overblown.



“It will change the world much less than we all think and it will change jobs much less than we all think,” Altman said at a conversation organized by Bloomberg at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.



Altman, whose company burst into the mainstream after the public launch of ChatGPT chatbot in late 2022, has changed his tune on the subject of AI’s dangers since his company was thrown into the regulatory spotlight last year, with governments from the United States, U.K., European Union, and beyond seeking to rein in tech companies over the risks their technologies pose.



In a May 2023 interview with ABC News, Altman said he and his company are “scared” of the downsides of a super-intelligent AI.



“We’ve got to be careful here,” said Altman told ABC. “I think people should be happy that we are a little bit scared of this.”



Then, Altman said that he’s scared about the potential for AI to be used for “large-scale disinformation,” adding, “Now that they’re getting better at writing computer code, [they] could be used for offensive cyberattacks.”



Altman was temporarily booted from OpenAI in November in a shock move that laid bare concerns around the governance of the companies behind the most powerful AI systems.



In a discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Altman said his ouster was a “microcosm” of the stresses faced by OpenAI and other AI labs internally. “As the world gets closer to AGI, the stakes, the stress, the level of tension. That’s all going to go up.”



Aidan Gomez, the CEO and co-founder of artificial intelligence startup Cohere, echoed Altman’s point that AI will likely be a real outcome in the near future.



“I think we will have that technology quite soon,” Gomez told CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal in a fireside chat at the World Economic Forum.



But he said a key issue with AGI is that it’s still ill-defined as a technology. “First off, AGI is a super vaguely defined term,” Cohere’s boss added. “If we just term it as ‘better than humans at pretty much whatever humans can do,’ I agree, it’s going to be pretty soon that we can get systems that do that.”



However, Gomez said that even when AGI does eventually arrive, it would likely take “decades” for companies to truly be integrated into companies.



“The question is really about how quickly can we adopt it, how quickly can we put it into production, the scale of these models make adoption difficult,” Gomez noted.



“And so a focus for us at Cohere has been about compressing that down: making them more adaptable, more efficient.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>‘The reality is, no one knows’</h2>



The topic of defining what AGI actually is and what it’ll eventually look like is one that’s stumped many experts in the AI community.



Lila Ibrahim, chief operating officer of Google’s AI lab DeepMind, said no one truly knows what type of AI qualifies as having “general intelligence,” adding that it’s important to develop the technology safely.



“The reality is, no one knows” when AGI will arrive, Ibrahim told CNBC’s Kharpal. “There’s a debate within the AI experts who’ve been doing this or a long time both within the industry and also within the organization.”



“We’re already seeing areas where AI has the ability to unlock our understanding &#8230; where humans haven’t been able to make that type of progress. So it’s AI in partnership with the human, or as a tool,” Ibrahim said.



“So I think that’s really a big open question, and I don’t know how better to answer other than, how do we actually think about that, rather than how much longer will it be?” Ibrahim added. “How do we think about what it might look like, and how do we ensure we’re being responsible stewards of the technology?”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>Avoiding a ‘s&#8212; show’</h2>



Altman wasn’t the only top tech executive asked about AI risks at Davos.



Marc Benioff, CEO of enterprise software firm Salesforce, said on a panel with Altman that the tech world is taking steps to ensure that the AI race doesn’t lead to a “Hiroshima moment.”



Many industry leaders in technology have warned that AI could lead to an “extinction-level” event where machines become so powerful they get out of control and wipe out humanity.



Several leaders in AI and technology, including Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, have called for a pause to AI advancement, stating that a six-month moratorium would be beneficial in allowing society and regulators to catch up.



Geoffrey Hinton, an AI pioneer often called the “godfather of AI,” has previously warned that advanced programs “might escape control by writing their own computer code to modify themselves.”



“One of the ways these systems might escape control is by writing their own computer code to modify themselves. And that’s something we need to seriously worry about,” said Hinton in an October interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes.”



Hinton left his role as a Google vice president and engineering fellow last year, raising concerns over how AI safety and ethics were being addressed by the company.



Benioff said that technology industry leaders and experts will need to ensure that AI averts some of the problems that have beleaguered the web in the past decade or so — from the manipulation of beliefs and behaviors through recommendation algorithms during election cycles, to the infringement of privacy.



“We really have not quite had this kind of interactivity before” with AI-based tools, Benioff told the Davos crowd last week. “But we don’t trust it quite yet. So we have to cross trust.”



“We have to also turn to those regulators and say, ’Hey, if you look at social media over the last decade, it’s been kind of a f&#8212;ing s&#8212; show. It’s pretty bad. We don’t want that in our AI industry. We want to have a good healthy partnership with these moderators, and with these regulators.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>Limitations of LLMs</h2>



Jack Hidary, CEO of SandboxAQ, pushed back on the fervor from some tech executives that AI could be nearing the stage where it gets “general” intelligence, adding that systems still have plenty of teething issues to iron out.



He said AI chatbots like ChatGPT have passed the Turing test, a test called the “imitation game,” which was developed by British computer scientist Alan Turing to determine whether someone is communicating with a machine and a human. But, he added, one big area where AI is lacking is common sense.



“One thing we’ve seen from LLMs [large language models] is very powerful can write says for college students like there’s no tomorrow, but it’s difficult to sometimes find common sense, and when you ask it, ‘How do people cross the street?’ it can’t even recognize sometimes what the crosswalk is, versus other kinds of things, things that even a toddler would know, so it’s going to be very interesting to go beyond that in terms of reasoning.”



Hidary does have a big prediction for how AI technology will evolve in 2024: This year, he said, will be the first that advanced AI communication software gets loaded into a humanoid robot.



“This year, we’ll see a ‘ChatGPT’ moment for embodied AI humanoid robots right, this year 2024, and then 2025,” Hidary said.



“We’re not going to see robots rolling off the assembly line, but we’re going to see them actually doing demonstrations in reality of what they can do using their smarts, using their brains, using LLMs perhaps and other AI techniques.”



“20 companies have now been venture backed to create humanoid robots, in addition of course to Tesla, and many others, and so I think this is going to be a conversion this year when it comes to that,” Hidary added.

107361594-1705663400079-gettyimages-1934702395-DAVOS_WEF_2024

Tech execs say a type of AI that can outdo humans is coming, but have no idea what it looks like

DAVOS24 NEWSLETTER 5



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1927554643-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-446781" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1927554643-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1927554643-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1927554643-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1927554643-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1927554643-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1927554643-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">15 January 2024, Switzerland, Davos: A man stands in front of a window with the World Economic Forum logo. The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum is regarded as one of the most important meeting places for top politicians, top managers and scientists. The program starts on Tuesday. Photo: Hannes P. Albert/dpa (Photo by Hannes P Albert/picture alliance via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



New technology, and especially generative artificial intelligence, was a hot topic at the World Economic Forum in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland. Despite assurances by numerous proponents of AI that this technology will not make redundant the jobs of millions of people, many still seem to fear that it would do exactly that.



As day 5, the final day of the 54th Annual Meeting, drew to a close, climate change and what to do about it was another matter still left hanging in mid-air. All eyes are now on what will transpire at COP29.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dollars-and-cents-vs-green-energy">Dollars and cents vs green energy</h2>



UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in his keynote address at the WEF said the world is still not taking climate change seriously enough. He accused some big oil firms of peddling a &#8220;big lie&#8221; about their role in global warming and warned they should be held accountable. &#8220;Some in Big Oil peddled the big lie,&#8221; Guterres told the WEF. &#8220;We learned last week that certain fossil fuel producers were fully aware in the 1970s that their core product was baking our planet,&#8221; he said.



Dollars and cents economics, specifically investment by the financial powerhouses in the developing world, appears to be a more important issue for now than green energy. Leaders from many African nations are of the opinion that development is a necessary precursor to embracing green economics.



A case in point is Rwanda. Barely three decades after the devastating effects of the 1994 genocide, Rwanda is now regarded as the cleanest country in Africa, ready to help resolve the climate change dilemma, mostly thanks to investment, development, and the leadership of President Paul Kagame.   



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-financing-africa-attracting-foreign-investment">Financing Africa: Attracting foreign investment</h2>



Rwanda still seeks investment though, says Minister of State for Public Investment and Resource Mobilization, Jeanine Munyeshuli. In an interview with CBNC Africa’s Fifi Peters at Davos, she said her government has unveiled a series of initiatives to attract foreign investment.  She pointed out that Rwanda’s economy is projected to grow at a rate of 6.2%, one of the highest in the world, and offers vast investment opportunities, especially in the aviation, ICT, tourism, and mining sectors. She added that the ease of doing business in Rwanda has improved tremendously. 



<a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/6345176487112/rwanda-investment-opportunities-unveiled-at-wef/">https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/6345176487112/rwanda-investment-opportunities-unveiled-at-wef/</a>



One of Africa’s big oil producers, the Republic of Angola, equally seeks new investment. Angola with its significant oil production, stable politics, and low population makes it one of the better investment targets in Africa and the developing world.  CNBC Africa’s team at the WEF in Davos spoke with Vera Daves de Sousa, Angola’s Minister of Finance. She said there are many reasons why investors should be looking favorably at Angola. The country has had a stable and growing economy over the last twenty years.



LINK DAVES DE SOUSA <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/6345179919112/angola-finance-minister-vera-daves-on-achieving-sustainable-growth-/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/6345179919112/angola-finance-minister-vera-daves-on-achieving-sustainable-growth-/</a>



With an equally impressive projected growth rate of 5.2 percent (7% prior to COVID), Tanzania is seriously seeking new investment. In an interview with CNBC Africa’s Godfrey Mutizwa in Davos, Tanzanian Vice President, Dr. Philip Mpango, said his government intends to scale up investment in agriculture and is more than willing to enter into partnerships.



<a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/6345176283112/tanzanias-philip-mpango-calls-for-rebuilding-of-trust-in-african-economies-/">https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/6345176283112/tanzanias-philip-mpango-calls-for-rebuilding-of-trust-in-african-economies-/</a>



Seeking investment begs one big question. Are there still enough investors, specifically those willing to take on the risks of Africa, as well as green energy?



Yes, says the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of RSS Trade and Investment, Ipeleng Selele. She told the CNBC Africa team in Davos that the group is very Pan-African in its approach and as such offers strategic services to investors and those seeking investment. She emphasized the importance of watching trade patterns in Africa when advising on investment.



<a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/6345179258112/davos-sees-more-progress-and-diversity-with-women/">https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/6345179258112/davos-sees-more-progress-and-diversity-with-women/</a>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-no-shortage-of-funds-for-dividend-delivering-investments">No shortage of funds for dividend-delivering investments</h2>



Sunil Kaushal, the Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Africa and the Middle East, one of the biggest lenders and investors in Africa, also spoke to CNBC Africa about the present investment climate, saying that although worldwide money is a scarce commodity, technically there is no shortage of funds for proper, dividend-delivering investments. The problem is rather the inability of some nations to offer the investment banker a safe and reasonably guaranteed return. Kaushal shared his bank’s take on investment in 2024, with CNBC Africa’s Editor-in-Chief Godfrey Mutizwa.



LINK KAUSHAL <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/6345186154112/kaushal-africas-economic-outlook-largely-positive/">https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/6345186154112/kaushal-africas-economic-outlook-largely-positive/</a>

Start of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum

Final Day of WEF DAVOS 2024: AI, climate change & investing in Africa

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="462" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107361577-1705660158507-gettyimages-1936270101-DAVOS_WEF_2024-820x462.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-448185" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107361577-1705660158507-gettyimages-1936270101-DAVOS_WEF_2024-820x462.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107361577-1705660158507-gettyimages-1936270101-DAVOS_WEF_2024-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107361577-1705660158507-gettyimages-1936270101-DAVOS_WEF_2024-160x90.jpeg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107361577-1705660158507-gettyimages-1936270101-DAVOS_WEF_2024-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107361577-1705660158507-gettyimages-1936270101-DAVOS_WEF_2024.jpeg 929w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Alex Soros, chairman of Open Society Foundations, during a panel session on the closing day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. The annual Davos gathering of political leaders, top executives and celebrities runs from January 15 to 19. Photographer: Stefan Wermuth/Bloomberg via Getty Images Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



“In Davos, Donald Trump is already the president,” Open Society Foundations Chairman Alex Soros told a panel at the World Economic Forum on Friday.



“That’s a good thing, because the Davos consensus is always wrong,” he went on.



The prospect of Trump, who is frontrunner to gain the Republican nomination in the upcoming election, winning a second term in the White House has been a hot topic at the gathering of political and business leaders in Switzerland this week.



Trump faces 91 felony counts across numerous criminal cases relating to his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat, mishandling of classified documents and hush-money payments to a porn star. Yet many U.S. business executives still believe he will beat President Joe Biden, should the two face off in the 2024 race, as anticipated.



“Donald Trump owns the Republican Party. We’re in something I like to call the Trump cycle, because I think even if — and I believe, if the institutions hold, when — he loses this election, he’ll also be the Republican candidate in 2028 and maybe even 2032 as well,” Soros said, drawing a ripple of laughter from attendees.



“What’s the way out for him? He either winds up in prison or he winds up in power, he’s not going off on some beach somewhere and retiring.”



Most polling in recent months has put Trump ahead of Biden across key swing states, though numbers published last week by Redfield &amp; Wilton Strategies, in partnership with The Telegraph, showed those leads narrowing in Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.



Soros insisted that the incumbent president still has a “pretty good map,” and backed Biden to hold onto Arizona and Georgia, where he claimed the particular brand of “extremism” promoted by Trump and his allies is considered “really toxic” to many voters.



“But, actually, if you want to look at one state which will really test where the election is, it’s Wisconsin, because if Joe Biden’s able to win Wisconsin, it should mean that he’s won Pennsylvania and Michigan,” added Soros, son of billionaire philanthropist and Open Society Foundations founder George Soros.



“Biden actually has a particular advantage in a polarized electoral environment which is that he’s not polarizing.”

107361577-1705660158507-gettyimages-1936270101-DAVOS_WEF_2024

Alex Soros says a Trump win is a done deal for the Davos elite — but they’re always wrong

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1935789375-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-448110" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1935789375-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1935789375-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1935789375-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1935789375-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1935789375-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1935789375-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">18 January 2024, Switzerland, Davos: A man stands under a World Economic Forum sign. The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum is regarded as one of the most important meeting places for top politicians, top managers and scientists. Debates and confidential meetings focus on solutions to global challenges. Photo: Hannes P. Albert/dpa (Photo by Hannes P Albert/picture alliance via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



Thursday 18 January saw the fourth day of the World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland. Some contentious topics were under discussion, the hottest debates raging around African debt.



Standard Bank Chairwoman Nonkululeko Nyembezi was one of the first delegates from Africa to tackle this sensitive subject. She said a sovereign-debt crisis is the biggest issue facing Africa right now, and nations need to address corruption and implement “fundamental structural reforms to address debt problems”.&nbsp;&nbsp;



According to the International Monetary Fund, more than half of the low-income countries in the region are now at a high risk of losing control of their debt, or are already in debt distress.&nbsp;Ethiopia became the latest African country to default on its debt after it failed to make an interest payment in December, joining a league of non-paying nations that includes Zambia, Ghana and Sri Lanka.



Nyembezi said building resilience in sub-Saharan African economies would not be possible without “knocking head-on” the issue of corruption.



Transparency International’s 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index puts sub-Saharan Africa’s regional average score of 32%, with 44 of the 49 countries assessed still scoring below 50%.&nbsp;



Nyembezi called for greater transparency on the balance sheets of highly indebted countries if they want to attract investment.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-growth-opportunities-amp-projects-to-attract-investment">Growth opportunities &amp; projects to attract investment</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1930407278-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-448111" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1930407278-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1930407278-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1930407278-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1930407278-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1930407278-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1930407278-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Faisal bin Fadhil Alibrahim, Saudi Arabia&#8217;s economy and planning minister, during a Bloomberg Television interview on the opening day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. The annual Davos gathering of political leaders, top executives and celebrities runs from January 15 to 19. Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Other news out of Davos is the welcome announcement by the Minister of Economy and planning of Saudi Arabia,&nbsp; Faisal Alibrahim, that his country’s economy is forecast to grow by 4% this year – on the back of sustained increases in non-oil economic activities. &nbsp;Speaking with CNBC Africa’s team at the WEF, he said that Saudi Arabia is leveraging a project called Vision 2030 – an incentive to create more growth opportunities, while highlighting a strategy to enhance relations with African countries.&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/6345114460112/alibrahim-saudi-arabias-economy-to-grow-4-in-2024/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/6345114460112/alibrahim-saudi-arabias-economy-to-grow-4-in-2024/</a>



Staying with Africa in Davos. The Zanzibaris are also in Switzerland, scouting for investment. The island on the east coast of Tanzania is a tourist haven for South Africans and Europeans. Speaking to CNBC Africa, Zanzibar’s Minister in the President’s Office, Mudrick Zoragha, said his government have launched many new projects to attract investment.



<a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/6345124360112/zanzibar-scouting-for-investment-at-davos/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/6345124360112/zanzibar-scouting-for-investment-at-davos/</a>



SOUTH AFRICA and her energy and logistics crises came under the spotlight again today, when Old Mutual CEO, Iain Williamson, spoke to journalists in Davos. In an interview with CNBC Africa he stressed the urgency of the electricity dilemma. He said it was the demise of Eskom that gave way to the ports and rail disasters, hence Eskom requires preference.



<a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/6345168531112/old-mutual-addresses-sas-energy-logistics-crisis-/">https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/6345168531112/old-mutual-addresses-sas-energy-logistics-crisis-/</a>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-kagame-amp-bliken-discuss-drc-security-situation">Kagame &amp; Bliken discuss DRC security situation</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1931536493-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-448112" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1931536493-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1931536493-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1931536493-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1931536493-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1931536493-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1931536493-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Paul Kagame, Rwanda&#8217;s president, during a panel session on day two of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024. The annual Davos gathering of political leaders, top executives and celebrities runs from January 15 to 19. Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



On the geopolitical front, Rwandan President Paul Kagame and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to discuss the security situation in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).



This was Kagame&#8217;s second meeting with a top US diplomat in the space of three months to discuss the DRC; in November last year, Kagame hosted Avril Haines, the US director of national intelligence, in Kigali.



In a statement, US Department of State spokesperson Mathew Miller said Blinken and Kagame &#8220;discussed how to advance efforts to ease tensions in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The secretary reiterated the need for all actors to take concrete steps to resolve the situation&#8221;.



Addressing the press ahead of their meeting, Blinken added the US was committed to African-led efforts to find a lasting solution.



He said: “We are committed to doing everything we can to support the efforts that are being made &#8211; including by Angola and Kenya &#8211; to support a peaceful resolution of differences and avoid conflict in the eastern DRC.”



&#8220;We very much appreciate the work that president Kagame has done, especially over the last couple of months, and your peaceful way forward,&#8221; Blinken said.



There are two processes underway to resolve the crisis in the eastern DRC. The Nairobi process is an East African Community-led roadmap for resolving inter-DRC violence involving more than 100 paramilitary factions known as &#8220;Mai Mai&#8221; as well as the larger M23 rebel group. There is also the Luanda Process, which works on ending hostilities between the DRC and Rwanda, which it accuses of sponsoring M23.



During the run-up to his 20 December re-election, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi said if granted a second term, he could go to war with Kagame over the M23 issue.



With his inauguration set for Saturday, the war drums are beating.

World Economic Forum in Davos

Hottest WEF Davos 2024 debates around African Debt

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="461" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/responsive_big_webp_tBFYBMOKhTfHbJy9Pt6J1GKDAtyqFL7gT0yZEmtaGrc-820x461.webp" alt="" class="wp-image-448107" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/responsive_big_webp_tBFYBMOKhTfHbJy9Pt6J1GKDAtyqFL7gT0yZEmtaGrc-820x461.webp 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/responsive_big_webp_tBFYBMOKhTfHbJy9Pt6J1GKDAtyqFL7gT0yZEmtaGrc-300x169.webp 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/responsive_big_webp_tBFYBMOKhTfHbJy9Pt6J1GKDAtyqFL7gT0yZEmtaGrc-160x90.webp 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/responsive_big_webp_tBFYBMOKhTfHbJy9Pt6J1GKDAtyqFL7gT0yZEmtaGrc-768x432.webp 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/responsive_big_webp_tBFYBMOKhTfHbJy9Pt6J1GKDAtyqFL7gT0yZEmtaGrc-1536x864.webp 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/responsive_big_webp_tBFYBMOKhTfHbJy9Pt6J1GKDAtyqFL7gT0yZEmtaGrc.webp 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Image: World Economic Forum</figcaption></figure>



The 54th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum convened in Davos, Switzerland, against a tense geo-political backdrop.



Conflicts in multiple regions continue to threaten global peace and stability while political fragmentation is increasingly taking a toll on other issue areas ranging from the climate crisis to the development of advanced technologies. In Davos, top public and private sector voices as well as leading civil society experts met to&nbsp;discuss how to effectively deal with security crises, such as the current situation in the Middle East, while at the same time mitigating the structural forces of fragmentation.



The meeting was also attended by over 60 heads of states and government and nearly 300 ministers and other political leaders, several of which delivered public addresses.



Here&#8217;s some of what they had to say.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-li-qiang-premier-of-the-people-s-republic-of-china">Li Qiang, Premier of the People&#8217;s Republic of China</h3>



Li Qiang, Premier of the People&#8217;s Republic of China, delivered the first special address of the Annual Meeting 2024.



Li called for the rebuilding of trust between countries and touted China&#8217;s economy, stressing its integral position in the global economy. &#8220;The Chinese economy is making steady progress, and will continue to provide a strong impetus for the world economy,&#8221; Li&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/wef/status/1747208713859891611?s=20">stated</a>.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission</h3>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1929142845-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-448101" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1929142845-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1929142845-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1929142845-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1929142845-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1929142845-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1929142845-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, delivers a special address on the opening day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. The annual Davos gathering of political leaders, top executives and celebrities runs from January 15 to 19. Photographer: Stefan Wermuth/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, urged countries around the world to collaborate and rebuild trust amidst an array of global challenges ranging from the climate crisis to polarization within societies.



Von der Leyen also discussed efforts to advance Europe&#8217;s energy independence. &#8220;Europe has made real progress in improving the resilience of its energy systems,&#8221; after Russia&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine, she said. For von der Leyen&#8217;s full remarks, see&nbsp;<a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/01/ursula-von-der-leyen-full-speech-davos/">here</a>.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine</h3>



Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy decried the ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine and called on countries around the world to support Ukraine&#8217;s war efforts. &#8221; &#8220;We need you in Ukraine to build, to reconstruct and to restore our lives,&#8221; he said.



Zelenskyy also praised the Ukrainian military&#8217;s extraordinary war efforts and called for international support to ensure a just and final peace.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar</h3>



Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani spoke with World Economic Forum President Børge Brende on 16 January.



Sheikh Mohammed discussed the current conflict in the Middle East and the precarious state of shipping security in the Red Sea. &#8220;Protecting the freedom of navigation is a global issue,&#8221; he said.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Pham Minh Chinh, Prime Minister of Viet Nam</h4>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1853395643-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-448102" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1853395643-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1853395643-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1853395643-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1853395643-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1853395643-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1853395643-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">TOKYO, JAPAN &#8211; DECEMBER 17: Vietnam&#8217;s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attends a session of the ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit Meeting at the Hotel Okura Tokyo in Tokyo on December 17, 2023. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / POOL / AFP/Anadolu via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



Pham Minh Chinh, Prime Minister of Viet Nam, sat down for a conversation with Thomas Friedman, a foreign affairs columnist at&nbsp;The New York Times. Among several topics, Chinh shared Viet Nam&#8217;s plans for development, including a 2045 goal to become a developed nation with high income.



&#8220;For the industries to grow,&#8221; Chinh said, &#8220;we need to develop a modern and industrialized nation. And we need to attach importance to all industries.&#8221;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor of the United States</h4>



US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan delivered a special address outlining the United States&#8217; position on the most pressing global issues ranging from shipping disruptions in the Red Sea to US competition with China. The world, he said, is in an era of &#8220;strategic competition in an age of interdependence.&#8221;



Sullivan noted that &#8220;major powers are vastly more interdependent than at any time during the Cold War,&#8221; adding that powerful countries are &#8220;also in stiff competition about the type of world we want to build. This age is one of disruptive change.&#8221;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Bisher Hani Al Khasawneh, Prime Minister of Jordan</h4>



Bisher Hani Al Khasawneh, Prime Minister of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, spoke in coversation with Daniel Kurtz-Phelan, the editor-in-chief of&nbsp;Foreign Affairs. Al Khasawneh spoke about the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and the potential for an escalation of violence and displacement of people.



&#8220;The longer [this conflict] lasts, the more prospects we have that endanger regional peace, security and stability,&#8221; he said.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Antony Blinken, Secretary of State of the United States</h4>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1931382137-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-448088" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1931382137-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1931382137-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1931382137-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1931382137-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1931382137-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1931382137-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, during a conversation session on day two of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024. The annual Davos gathering of political leaders, top executives and celebrities runs from January 15 to 19. Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken sat down with Thomas Friedman of&nbsp;The New York Times&nbsp;for wide-ranging conversation on today&#8217;s most challenging foreign policy issues. The topics of discussion included the war in Ukraine, the escalation of conflict in the Middle East and shipping disruptions in the Red Sea, to name a few.



&#8220;I can&#8217;t think of a time when there&#8217;s been both a greater multiplicity and greater complexity of the challenges that we&#8217;re dealing with,&#8221; Blinken said.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations</h4>



In a special address, António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, called on countries to put aside differences and come together to deal with shared challenges. In particular, Guterres called for action to combat the climate crisis and advance the clean energy transition.



Guterres added that while rebuilding trust will not happen overnight, it is &#8220;both essential, and possible.&#8221; For the full remarks, see&nbsp;<a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/01/davos-2024-special-address-by-antonio-guterres-secretary-general-of-the-united-nations/">here</a>.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran</h4>



Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, sat down with CNN host Fareed Zakaria to discuss the geopolitics of the Middle East and Iran&#8217;s position on an array of global issues.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Mohammad Mustafa, Chairman of the Palestine Investment Fund</h4>



Mohammad Mustafa, Chairman of the Palestine Investment Fund, spoke with World Economic Forum President Børge Brende about the conflict in Israel and Gaza. Mustafa demanded more humanitarian aid be allowed into the territory and called for a political solution to the conflict.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Javier Milei, President of Argentina</h4>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1932549482-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-448103" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1932549482-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1932549482-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1932549482-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1932549482-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1932549482-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1932549482-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Javier Milei, Argentina&#8217;s president, during a special address on day two of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024. The annual Davos gathering of political leaders, top executives and celebrities runs from January 15 to 19. Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Javier Milei, President of Argentina, shared his views on the state of the global economy and the mechanisms for economic growth. Milei also discussed political and economic philosophy as well as his vision for economic stability in Argentina. For Milei&#8217;s full remarks, see&nbsp;<a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/01/special-address-by-javier-milei-president-of-argentina/">here</a>.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain</h4>



Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez touched on themes including repercussions of a failure to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, and the importance of maintaining a rules-based international order.



Sánchez also spoke about the ongoing global conflicts and the need to carefully govern the use of AI. After his prepared remarks, he sat down for a discussion with Børge Brende about topics including EU expansion (including, potentially, Ukraine). “Our common approach with regard to the conflict in Ukraine,” he said, “is the most important strength that we as Europe have.” For Sánchez&#8217;s full remarks, see&nbsp;<a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/01/davos-2024-special-address-by-pedro-sanchez-prime-minister-of-spain/">here</a>.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Emmanuel Macron, President of France</h4>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="562" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1933121158-820x562.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-448104" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1933121158-820x562.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1933121158-300x205.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1933121158-131x90.jpg 131w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1933121158-768x526.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1933121158-1536x1052.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1933121158-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">17 January 2024, Switzerland, Davos: Emmanuel Macron, President of France, speaks at an event of the World Economic Forum (WEF). Photo: Hannes P. Albert/dpa (Photo by Hannes P Albert/picture alliance via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



French President Emmanuel Macron discussed economic growth in France and advances in European integration. Moreover, Macron detailed the technological prowess of France and discussed efforts to foster innovation around advanced technologies like AI.



Macron also outlined France&#8217;s position on the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and in the Middle East.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Isaac Herzog, President of Israel</h4>



Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke with World Economic Forum President Børge Brende about the ongoing conflict in Gaza and tensions in the region. Herzog decried Hamas&#8217; terrorist attacks on 7 October 2023 and demanded the release of Israeli hostages currently being held by Hamas. Moreover, he called on the international community to support Israel in the conflict.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Mohammed Shyaa Al Sudani, Prime Minister of Iraq</h4>



Iraqi Prime Minister Shyaa Al Sudani spoke with John Harris, the Founding Editor of Politico, about the political and security situation in Iraq as well as the country&#8217;s transition away from an oil-based economy. He also reflected on how Iraq must delicately balance its relationships with other regional and global powers.



Moreover, Al Sudani spoke about the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza, and the rising tensions across the Middle East.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece</h4>



Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke with Ravi Agrawal, Editor-in-Chief of&nbsp;Foreign Policy, about today&#8217;s most pressing foreign policy issues ranging from the conflict in the Middle East to the potential for NATO enlargement.



Kyriakos also reflected on Greek and European economic stability as well as the issue of migration across Mediterranean countries.

responsive_big_webp_tBFYBMOKhTfHbJy9Pt6J1GKDAtyqFL7gT0yZEmtaGrc

Over 60 heads of state attended Davos 2024. Here’s what they had to say

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="462" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107360862-1705572691213-gettyimages-1246324363-AFP_337B8F4-820x462.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-447870" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107360862-1705572691213-gettyimages-1246324363-AFP_337B8F4-820x462.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107360862-1705572691213-gettyimages-1246324363-AFP_337B8F4-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107360862-1705572691213-gettyimages-1246324363-AFP_337B8F4-160x90.jpeg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107360862-1705572691213-gettyimages-1246324363-AFP_337B8F4-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107360862-1705572691213-gettyimages-1246324363-AFP_337B8F4.jpeg 929w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Participants walk in the street of the Alpine resort of Davos during the World Economic Forum. Fabrice Coffrini | Afp | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Davos, SWITZERLAND — China returned to Davos in full force this week as it attempts to thaw relations with the international community and court investment following years of Covid-19 lockdowns and rising geopolitical tensions.



A delegation led by Chinese Premier Li Qiang is estimated to be the largest since 2017, when President Xi Jinping led an 80-strong cohort of Chinese business leaders and billionaires up the Swiss mountain.



Addressing the forum Tuesday, Li, China’s second in command, said the country was open for business, seemingly downplaying a recent crackdown on private industry which has spooked investors and prompted hefty outflows of foreign cash.



“Choosing investment in the Chinese market is not a risk, but an opportunity,”&nbsp;he said.



Li went on to meet for lunch with a host of top business leaders, including the CEOs of JPMorgan, Bank of America, Standard Chartered and Blackstone. Also present was the governor of the People’s Bank of China.



He was joined by several other high ranking ministerial representatives including the Deputy Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu and Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.



Outside the main congress center, one group of Chinese delegates CNBC spoke to said they were attending for a broad brush of issues including “finance and trade and commerce.”



“It’s a great time to tell the China story,” another Chinese tech executive said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-raising-concerns-in-washington"><a></a>Raising concerns in Washington</h2>



The amped up Chinese presence has reportedly ruffled feathers in Washington amid U.S. concerns about Beijing’s growing global influence.



A U.S. State Department document dated Jan. 12 said that “10 state ministers” would be included in Beijing’s Davos delegation, prompting the White House to step up its charm offensive, according to Politico.



The document dubbed the presence a “pseudo state visit,” with the Chinese delegation also expected to meet with Swiss counterparts in the capital, Bern, later in the week. In response, the schedule of Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, also attending Davos, was reportedly updated to include a meeting with Swiss officials.



The State Department did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment on Blinken’s amended agenda.



It comes as relations between the U.S. and China have grown increasingly fractured amid national security concerns and rising geopolitical tensions, particularly over Taiwan and Russia. That has prompted Washington to embark on a “de-risking” strategy, including curbing trade of some critical technologies.



Li, in his keynote address, pushed back against the move, saying that tech innovations should not be used as a way to restrict or contain other countries.



“To keep the competition healthy and bring out the greatest vitality, the only way is to enhance cooperation,” he said.



The comments speak to the confliction other countries face, including Switzerland and Europe more broadly, in picking alliances in the standoff between the world’s two largest economies. Europe, a close ally of the U.S., is equally aware of how important the Chinese market is for its domestic companies.



Still, confidence in China has been knocked by the country’s prolonged and stringent Covid lockdowns, as well as its broader clampdown on key industries, including Big Tech.



Notably, Xi’s 2017 entourage included Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, and Wang Jianlin, chairman of property developer Dalian Wanda, both of whom have since fallen out of favor with Chinese authorities amid a clampdown on private business and a collapse in the country’s property market.



As a result, Chinese firms are now investing more abroad than foreign firms are investing in China. Foreign investors withdrew $12 billion from China in the third quarter of 2023. Meanwhile, international investors have withdrawn around $25 billion from the Chinese stock market since August 2023.



Ian Bremmer, president and found of the Eurasia Group, said that China’s increased Davos presence indicated that Xi acknowledges the challenges Beijing now faces in re-establishing its reputation on the international stage.



“It’s necessary for a country that’s underperforming economically in a big way,” Bremmer told Semafor.



“Xi recognizes it; [it] implies better managed relations for the West with China at least in the near term,” he added.



The World Economic Forum did not respond to a CNBC request for confirmation on the number of Chinese delegates in attendance.

107360862-1705572691213-gettyimages-1246324363-AFP_337B8F4

China courts global elite at Davos with largest presence in years

DAVOS24 NEWSLETTER 3



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1930975253-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-447837" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1930975253-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1930975253-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1930975253-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1930975253-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1930975253-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1930975253-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The World Economic Forum logo on a window in the Congress Center on the opening day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. The annual Davos gathering of political leaders, top executives and celebrities runs from January 15 to 19. Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Wednesday 17 January dawned over the World Economic Forum in Davos in Switzerland, with the news of even more tension in the Middle East. As speaker after keynote speaker yesterday spoke of ideological conflict and ensuing economic crisis, the only positive news seemed to be coming out of Africa.



Delegates at a panel discussion heard the exciting development that the manner in which business is done in Africa, will change dramatically this year. More than half of African nations will use the rules of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) this year as the region moves closer to fully integrating into a single market.



Of the 47 countries that have ratified the AfCFTA agreement, 31 will join the trade initiative, up from seven that joined in 2023. AfCFTA Secretary-General Wamkele Mene said at a presentation at Davos. The new system was put on trial last year and tested on processed agricultural products, manufactured goods and services.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-afcfta-s-pan-african-payments-system-pilot-project">AfCFTA’s pan-African payments system pilot project</h2>



For example, Uganda exported some of its excess 2 billion liters of milk to Algeria, while a ceramic-tile manufacturer in Ghana shipped the product to Cameroon. “AfCFTA enabled a 20% reduction in duty,” Mene said. “That is 20% competitiveness as of the start of trade.”



The expanded pilot project will include a pan-African payments and settlement system using local currencies to overcome the continent’s foreign-exchange shortages and convertibility limitations.



According to Mene, quoting the African Development Bank, the African trade region’s digital economy will rocket to $712 billion by 2050, from about $115 billion at present. AfCFTA has a potential market of 1.3 billion people with a combined gross domestic product of $3.4 trillion, and could be the world’s biggest free-trade zone by area when the treaty becomes fully operational by 2030.



The World Bank forecasts that the accord will increase trade within the region by 80% to $532 billion by 2035, partially boosted by improved technology-driven efficiency.



DAY 3 Highlights link: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2024/davos-2024-day-three-highlights/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2024/davos-2024-day-three-highlights/</a>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-south-africa-finmin-godongwana-on-challenges-and-investment-potential">South Africa FinMin Godongwana on challenges and investment potential</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1928545824-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-447839" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1928545824-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1928545824-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1928545824-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1928545824-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1928545824-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1928545824-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Enoch Godongwana, South Africa&#8217;s finance minister, during a panel session at Bloomberg House on the opening day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. The annual Davos gathering of political leaders, top executives and celebrities runs from January 15 to 19. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



More good news for Africa out of Davos – and perhaps something of interest to potential investors in the SADC region – is that South Africa has a plan to improve energy provision that will end the need for any power cuts within the next 12-18 months. This is according to Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana. &#8220;Eventually in the next 12-18 months we will be able to say load-shedding is a thing of the past. That is the target,&#8221; he, told Reuters.



In an interview with CNBC Africa’s Editor-in-Chief, Godfrey Mutizwa, Godongwana said that he found a more positive narrative about investing in South Africa at Davos, than what is generally found in newspapers. They also spoke about the country’s investment attractiveness and South Africa’s upcoming Budget Speech in February.



GODONGWANA LINK&nbsp; <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/6344993458112/finance-minister-enoch-godongwana-on-sas-2024-budget-outlook/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/6344993458112/finance-minister-enoch-godongwana-on-sas-2024-budget-outlook/</a>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-south-africa-banking-system-vulnerabilities-amp-material-risk">South Africa: Banking system vulnerabilities &amp; material risk</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1929487707-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-447840" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1929487707-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1929487707-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1929487707-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1929487707-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1929487707-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1929487707-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Lesetja Kganyago, governor of South Africa&#8217;s reserve bank, during a Bloomberg Television interview on the opening day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. The annual Davos gathering of political leaders, top executives and celebrities runs from January 15 to 19. Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Three other South Africans featured prominently at Davos on Wednesday. The Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, Lesetja Kganyago, elaborated on growth plans, inflation, economic outlook, and banking system vulnerabilities in a wide-ranging interview with CNBC Africa’s Fifi Peters. &nbsp;



KGANYAGO LINK <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/6345042613112/kganyago-on-global-economy-monetary-policy-inflation-outlook/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/6345042613112/kganyago-on-global-economy-monetary-policy-inflation-outlook/</a>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1243962302-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-447841" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1243962302-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1243962302-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1243962302-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1243962302-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1243962302-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1243962302-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Sim Tshabalala, group chief executive at Standard Bank, speaks during the Institute of International Finance (IIF) annual membership meeting in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, Oct. 14, 2022. This year&#8217;s conference theme is &#8220;The Search for Stability in an Era of Uncertainty, Realignment and Transformation.&#8221; Photographer: Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Rebuilding Trust, the theme of WEF Davos 2024, is fundamental to the banking and business sectors, according to Standard Bank CEO, Sim Tshabalala. He spoke to CNBC Africa’s Fifi Peters and Godfrey Mutizwa about the big issues being discussed at the Forum, including financial inclusion, artificial intelligence and climate. &nbsp;



THSABALALA LINK <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/6345040785112/tshabalala-african-continent-to-be-fastest-growing-by-2030/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/6345040785112/tshabalala-african-continent-to-be-fastest-growing-by-2030/</a>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sa-as-investment-facilitator-in-africa">SA as investment facilitator in Africa</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="546" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-465757264-820x546.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-447842" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-465757264-820x546.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-465757264-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-465757264-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-465757264-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-465757264-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-465757264-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA FEBRUARY 12 (SOUTH AFRICA OUT): Ebrahim Patel, Minister of Economic Development, in his office on February 12, 2012 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Leon Sadiki/CityPress/Gallo Images/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



Commanding interest in Davos was South Africa’s Trade and Industry Minister, Ibrahim Patel, who has drawn high acclaim from many quarters in the business sector in Africa and abroad. He told CNBC Africa’s Godfrey Mutizwa that in an increasingly fractured world, businesses are looking for stable investment opportunities.



PATEL LINK <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/6345050965112/patel-sa-a-key-player-in-facilitating-africa-investments-/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/6345050965112/patel-sa-a-key-player-in-facilitating-africa-investments-/</a>



With Africa presenting a positive outlook for advancing global trade ties, for the continent itself the AfCFTA looks set to be a major game changer. Patel is of the opinion that South Africa can be a key player in facilitating investments on the continent through regional value chains.

Opening Day Of The World Economic Forum (WEF) 2024

Africa brings good news stories to WEF Davos 2024

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="461" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107360116-1705494590400-gettyimages-1927703757-AFP_34F2246-820x461.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-447525" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107360116-1705494590400-gettyimages-1927703757-AFP_34F2246-820x461.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107360116-1705494590400-gettyimages-1927703757-AFP_34F2246-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107360116-1705494590400-gettyimages-1927703757-AFP_34F2246-160x90.jpeg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107360116-1705494590400-gettyimages-1927703757-AFP_34F2246-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107360116-1705494590400-gettyimages-1927703757-AFP_34F2246-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107360116-1705494590400-gettyimages-1927703757-AFP_34F2246.jpeg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Austrian Marlene Engelhorn, who inherited from her family who owns the Germany’s chemical giant BASF, poses with a placard reading “Tax the rich!” at the entrance of the Congress center on the opening of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, on January 15, 2024. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP) (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images) Fabrice Coffrini | Afp | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



More than 250 billionaires and millionaires on Wednesday reiterated their call on elected representatives of the world’s leading economies to introduce higher taxes on the very richest in society.



In an open letter to political leaders gathered at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the rich signatories said they wished to deliver a clear message: “Tax our extreme wealth.”



“We are surprised that you have failed to answer a simple question that we have been asking for three years: when will you tax extreme wealth?” the letter said.



“Our request is simple: we ask you to tax us, the very richest in society. This will not fundamentally alter our standard of living, nor deprive our children, nor harm our nations’ economic growth. But it will turn extreme and unproductive private wealth into an investment for our common democratic future.”



The signatories of the letter, entitled “Proud To Pay More,” span 17 countries and include Disney heir Abigail Disney, screenwriter Simon Pegg and Valerie Rockefeller, an heir to the famed U.S. family.



It comes shortly after Oxfam said that the five richest men globally have more than doubled their vast wealth since 2020 and warned that the world could have its first trillionaire within a decade.



At the same time, the charity said on Monday that, if the current trends persist, poverty will not be eradicated for another 229 years.



“Billionaires are wielding their extreme wealth to accumulate political power and influence, simultaneously undermining democracy and the global economy,” said Brian Cox, a signatory to the Proud to Pay More letter and an actor who played fictional billionaire Logan Roy in HBO’s “Succession.”



“It’s long past time to act. If our elected officials refuse to address this concentration of money and power, the consequences will be dire,” Cox added.



A new poll conducted by Survation on behalf of “Patriotic Millonaires”, which was published alongside the open letter, found that some of the world’s wealthiest people support higher taxes on their income.



The survey polled over 2,300 respondents in wealthy G20 nations who each hold more than $1 million in investable assets, excluding their homes. These assets put them among the richest 5%.



The survey found that 74% of respondents back higher taxes on wealth to address the cost-of-living crisis and to improve public services, while three quarters of respondents support a 2% wealth tax on billionaires, and more than half (54%) think that extreme wealth concentration is a threat to democracy.



“Throughout history, pitchforks were the inevitable consequence of extreme discontent, but today, the masses are turning to populism, which is on the rise throughout the world. It is happening here,” Abigail Disney said in a statement.



“We already know the solution to protect our institutions and stabilize our country: it’s taxing extreme wealth. What we lack is the political fortitude to do it. Even millionaires and billionaires like me are saying it’s time. The elites gathering in Davos must take this crisis seriously,” she added.

107360116-1705494590400-gettyimages-1927703757-AFP_34F2246

Mega rich renew call on global leaders at Davos to ‘tax our extreme wealth’

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="546" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107279979-1690906950125-gettyimages-1569404479-Omarques_01082023_techPOL_3_of_21-820x546.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-447487" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107279979-1690906950125-gettyimages-1569404479-Omarques_01082023_techPOL_3_of_21-820x546.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107279979-1690906950125-gettyimages-1569404479-Omarques_01082023_techPOL_3_of_21-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107279979-1690906950125-gettyimages-1569404479-Omarques_01082023_techPOL_3_of_21-135x90.jpeg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107279979-1690906950125-gettyimages-1569404479-Omarques_01082023_techPOL_3_of_21-768x511.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107279979-1690906950125-gettyimages-1569404479-Omarques_01082023_techPOL_3_of_21-1536x1022.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107279979-1690906950125-gettyimages-1569404479-Omarques_01082023_techPOL_3_of_21-scaled.jpeg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Photo: via CNBC</figcaption></figure>



The new artificial intelligence era represents a huge moment for the tech industry that has not been seen in a decade, according to a top executive at Facebook parent company Meta Platforms.



Reflecting on 2024, Nicola Mendelsohn, head of global business group at Meta, said it was important to talk about the potential for AI as a force for good, while also paying mind to the dangers of the technology.



“This is a seismic moment,” Mendelsohn said, in conversation with CNBC’s Tania Bryer at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “We will look back on this year seeing a really pivotal year in terms of how it was across society.”



In her role at Meta, Mendelsohn leads relationships with top marketers and agencies. She is also a seasoned advertising executive, with past experience including partner and executive chairman at London advertising agency Karmarama, and non-executive director of alcoholic beverages firm Diageo.



Meta had a banner year in 2023, with shares climbing sharply, while investors praised CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s push for a “year of efficiency” driven by sharp cost-cutting and a change in focus towards more profitable lines of business.



Last year also marked a major pivot toward artificial intelligence for Meta — an area where the company plays a key role with its LLaMA large language model. Meta also remains heavily focused on the metaverse with its Quest 3 headsets.



“From a Meta perspective, we can be a leader and a pioneer,” Mendelsohn said.

107279979-1690906950125-gettyimages-1569404479-Omarques_01082023_techPOL_3_of_21

AI era is a ‘seismic moment’ in tech we’ve not seen in a decade, top Meta exec says

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359182-1705386557810-gettyimages-1806666171-CHINA_HEFEI_VANKE-820x547.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-447409" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359182-1705386557810-gettyimages-1806666171-CHINA_HEFEI_VANKE-820x547.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359182-1705386557810-gettyimages-1806666171-CHINA_HEFEI_VANKE-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359182-1705386557810-gettyimages-1806666171-CHINA_HEFEI_VANKE-135x90.jpeg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359182-1705386557810-gettyimages-1806666171-CHINA_HEFEI_VANKE-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359182-1705386557810-gettyimages-1806666171-CHINA_HEFEI_VANKE-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359182-1705386557810-gettyimages-1806666171-CHINA_HEFEI_VANKE-scaled.jpeg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Construction at China Vanke Co.’s Isle Maison development in Hefei, China, on Monday, Nov. 27, 2023. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



BEIJING — China missed fourth-quarter GDP estimates on Wednesday, while it resumed reporting the unemployment rate for young people.



GDP for the last three months of 2023 rose by 5.2%, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics. That’s below the 5.3% growth forecast in a Reuters poll.



GDP growth for the full year was also 5.2%, compared with a 3% increase in 2022.



“Macro data from 2023 shows China’s economy is going through a transition to a new growth model,” Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, said in a note.



“With investment in the property sector falling, the economy is more dependent on the manufacturing sector and service sector,” he said. “This transition will take time to be accomplished. The key question in the market is when the transition in the property sector will finish.”



Property prices in 70 major Chinese cities fell by 0.4% in December from the prior month, maintaining a pace of decline not seen since 2015, according to data released Wednesday and analysis using Wind Information.



Real estate, which makes up well over 20% of China’s economy, has seen a government crackdown on developers’ high reliance on debt for growth.



Investment into real estate fell by 9.6% in 2023, while those into infrastructure and manufacturing rose by 5.9% and 6.5%, respectively.



Overall, fixed asset investment for 2023 rose by 3%, a touch above the predicted 2.9% increase.



China’s property sector is in a process of “adjustment and transformation,” Kang Yi, director of the statistics bureau, told reporters in Mandarin, translated by CNBC.



Looking ahead to 2024, he said the economy faces a number of challenges including insufficient domestic demand, overcapacity in some industries and weak expectations about the future.



Kang said authorities needed to respond to those difficulties in accordance with the directives from China’s top leaders in an annual meeting last month.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-youth-unemployment-remains-high"><a></a>Youth unemployment remains high</h2>



The statistics bureau on Wednesday also resumed reporting figures on youth unemployment.



Excluding people still in school, the unemployment rate for young people aged 16 to 24 was 14.9%, while the rate in cities in December was 5.1%.



The bureau had temporarily suspended the release of the younger age group’s unemployment rate in summer, citing the need to reassess calculation methods. That unemployment rate had previously climbed to records above 20%.



The statistics bureau said&nbsp;China’s&nbsp;population shrunk by more than 2 million people to 1.41 billion in 2023 from the prior year. The population had declined by 850,000 people in 2022 from 2021.



“The improvement [in youth unemployment] is a bit surprising to me, but I can see that it is a result of government efforts and not so much economic fundamentals,” Dan Wang, chief economist at Hang Seng Bank, said Wednesday on CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia.”



“High income jobs have been difficult to find, but lower-skilled work has not been difficult to find in 2023,” she said.



Uncertainty about future income has weighed on consumption.



Retail sales rose 7.4% in December from a year earlier, missing expectations for an 8% growth. They rose by 7.2% for the full year.



December saw a 29% surge in jewelry and 26% increase in purchases of clothes and shoes.



Sales of daily necessities,&nbsp;medicine, cultural and office products,&nbsp;as well as construction-related materials fell in December.



China had abruptly ended its Covid-19 controls in December 2022 and people had rushed to buy medicine amid widespread illness that month.



Industrial production rose by 6.8% in December from a year earlier, beating forecasts for 6.6% growth.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>Questions about stimulus</h2>



The economic data was as the market generally expected and already priced in, said Bruce Pang, chief economist and head of research for Greater China at JLL.



He said there’s uncertainty over how much stimulus Beijing will choose to pursue, and how authorities will balance short- and long-term risks. Pang said China will likely focus on fiscal support this year.



The statistics bureau indicated in a release Wednesday that as a part of economic support, Chinese authorities would work to improve policy coordination among different regulatory bodies.



“We must effectively enhance economic vitality, prevent and mitigate risks, improve social expectations,&nbsp;consolidate and boost the sound momentum of economic recovery and growth,” the bureau said, “in a bid to effectively upgrade the quality and appropriately expand the quantity of the national economy.”



China ended its stringent Covid-19 controls in late 2022, but its rebound from the pandemic wasn’t as fast as several economists had expected at the start of 2023.



This year, unless there are significant stimulus measures, China’s GDP growth could slow to 4.6% from 5.2% in 2023, according to an average of five investment firms’ forecasts compiled by CNBC.



“Monetary and fiscal policy last year was actually quite conservative. Given that we (China) is in such an economic downturn, we should have seen lower interest rates and more fiscal money spending in all levels of government,” Hang Seng Bank’s Wang said.



Chinese Premier Li Qiang in speech on Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos noted that “in promoting economic development, we did not resort to massive stimulus. We did not seek short-term growth while accumulating long-term risks.”



“Rather, we focused on strengthening the internal drivers,” he said.



The statistics bureau also said Wednesday that retail sales in services surged by 20% in 2023 from a year ago.



Online retail sales of physical goods rose by 8.4%, accounting for nearly 28% of overall retail sales.



Analysis of digital payments transactions by BigOne Lab found the low-income segment — earning 5,000 yuan ($700) or less — rapidly increased their average spending per person in 2023 from a year ago.



The low income segment is mostly made up of young people ages 18 to 24, the report said.



That contrasts with the high-income segment — making 10,000 yuan ($1,400) or more a month — whose spending tapered off in the second half of 2023.



— CNBC’s Shreyashi Sanyal contributed to this report.

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China misses fourth-quarter GDP estimates, resumes posting youth unemployment data

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="461" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359263-1705399057421-gettyimages-1928724181-DAVOS_WEF_2024-820x461.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-447150" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359263-1705399057421-gettyimages-1928724181-DAVOS_WEF_2024-820x461.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359263-1705399057421-gettyimages-1928724181-DAVOS_WEF_2024-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359263-1705399057421-gettyimages-1928724181-DAVOS_WEF_2024-160x90.jpeg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359263-1705399057421-gettyimages-1928724181-DAVOS_WEF_2024-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359263-1705399057421-gettyimages-1928724181-DAVOS_WEF_2024-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359263-1705399057421-gettyimages-1928724181-DAVOS_WEF_2024.jpeg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Steve Sedgwick, anchor for CNBC, Gita Gopinath, first deputy managing director of International Monetary Fund (IMF), Francois Villeroy de Galhau, governor of the Bank of France, Adena Friedman, chief executive officer of Nasdaq Inc., and Chuck Robbins, chief executive officer of Cisco Technologies Inc., left to right, during a panel session on the opening day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Around three quarters of the effects of tighter monetary policy have already fed through to the U.S. economy, according to an analysis by the International Monetary Fund.



“We have to recognize that there has been a lot of resilience in the economy despite the rate hikes that we have seen &#8230; our estimate is that for the U.S. about three quarters, or 75%, of the transmission has already gone through, and the rest will go through this year,” the IMF’s Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath said at a CNBC-moderated panel at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday.



There is more transmission still to feed through in the euro area, where interest rate hikes started later, she said.



The U.S. economy has maintained stronger growth than was widely expected since interest rates began rising in March 2022, though several strategists have spoken of a potential recession this year. The euro zone economy, meanwhile, has fallen into stagnation. The European Central Bank began hiking in July 2022.



“What is universally true is we have households and corporations with stronger balance sheets. And we’ve seen effects, but we’ve also seen resilience,” Gopinath said on the panel.



“Labor markets are slowing but at a much more gradual pace. Which is why I think at the IMF we feel that a soft landing scenario, the probabilities have come up quite a bit, because inflation has come down without needing that much of a loss in terms of economic activity.”



François Villeroy de Galhau, governor of France’s central bank, noted on the same panel that there were two lags in transmission: from monetary policy decisions to financial conditions, and from financial conditions to the real economy.



“About the first lag, I think the transmission is more or less over,” he said. “In Europe, what is key is the transmission through banks, because as you know, the bank credit channel is about two thirds or three quarters in Europe, much more than in the U.S.”



“What is more difficult is the second lag &#8230; here it’s much more difficult to assess, and it strongly depends on various sectors. If I take real estate for instance, I think most of the transmission has happened already because it’s very sensitive to interest rates. For other sectors, we will see,” de Galhau added.

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U.S. economy has already seen 75% of the impact from Fed’s hikes, IMF says

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="462" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359389-1705410175678-107359389-1705409992296-1J7A9540-820x462.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-447146" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359389-1705410175678-107359389-1705409992296-1J7A9540-820x462.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359389-1705410175678-107359389-1705409992296-1J7A9540-300x169.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359389-1705410175678-107359389-1705409992296-1J7A9540-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359389-1705410175678-107359389-1705409992296-1J7A9540-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359389-1705410175678-107359389-1705409992296-1J7A9540.jpg 929w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Adena Friedman, CEO &amp; Board Chair NASDAQ, speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box at the WEF Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 16th, 2024. Adam Galici | CNBC</figcaption></figure>



Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman believes the Federal Reserve should be wary of cutting interest rates too soon.



Speaking at a CNBC-moderated panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Friedman said Tuesday that while “there are a lot of signals that would say that there should be rate [cuts] as we go through the year, the question is when they would start. And if I were the Fed, I would be a little concerned about starting too early.”



She explained that while inflation was heading in the “right direction of travel,” the Fed would also expect this to moderate, making it harder to bring rates down.



Friedman said that the U.S. central bank “also want to make sure that they feel that they’ve gotten to a state of stability around the rate before they start making significant moves in the interest rate space.”



The Fed held rates steady in December for the third time in a row, keeping the benchmark overnight borrowing rate in a targeted range between 5.25%-5.5%. Federal Open Market Committee members indicated that three rate cuts could be on the cards in 2024.



Between March 2022 and July 2023, the FOMC enacted a run of 11 rate hikes to combat spiraling inflation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-more-confidence-in-the-market">‘More confidence in the market’</h2>



As markets look to predict when interest rates might be cut and when the cost of capital might fall, she said that investors could start to think about how they model company earnings in the future more successfully.



In addition, knowing that inflation is coming down and that the cost of business is moderating, would also give companies more confidence, Friedman said.



“So I think all of that builds more confidence in the market, which of course does show up in the market values,” she said.



Friedman said that while market performance was “top heavy” last year, a broader-based improvement in valuations was emerging, including in lesser-valued companies.



“I think that’ll also drive an interest in investors wanting to put risk capital to work, which means … we could actually have the IPO (initial public offering) market open back up again,” she said, adding that around 85 companies had filed to go public on the Nasdaq.

107359389-1705410175678-107359389-1705409992296-1J7A9540

Fed should be a ‘little concerned’ about starting rate cuts too early, Nasdaq CEO says

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="461" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359206-1705390771913-gettyimages-1401710154-_skm8951-820x461.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-447057" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359206-1705390771913-gettyimages-1401710154-_skm8951-820x461.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359206-1705390771913-gettyimages-1401710154-_skm8951-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359206-1705390771913-gettyimages-1401710154-_skm8951-160x90.jpeg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359206-1705390771913-gettyimages-1401710154-_skm8951-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359206-1705390771913-gettyimages-1401710154-_skm8951-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/107359206-1705390771913-gettyimages-1401710154-_skm8951.jpeg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Skaman306 | Moment | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



DAVOS, SWITZERLAND — The slew of upcoming global elections could derail international efforts to secure long-term food supplies, according to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).



President Alvaro Lario told CNBC that is short-term politics will likely dominate over longer-term strategy in the bumper election year of 2024, causing major issues like food security to fall by the wayside.



“It’s going to be a challenging year. Almost half of the governments in the world are going to go through elections,” Lario said Monday at the World Economic Forum in Davos.



“That’s only going to increase the polarization and probably the simpler messages, rather than the complexity of really addressing the change of these food systems,” the head of the U.N. special agency added.



Around two billion people are set to head to the polls this year in a historic series of elections spanning 70 countries. Front of mind for voters will be the economy and ongoing global conflicts, as well as issues like the green transition and its local implications.



Lario noted that growing pushback against climate policies — often known as “greenlash” — has already begun to dominate political discourse, undermining already precarious food systems.



“It’s getting more complex because we’re seeing a lot of the small-scale agriculture producers in Europe, for example, getting impacted by this transition, and how they can finance it. So, even in the local politics, it’s going to become more complex,” he said.



Despite the complexity, Lario said it is the role of organizations such as IFAD to “continue banging at the door” of the public and private sector to bolster investment in programs that tackle the root causes of food insecurity. Those include actions which enable more local food production, greater integration of regional markets and further crop diversification.



Lario said such investment had become all the more important in the face of rising global tensions.



“With an increasing number of conflicts and situations of fragility, it’s very clear that the situation will only get worse given that we are not really tackling the root causes,” he said.



“We thought after the Ukraine shock that [tackling the root causes] was going to be a given, and there was a lot of momentum. But now we’re seeing the momentum once more diluting because the number of conflicts just increases and the attention goes once more to the humanitarian aspect,” he added.



It is estimated that around one in 10 people globally suffer from food insecurity or reliable access to nutritious food, according to UNICEF.

107359206-1705390771913-gettyimages-1401710154-_skm8951

2024′s wave of elections predicted to derail food security progress

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1926670027-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-446789" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1926670027-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1926670027-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1926670027-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1926670027-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1926670027-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1926670027-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The World Economic Forum logo inside the Congress Center ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. The annual Davos gathering of political leaders, top executives and celebrities runs from January 15 to 19. Photographer: Stefan Wermuth/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Most observers in Davos24 agree that one of the most interesting topics of discussion will be ‘misinformation’ and ‘disinformation’ on social media. The WEF placed this on the agenda to try and get to grips with the worldwide phenomenon of rumour mongering on Facebook and &nbsp;X, as it manifested itself during the US presidential elections of 2016 and since, as well as the daily appearance of fabrications on YouTube. One wonders if Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg will be talking about self-imposed censorship and editorial control and whether the flood of nonsense videos can be stopped? Incidentally, Musk wasn’t even invited to Davos this year.



So, in a year in which mass emotions will be stirred and shaken in major elections in the US, India and South Africa, the influence of the social media will be severely tested. The matter of responsible use of social media platforms and just whose baby that is going to be, will undoubtedly be a majore talking point at Davos24. Especially the free-speech fanatics in the developed countries are not going to be happy with any infringements on their right to say what they want. Perhaps they should be reminded that in some countries the social media have been banned, exactly because of irresponsible use.



God forbid, we hear them say. Well, let’s see whether the human race can control itself.



In tomorrow’s newsletter, there will be some astounding news about African demographics revealed at Davos24 today.

Preparations Ahead Of The World Economic Forum (WEF) 2024

Misinformation

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1927156200-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-446785" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1927156200-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1927156200-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1927156200-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1927156200-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1927156200-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1927156200-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A Swiss national flag outside the Congress Center ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos Switzerland, on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. The annual Davos gathering of political leaders, top executives and celebrities runs from January 15 to 19. Photographer: Stefan Wermuth/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Another major issue to be discussed this week is the state of world debt. Global government debt is projected to hit $97.1 trillion this year, a 40% increase since 2019. One has to assume that many of the central bankers present in Davos are there to borrow to prevent their economies going into default. Combined world debt (private, public and otherwise) is at a staggering $300 trillion and will not be going away in the next 50 years. To find opportunities for capital expenditure, economic growth and the fostering of an investment climate in this morass is not going to be easy. The mere presence of a world debt almost the size of possible maximum world economic output is cause for paranoia and fear. But in the words of Jeff Bezos of Amazon, there is nothing like paranoia and fear to drive innovation.

World Debt

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1927554643-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-446781" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1927554643-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1927554643-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1927554643-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1927554643-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1927554643-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1927554643-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">15 January 2024, Switzerland, Davos: A man stands in front of a window with the World Economic Forum logo. The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum is regarded as one of the most important meeting places for top politicians, top managers and scientists. The program starts on Tuesday. Photo: Hannes P. Albert/dpa (Photo by Hannes P Albert/picture alliance via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



But there are many pressing issues on the WEF agenda that have nothing to do with religious ideology and in 2024 even they seem larger than life. Everybody at Davos are holding their collective breath over what will happen pertaining to climate change and green energy. The move away from fossil fuel and coal proves more difficult than a lot or people will be willing to admit. But the economists at Davos have been known to pull rabbits from hats. Will they do so again?

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