<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/ZXQCQVYMLZJNHMGOSI3OKPBANA-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-427502" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/ZXQCQVYMLZJNHMGOSI3OKPBANA-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/ZXQCQVYMLZJNHMGOSI3OKPBANA-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/ZXQCQVYMLZJNHMGOSI3OKPBANA-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/ZXQCQVYMLZJNHMGOSI3OKPBANA-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/ZXQCQVYMLZJNHMGOSI3OKPBANA-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/ZXQCQVYMLZJNHMGOSI3OKPBANA-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: A banner reads &#8220;End Fossil Fuels&#8221; at the Bonn Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany, June 8, 2023. REUTERS/Jana Rodenbusch/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



LONDON, Nov 30 (Reuters) &#8211; Nearly two-thirds of climate finance commitments from the developed world between 2013 and 2021 &#8211; a total of $343 billion &#8211; were never reported as disbursed or had little connection to climate, a new analysis from the ONE Campaign showed.



ONE, a non-profit advocacy group, said its analysis of open-source data on public international climate finance from developed countries and multilateral institutions highlights an &#8220;alarming lack of transparency&#8221;. It also underscored the chasm between climate finance needs in emerging markets, many of which are battling debt crises, and what rich countries are providing, ONE added.



&#8220;There&#8217;s no kind of auditing or checking of what is reported,&#8221; David McNair, executive director of global policy, told Reuters. &#8220;There&#8217;s no kind of accountability.&#8221;



The ONE Campaign said Western nations reporting projects unrelated to climate &#8211; ranging from a coal power plant to coastal hotel projects &#8211; as climate finance further depleted from the promised funding.



Two groups &#8211; the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change &#8211; compiled the data based on what countries submit and how they classify the spending.



Neither group immediately responded to request for comment emailed on Wednesday evening.



While developed nations have pledged to send $100 billion a year toward helping developing countries cut emissions and adapt to climate change, there are no rules or official guidelines outlining what they can report to the United Nations as climate finance.



ONE&#8217;s analysis found that between 2013 and 2021, Nigeria received 75% less than promised &#8211; a $4.5 billion shortfall. Kenya also received $4.5 billion less than was promised, while Senegal&#8217;s shortfall totalled $2.8 billion.



ONE called for better disclosure rules, transparent and replicable methodologies and for valdiation of data.



&#8220;We need to address this issue so that countries actually have enough money to invest in clean energy and invest in resilience to change.&#8221; (Reporting by Libby George; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

FILE PHOTO: Bonn Climate Change Conference in Germany

Some $340 bln of pledged climate cash did not go where needed – ONE Campaign

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="548" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/XITIO74YJBM5XNTYYV6EQSSGSY-1-820x548.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-430986" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/XITIO74YJBM5XNTYYV6EQSSGSY-1-820x548.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/XITIO74YJBM5XNTYYV6EQSSGSY-1-300x201.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/XITIO74YJBM5XNTYYV6EQSSGSY-1-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/XITIO74YJBM5XNTYYV6EQSSGSY-1-768x514.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/XITIO74YJBM5XNTYYV6EQSSGSY-1-1536x1027.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/XITIO74YJBM5XNTYYV6EQSSGSY-1.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">South African bank notes featuring an image of former South African President Nelson Mandela are displayed at an office in Johannesburg, File. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko</figcaption></figure>



JOHANNESBURG, Nov 29 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;South Africa&#8217;s central bank has warned that systemic risk to the country&#8217;s financial stability has remained elevated, notably due to the government&#8217;s increasing debt levels and debt-servicing costs, as well as the impact of being put on a &#8220;grey list&#8221;.



The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) said in its biannual health check on Wednesday that the risk has remained elevated since the release of the May report.



Earlier this month, the finance minister&#8217;s mid-term budget showed debt peaking at a higher level than in February when the main budget was tabled, with gross debt expected to rise to 6.52 trillion rand ($352.40 billion) in 2026/27 from 5.24 trillion rand in 2023/24.



&#8220;As government debt has increased, so has the domestic financial sector&#8217;s exposure to it,&#8221; the SARB report said.



This is because foreign investor participation in the government bond market has declined steadily since 2018, with an acceleration following South Africa&#8217;s exclusion from the World Government Bond Index in April 2020.



&#8220;The increasing concentration of (government bonds) held by domestic investors, coupled with the high levels of government debt, presents a risk to the financial sector,&#8221; it added.



The country was also put on a &#8220;grey list&#8221; in February by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a&nbsp;global&nbsp;financial crime watchdog, to force it to implement standards to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing.



While the immediate impact is higher processing, monitoring and reporting costs, the long-term consequence will be the reduction of the country&#8217;s attractiveness as an investment destination, the report said.



Risks that have eased somewhat include that of secondary sanctions on South&nbsp;Africa if its neutrality stance on Russia and Ukraine is not clear and that of electricity supply constraints following a marked increase in new power generation projects, the report said.



&#8220;Concerns over further spillovers from the global banking stress in March 2023 also reduced notably,&#8221; it added, referring to the collapse of Switzerland&#8217;s Credit Suisse bank.



($1 = 18.5018 rand)



(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

XITIO74YJBM5XNTYYV6EQSSGSY-1

South Africa’s central bank says systemic risk to country’s financial stability remains elevated

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/L6UULG4GG5NIDGTBYMBIPOWQRY-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-425798" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/L6UULG4GG5NIDGTBYMBIPOWQRY-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/L6UULG4GG5NIDGTBYMBIPOWQRY-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/L6UULG4GG5NIDGTBYMBIPOWQRY-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/L6UULG4GG5NIDGTBYMBIPOWQRY-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/L6UULG4GG5NIDGTBYMBIPOWQRY-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/L6UULG4GG5NIDGTBYMBIPOWQRY-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Nigeria&#8217;s President Bola Tinubu looks on after his swearing-in ceremony in Abuja, Nigeria May 29, 2023. REUTERS/Temilade Adelaja/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



ABUJA, Nov 29 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Nigeria plans to narrow its budget deficit to roughly 3.9% of gross domestic product (GDP) next year from about 6.1% this year, President Bola Tinubu said on Wednesday, as he projected lower borrowing costs and higher revenues.



Tinubu has embarked on Nigeria&#8217;s boldest reforms in decades, removing a popular fuel subsidy in May and scrapping foreign exchange controls, which have pushed up inflation to its highest levels in nearly two decades.



His government is seeking to balance between cushioning the impact of the double-digit inflation and the removal of the fuel subsidy with keeping spending in check.



In his first budget speech to lawmakers, Tinubu projected higher oil production and tax collection would boost government revenues and his administration would borrow slightly less next year.



&#8220;Nigeria remains committed to meeting its debt obligations. Projected debt service is 45% of the expected total revenue,&#8221; Tinubu said while presenting his 27.5 trillion naira ($34.85 billion) expenditure plan for next year.



Spending priorities include security, infrastructure and measures to ease a cost-of-living crisis.



The president said the economy was expected to grow by at least 3.76% next year while inflation would moderate to 21.4%.



Analysts said the government&#8217;s revenue expectations looked ambitious and warned that there were downside risks to global prices of oil and production of crude, Nigeria&#8217;s biggest export.



The government would also need to keep its promise to do away with the petrol subsidy and allow the market to determine the exchange rate.



&#8220;They are going to have to increase the price of petrol and allow the exchange rate to move. If not, it may be difficult to achieve that deficit figure,&#8221; said Bismarck Rewane, managing director of Lagos-based Financial Derivatives Company.



Tinubu inherited an economy that is struggling with high debt levels, low revenue collections, widespread insecurity, including a long-running insurgency in the northeast and kidnappings for ransom in the northwest.



(Additional reporting by Camillus Eboh; Writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Alexander Winning and Bernadette Baum)

FILE PHOTO: Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu looks on after his swearing-in ceremony in Abuja

Nigeria plans to trim budget deficit to 3.9% of GDP next year

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="826" height="551" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Installation-shot-A-World-In-Common-at-Tate-Modern-2023-Tate-Lucy-Green.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-430929" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Installation-shot-A-World-In-Common-at-Tate-Modern-2023-Tate-Lucy-Green.jpg 826w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Installation-shot-A-World-In-Common-at-Tate-Modern-2023-Tate-Lucy-Green-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Installation-shot-A-World-In-Common-at-Tate-Modern-2023-Tate-Lucy-Green-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Installation-shot-A-World-In-Common-at-Tate-Modern-2023-Tate-Lucy-Green-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Installation-shot-A-World-In-Common-at-Tate-Modern-2023-Tate-Lucy-Green-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 826px) 100vw, 826px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Installation shot, A World In Common at Tate Modern 2023, Tate (Lucy Green)</figcaption></figure>



“It has to be a mark of something out there in the world,” the South Africa artist William Kentridge once remarked of the first line on a virgin canvas. Like a robust and long overdue visual interjection in the middle of a colonialized global creative economy, the African art market is now making an irresistible and indelible mark of its own. According to research firm ArtTactic, work by African artists exceeds a combined annual auction worth of $72 million (more than double its 2016 value).



“This surge in interest is a result of the convergence of different factors that have led to a thriving and dynamic African art scene, one that resonates with a global audience and challenges conventional notions,” says Elana Brundyn, Founding CEO of the Norval Foundation, and Founding Director of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town. “It’s a consistent and steadily growing interest and support for African and diasporic artists. It is not merely an art movement; it&#8217;s a cultural transformation that celebrates diversity, innovation, and identity, and a powerful force reshaping the way the world experiences all contemporary art.”



Brundyn says the exceptional body of work produced by these artists, “fearlessly delving into various aspects of identity, societal issues, and the dynamic essence of contemporary culture,” is now supported by a resilient infrastructure of African institutions and exhibition spaces, giving creators a reliable domestic platform from which to attract and expand international interest. “These institutions empower Africans to shape the narrative of Africa’s identity,” she says. “Artists are proud to exhibit their work on local soil.”



Global curiosity has also evolved into what Brundyn calls a “flourishing landscape” of art fairs dedicated to African art: 1-54 (London, New York and Marrakech), the Also Known As Africa exhibition (Paris), and the Investec Cape Town Art Fair feed a thriving network of secondary art markets, such as Sotheby’s Modern &amp; Contemporary African Art Auction.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="612" height="408" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/gettyimages-1514558940-612x612-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-430901" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/gettyimages-1514558940-612x612-1.jpg 612w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/gettyimages-1514558940-612x612-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/gettyimages-1514558940-612x612-1-135x90.jpg 135w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 612px) 100vw, 612px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A vistor at an exhibition focusing on contemprorary African visual artists, including photography, video and audio works at Tate Modern London. (Photo by Judith Burrows/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



This demand is stimulated at ground level by viral excitement generated by social media, to the point where the traditional hierarchy of commodification is starting to dissolve. Awareness now drives audience appetite, rather than just accessibility. Africa-born artists are consistently featured or their works permanently exhibited in some of the world’s most influential galleries: one third of the 62 international exhibitors at this year’s 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair at Somerset House in London were from the African continent. The White Cube gallery houses a collection by South African figurative painter Cinga Samson; the work of Nigerian photo-tapestry powerhouse Njideka Akunyili Crosby can be enjoyed in many of the most important galleries on both sides of the Atlantic, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Tate Modern in London.



Osei Bonsu, a curator at the Tate Modern and author of African Art Now: Fifty Pioneers Defining African Art for the Twenty-First Century,says his museum has embraced the demand for greater equitability and inclusivity. “Tate Modern is uniquely positioned in a growing landscape of institutions seeking to highlight art from Africa and its global diaspora,” he says. “The Africa Acquisitions Committee was founded in 2011 specifically to broaden the representation of such artists. The recent success of exhibitions such as El Anatsui’s Turbine Hall commission, and A World in Common: Contemporary African Photography, suggests that public interest is growing, as museums are seeking to address a broader and more inclusive vision of art history and contemporary culture.”



He points out that these are positive first steps; the global art market is worth close to $68 billion, dwarfing an African component with a long journey ahead before it reaches numbers that more equitably voice the ideas and creativity of a fifth of the world’s population. “We still need to see more sustained representation of African art through dedicated publications and monographic exhibitions,” he says. “But I’m hopeful museums like Tate will continue to play a leading role in connecting African art with local and international audiences.”



Dr Tenley Bick, Assistant Professor of Global Modern and Contemporary Art at Florida State University, says that global audience interest in these artworks is fuelled by a deep desire for recognition and discussion of the socio-political issues that inspire their creation.



“Those attuned to African arts and the global art world may have noticed two events in recent weeks: Art X, the fair of contemporary African art in Lagos, and Africa &amp; Byzantium at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, an exhibition that also includes works by contemporary African artists,” Bick says. “Major museums, commercial galleries, and biennials in the US and Europe – where the ‘global’ art market is often dictated – are reckoning with systemic racism, resulting in changes in programming, acquisitions, and rosters, often with increased attention to the arts of Africa and its diasporas.”



She notes that these incremental but significant gains are the result of the cultural work invested over several decades. “They are long-fought and hard-won – by artist-activists like the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition in the US of the 1970s and the British Black Arts movement in the 1980s. And by important curators from the continent such as Salah Hassan (editor of the Nka Journal of Contemporary African Art), Smithsonian Institute senior fellow Olu Oguibe, and the late art critics and curators Okwui Enwezor and Bisi Silva.”



Brundyn believes that a buoyant global network, and an overlap of interest, demand and education, are creating a burgeoning market with the tenacity to outlast its relative novelty.



“The growing diversification of collections is increasingly evident as more individuals and institutions incorporate African artworks alongside other genres,” she says. “Academic and research institutions are dedicating more resources to studying and documenting art from Africa. This has led to a deeper understanding of the cultural, historical, and artistic significance of these artworks, and a renaissance that has facilitated greater cultural exchange between Africa and the rest of the world.”

gettyimages-851475350-612×612

The African Art Renaissance: Surge In Interest And Impact On Global Market

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="501" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/LSSIDQPHZ5O3DAPY2A2HE3A7OE-820x501.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-430894" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/LSSIDQPHZ5O3DAPY2A2HE3A7OE-820x501.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/LSSIDQPHZ5O3DAPY2A2HE3A7OE-300x183.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/LSSIDQPHZ5O3DAPY2A2HE3A7OE-147x90.jpg 147w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/LSSIDQPHZ5O3DAPY2A2HE3A7OE-768x469.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/LSSIDQPHZ5O3DAPY2A2HE3A7OE-1536x938.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/LSSIDQPHZ5O3DAPY2A2HE3A7OE-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Clouds pass over the pit head at Sibanye Gold&#8217;s Masimthembe shaft in Westonaria, South Africa, file. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings</figcaption></figure>



Nov 29 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Diversified miner Sibanye Stillwater&nbsp;SSWJ.J&nbsp;said on Wednesday it would cut 287 jobs at its U.S platinum group metals (PGM) operations to reduce costs as metal prices decline, adding the move would not significantly affect production.



The price of PGMs, mostly used by automakers to curb emissions, have declined significantly over the past year amid concerns over global economic growth. The palladium price has plunged nearly 40% so far this year, particularly hit by weak demand in China, while primary metal platinum is down 14%.



The Johannesburg-based miner last year announced the restructuring of its palladium-dominated U.S operations in anticipation of a fall in palladium prices and because of the impact of inflation on costs.



The restructuring is expected to affect approximately 100 Sibanye-Stillwater employees and 187 contractors, Sibanye said in a statement.



&#8220;We have taken decisive action to address costs at the U.S PGM operations, to ensure the sustainability of these long-life operations during a challenging period of lower than anticipated PGM prices,&#8221; Sibanye CEO Neal Froneman said in the statement.



The restructuring is not expected to significantly impact current mine production or recycling operations, but will result in significantly lower costs and capital, the company said.



Last month, Sibanye announced plans to restructure its South African PGM operations, targeting four loss-making shafts in a move that could potentially result in the loss of 4,095 jobs.



Sibanye&#8217;s rival Impala PlatinumIMPJ.J has also started offering voluntary job cuts to workers in South Africa in a bid to cut costs amid the PGM price rout.



(Reporting by Nelson Banya; Editing by Mark Potter)

Clouds pass over the pit head at Sibanye Gold’s Masimthembe shaft in Westonaria

Sibanye to cut nearly 300 jobs at US ops after palladium price fall

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="462" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/107338543-1700826590772-gettyimages-1808236454-dji_20231122104648_0051_d_odwns4n3-820x462.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-430869" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/107338543-1700826590772-gettyimages-1808236454-dji_20231122104648_0051_d_odwns4n3-820x462.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/107338543-1700826590772-gettyimages-1808236454-dji_20231122104648_0051_d_odwns4n3-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/107338543-1700826590772-gettyimages-1808236454-dji_20231122104648_0051_d_odwns4n3-160x90.jpeg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/107338543-1700826590772-gettyimages-1808236454-dji_20231122104648_0051_d_odwns4n3-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/107338543-1700826590772-gettyimages-1808236454-dji_20231122104648_0051_d_odwns4n3.jpeg 929w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">In this aerial view water vapour and exhaust rise from the steel mill of Salzgitter AG, one Europe’s largest steel producers, on November 22, 2023 in Salzgitter, Germany. Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Policymakers and business leaders from across the globe are set to arrive in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates for the world’s biggest and most important annual climate conference.



The COP28 summit, which starts on Thursday and is scheduled to run through to Dec. 12, will provide a critical forum for government officials, business leaders and campaign groups to accelerate action to tackle the climate crisis.



The pressure to deliver is immense. Global temperatures and greenhouse gas emissions continue to break records, with no continent left untouched by more frequent and intense extreme weather events.



Here’s a look at what’s at stake at COP28.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-money"><a></a>Money</h2>



Climate finance is always a hotly debated talking point at the U.N. summit and COP28 promises to be no different. It refers to the financing needed to support efforts to both significantly reduce emissions and adjust to the effects of climate change.



Talks in Bonn, Germany earlier in the year became gridlocked over this issue of finance and support, with some low-income countries refusing to talk about slashing emissions unless there was an equal focus on how wealthy nations would provide cash to them.



It laid the groundwork for what one environmental group expects to be a “huge fight” between high-income and low-income nations at COP28.



Data published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in mid-November, however, showed that rich countries had finally fulfilled their promise to provide $100 billion a year to low-income countries — albeit two years after the deadline. It is hoped that this could go some way to fostering goodwill at the summit.



“COP28 has a massive role to play in setting the political direction for a transformational shift in climate ambition. But without finance and economic confidence, countries won’t be able to act at the pace and scale needed,” said Alex Scott, program lead at E3G, an independent climate think tank.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>Loss and damage</h2>



Another major financial issue will be to operationalize the so-called “loss and damage” fund, arguably the main legacy of last year’s COP27 summit in Egypt.



Rich countries, despite accounting for the bulk of historical greenhouse gas emissions, have long opposed the creation of a fund to compensate low-income countries for the loss and damage they’ve caused.



Advocates argue, however, that it is required to account for climate impacts — including hurricanes, floods and wildfires or slow-onset impacts such as rising sea levels — that countries cannot defend against because the risks are unavoidable, or the countries cannot afford it.



The establishment of the loss and damage fund at COP27 was seen as a historic breakthrough and potential turning point in the climate crisis, although many key details were left unresolved — such as who should pay into the fund, how large should it be and who should administer the money.



Countries reached a consensus on how to approach loss and damage payments during tense discissions that ran into overtime earlier this month. Yet it remains to be seen whether this fragile agreement can hold for countries to successfully operationalize the fund in the UAE.



“Billions of people, lives and livelihoods who are vulnerable to the effects of climate change depend upon the adoption of this recommended approach at COP28,” Sultan al-Jaber, president-designate of COP28, said in a statement on Nov. 5.



Al-Jaber was seen as a controversial choice to lead COP28 discussions in Dubai given that he also works as the head of the state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.



Climate activists criticized his appointment saying his position as an oil executive reflects a clear conflict of interest — akin to “putting the fox in charge of the henhouse.” His office has said he will play a pivotal role in the intergovernmental discussions to build consensus at the event.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>Fossil fuels</h2>



Melanie Robinson, global climate program director at the World Resources Institute, said COP28 will be the biggest accountability moment for climate action in history — and fossil fuels will be at the heart of the talks.



She anticipated three main debates around the use of oil, gas and coal — the burning of which is the chief driver of the climate crisis.



“So, one is this ‘phase out’ or ‘phase down’ [of fossil fuels]. Actually, for us at WRI, since neither of those has got a timeline, the most important thing for us is that whatever language they agree to, it needs to send a really strong signal that the world is rapidly shifting away from fossil fuels and it will do so equitably,” Robinson told CNBC via telephone.



“The second, but perhaps slightly linked, issue is whether it is ‘abated’ or ‘unabated.’ There’s a whole debate about the role of carbon capture technology abating emissions and there are certainly some oil companies and producer countries who would try to have us believe that with CCS [carbon capture and storage] we can continue to burn fossil fuels and still achieve our climate goals,” she continued.



“We think the science suggests that is simply not true. There is no credible scenario where CCS will allow continued use of fossil fuels, let alone expanding oil and gas. So, for us, it is important that COP28 acknowledges the limited role CCS will play.”



Abated fossil fuels refer to the process in which emissions are captured and stored with carbon capture and storage technologies. The definition of unabated fossil fuels lacks clarity, despite the term cropping up in several climate commitments, but it is said to refer to fossil fuels produced and used without interventions to substantially reduce the amount of emitted greenhouse gases.



Robinson said the third talking point on fossil fuels was that there is a risk Dubai “could become a platform celebrating pledges from the oil and gas industry that fail to curb the emissions of their products.”



She warned that any net zero pledge from the oil and gas industry that doesn’t involve so-called Scope 3 emissions would not be significant. Scope 3 emissions refer to the emissions produced from across a company’s entire value chain, and often account for the lion’s share of a firm’s carbon footprint.



“For us, it’s a bit like a cigarette company saying that whatever happens to cigarettes after they leave the factory gate has got nothing to do with them. So, that I think we have to watch,” Robinson said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>A course correction?</h2>



One unique component of the Dubai climate talks is the conclusion of the first global stocktake since the landmark Paris Agreement — the 2015 accord that aims to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.



The world has already warmed by around 1.1 degrees Celsius, scientists say, after over a century of burning fossil fuels as well as unequal and unsustainable energy and land use. Indeed, it is this temperature increase that is fueling a series of extreme weather events around the world.



The stocktake is the main tool through which progress under the Paris Agreement is assessed. According to the U.N. global stocktake synthesis report released in early September, only transformational change will be enough to get the world back on track to meeting its climate goals.

107338543-1700826590772-gettyimages-1808236454-dji_20231122104648_0051_d_odwns4n3

A showdown is brewing over money, oil and carbon. Here’s what’s at stake at the COP28 climate summit

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1124907100-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-430859" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1124907100-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1124907100-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1124907100-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1124907100-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1124907100-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1124907100-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., speaks during the Daily Journal Corp. shareholder meeting in Los Angeles, California, U.S., on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Munger discussed investing, banks, China, and health care at the meeting. Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Billionaire Charlie Munger, the investing sage who made a fortune even before he became Warren Buffett’s right-hand man at Berkshire Hathaway, has died at age 99.



Munger died Tuesday, according to a press release from Berkshire Hathaway. The conglomerate said it was advised by members of Munger’s family that he peacefully died this morning at a California hospital. He would have turned 100 on New Year’s Day.



“Berkshire Hathaway could not have been built to its present status without Charlie’s inspiration, wisdom and participation,” Buffett said in a statement.



In addition to being Berkshire vice chairman, Munger was a real estate attorney, chairman and publisher of the Daily Journal Corp., a member of the Costco board, a philanthropist and an architect.



In early 2023, his fortune was estimated at $2.3 billion — a jaw-dropping amount for many people but vastly smaller than Buffett’s unfathomable fortune, which is estimated at more than $100 billion.



During Berkshire’s 2021 annual shareholder meeting, the then-97-year-old Munger apparently inadvertently revealed a well-guarded secret: that Vice Chairman Greg Abel “will keep the culture” after the Buffett era.



Munger, who wore thick glasses, had lost his left eye after complications from cataract surgery in 1980.



Munger was chairman and CEO of Wesco Financial from 1984 to 2011, when Buffett’s Berkshire purchased the remaining shares of the Pasadena, California-based insurance and investment company it did not own.



Buffett credited Munger with broadening his investment strategy from favoring troubled companies at low prices in hopes of getting a profit to focusing on higher-quality but underpriced companies.



An early example of the shift was illustrated in 1972 by Munger’s ability to persuade Buffett to sign off on Berkshire’s purchase of See’s Candies for $25 million even though the California candy maker had annual pretax earnings of only about $4 million. It has since produced more than $2 billion in sales for Berkshire<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/learn-buffetts-sees-candies-deal-173114333.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">.</a>



“He weaned me away from the idea of buying very so-so companies at very cheap prices, knowing that there was some small profit in it, and looking for some really wonderful businesses that we could buy in fair prices,” Buffett told CNBC in May 2016.



Or as Munger put it at the 1998 Berkshire shareholder meeting: “It’s not that much fun to buy a business where you really hope this sucker liquidates before it goes broke.”



Munger was often the straight man to Buffett’s jovial commentaries. “I have nothing to add,” he would say after one of Buffett’s loquacious responses to questions at Berkshire annual meetings in Omaha, Nebraska. But like his friend and colleague, Munger was a font of wisdom in investing, and in life. And like one of his heroes, Benjamin Franklin, Munger’s insight didn’t lack humor.



“I have a friend who says the first rule of fishing is to fish where the fish are. The second rule of fishing is to never forget the first rule. We’ve gotten good at fishing where the fish are,” the then-93-year-old Munger told the thousands of people at Berkshire’s 2017 meeting.



He believed in what he called the “lollapalooza effect,” in which a confluence of factors merged to drive investment psychology.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-son-of-the-heartland"><a></a>A son of the heartland</h2>



Charles Thomas Munger was born in Omaha on Jan. 1, 1924. His father, Alfred, was a lawyer, and his mother, Florence “Toody,”<a href="https://www.economist.com/media/globalexecutive/damn_right_e_02.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> </a>was from an affluent family. Like Warren, Munger worked at Buffett’s grandfather’s grocery store as a youth, but the two future joined-at-the-hip partners didn’t meet until years later.



At 17, Munger left Omaha for the University of Michigan. Two years later, in 1943, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps, according to Janet Lowe’s 2003 biography “Damn Right!”



The military sent him to the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena to study meteorology. In California, he fell in love with his sister’s roommate at Scripps College, Nancy Huggins, and married her in 1945. Although he never completed his undergraduate degree, Munger graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1948, and the couple moved back to California, where he practiced real estate law. He founded the law firm Munger, Tolles &amp; Olson in 1962 and focused on managing investments at the hedge fund Wheeler, Munger &amp; Co., which he also founded that year.



“I’m proud of being an Omaha boy,” Munger said in a 2017 interview with Dean Scott Derue of the Michigan Ross Business School. “I sometimes use the old saying, ‘They got the boy out of Omaha but they never got Omaha out of the boy.’ All those old-fashioned values — family comes first; be in a position so that you can help others when troubles come; prudent, sensible; moral duty to be reasonable [is] more important than anything else — more important than being rich, more important than being important — an absolute moral duty.”



In California, he partnered with Franklin Otis Booth, a member of the founding family of the Los Angeles Times, in real estate. One of their early developments turned out to be a lucrative condo project on Booth’s grandfather’s property in Pasadena. (Booth, who died in 2008, had been introduced to Buffett by Munger in 1963 and became one of Berkshire’s largest investors.)



“I had five real estate projects,” Munger told Derue. “I did both side by side for a few years, and in a very few years, I had $3 million — $4 million.”



Munger closed the hedge fund in 1975. Three years later, he became vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-we-think-so-much-alike-that-it-s-spooky"><a></a>‘We think so much alike that it’s spooky’</h2>



In 1959, at age 35, Munger returned to Omaha to close his late father’s legal practice. That’s when he was introduced to the then-29-year-old Buffett by one of Buffett’s investor clients. The two hit it off and stayed in contact despite living half a continent away from each other.



“We think so much alike that it’s spooky,” Buffett recalled in an interview with the Omaha World-Herald in 1977. “He’s as smart and as high-grade a guy as I’ve ever run into.”



“We never had an argument in the entire time we’ve known each other, which is almost 60 years now,” Buffett told CNBC’s Becky Quick in 2018. “Charlie has given me the ultimate gift that a person can give to somebody else. He’s made me a better person than I would have otherwise been. &#8230; He’s given me a lot of good advice over time. &#8230; I’ve lived a better life because of Charlie.”



The melding of the minds focused on value investing, in which stocks are picked because their price appears to be undervalued based on the company’s long-term fundamentals.



“All intelligent investing is value investing — acquiring more than you are paying for,” Munger once said. “You must value the business in order to value the stock.”



But during the coronavirus outbreak in early 2020, when Berkshire suffered a massive $50 billion loss in the first quarter, Munger and Buffett were more conservative than they were during the Great Recession, when they invested in U.S. airlines and financials like Bank of America and Goldman Sachs hit hard by that downturn.



“Well, I would say basically we’re like the captain of a ship when the worst typhoon that’s ever happened comes,” Munger told The Wall Street Journal in April 2020. “We just want to get through the typhoon, and we’d rather come out of it with a whole lot of liquidity. We’re not playing, ‘Oh goody, goody, everything’s going to hell, let’s plunge 100% of the reserves’ [into buying businesses].” 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>The philanthropist/architect</h2>



Munger donated hundreds of millions of dollars to educational institutions, including the University of Michigan, Stanford University and Harvard Law School, often with the stipulation that the school accept his building designs, even though he was not formally trained as an architect.



At Los Angeles’ Harvard-Westlake prep school, where Munger had been a board member for decades, he ensured that the girls bathrooms were larger than the boys room during the construction of the science center in the 1990s.



“Any time you go to a football game or a function there’s a huge line outside the women’s bathroom. Who doesn’t know that they pee in a different way than the men?” Munger told The Wall Street Journal in 2019. “What kind of idiot would make the men’s bathroom and the women’s bathroom the same size? The answer is, a normal architect!”



Munger and his wife had three children, daughters Wendy and Molly, and son Teddy, who died of leukemia at age 9. The Mungers divorced in 1953.



Two years later, he married Nancy Barry, whom he met on a blind date at a chicken dinner restaurant. The couple had four children, Charles Jr., Emilie, Barry and Philip. He also was the stepfather to her two other sons, William Harold Borthwick and David Borthwick. The Mungers, who were married 54 years until her death in 2010, contributed $43.5 million to Stanford University to help build the Munger Graduate Residence, which houses 600 law and graduate students.



Asked by CNBC’s Quick in a February 2019 “Squawk Box” interview about the secret to a long and happy life, Munger said the answer “is easy, because it’s so simple.”



“You don’t have a lot of envy, you don’t have a lot of resentment, you don’t overspend your income, you stay cheerful in spite of your troubles. You deal with reliable people and you do what you’re supposed to do. And all these simple rules work so well to make your life better. And they’re so trite,” he said.



“And staying cheerful &#8230; because it’s a wise thing to do. Is that so hard? And can you be cheerful when you’re absolutely mired in deep hatred and resentment? Of course you can’t. So why would you take it on?”



— CNBC’s Yun Li contributed reporting.

Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charles Munger Speaks At Daily Journal’s Annual Meeting

Charlie Munger, investing genius and Warren Buffett’s right-hand man, dies at age 99

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/LYW554QLQNJ4RACN24N6DUUM3E-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-430732" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/LYW554QLQNJ4RACN24N6DUUM3E-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/LYW554QLQNJ4RACN24N6DUUM3E-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/LYW554QLQNJ4RACN24N6DUUM3E-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/LYW554QLQNJ4RACN24N6DUUM3E-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/LYW554QLQNJ4RACN24N6DUUM3E-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/LYW554QLQNJ4RACN24N6DUUM3E-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A general view of Shaft 11 at Impala Platinum Mine, in Rustenburg, South Africa, November 28, 2023. REUTERS/Sumaya Hisham</figcaption></figure>



JOHANNESBURG, Nov 28 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Impala Platinum&nbsp;IMPJ.J&nbsp;on Tuesday temporarily halted operations at its Rustenburg mining complex in South Africa after 11 workers died and 75 were injured in what the CEO said was &#8220;the darkest day&#8221; in the company&#8217;s history.



The Johannesburg-based platinum miner said in a statement that 86 workers were involved in the incident at its No. 11 shaft. All the injured had been admitted to four hospitals in the area. The company spokesperson said medical physicians classified 14 workers in the hospital as&nbsp;&#8220;high priority&#8221;.



&#8220;Today is the darkest day in the history of Impala and our hearts are heavy for the lives lost and the individuals affected by this devastating incident,&#8221; CEO Nico Muller said in a statement.



Impala said workers were being brought to the surface at the end of their shift on Monday, when the conveyance system, which carries workers up and down an underground shaft 1,000 meters (3,280.84 ft) deep, started a rapid descent.



All mining operations at the Rustenburg complex in South Africa&#8217;s North West province were suspended on Tuesday. The halt could be extended to Wednesday to allow the company to &#8220;mourn and heal emotionally&#8221;, Johan Theron, Impala&#8217;s spokesperson said.



He also said investigations into the cause of the accident had begun.



Impala&#8217;s shares in Johannesburg declined 6.74% at 0847 GMT.



South Africa has some of the world&#8217;s deepest, oldest and most costly platinum and gold mining shafts.



The deaths at Rustenberg add to the 41 fatalities that had been recorded in South Africa&#8217;s mining industry this year so far. Last year, 49 workers died in South Africa&#8217;s mines, which was the lowest number of fatalities to date, Minerals Council South Africa, the industry lobby group, said.



Spokesman Theron said he could not be precise about the impact of the stoppage on Impala&#8217;s metals output.



&#8220;It&#8217;s impossible to quantify the impact on production save to say (the) shaft on its own is a very large complex and contributes roughly 15% of Impala Rustenburg&#8217;s production,&#8221; Theron said.



&#8220;To the extent that it&#8217;s stopped for any length of time, it will have a corresponding impact on the entire company.&#8221;



(Reporting by Felix Njini and Nelson Banya; Editing by Kim Coghill, Jamie Freed, Louise Heavens and Barbara Lewis)

A general view of Shaft 11 at Impala Platinum Mine, in Rustenburg

Impala Platinum halts some South African mines after 11 workers died

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="720" height="405" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/107332768-1699881235282-gettyimages-1775227723-SHEIN_IPO.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-430663" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/107332768-1699881235282-gettyimages-1775227723-SHEIN_IPO.jpeg 720w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/107332768-1699881235282-gettyimages-1775227723-SHEIN_IPO-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/107332768-1699881235282-gettyimages-1775227723-SHEIN_IPO-160x90.jpeg 160w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A Shein pop-up store inside a Forever 21 store in Times Square in New York on Nov. 10, 2023. Yuki Iwamura | Bloomberg | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Shein has confidentially filed to go public in the U.S. as the Chinese-founded fast-fashion juggernaut looks to expand its global reach with a long-rumored initial public offering, CNBC has learned.&nbsp;



The retailer was last valued at $66 billion and could be ready to start trading on the public markets as soon as 2024, people familiar with the matter said Monday.&nbsp;



It is unclear how much the company is currently worth, but its valuation has been a central point of debate among Shein and the advisors it’s working with, people familiar with the matter said.&nbsp;



A confidential filing is common, as it allows companies to communicate with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and make any necessary adjustments to their filings in private. Over the next few months, Shein will likely make tweaks to its paperwork and answer numerous questions from the agency. The filing will be made public once the company is ready to move forward with its IPO. At that point, those communications with the SEC and any adjustments to its paperwork will be released as well.



Shein has been on a meteoric rise over the past few years after it won over consumers across the globe with its fashion-forward designs, endless assortment and dirt-cheap prices. But Shein has faced a series of challenges along the way and faced accusations of using forced labor in its supply chain, violating labor laws, harming the environment and stealing designs from independent artists.



The company is currently under investigation by the newly formed House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and has faced scrutiny over its ties to Beijing. Numerous lawmakers, including 16 Republican attorneys general, have called on the SEC to ensure Shein isn’t using forced labor in its supply chain before it’s allowed to start trading in the U.S.



In October, Marcelo Claure, the company’s newly minted group vice chair and former SoftBank CEO, told CNBC in an interview that Shein is cooperating with lawmakers and taking time to meet with them to explain the business. He said, “there’s no such thing as forced labor” in the Shein factories that he has visited. But the company has repeatedly acknowledged that forced labor has been found in its supply chain and noted that it’s taking steps to fix it.



As Shein grew from an obscure Chinese retailer into a global behemoth with headquarters in Singapore, it largely stayed in the shadows. It said and did very little publicly until this year, when it began to open up in an apparent attempt to prepare for a U.S. IPO.



With Chinese CEO Sky Xu still at the helm, Shein tapped former Bear Stearns investment banker Donald Tang to be its executive chair and public face earlier this year.&nbsp;It has hosted a series of well-publicized pop-up events, sent influencers to its Chinese factories in a poorly received public relations campaign and courted the business press with splashy parties that featured its independent designers and other friends of the company.



Shein has worked hard to beat the many negative accusations that have come to define the company and has made its executives available for interviews as it worked to change the narrative.



Recently, it acquired about one-third of Sparc Group — a joint venture that includes brand management firm Authentic Brands Group and mall owner Simon Property Group — and in doing so, made a powerful U.S. ally that could help legitimize the company in the eyes of U.S. regulators.



As part of the deal, Shein has partnered up with former rival Forever 21 to unveil a co-branded clothing line that will see Shein design, manufacture and distribute the clothes primarily on its website. Shein has been hosting pop-up events inside of Forever 21′s stores.



Shein still has more work to do before it can win the trust of U.S. regulators. Beyond its myriad of issues, its CEO remains a mysterious figure who doesn’t give interviews or speak publicly about the company. The practice is a major departure from other firms that are publicly traded in the U.S., which regularly make their CEOs available. In October, the company did not tell CNBC whether Xu is still a Chinese citizen.



The company has tapped Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley to be the lead underwriters on the offering, the people said. 



Shein declined to comment. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley did not comment.



Earlier Monday, Chinese media reported on Shein’s filing.

107332768-1699881235282-gettyimages-1775227723-SHEIN_IPO

Shein files for U.S. IPO as fast-fashion giant looks to expand its global reach

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Kenya-President-reshuffles-cabinet-swaps-foreign-affairs-minister-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-427955" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Kenya-President-reshuffles-cabinet-swaps-foreign-affairs-minister-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Kenya-President-reshuffles-cabinet-swaps-foreign-affairs-minister-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Kenya-President-reshuffles-cabinet-swaps-foreign-affairs-minister-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Kenya-President-reshuffles-cabinet-swaps-foreign-affairs-minister-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Kenya-President-reshuffles-cabinet-swaps-foreign-affairs-minister-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Kenya-President-reshuffles-cabinet-swaps-foreign-affairs-minister-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Kenya&#8217;s President William Ruto attends the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit at United Nations headquarters in New York City, New York, U.S., September 18, 2023. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



NAIROBI, Nov 27 (Reuters) &#8211; Kenya will start its privatisation drive by offering stakes in 11 companies including the state oil pipeline, the finance ministry said on Monday.



The 11 firms are among more than 35 companies that are slated for sale to partially help the government raise revenue in the face of growing debt repayments.



Apart from the Kenya Pipeline Company, which is wholly owned by the government, investors can buy stakes in one of the main convention centres in Nairobi, a text book publisher, agri-business firms and industrial companies, the ministry said.



The pipeline firm, which is profitable, has a monopoly on the transport of gas and white oil products, the ministry said in a notice, which also invited the public to share its comments on the plan by Dec. 11, as required by the constitution.



&#8220;Privatisation and restructuring is geared towards the government&#8217;s efforts for fiscal consolidation and spurring economic development,&#8221; the ministry added.



The East African nation last privatised a state-owned company in 2008 with an initial public offering of a 25% stake in telecommunications firm Safaricom.



The government revised the law governing the sale of state companies last month to the eliminate bureaucracy that had made the process grind to a halt, the president said last week. (Reporting by Duncan Miriri Editing by Miral Fahmy)

FILE PHOTO: Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit at United Nations headquarters in New York

Kenya to begin privatisation drive, offers stakes in 11 companies

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="541" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Mozambique-fine-tunes-new-80-bln-energy-transition-blueprint-820x541.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-430432" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Mozambique-fine-tunes-new-80-bln-energy-transition-blueprint-820x541.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Mozambique-fine-tunes-new-80-bln-energy-transition-blueprint-300x198.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Mozambique-fine-tunes-new-80-bln-energy-transition-blueprint-136x90.jpg 136w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Mozambique-fine-tunes-new-80-bln-energy-transition-blueprint-768x507.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Mozambique-fine-tunes-new-80-bln-energy-transition-blueprint-1536x1014.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Mozambique-fine-tunes-new-80-bln-energy-transition-blueprint-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Mozambique&#8217;s President Filipe Nyusi attends a signing ceremony following the talks with Russia&#8217;s President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia August 22, 2019. Sputnik/Alexey Nikolsky/Kremlin via REUTERS</figcaption></figure>



CAPE TOWN, Nov 27 (Reuters) &#8211; Mozambique has approved an ambitious new energy transition plan until 2050, hoping to attract investments of some $80 billion to boost renewable energy capacity and increase electricity availability, a senior energy official said on Monday.



Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi is expected to officially present the energy strategy to international partners and potential donors on Dec. 2 during the COP 28 climate summit in Dubai.



Priority plans between next year and 2030 include adding 2,000 megawatts of new hydropower capacity by upgrading existing plants and completing the new Mphanda Nkuwa hydro project, expanding the national electricity grid and switching to electric vehicles to reduce emissions from the transport sector.



&#8220;We are still fine tuning the document and hope to publicly release it later this week,&#8221; Pedro Simao, special advisor to the minister of energy, told Reuters on Monday.



The document was approved by Mozambique&#8217;s Council of Ministers on Nov. 21.



The southern African country exported its first liquefied natural gas in November, 2022 and is hoping huge gas discoveries, together with its renewable energy potential, will propel economic growth and help lift millions out of poverty. (Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Sharon Singleton)

FILE PHOTO: Mozambique’s President Nyusi attends a signing ceremony in Moscow

Mozambique fine tunes new $80 bln energy transition blueprint

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="526" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Sierra-Leone-president-says-calm-restored-most-leaders-of-barracks-attack-detained-820x526.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-430401" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Sierra-Leone-president-says-calm-restored-most-leaders-of-barracks-attack-detained-820x526.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Sierra-Leone-president-says-calm-restored-most-leaders-of-barracks-attack-detained-300x192.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Sierra-Leone-president-says-calm-restored-most-leaders-of-barracks-attack-detained-140x90.jpg 140w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Sierra-Leone-president-says-calm-restored-most-leaders-of-barracks-attack-detained-768x492.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Sierra-Leone-president-says-calm-restored-most-leaders-of-barracks-attack-detained-1536x985.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Sierra-Leone-president-says-calm-restored-most-leaders-of-barracks-attack-detained-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Sierra Leone&#8217;s President and ruling party candidate Julius Maada Bio speaks to journalists after casting his vote for national elections at a polling station in Freetown, Sierra Leone, June 24, 2023. REUTERS/Cooper Inveen/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



FREETOWN, Nov 26 (Reuters) &#8211; Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio said most of the leaders of an attack on a military barracks in the capital Freetown earlier on Sunday had been arrested, adding that security operations and an investigation were ongoing.



&#8220;We will ensure that those responsible are held accountable,&#8221; Bio said on national television.



&#8220;As your commander-in-chief, I want to assure everybody who is resident in Sierra Leone that we have overcome this challenge,&#8221; he said, and calm had been restored.



Earlier, the government said security forces had repelled &#8220;renegade soldiers&#8221; who attempted to break into a military armoury in Freetown during the early hours of Sunday.



A nationwide curfew was imposed. Gunfire was heard across the city as the assailants attacked a prison and a police station.



It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties in the barracks attack or during the gunfire in Freetown on Sunday.



The country&#8217;s former president Ernest Bai Koroma, said in a statement that a military guard assigned to his residence in the capital was shot point blank, while another was &#8220;whisked away to an unknown location&#8221;.



Koroma did not say who shot the guard. He condemned the killing and the attack on the barracks.



&#8220;I am deeply concerned that once again our beloved nation could be subject to such insecurity,&#8221; he said.



The West African country&#8217;s civil aviation authority urged airlines to reschedule flights after the curfew was declared, while a soldier on its frontier with neighbouring Guinea told Reuters they had been instructed to shut the border.



A Reuters journalist, who earlier witnessed an armed group of men commandeer a police vehicle near the Wilberforce barracks, said streets were mostly empty on Sunday as residents hunkered down.



&#8220;We&#8217;ll clean this society. We know what we are up to. We are not after any ordinary civilians who should go about their normal business,&#8221; one of the masked men, who was dressed in military fatigues, said before driving away.



Sierra Leone has been tense since Bio was re-elected in June, a result rejected by the main opposition candidate and questioned by international partners including the United States and the European Union.



In August 2022, at least 21 civilians and six police officers were killed in anti-government protests in Sierra Leone, which is still recovering from a 1991-2002 civil war in which more than 50,000 were killed. Bio said the protests were an attempt to overthrow the government.



In his address to the nation on Sunday night, Bio called on Sierra Leone&#8217;s political and traditional leaders, and civil society to work to preserve peace.



&#8220;Let us not succumb to fear or division,&#8221; he said.



Information minister Chernor Bah said earlier on Sunday that security forces were making progress in apprehending those involved in the attack, but gave no further details.



A video on social media showed three men, two in fatigues and one in civilian clothes, with their arms tied behind their backs sitting in a military truck surrounded by soldiers. Reuters has not authenticated the video.



Bah said that major detention centres including the Pademba Road prisons were attacked and inmates released by the unidentified assailants.



It was not immediately clear how many prisoners had broken out of the facility, which a U.S. State Department report said was designed for 324 inmates but held more than 2,000 in 2019.



Videos posted on social media, which were not authenticated by Reuters, showed several people fleeing from the area of the prison, while gunshots could be heard in the background.



&#8220;The security forces were forced to make a tactical retreat. The prisons were thus overran,&#8221; said Bah, who had earlier declared a nationwide curfew and called for people to stay indoors.



The Economic Community of West African States condemned what it called an attempt by certain individuals to &#8220;acquire arms and disturb constitutional order&#8221; in Sierra Leone. The U.S. embassy in Freetown said such actions were not justified.



There have been eight military coups in West and Central Africa since 2020. (Reporting by Umaru Fofana; Writing by Bate Felix; Editing by Alexandra Zavis, David Goodman, Jan Harvey, Alexander Smith, Louise Heavens and Giles Elgood).

FILE PHOTO: Sierra Leone’s President and ruling party candidate Julius Maada Bio speaks after casting his vote at the 2023 Sierra Leone general election

Sierra Leone president says calm restored, most leaders of barracks attack detained

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMF-World-Bank-to-proceed-with-annual-meetings-in-Morocco-in-October-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-427563" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMF-World-Bank-to-proceed-with-annual-meetings-in-Morocco-in-October-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMF-World-Bank-to-proceed-with-annual-meetings-in-Morocco-in-October-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMF-World-Bank-to-proceed-with-annual-meetings-in-Morocco-in-October-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMF-World-Bank-to-proceed-with-annual-meetings-in-Morocco-in-October-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMF-World-Bank-to-proceed-with-annual-meetings-in-Morocco-in-October-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMF-World-Bank-to-proceed-with-annual-meetings-in-Morocco-in-October-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



LONDON/JOHANNESBURG, Nov 24 (Reuters) &#8211; The collapse of Zambia&#8217;s $3 billion bond rework deal this week is reverberating well beyond the country&#8217;s borders, raising doubts about the very framework designed to get bankrupt nations back on track quickly.



Zambia&#8217;s government said on Monday an International Monetary Fund-approved deal with bondholders &#8211; agreed in principle less than a month ago &#8211; could not proceed due to objections from bilateral creditors, who say the terms of the deal are not comparable to relief offered by a group of countries including France, China and India.



The setback sent the bonds of countries in the midst of debt reworks such as Ghana and Sri Lanka tumbling. It also raised fresh questions about the commitment of Western nations and multilateral lenders to help poor countries claw their way out of unmanageable debt.



&#8220;To me there is a real problem, and the real problem goes beyond Zambia,&#8221; said Brad Setser, a Council on Foreign Relations fellow and former U.S. government official, suggesting the way debt sustainability and market accessibility for low income countries was assessed might need to be adjusted.



The core of the issue is the Common Framework, a G20-backed debt negotiation architecture that aimed to smooth and speed deals for insolvent low-income countries thrust into crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic with a historically complicated tangle of lenders that, for the first time, included China.



It established basic principles at its 2020 launch, with more to be defined and debated along the way. Progress has, however, proven more arduous than expected.



Zambia – the Framework&#8217;s test case &#8211; is entering its fourth year of default and its long, thorny path could deter other struggling countries such as Tunisia, Egypt and Kenya from Common Framework debt reworks.



International bondholders say the Framework failed to provide the transparency on other creditors&#8217; concessions needed to cut comparably fair deals. Most agree it provides no clarity on what fair treatment of various creditors would actually look like, nor how the value of concessions given to indebted nations should be calculated.



Milestones such as Zambia&#8217;s memorandum of understanding (MoU) with bilateral creditors on restructuring $6.3 billion of debt and similar successes for Ghana raised hopes the Framework was working. Now there are once again whispers that it&#8217;s failing.



&#8220;This has not been a success and we need a reset,&#8221; said Kevin Gallagher, director of Boston University&#8217;s Global Development Policy Center.



The IMF did not respond to a request for comment sent over a U.S. holiday.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-question-of-fairness">A QUESTION OF FAIRNESS</h2>



The current rift centres on &#8220;Comparability of Treatment&#8221; &#8211; a principle from the Paris Club of wealthy creditor nations aimed at ensuring its members don&#8217;t give outsized concessions compared to private lenders or others outside the group.



Zambia&#8217;s government said the Official Creditor Committee (OCC) sank the bondholder deal because it fell afoul of that principle under a &#8220;base case&#8221; scenario. This outraged bondholders, who say they offered more debt relief than bilateral lenders on a net present value (NPV) basis and a principal haircut of 18% when official creditors tabled none.



With no rules on how to calculate concessions, creditors can come to different conclusions regarding the figures.



&#8220;One of the founding principles of the Common Framework was indeed Comparability of Treatment. The fact that we&#8217;ve gotten this far without reaching a common understanding of what that is, is indeed unhelpful,&#8221; said Yvette Babb, a portfolio manager at William Blair.



Tallying different creditors&#8217; priorities is tricky: Bondholders target shorter-term cashflows but will accept principal writedowns, while official creditors favour maturity extensions.



&#8220;Are you willing to allow deals that allow bondholders to get a lot of money out before official creditors? And are you willing to let bondholders take money out when the IMF is putting money in?,&#8221; said Setser.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-to-fix-it">HOW TO FIX IT</h2>



Zambia&#8217;s government said there was no consensus between OCC co-chairs China and France on the concessions needed from bondholders to secure a deal. The OCC statement also did not say which creditor country raised concerns, making it harder to address them, investors said.



Convincing China, which emerged as a key creditor after a decade-long lending spree, to cut deals alongside other creditors has been a core challenge.



China&#8217;s repeated assertions that it must safeguard its taxpayers&#8217; money, its rejection of blanket acceptance that multilateral lenders do not take haircuts and its objections to the IMF&#8217;s debt sustainability assessments have upended the official lenders&#8217; historic approaches to debt deals.



China&#8217;s central bank and finance ministry did not respond to requests for comment.



Already, a group called the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable &#8211; comprised of development banks, G20 chair India and official and private creditors – is trying to work through the Framework&#8217;s snags and seek a consensus on net present values and comparability of treatment.



Any such consensus, William Blair&#8217;s Babb said, would eliminate &#8220;a large degree of this discretionary assessment&#8221;.



&#8220;That is a fundamental principle that I think could be agreed on to avoid this becoming a stumbling block in other discussions,&#8221; she added.



The IMF has also promised to rejig its debt sustainability calculations – key figures in restructurings – and make its process more transparent.



With a record $554 billion of sovereign debt in default globally, according to the Institute of International Finance, getting countries out of distress quickly is key.



Zambia&#8217;s finance minister has said the long delays have curtailed economic growth and hit the poorest of the population.



Some say the Framework, while flawed, is the only way, and that countries outside it, such as Suriname and Sri Lanka, have also struggled to finalise deals.



&#8220;Sovereign debt restructuring is a very ugly, messy process,&#8221; said Mark Sobel, a former U.S. representative at the IMF, adding its aim was also to cut through the web of competing domestic powers within China to allow it to give debtor countries much-need relief.



&#8220;To me, the Common Framework, for better or for worse, is the only game in town.&#8221;



(Reporting By Libby George and Rachel Savage. Additional reporting by Jorgelina do Rosario and Joe Cash. Graphic by Rodrigo Campos, editing by Karin Strohecker and Kirsten Donovan)

FILE PHOTO: The IMF logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington

Zambia bond debacle calls for debt restructure rethink

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ZBNZUOO7FFKPJEHOKA7AHZURUY-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-429766" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ZBNZUOO7FFKPJEHOKA7AHZURUY-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ZBNZUOO7FFKPJEHOKA7AHZURUY-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ZBNZUOO7FFKPJEHOKA7AHZURUY-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ZBNZUOO7FFKPJEHOKA7AHZURUY-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ZBNZUOO7FFKPJEHOKA7AHZURUY-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ZBNZUOO7FFKPJEHOKA7AHZURUY-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: People crowd a market place in Lagos, Nigeria December 18, 2021. Picture taken December 18, 2021. REUTERS/Temilade Adelaja/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



ABUJA, Nov 24 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Nigeria&#8217;s economy recorded flat growth in the third quarter, data showed on Friday, as the oil sector contracted at a slower pace while the impact of government reforms aimed at boosting output were yet to take effect.



Africa&#8217;s largest economy grew by 2.54%, up from the 2.51% posted in the second quarter, but far from President Bola Tinubu&#8217;s ambition to expand the economy by at least 6% a year, which he promised during his inauguration in May.



Tinubu has vowed to lift barriers to investment, create jobs and tackle insecurity. He has embarked on Nigeria&#8217;s boldest reforms in decades to try to boost output, which has been sluggish for about a decade. But they have yet to impact growth.



&#8220;The performance of the GDP in the third quarter of 2023 was driven mainly by the services sector, which recorded a growth of 3.99% and contributed 52.7% to the aggregate GDP,&#8221; the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.



Nigeria&#8217;s dominant oil sector, which accounts for the bulk of government revenue and 90% of foreign-exchange reserves, contracted 0.85% in the third quarter, a rise of 12.6% from the second quarter when the sector shrank by 13.43%.



Daily average oil output&nbsp;NGOIL=ECI&nbsp;stood at 1.45 million barrels per day (mbpd) in the three months to September, up from the 1.20 mbpd in the same period last year.



Tinubu in May scrapped a costly but popular petrol subsidy and lifted currency controls, which he said was to save the country from going under.



But his actions have worsened inflation currently in double-digits, fuelling anger and frustration for a population grappling with a cost of living crisis. Tinubu has been under pressure from unions to offer relief to workers.



He has travelled from Asia, Europe, Middle East and United States to promote investments to try to revive the economy rather than relying on borrowing.



The NBS said the agriculture and industrial sectors, which create jobs, contributed less to GDP in the third quarter of 2023, compared with the same quarter a year ago.



(Reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Alex Richardson and Alexander Smith)

FILE PHOTO: People crowd a market place in Lagos

Nigeria records flat Q3 growth as oil sector contraction slows

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-545175688-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-429762" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-545175688-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-545175688-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-545175688-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-545175688-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-545175688.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA &#8211; JULY 6: Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius holds the hand of a relative after sentencing at the High Court on July 6, 2016 at the High Court in Pretoria, South Africa. Pistorius was sentenced to six years in prison for the murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at their home in 2013. (Photo by Marco Longari &#8211; Pool/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/oscar-pistorius-murdered-girlfriend-reeva-steenkamp-father-parole-rcna36449" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Oscar Pistorius</a>, the disgraced South African Paralympian who&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/blade-runner-oscar-pistorius-charged-murder-flna1c8371215" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">murdered his girlfriend</a>&nbsp;on Valentine’s Day 10 years ago, was granted parole at a hearing on Friday and will be released.



A double amputee sprinter known as the “Blade Runner” for his prosthetic legs, Pistorius, 37, was convicted of fatally shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/pistorius-trial/pistorius-i-knew-it-id-fired-four-shots-door-n74446" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">four times through a locked bathroom door</a>&nbsp;at his home in Pretoria in 2013.



Pistorius was told at a hearing in Pretoria, the administrative capital where he has been held, that he will be released on Jan. 5, 2024.



A model and law graduate, Steenkamp was 29. Tania Koen, a lawyer who has represented the Steenkamps throughout the parole process and Pistorius’ appeals, confirmed to NBC News that parole was granted.



Pistorius was <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/oscar-pistorius-denied-parole-murder-reeva-steenkamp-rcna77550" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">denied parole at a hearing in March</a> after a judge ruled that, despite expectations that it would be granted, he had not served the minimum time needed to qualify for parole. The judge in that hearing said he wouldn’t be considered for parole until August 2024.



The 2014 trial attracted global attention as the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/pistorius-trial/pistorius-vomits-court-graphic-images-steenkamps-body-n51591" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">details of Steenkamp’s death</a>&nbsp;were beamed around the world. It immediately ended the career of Pistorius, then perhaps the world’s most high-profile disabled athlete, who made history by competing in an able-bodied field at the Olympics.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Pistorius claimed<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/pistorius-trial/oscar-pistorius-my-car-was-shot-dad-was-hijacked-twice-n73506" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;he mistook Steenkamp for a burglar</a>&nbsp;and shot her in error. As a condition of the parole process,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/oscar-pistorius-murdered-girlfriend-reeva-steenkamp-father-parole-rcna36449" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pistorius met with Steenkamp’s father</a>, Barry, in June 2022. Her family opposed his release because they reject Pistorius’ account of their daughter’s killing.



As Pistorius has not yet served his full sentence of 13 years and five months, he will likely be forced to wear an electronic security tag and be banned from leaving Gauteng Province, which includes Johannesburg and Pretoria.



Originally, Pistorius was sentenced to six years in jail for murder, but prosecutors then appealed what they called a “<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/pistorius-trial/oscar-pistorius-prosecutors-seek-longer-murder-sentence-n817166" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">shockingly lenient</a>” punishment and the sentence was increased.



Born with a congenital condition that led to both his legs being amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old, Pistorius became a successful athlete, leading out the South African team at the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony. Days later he would become the first double amputee to compete at the Olympics.



The 2014 trial&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/pistorius-trial/oscar-pistorius-kept-gun-him-all-time-ex-girlfriend-n46746" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">heard&nbsp;</a>that Pistorius had a gun with him “all the time,” including on his bedside table while he slept. He told the court that he lived in fear of a home invasion and said he had been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/pistorius-trial/oscar-pistorius-my-car-was-shot-dad-was-hijacked-twice-n73506" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">followed, shot at and hi-jacked</a>. When he shot Steenkamp he had assumed it was a burglar, he said.&nbsp;

Oscar Pistorius Is Sentenced In The Trial Over The Murder Of Reeva Steenkamp

Oscar Pistorius granted parole, to be released from prison nearly 11 years after murdering girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/DWS3TK7MAVPAPFKEL2YX7GYITI-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-429066" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/DWS3TK7MAVPAPFKEL2YX7GYITI-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/DWS3TK7MAVPAPFKEL2YX7GYITI-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/DWS3TK7MAVPAPFKEL2YX7GYITI-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/DWS3TK7MAVPAPFKEL2YX7GYITI-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/DWS3TK7MAVPAPFKEL2YX7GYITI-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/DWS3TK7MAVPAPFKEL2YX7GYITI.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Zambia&#8217;s Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane takes part in a panel during the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, following last month&#8217;s deadly earthquake, in Marrakech, Morocco, October 14, 2023. REUTERS/Susana Vera/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



LONDON, Nov 24 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Long delays in Zambia&#8217;s debt restructuring have hamstrung much needed investments, curtailed economic growth, weighed on local financial markets and added to living costs for its people, Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane told Reuters.



Zambia defaulted three years ago and is trying to rework its debt under the G20 Common Framework, a programme designed to ensure swift and smooth debt overhauls for low-income nations.



But the process has been beset by delays, with Zambia suffering a major setback on Monday when official creditors rejected a preliminary deal agreed between the country and its bondholders to rework $3 billion over objections on whether it offered comparable debt relief.



The first African country to default in the COVID-19 era, Zambia&#8217;s debt restructuring had started with drawn-out negotiations with bilateral creditors including China.



&#8220;Zambia’s debt restructuring has dragged on too long,&#8221; Musokotwane said in emailed comments.



&#8220;During restructuring, we are experiencing vastly constrained fiscal space. We cannot attract vital foreign direct investment. We have no access to capital markets.&#8221;



Uncertainty or negative news on the restructuring progress have hit domestic bond markets, Musokotwane said, which may affect the government&#8217;s ability to fully finance the national budget.



They also made the currency more volatile, he added. The kwacha&nbsp;ZMW=&nbsp;stands at a record low of 23.525 to the dollar and has weakened more than 30% this year.



All this has resulted in a significant increase in the cost of living for Zambians and impacted the government&#8217;s ability to push through with vital investments.



&#8220;Projects in the water sector, among others, have been delayed in completion by over three years and have hence delayed the delivery of clean water and sanitation services to over 1.5 million Zambian people,&#8221; the minister said, adding infrastructure projects connecting some of Zambia&#8217;s poorest rural areas to markets and technology had also stalled.



&#8220;This undermines our development agenda and impacts the most vulnerable.&#8221;



Musokotwane said the country had implemented some serious reforms and committed to improving management of government finances and boosting growth.



&#8220;Problems facing Zambia are not simply numbers on a spreadsheet but impact the lives of real people. Continued delays serve the interests of no-one.&#8221;



He said the government would continue discussions in &#8220;good faith&#8221; to find a solution that was satisfactory to all sides.



(Reporting by Karin Strohecker, additional reporting by Rachel Savage, editing by Kim Coghill)

DWS3TK7MAVPAPFKEL2YX7GYITI

Zambia debt rework delaying impede key investments, hitting the ‘most vulnerable’ – FinMin

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IQMT7SFA2RNQLAQHUEOA2VEMMQ-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423556" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IQMT7SFA2RNQLAQHUEOA2VEMMQ-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IQMT7SFA2RNQLAQHUEOA2VEMMQ-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IQMT7SFA2RNQLAQHUEOA2VEMMQ-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IQMT7SFA2RNQLAQHUEOA2VEMMQ-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IQMT7SFA2RNQLAQHUEOA2VEMMQ-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IQMT7SFA2RNQLAQHUEOA2VEMMQ-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Illustration photo shows a two-rand coin above a South African flag April 12, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/Illustration</figcaption></figure>



JOHANNESBURG, Nov 24 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;The South African rand was stronger in early trade on Friday, extending its Thursday gains after the central bank kept its main interest rate unchanged.



At 0644 GMT, the rand traded at 18.7700 against the dollar&nbsp;ZAR=D3, 0.3% stronger than its previous close.



The dollar&nbsp;=USD&nbsp;last traded around 0.03% weaker against a basket of global currencies.



South Africa&#8217;s central bank stuck to its previous hawkish tone on Thursday as it kept its main lending rate unchanged for the third meeting in a row, boosting the rand, despite inflation quickening in October.



Next week investors will turn their attention to supply-side inflation when producer price index data is released.



South Africa&#8217;s benchmark 2030 government bond&nbsp;ZAR2030=&nbsp;was marginally stronger in early deals, with the yield down 0.5 basis point at 10.120%.



(Reporting by Tannur Anders; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

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Zambia debt rework delaying impede key investments, hitting the ‘most vulnerable’ – FinMin

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