How Express Survived Bankruptcy

What are the hidden costs of homeownership — and how to avoid them

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/VSUW65W5UVNKFHEP6AGCDDWLWI-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-504288" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/VSUW65W5UVNKFHEP6AGCDDWLWI-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/VSUW65W5UVNKFHEP6AGCDDWLWI-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/VSUW65W5UVNKFHEP6AGCDDWLWI-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/VSUW65W5UVNKFHEP6AGCDDWLWI-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/VSUW65W5UVNKFHEP6AGCDDWLWI-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/VSUW65W5UVNKFHEP6AGCDDWLWI-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Kenya&#8217;s President William Ruto attends a joint press conference with Iran&#8217;s President Ebrahim Raisi at the State House in Nairobi, Kenya, July 12, 2023. Iran&#8217;s Presidency/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS</figcaption></figure>



NAIROBI, July 5 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Kenyan President William Ruto on Friday pledged spending cuts totalling 177 billion shillings ($1.39 billion) in the fiscal year that started in July, after weeks of nationwide protests that forced him to scrap planned tax hikes.



The government will also increase borrowing by about 169 billion shillings to cover the 346 billion shilling hole created by the decision to withdraw the finance bill that was the original spark for the protests.



The demonstrations, which started peacefully before turning violent, have become the biggest threat to Ruto&#8217;s two-year-old presidency. Campaign groups have documented hundreds of arrests and at least 39 deaths linked to the government&#8217;s heavy-handed response, raising fears of rights backsliding.



Ruto said in a televised address to the nation that Kenya&#8217;s budget deficit was now projected at 4.6% of gross domestic product in the 2024/25 financial year, up from an earlier estimate of 3.3%.



Among ways his government will cut spending, Ruto said 47 state corporations would be dissolved, the number of advisors in government would be reduced by 50% immediately, and all non-essential travel by public office bearers would be suspended.



&#8220;Budget lines providing for the operations of the Office of the First Lady, the spouse of the Deputy President, and the Prime Cabinet Secretary, will be removed,&#8221; Ruto said, adding that public servants at retirement age of 60, shall be required to immediately retire.



He said there would be a forensic audit of the country&#8217;s debt and that he would also announce government changes soon.



($1 = 127.7500 Kenyan shillings)



(Reporting by George Obulutsa and Bhargav Acharya; Writing by Alexander Winning; Editing by Bate Felix)

Iran’s President Raisi visits Kenya

Kenya’s Ruto pledges spending cuts after nationwide protests

Keir Starmer is the UK’s new PM

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="728" height="464" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/S5ZSZFJYLBIXNPDNSK3FB3QCRA.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-416757" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/S5ZSZFJYLBIXNPDNSK3FB3QCRA.jpg 728w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/S5ZSZFJYLBIXNPDNSK3FB3QCRA-300x191.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/S5ZSZFJYLBIXNPDNSK3FB3QCRA-141x90.jpg 141w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 728px) 100vw, 728px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Representations of virtual currency Bitcoin are seen in this picture illustration taken taken March 13, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



Cryptocurrencies plunged on Friday as investors focused on the payout of nearly $9 billion to users of collapsed bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox.



As of 10:50 a.m. London time, bitcoin’s price slumped nearly 6% in 24 hours to hit $54,500.53, marking the first time it’s traded below the $55,000 level since Feb. 27, according to data from CoinGecko.



Rival token ether sank around 9% to $2,872.10.



Altogether, the entire cryptocurrency market has shed more than $170 billion in combined market capitalization in the last 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data.



On Friday, the trustee for the Mt. Gox bankruptcy estate, Nobuaki Kobayashi, said in a statement that it had begun making repayments in bitcoin and bitcoin cash to some of the creditors through a number of designated crypto exchanges.



Mt. Gox’s trustee didn’t specify how much money had been transferred to these exchanges.



He noted that the remaining funds would be returned to creditors once a series of conditions is met, including confirming the validity of registered accounts and completing discussions between the trustee and the designated crypto exchanges.



The trustee is still working to ensure repayments “can be made safely and securely,” Kobayashi wrote, urging “eligible rehabilitation creditors to wait for a while.”



It comes after a small amount of bitcoin was moved out of wallets associated with Mt. Gox, according to blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, with the largest movement being a $24 transfer to the Japanese crypto exchange Bitbank.



Bitbank is among the recipients listed to support repayments.



Recently, the world’s largest cryptocurrency has been pressured by news of collapsed bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox preparing the distribution of around $9 billion worth of coins to users. This dumping of coins onto the market is expected to lead to some significant selling action.



Also pressuring crypto markets, the German government on Thursday sold roughly 3,000 bitcoins — worth approximately $175 million as of today’s prices — from a 50,000-bitcoin pile seized in connection with the movie piracy operation Movie2k, according to Arkham Intelligence.



Arkham, which is tracking Germany’s bitcoin wallet, noted the government still holds more than 40,000 bitcoins worth over $2 billion.

S5ZSZFJYLBIXNPDNSK3FB3QCRA

Over $170 billion wiped off cryptocurrencies as market tanks on Mt. Gox bitcoin payout fears

Britain’s new PM to give speech at Downing Street

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2048" height="1366" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-1932805483-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-504220" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-1932805483-scaled.jpg 2048w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-1932805483-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-1932805483-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-1932805483-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-1932805483-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-1932805483-1536x1024.jpg 1536w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Heineken Lokpobiri, Nigeria&#8217;s oil minister, during a Bloomberg Television interview 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: Stefan Wermuth/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



ABUJA, July 4 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Nigeria has been chosen to host the newly formed Africa Energy Bank (AEB), its oil minister said on Thursday, as Africa’s top oil producer beat three rival countries for rights to the multilateral lender.



The decision, reached at an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers of the African Petroleum Producers Organization (APPO), places Nigeria at the forefront of Africa&#8217;s energy future, Minister of State Petroleum Resources Heineken Lokpobiri, said in a statement.



Nigeria&#8217;s bid to host the AEB was strengthened in late May after it ratified the bank&#8217;s charter and President Bola Tinubu approved a $100 million investment to the bank, greater than the required $83.33 million for member states.



The fossil fuel-focused bank, a partnership between Afrexim Bank and APPO, aims to fund energy projects on the continent and support its energy transition goals.



&#8220;This decision reflects our collective ambition to create African solutions to African energy challenges,&#8221; Lokpobiri said.



&#8220;The African Energy Bank will be instrumental in providing the necessary financial backbone for energy projects that will drive growth and development across the continent,&#8221; he added.



The AEB initially has $5 billion to spend when it takes off later this year.



Analysts said that Nigeria, as a founding member of APPO and Africa&#8217;s top energy producers, has shown strong interest in the bank as the country makes a new push for investment into its lagging oil and gas industry.



&#8220;Hosting the bank would be a vote of confidence in Nigeria at a time its energy industry badly needs a boost,&#8221; Clementine Wallop, director for sub-Saharan Africa at political risk consultancy Horizon Engage, said before the announcement was made.



The three other countries that vied to host the AEB are Algeria, Benin and Ghana, after Ivory Coast and South Africa didn&#8217;t meet the necessary requirements.



(Additional reporting by Isaac Anyaogu in Lagos, Wendell Roelf in Cape Town; Editing by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo and David Gregorio)

Day Two Of The World Economic Forum (WEF) 2024

Nigeria beats rivals for bid to host new Africa Energy Bank

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="612" height="408" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/istockphoto-1076949610-612x612-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-400697" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/istockphoto-1076949610-612x612-1.jpg 612w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/istockphoto-1076949610-612x612-1-300x200.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 612px) 100vw, 612px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Double exposure of coin stack with city background and world map, financial graph, world map and global network business concept idea, element by NASA.</figcaption></figure>



JOHANNESBURG, July 5 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;The following scheduled economic events, equity and currency market moves may affect South African markets on Friday.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-economic-events">ECONOMIC EVENTS</h2>



South Africa June reserves data



Inflation-linked bond auction



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-south-african-markets">SOUTH AFRICAN MARKETS</h2>



The South African rand extended its gains against the dollar on Thursday after the U.S. currency slipped on rising expectations that U.S. interest rate cuts are on the way.



On the stock market, the Top-40 index closed more than 0.4% higher.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-global-markets">GLOBAL MARKETS</h2>



Asian share markets scaled new highs on Friday as investors sized up U.S. rate cuts for September and the mood was upbeat, while the euro hit a three-week peak ahead of French elections.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-wall-street">WALL STREET</h2>



The S&amp;P 500 index and technology-laden Nasdaq rose on Wednesday to post record high closes, as data pointing to a softening economy raised hopes the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates in September.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-gold">GOLD</h2>



Gold prices firmed on Friday and were set for a second straight weekly gain, while traders awaited U.S. employment data to gauge the trajectory of the Federal Reserve&#8217;s potential interest rate cuts.



&#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;



Some of the main stories out in the South African press:



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-business-day">BUSINESS DAY</h2>



&#8211; Bank of America says GDP to grow 2% if Eskom maintains momentum



&#8211; Former Tongaat CFO denies responsibility for accounting fraud



(Compiled by Bhargav Acharya)

istockphoto-1076949610-612×612-1

South African Markets – Factors to watch on July 5

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="612" height="357" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/istockphoto-1030878162-612x612-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-400669" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/istockphoto-1030878162-612x612-1.jpg 612w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/istockphoto-1030878162-612x612-1-300x175.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 612px) 100vw, 612px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">World map with charts and graphs as symbols of global finance</figcaption></figure>



July 5 (Reuters) &#8211; The following company announcements, scheduled economic indicators, debt and currency market moves and political events may affect African markets on Friday.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-events">EVENTS:</h2>



Kenya&#8217;s President William Ruto and his ministers are due to hold discussions on social media platform X, targeting youth after anti-government protests.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-global-markets">GLOBAL MARKETS</h2>



Asian share markets scaled new highs on Friday as investors sized up U.S. rate cuts for September and the mood was upbeat, while the euro hit a three-week peak ahead of French elections.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-world-oil-prices">WORLD OIL PRICES</h2>



Oil prices were little changed in Asian trade on Friday but were on track for a fourth straight week of gains and holding near their highest levels since late April on hopes of strong summer fuel demand and some supply concerns.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-africa-markets">AFRICA MARKETS</h2>



The Kenyan, Ghanaian, Ugandan and Zambian currencies are forecast to be broadly steady against the dollar in the next week to Thursday, while Nigeria&#8217;s naira is expected to weaken, traders said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-south-africa-markets">SOUTH AFRICA MARKETS</h2>



The South African rand extended its gains against the dollar on Thursday after the U.S. currency slipped on rising expectations that U.S. interest rate cuts are on the way.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-kenya-markets">KENYA MARKETS</h2>



The Kenyan shilling was flat in a quiet session on Thursday, as traders said they thought the worst anti-government protests were probably over.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-nigeria-economy">NIGERIA ECONOMY</h2>



Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has asked his economic management team to prepare a 2 trillion naira ($1.33 billion) stimulus plan to address concerns about food supplies and pricing and bolster key sectors, the finance minister said on Thursday.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sudan-politics">SUDAN POLITICS</h2>



More than 136,000 people have fled Sudan&#8217;s southeastern Sennar state since the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began a series of attacks on towns, the United Nations said on Thursday, the latest wave of displacement caused by Sudan&#8217;s almost 15-month long war.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ghana-politics">GHANA POLITICS</h2>



Ghana&#8217;s Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia of the country&#8217;s ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has picked the current energy minister as his running mate for December&#8217;s presidential election.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-nigeria-debt">NIGERIA DEBT</h2>



Nigeria&#8217;s debt to gasoline suppliers has surpassed $6 billion &#8211; doubling since early April &#8211; as state oil firm NNPC struggles to cover the gap between fixed pump prices and international fuel costs, six industry sources said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ethiopia-debt">ETHIOPIA DEBT</h2>



Ethiopia will receive $10.5 billion in support over the coming years if long-running negotiations with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank are successful, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Thursday.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tanzania-rates">TANZANIA RATES</h2>



Tanzania&#8217;s central bank left its key interest rate unchanged at 6%, it said on Thursday, adding that inflation expectations were well below target, the economy was growing strongly and exchange rate pressures were expected to ease.



((Compiled by Nairobi Newsroom))

World map with charts and graphs as symbols of global finance

African Markets – Factors to watch on July 5

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2048" height="1365" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-2160673037-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-504199" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-2160673037-scaled.jpg 2048w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-2160673037-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-2160673037-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-2160673037-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-2160673037-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-2160673037-1536x1024.jpg 1536w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">LONDON, ENGLAND &#8211; JULY 05: Labour Leader Keir Starmer celebrates winning the 2024 General Election with a speech at Tate Modern on July 05, 2024 in London, England. Labour is on course to win a landslide victory in the 2024 General Election. Starmer addresses the nation promising Country first, Party second. (Photo by Ricky Vigil/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



LONDON — The U.K.’s opposition Labour Party won a huge parliamentary majority in the country’s general election, unseating the incumbent Conservatives after 14 years.



Early on Friday morning, Labour passed the threshold needed to govern alone as outgoing PM Rishi Sunak conceded defeat. Keir Starmer, leader of the center-left Labour, will become the country’s next prime minister and declared victory in the early hours.



“We did it,” he said, addressing his Labour colleagues. “You campaigned for it, you fought for it — and now it has arrived &#8230; change begins now.”



Some projections show Labour will gain its second-largest majority after former Prime Minister&nbsp;Tony Blair’s 179-seat majority in 1997.



Millions of people across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on Thursday voted for their local representatives in the 650-member House of Commons, the U.K.’s lower house of parliament. Ballots are still being counted, with constituencies announcing their winning candidate as soon as votes are tallied.



Here are the seats that have been declared so far:



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="794" height="746" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/UK-Elections-Graph.png" alt="" class="wp-image-504197" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/UK-Elections-Graph.png 794w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/UK-Elections-Graph-300x282.png 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/UK-Elections-Graph-96x90.png 96w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/UK-Elections-Graph-768x722.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 794px) 100vw, 794px" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-labour-s-win-means-for-uk-markets">What Labour’s win means for UK markets</h2>



The arrival of a new Labour government hasn’t moved markets all that much yet but analysts expect U.K. assets to become more attractive from here on out.



In a note Friday, analysts at Jefferies said, despite concerns raised by a strong showing for the right-wing Reform UK Party, the Labour Party’s U.K. election win would help make the U.K. appear “relatively stable.”



This, in combination with regulatory reform, “could raise the attractiveness of UK assets,” Jefferies’ analysts wrote in a research note.



Beata Manthey, European equity strategist at Citi, noted that history shows U.K. markets tend to trade flat on average six months after Labour wins, but “meaningfully higher one year later.”



“On a relative basis, the UK market has tended to underperform 1-2 months after Labour wins, while tallying decent relative performance 12m post-election,” Manthey said.



“The domestically oriented FTSE 250 has typically outperformed the FTSE 100 following Labour victories. Sterling and Gilts will be key to watch,” she added.



“FTSE 250 over FTSE 100 is our preferred post-election trade.”



&#8211; Ryan Browne

Labour Leader Keir Starmer Celebrates Winning The 2024 General Election

Labour Party wins UK election in a landslide

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-2159782737-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-504193" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-2159782737-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-2159782737-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-2159782737-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-2159782737-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-2159782737-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-2159782737-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">NAIROBI, KENYA &#8211; JULY 02: Demonstrators, gathering in the city center, make a fire as they march towards the parliament building to protest the &#8216;Finance Bill 2024&#8217;, which envisages tax regulation in Nairobi, Kenya on July 02, 2024. Kenyan forces intervened against the protesters. (Photo by Gerald Anderson/Anadolu via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



NAIROBI, July 5 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Kenyan activist Bill Eugene Omollo was walking home after dark in his Nairobi neighbourhood on June 20 when he spotted trouble &#8211; two men eyeing him next to a parked white pick-up without number plates.



The 28-year-old had been involved in the youth-led protests that have upended Kenya since last month and had been released by police only hours earlier following his arrest at one of the demonstrations.



He shouted for help.



&#8220;But people were also running. So they took me,&#8221; he told Reuters.



Dozens of Kenyans have been targeted in similar abductions in the past two weeks, said human rights groups, who blame the extrajudicial arrests on Kenya&#8217;s intelligence services.



Organised online and leaderless, the protests &#8211; initially a call to repeal tax hikes &#8211; have developed into a movement that has cut across Kenya&#8217;s traditional ethnic divisions, becoming the biggest threat of William Ruto&#8217;s two-year-old presidency.



Though Ruto withdrew the tax increases in a victory for the movement, the heavy-handed reaction to the protests &#8211; campaign groups have documented hundreds of arrests and at least 39 deaths &#8211; has raised fears of rights backsliding.



&#8220;The president and I gave a categorical promise to the people of Kenya that the issue was abductions and extrajudicial killings will never happen again,&#8221; Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua said in a televised address. &#8220;Sadly, this is back.&#8221;



A police spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on the abductions. Nor did Noordin Haji, the director of Kenya&#8217;s intelligence services.



In an interview on Sunday, Ruto denied police involvement in disappearances but broadly defended the actions of the security forces.



However, Irungu Houghton, executive director of Amnesty International Kenya, told Reuters there were clear cases of abuse.



&#8220;People who are considered to be protesters or organisers or even just simply voices of dissent are being plucked from their homes or even as they go to church with their families and locked up,&#8221; he said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-blindfolded-and-interrogated">BLINDFOLDED AND INTERROGATED</h2>



Amnesty, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and the Law Society of Kenya all put the number of abductions at more than 30, though they said most were later released.



Faith Odhiambo, the president of Law Society of Kenya, said the interrogations abduction victims have undergone during their ordeals have focused on how the protest movement is financed, how it is organised, and the identity of its leaders.



&#8220;It&#8217;s a very clear indication that the government is behind this,&#8221; she said.



After his aggressors bundled him into their vehicle, Omollo said he was blindfolded and driven to an unknown location where he was brought to a room and ordered to strip to his underwear.



He was forced to sit on the concrete floor, which his captors flooded with freezing water. Then the interrogation and threats to his family began.



&#8220;They asked me &#8216;Who sent you? Who is funding you?&#8217;. I told them no one is funding us,&#8221; said Omollo, who does not know who abducted him and has not reported the incident to the police.



&#8220;I thought I would be a dead man.&#8221;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-missing">THE MISSING</h2>



Houghton said Amnesty had confirmed some instances of torture during the illegal detentions.



Odhiambo of the Law Society of Kenya said that if the goal of the abductions was to intimidate the victims, then it appeared to be succeeding.



&#8220;They don&#8217;t want to be seen on social media or any forums,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Fear has been instilled.&#8221;



After 24 hours, Omollo&#8217;s abductors loaded him back into their vehicle and left him near a police station.



He is among the lucky ones. The rights groups say a handful of abduction victims remain unaccounted for.



Nairobi resident Mutia Paul is still looking for his 17-year-old brother, Tony, who was last seen heading for a protest on June 25.



Paul has searched at police stations and hospitals. He has scoured the morgues for his body. He now believes Tony is being detained.



&#8220;My heart is full of sorrow, I have done all I can,&#8221; he said.



Activists have vowed to keep up pressure on Ruto and lawmakers. But Omollo told Reuters he has had enough of protesting.



Worried that he was being followed and could be abducted again, he has left Nairobi.



&#8220;I miss my home, I miss my brothers, I miss my sisters and I miss my community,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I feel like a refugee in my own country.&#8221;



(Additional reporting by Aaron Ross and Vivian Wandera; Writing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by Joe Bavier and Angus MacSwan)

Demonstration against tax regulation in Kenya

Kenya rights groups decry abductions as government cracks down on protests

Inside Europe’s tech hubs: Germany’s third wave of growth is here

UK exit poll predicts just 131 seats for the Conservative Party

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2048" height="1365" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/76KI5H4MAFL5ZK7OGV4LXR2UG4-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-459116" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/76KI5H4MAFL5ZK7OGV4LXR2UG4-scaled.jpg 2048w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/76KI5H4MAFL5ZK7OGV4LXR2UG4-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/76KI5H4MAFL5ZK7OGV4LXR2UG4-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/76KI5H4MAFL5ZK7OGV4LXR2UG4-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/76KI5H4MAFL5ZK7OGV4LXR2UG4-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/76KI5H4MAFL5ZK7OGV4LXR2UG4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: The sun is seen behind a crude oil pump jack in the Permian Basin in Loving County, Texas, U.S., November 22, 2019. REUTERS/Angus Mordant/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



BRUSSELS/LONDON, July 4 (Reuters) &#8211; Nigeria&#8217;s debt to gasoline suppliers has surpassed $6 billion &#8211; doubling since early April &#8211; as state oil firm NNPC struggles to cover the gap between fixed pump prices and international fuel costs, six industry sources said.



Nigerian President Bola Tinubu announced an end to expensive fuel subsidies last year, allowing pump prices to triple. But state oil company NNPC capped pump prices shortly afterward as citizens chafed under rising cost of living.



The cap, coupled with a naira currency crash, allowed the subsidy to creep back. Tinubu&#8217;s government expects the subsidy to cost at least $3.7 billion this year.



Analysts, NGOs and even government officials have slammed the subsidy for years as wasteful and corrupt. But Nigerians, who get few government services, have long seen cheap fuel as their right, especially in the current cost-of-living crisis.



Last week, deadly riots forced Kenya&#8217;s debt-burdened government to cancel planned tax rises, casting a shadow over efforts elsewhere to inflict any further pain on citizens stung by rising inflation.



Senegal&#8217;s energy subsidy bill remains high, at 3.3% of GDP, while Egypt and Angola are also trying to axe subsidies to shore up state finances.



NNPC began struggling early this year when late gasoline payments surpassed $3 billion.



The company has still not paid for some January imports, traders said, and the late payments amount to $4 billion-$5 billion. Under contract terms, NNPC is meant to pay within 90 days of delivery.



NNPC declined to comment.



&#8220;The only reason traders are putting up with it is the $250,000 a month (per cargo) for late payment compensation,&#8221; one industry source said.



At least two suppliers already stopped participating in recent tenders after hitting self-imposed debt exposure limits to Nigeria, the sources said, meaning they will not send more gasoline until they receive payments.



Traders thrive in risky environments, but they place limits on how much credit they allocate per trade in order to avoid too much exposure on one borrower. These limits vary by company based on their size and where they operate.



As a result, Nigeria&#8217;s tenders to buy gasoline in June and July were smaller, traders said. NNPC will import via tender about 850,000 tonnes in July, two of the sources said, down from the typical 1 million tonnes in previous months.



Fresh fuel queues have already started to form in Lagos this week.



Nigeria, Africa&#8217;s largest oil exporter, imports virtually all its fuel due to years of neglect at its state-owned oil refineries. The newly opened 650,000 barrel per day Dangote refinery has not yet produced marketable gasoline, and is selling other fuels abroad.



The country has few savings to fall back upon as corruption and wasteful spending have eaten up decades of oil revenues. Cash-strapped NNPC has also mortgaged much of its spot oil cargoes, limiting what it can sell for cash.



In late 2023, NNPC secured its biggest-ever oil-backed loan worth $3.3 billion from Afreximbank and a consortium of traders, including Gunvor, to shore up the country&#8217;s foreign exchange.



(Reporting by Julia Payne and Libby George; Additional reporting by Isaac Anyaogu in Lagos; Editing by Jan Harvey)

FILE PHOTO: The sun is seen behind a crude oil pump jack in the Permian Basin in Loving County

As Nigeria’s gasoline debt hits $6 billion, some traders back out, say sources

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2048" height="1341" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/107357803-1705027006499-AP24012015065200-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-503927" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/107357803-1705027006499-AP24012015065200-scaled.jpg 2048w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/107357803-1705027006499-AP24012015065200-300x196.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/107357803-1705027006499-AP24012015065200-820x537.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/107357803-1705027006499-AP24012015065200-137x90.jpg 137w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/107357803-1705027006499-AP24012015065200-768x503.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/107357803-1705027006499-AP24012015065200-1536x1005.jpg 1536w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, left, and U.S. President Joe Biden speak at the start of the meeting of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) during the NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, July 11, 2023. Paul Ellis | AP</figcaption></figure>



The U.K. and U.S. have a lot in common — a shared language, history, democratic ideals and values. But when it comes to politics, us Brits do things very differently from our American friends.



Those differences are plain to see as election campaigns ramp up in the U.K. and U.S., ahead of the British vote on July 4 and the U.S. ballot on Nov. 5.



Of course, our political systems encompass different electoral procedures and processes, but there are other nuances to how the Brits and Americans do political races differently. Here are a handful of them:



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-1-campaigns"><a></a>1) Campaigns</h2>



By the time a presidential election takes place in the United States, the electorate will have already endured months of seemingly endless electioneering — with the entire election campaign process from candidacies and the campaign trail to the actual presidential election and inauguration taking up to two years.



In the U.K., the time frame between a prime minister calling a general election to the actual vote is just six weeks. American readers might, very reasonably, read that and weep.



With such a tight window in which to win voters’ support, the leaders of Britain’s political parties dash about the U.K. on campaign “battle buses” as they try to visit as many constituencies as possible to persuade voters to elect the local party candidate as a member of Parliament (MP).



The party that wins the most seats in the House of Commons (the British Parliament) usually forms the new government and its leader becomes prime minister. It sounds simple, and usually is, unless there’s a “hung parliament” in which no political party wins a majority of seats. In that case, the largest party can either form&nbsp;a minority government or enter into a&nbsp;coalition government of two or more parties.



Bobby Duffy, director of the Policy Institute at King’s College London, told CNBC that there are many historical and structural differences between the countries when it comes to politics, and reasons why American campaigns are so much longer.



“The hugeness of the election in the U.S. is a function of the massive amounts of money at play to some degree. You do have to have these long periods of fundraising alongside campaigning and we just have completely different rules and structures around that.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>2) Election spending and ads</h2>



Money is certainly one of biggest differences between U.K. general elections and U.S. presidential elections. Stateside, billions of dollars can be fundraised and spent on campaign activities and political ads, far above that spent in the U.K. (after all, the parties in Britain only have six weeks in which to spend the money!).



For a Brit, the money raised and spent by Republicans and Democrats during election campaigns is eye-watering. In April, the U.S. Federal Election Commission released data that showed that during the first 12 months of the 2024 election cycle (covering 2023), presidential candidates collected $374.9 million and disbursed $270.8 million, while political parties received $684.5 million and spent $595 million, and political action committees raised $3.7 billion and spent $3.1 billion, according to campaign finance reports filed with the commission.



A number of political action committees, or PACs, raise money and make direct contributions to candidates’ campaigns or parties. In the case of “super PACs,” committees raise and spend an unlimited amount of money in support of their preferred candidates, often funding large-scale ad campaigns.



In the U.K., meanwhile, the Electoral Commission sets out strict rules on spending limits for political parties contesting the general election in Great Britain (made up of England, Wales and Scotland). In England, for example, the limit is whichever the greater is of £1,458,440 ($1,845,098) or £54,010 times the number of seats the party is contesting in each part of Britain. Parties can be fined, and often are, for breaching those limits.



In the U.K., political advertising&nbsp;on TV and radio is not allowed, so U.K. voters are subjected to the somewhat quaint “party political broadcasts” during election campaigns. That’s where parties are allocated broadcast slots, free of charge, on radio and TV channels in which they can set out their election pledges. The broadcasts are sporadic, however, and easy to miss, unlike the thousands of ads in the U.S.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>3) ‘We don’t do God’</h2>



You will never hear a British politician — at least not a mainstream one — mentioning God in a political speech or campaign. Ever.



Religion, in general, is kept separate from politics in the U.K., a multifaith country but also one in which religious belief is declining, particularly among younger generations. Just under half (49%) of Britons surveyed in 2022 said they believed in God — down from three-quarters (75%) in 1981, according to a study by King’s College London published last year.



While it’s common to hear U.S. politicians proclaim “God bless America,” jaws would drop in the U.K. if a British politician made such an expression of faith in a political speech. Political aides say the subject is better left alone.



Alastair Campbell, who served as the Labour Party’s director of communications and strategy under former Prime Minister Tony Blair, reportedly interjected with the now famous phrase&nbsp;“we don’t do God,” when Blair, then a member of the Church of England, was asked about his faith while in power.



On another occasion, Blair was reportedly keen on ending a speech with the phrase “God bless Britain” but later said he was advised against it, noting that “one of the civil servants said in a very po-faced way ‘I just remind you prime minister, this is not America’ in this very disapproving tone, so I gave up the idea.” Blair converted to Catholicism on leaving office in 2007.



An aversion to mixing politics and personal belief still runs deep in British public life, Dan Stevens, professor of politics at Exeter University, told CNBC, unlike in the U.S.



“They’re just a much more religious society than we are. The U.K., along with much of Western Europe, is just so secular it’s just not even something worth talking about. Whereas in America, although it is secularizing, particularly among younger people &#8230; there is still this need for political candidates, including people like Donald Trump, to espouse some kind of religion to earn the electorate’s trust.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>4) Age is just a number</h2>



U.K. voters have been hearing a lot in the press about how U.S. election debates have focused on incumbent President Joe Biden’s age. Indeed, British politicians look like whippersnappers when compared with the 81-year-old president and 78-year-old Republican candidate Trump.



Incumbent British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is a youngster in comparison, at a mere 44 years old while Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party and, polls suggest, the man likely to become the next prime minister, is “only” 61.



“There are so much older candidates in the U.S.,” the Policy Institute’s Duffy told CNBC, describing it to a “gerontocracy trend” in which society is governed by old people. “It’s very different from around the world where we’re actually seeing a decline in the age of world leaders.”



In the U.S., the age of the candidates reflects the decades it takes to build “political capital and connections,” Duffy said. With support for Biden shaken by his poor performance in a televised debate with Trump, it’s that political capital and connections that appear to be keeping Biden’s election campaign alive.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>5) ‘Culture wars’</h2>



Another point of difference in British elections, and politics in general, is that “morality issues” are not prominent points of debate, dissent or divergence. Unlike the U.S., where the abortion debate, gun control and gay marriage are sources of contention, those debates are not hot topics in the U.K. where abortion is legal, gun ownership is rare and heavily restricted (critics would argue the U.K. has a knife crime problem instead), and gay marriage is (aside from among some members of the clergy) uncontested.



Similarly, “identity politics” and “culture wars” — the umbrella term for conflicts between often opposed political groupings with different cultural values and beliefs — are not so prominent in the U.K. But the U.K. does have our “moments” — the topics of immigration, transgender rights, the U.K.’s relationship with the European Union (yes, Brexit is still “a thing” eight years after a referendum on EU membership) and assisted dying are hot topics where divisions are evident among the British press and public. Still, such issues are seen as “more of a personal rather than a party issue” in the U.K., according to John Curtice, a top U.K. polling expert who has studied British social attitudes extensively.



“Moral issues of life and death are indeed taken out of our party politics, but other aspects of the argument between social liberals and social conservatives are not taken out, and it’s become more important,” he told CNBC.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>6) ‘Absurd’ diversions</h2>



British political experts note that, unlike in the U.S., where broad political debates tend to remain the key focus, U.K. election campaigns can see more minor or fringe issues dominate the short election campaign.



A betting scandal has erupted in Britain in recent weeks, for example, after several candidates for the Conservative Party, and a candidate for the opposing Labour Party, were found to have placed bets on the date of the general election before it was officially announced, and its outcome, leading to accusations of impropriety in public office. It’s uncertain what amounts were staked, and those accused deny wrongdoing, though investigations have been launched by the U.K.’s gambling watchdog and the police.



Before the gambling debacle, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s decision to skip the main D-Day commemorations in France also caused a massive stir in the British press, who questioned his judgment. Such “diversions” during British election campaigns are common, and often pertain to issues that start as “matters of principle” that are then “taken to absurd lengths,” according to Stevens.



“There’s a tendency for our campaigns to veer off in these strange directions where we just lose the big picture,” Stevens said. “I don’t think that happens in America where the stakes are just higher,” he said.



“There, the stakes are just massive.”

107357803-1705027006499-AP24012015065200

No God, no big ads and no age debate: The UK election race is very different to America’s

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="462" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/108001628-1720062067145-gettyimages-814141990-kidsunset-820x462.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-503924" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/108001628-1720062067145-gettyimages-814141990-kidsunset-820x462.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/108001628-1720062067145-gettyimages-814141990-kidsunset-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/108001628-1720062067145-gettyimages-814141990-kidsunset-160x90.jpeg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/108001628-1720062067145-gettyimages-814141990-kidsunset-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/108001628-1720062067145-gettyimages-814141990-kidsunset.jpeg 929w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A little boy with his mother and grandmother, watch the sunset scenery at Beijing international airport.  Zhang Peng | Lightrocket | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



China’s population is shrinking, and the demographic shift will ultimately hurt its economy, shrink the labor force and put pressure on fiscal policy.



“The working age population [in China] will fall so rapidly over the next decade, that the Chinese economy will need to deal with 1% drag in GDP growth per year for next 10 years,” Darren Tay, head of Asia country risk at BMI Country Risk &amp; Industry Analysis, told “Squawk Box Asia” in June, referring to estimates gathered by evaluating world population data released by the United Nations.



“The fiscal strain as a result of ageing is immediate and concerning,” the Economist Intelligence Unit has warned.



“Economic growth hinges on productivity, capital accumulation and labour inputs. The negative effect of an adverse demographic landscape will manifest primarily through a shrinking workforce,” according to the report published in January.



Raising the retirement age is “one of the few viable options” to maintain long-term fiscal balance, the EIU said.



“Our calculations suggest that&nbsp;if the retirement age is raised to 65 by 2035, the pension budget shortfall could be reduced by&nbsp;20% and received net pension can be increased by 30%, suggesting relief of both government and household burden,” according to the report.



Birth rates are falling around the world as women choose to have children later, or not at all.



Fertility rates have halved across OECD countries — some of the world’s richest nations — falling from about 3.3 children per woman in 1960 to about 1.5 children per woman in 2022, according to the OECD, or Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.



“This is significantly below the ‘replacement level’ of 2.1 children per woman needed to keep population constant in the absence of migration,” according to the&nbsp;June&nbsp;report.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-china-s-shrinking-population"><a></a>China’s shrinking population</h2>



China’s population fell for a second consecutive year in 2023 to 1.409 billion people — dropping by 2.08 million from the previous year, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China.



That’s more than the population decline of about 850,000 in 2022 — the first year deaths outnumbered births in the country since the early 1960s during the Great Famine.



“This is a consequence of the one-child policy [set] in place [in] the 1980s,” Erica Tay, director of macro research at Maybank, told CNBC.



China’s population is expected to shrink to 1.317 billion by 2050, and drop by nearly half — to 732 million — by 2100.



Fertility rate in the country is dropping more quickly than its regional peers like South Korea and Japan, Tianchen Xu, a senior economist at The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), told CNBC.



He said the three countries are disproportionately impacted by&nbsp;a rapidly aging population,&nbsp;largely due to&nbsp;improved standards of living,&nbsp;which&nbsp;have&nbsp;a “very strong inverse relationship with fertility rates.”



China, in particular, has been “growing at a very high rate for nearly three decades.” and its economic expansion has been “rapid and extended,” he added.



The country’s&nbsp;welfare system has also “lagged” and fiscal support for childbearing is “quite low by international comparison,” according to Xu.



Surging home prices are not helping.



“The government has largely been incapable of managing the significant rising housing costs,” according to Xu, who pointed out that as housing becomes increasingly costly, people may find it difficult to purchase homes and delay starting a family.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>Falling birth rates</h2>



The rapid economic expansion seen in recent decades in developed nations has brought about rising income levels and the broadening of educational and career opportunities for women.



These improved conditions have led to a greater opportunity cost for having children, Xu said.



“In more developed societies, the tendency is that parents face a much higher cost of raising children, and that tends to be a deterrent to having [them],” said BMI’s Tay.



“The more developed an economy is, the more skills the actors in the economy have to have, and thus, the required investment in each [child] rises by that amount,” he said.



The work culture in Asia can also&nbsp;play a part.



“Among the Asian countries, there’s the entrenched mindset of working long hours,” said Xu, which is “particularly an issue in China, South Korea&#8230; [and] other parts of East and Southeast Asia.”



“These countries are where the aggregate working hours are the longest in the world,” and as a result, workers have less time to build a family, Xu told CNBC.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>Shrinking workforce</h2>



A decline in fertility rate puts pressure on the economy and&nbsp;the society at large&nbsp;as the working population shrinks.



“A country’s birth rates will translate into its working age population growth, some two decades down the road,” said Tay from Maybank..



Additionally, falling fertility rates can impact the ratio of elderly folks who need support from younger generations, which can put “excessive burdens on a country’s health care and pension systems,” Maybank’s Tay told CNBC.



Ultimately, the&nbsp;burden on younger&nbsp;generations will grow as they need to care not only for their own children, but for their elderly parents as well.



This demographic shift in parts of Asia is a structural issue that will require “determined and holistic government effort,” on both fiscal and monetary policy, she said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>China’s policy shifts</h2>



In China, policymakers have been putting a big emphasis on “productivity growth,” Xu told CNBC.



“They have [seen] that there’s a very big decline in the labor contribution to GDP, [which] cannot be mitigated via any sort of policy intervention in the short term,” he said. “That’s why they have been focusing on their productivity growth.”



The country has invested heavily into shifting to digital solutions and developing technologies such automation and advanced chips, said Xu, with the goal of making traditional industries more efficient, and overall, improving productivity.



Looking ahead, Chinese policymakers are encouraged to do more about the labor environment. “That probably entails tighter enforcement of the labor law and promoting work-life balance,” said Xu.



Economists also agree that Chinese policymakers should also work to raise the retirement age in the country, create more aggressive tax rebates for costs associated with child-rearing, and step-up its efforts in constructing affordable housing in the country.



Despite the slowdown in growth expected in China due to its demographics issue, the country’s GDP has grown an average of 9% per year since 1978, according to the World Bank.



Ultimately, “the fact remains that growth of even around 3% would not be, by any stretch of the imagination, a disaster for the Chinese economy,” Tay from BMI told CNBC.



“If they would continue to grow at that pace, which probably would be more sustainable, the average Chinese citizen would be in real terms, better off in income by 13% by 2033,” he added. “So living standards would still continue to rise.”

108001628-1720062067145-gettyimages-814141990-kidsunset

China faces economic headwinds as it grapples with an aging — and shrinking — population

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="525" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/LYNXNPEE8A12W-OZABS.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-503921" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/LYNXNPEE8A12W-OZABS.jpg 800w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/LYNXNPEE8A12W-OZABS-300x197.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/LYNXNPEE8A12W-OZABS-137x90.jpg 137w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/LYNXNPEE8A12W-OZABS-768x504.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Trafigura logo is pictured in the company entrance in Geneva March 11, 2012. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse</figcaption></figure>



July 4 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Trafigura and engineering company Promarks have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the government of Angola to develop a regional power transmission and supply project, the commodities trading company said on Thursday.



The project under consideration is a 2,000 megawatt high-voltage electricity transmission line to take power produced by hydroelectric dams in the north of Angola to the DRC copper belt and Zambia, integrating with the Southern Africa Power Pool, Trafigura said.



(Reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by David Goodman)

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Labour Party wins UK election in a landslide

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UK exit poll predicts just 131 seats for the Conservative Party

As Nigeria’s gasoline debt hits $6 billion, some traders back out, say sources

No God, no big ads and no age debate: The UK election race is very different to America’s

China faces economic headwinds as it grapples with an aging — and shrinking — population

Trafigura and Promarks sign preliminary agreement on Angola power project

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home

How Express Survived Bankruptcy

What are the hidden costs of homeownership — and how to avoid them

Kenya’s Ruto pledges spending cuts after nationwide protests

Keir Starmer is the UK’s new PM

Over $170 billion wiped off cryptocurrencies as market tanks on Mt. Gox bitcoin payout fears

Britain’s new PM to give speech at Downing Street

Nigeria beats rivals for bid to host new Africa Energy Bank

South African Markets – Factors to watch on July 5

African Markets – Factors to watch on July 5

Labour Party wins UK election in a landslide

Kenya rights groups decry abductions as government cracks down on protests

Inside Europe’s tech hubs: Germany’s third wave of growth is here

UK exit poll predicts just 131 seats for the Conservative Party

As Nigeria’s gasoline debt hits $6 billion, some traders back out, say sources

No God, no big ads and no age debate: The UK election race is very different to America’s

China faces economic headwinds as it grapples with an aging — and shrinking — population

Trafigura and Promarks sign preliminary agreement on Angola power project

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