<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2048" height="1292" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/106944604-16321717072021-09-20t205319z_656748898_rc2wtp9oerrm_rtrmadp_0_worldbank-ethics-report-scaled.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-416545" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/106944604-16321717072021-09-20t205319z_656748898_rc2wtp9oerrm_rtrmadp_0_worldbank-ethics-report-scaled.jpeg 2048w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/106944604-16321717072021-09-20t205319z_656748898_rc2wtp9oerrm_rtrmadp_0_worldbank-ethics-report-300x189.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/106944604-16321717072021-09-20t205319z_656748898_rc2wtp9oerrm_rtrmadp_0_worldbank-ethics-report-820x517.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/106944604-16321717072021-09-20t205319z_656748898_rc2wtp9oerrm_rtrmadp_0_worldbank-ethics-report-143x90.jpeg 143w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/106944604-16321717072021-09-20t205319z_656748898_rc2wtp9oerrm_rtrmadp_0_worldbank-ethics-report-768x484.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/106944604-16321717072021-09-20t205319z_656748898_rc2wtp9oerrm_rtrmadp_0_worldbank-ethics-report-1536x969.jpeg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A participant stands near a logo of World Bank at the International Monetary Fund &#8211; World Bank Annual Meeting 2018 in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, October 12, 2018.
Johannes Christo | Reuters</figcaption></figure>



LONDON, July 17 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;The World Bank is looking to issue its first drought bond in the next 12-18-months and broaden its offering of catastrophe bonds supporting countries suffering devastation from storms and earthquakes, a senior executive at the lender said.



The drought bond would be a new instrument in the multilateral lender&#8217;s suite of so-called cat bonds &#8211; fixed income instruments that pay out to countries in the event of a natural disaster.



&#8220;We would love to do something in the drought space, that is something we are working on,&#8221; said George Richardson, director of the capital markets and investment department at the World Bank Treasury told Reuters, adding this would be most likely focussed on Africa.



The World Bank has arranged and issued cat bonds though its lending arm, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), to help emerging economies mitigate the fallout from storms and earthquakes for well over a decade. It has made $568 million of insurance payouts on these instruments.



The vast majority of the World Bank&#8217;s existing cat bonds cover countries in the Pacific and Caribbean regions, with Mexico dominating issuance.



The lender was now in talks with more countries to broaden the geographic scope, Richardson said.



Southern Africa is reeling from its worst drought in years, owing to a combination of naturally occurring El Nino &#8211; a warming of waters in the eastern Pacific leading to hotter weather across the world &#8211; and higher average temperatures produced by greenhouse gas emissions. This led to a number of record-breaking weather extremes last year.



Richardson said modelling droughts, wildfires and floods was a little more difficult than earthquakes or storms for a parametric cat bond, an instrument where triggers depend on physical parametres of an event.



&#8220;The fundamental challenge is that you need data, and you need to have some history of that so that it can be modelled by various agencies,&#8221; Richardson said.



The World Bank has also recently offered vulnerable, low income countries the option of introducing clauses into their borrowing from the Washington-based lender that would allow governments to defer repayments for up to two years if they were hit by a severe natural disaster.



So far, seven countries have signed up to the so-called Climate Resilient Debt Clauses (CRDC) &#8211; Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Montenegro.



&#8220;Some of these are evaluating whether they should activate this clause after hurricane Beryl but so far, no decision has been made from what we know,&#8221; said Richardson.



Beryl left a trail of devastation across several Caribbean islands earlier this month, destroying as many as 90% of homes in parts of Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.



(Reporting by Karin Strohecker and Marc Jones; Editing by Mark Potter)

106944604-16321717072021-09-20t205319z_656748898_rc2wtp9oerrm_rtrmadp_0_worldbank-ethics-report

World Bank eyes first ‘drought’ bond in next 12-18 months

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2048" height="1365" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/107405347-1713901590053-gettyimages-1467862508-r15207-fr-01-ge-01-scaled.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-508539" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/107405347-1713901590053-gettyimages-1467862508-r15207-fr-01-ge-01-scaled.jpeg 2048w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/107405347-1713901590053-gettyimages-1467862508-r15207-fr-01-ge-01-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/107405347-1713901590053-gettyimages-1467862508-r15207-fr-01-ge-01-820x547.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/107405347-1713901590053-gettyimages-1467862508-r15207-fr-01-ge-01-135x90.jpeg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/107405347-1713901590053-gettyimages-1467862508-r15207-fr-01-ge-01-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/107405347-1713901590053-gettyimages-1467862508-r15207-fr-01-ge-01-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Golden Horn and Bosphorus at sunset, Istanbul, Turkey Matteo Colombo | Digitalvision | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Turkey came out miles ahead of the rest of the world in an annual global wealth ranking — in a result that may come as surprising, given the country’s high levels of inflation.



“Türkiye stands out with a staggering growth of over 157% in wealth per adult between 2022 and 2023, leaving all other nations far behind,” Swiss bank UBS wrote in its Global Wealth Report 2024, using the local spelling for the country’s name.



The next-highest countries in terms of average wealth growth per adult were Russia and Qatar with nearly 20% and South Africa with just over 16%. In the U.S., average wealth per adult grew by nearly 2.5%.



Inflation in Turkey sits at nearly 72%, an eye-watering figure for the country’s 85 million people, many of whom have seen a dramatic drop in their purchasing power over the last several years. In the last five years, the Turkish lira has lost nearly 83% of its value against the dollar, and the currency trades at 33 lira to the greenback as of 09:07 a.m. London time on Wednesday.



But for Turks who own assets like homes, wealth has grown, as inflation pushes up the costs of those holdings.



The UBS report defines net worth or “wealth” as “the value of financial assets plus real assets (principally housing) owned by households, minus their debts.” In a call with journalists, some of the report’s authors broke down the relationship between inflation and wealth rises in Turkey.



“In certain ways, the high pace of inflation also helps explain why wealth has risen much much more in local currency terms, at least [more] than in other countries because it’s worth keeping in mind that wealth is measured in nominal terms,” Samuel Adams economist at UBS Global Wealth Management, told CNBC.



“If inflation is very high, what tends to happen is that if you have a real asset like housing, the house prices tend to rise in line with inflation, if not even faster,” he said. “So those people with have homeownership, or who have equities, which also tend to perform fairly well in those environments, they tend to see their wealth accumulate a bit faster.



“Of course, it doesn’t mean that everybody benefits to the same extent,” Adams added. “If you’re not in those assets, if your wage rises don’t keep pace with inflation, then, of course, it will be fairly negatively affected.”



The report also noted the “currency effect”, which is what changes wealth growth the most — local currency growth figures for wealth are often significantly different from those in dollar terms.



“Türkiye’s already exceptional growth of over 63% in USD &#8230; more than doubles to nearly 158% in Turkish lira,” it said. Other examples in the report included Japan, which in dollar terms has seen less than 2% average growth in wealth per adult in U.S. dollar terms between 2022-23, but in local currency that growth was 9%.



Evaluating countries’ average wealth growth between the years of 2008 and 2023, “the most dramatic evolution has taken place in Türkiye,” UBS wrote, “where average wealth per adult in this period has shot up by 1708% in local currency.”



UBS Global Wealth Management’s Chief Economist Paul Donovan pointed out that being asset-rich does not necessarily mean being cash-rich — in Turkey, this could actually be the opposite.



“In terms of living standards rather than wealth, it’s also important to remember that if you own a house, the value of your house has gone up, but your real wage may be negative at the same time. So you can be &#8230; asset rich and cash poor,” Donovan said last week.



“That’s certainly a possibility, where a lot of the stresses that have arisen in the Turkish economy over the last few years have come about because of negative real income,” he added, “not necessarily what’s happening on the asset side.”

107405347-1713901590053-gettyimages-1467862508-r15207-fr-01-ge-01

Wealth growth in Turkey, South Africa shows surprising expansion

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="1067" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/responsive_big_webp_g4HszNIBPcEQqWKXN36WnGfcOeIXBid9O1akAXmkSmE.webp" alt="" class="wp-image-418642" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/responsive_big_webp_g4HszNIBPcEQqWKXN36WnGfcOeIXBid9O1akAXmkSmE.webp 1600w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/responsive_big_webp_g4HszNIBPcEQqWKXN36WnGfcOeIXBid9O1akAXmkSmE-300x200.webp 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/responsive_big_webp_g4HszNIBPcEQqWKXN36WnGfcOeIXBid9O1akAXmkSmE-820x547.webp 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/responsive_big_webp_g4HszNIBPcEQqWKXN36WnGfcOeIXBid9O1akAXmkSmE-135x90.webp 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/responsive_big_webp_g4HszNIBPcEQqWKXN36WnGfcOeIXBid9O1akAXmkSmE-768x512.webp 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/responsive_big_webp_g4HszNIBPcEQqWKXN36WnGfcOeIXBid9O1akAXmkSmE-1536x1024.webp 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Africa’s abundant renewable energy sources could make it a global hub for producing low-carbon hydrogen
Image: Unsplash/Anastasia Palagutina</figcaption></figure>



JOHANNESBURG, July 17 (Thomson Reuters Foundation)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;When Shireen Gouws heard about a new hotline advertised in the community centre where she works in the small town of Laingsburg in South Africa, she was quick to spread the word.



Finally, she thought, people could have their say about renewable projects in their area and make sure they were reaping the benefits of the transition to green energy.



The toll-free hotline, available in 11 official South African languages, was launched on July 9 after a year-long pilot in Laingsburg and the town of Sutherland, where people could call in with complaints, queries and suggestions related to the wind farms operating in the area.



&#8220;Usually companies come and go and there is no engagement with the community, maybe a meeting once in a while. (Now) the community can express themselves if they are happy or unhappy about something,&#8221; Gouws, who works as a clerk at the community centre, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a phone interview.



The ENGAGE! hotline was launched by South African sustainable consulting company Cultiver following a year-long pilot with Enel Green Power, a renewable power unit of Italy&#8217;s largest utility firm, Enel Group.



Enel Green runs the Karusa and Soetwater wind farms in Laingsburg and Sutherland. Cultiver has worked with Enel on community projects in the area since construction on the wind farms began in 2019, and the hotline offers a new way of engaging with the public.



Enel did not immediately reply to a request for comment.



Cultiver now offers the hotline platform to renewable energy, infrastructure and mining projects across southern Africa.



Cultiver&#8217;s aim is to ensure residents of remote towns where solar and wind farms are being installed are included in the dialogue about how these green projects can also benefit locals, said Fezeka Stuurman, the head of Cultiver.



ENGAGE! allows community members to put their grievances directly to project owners and local government, if relevant, to ensure their concerns are dealt with urgently and minimise the risk of social unrest, Stuurman added.



&#8220;We decided that we needed something for communities to reach us directly and in a way that would be dignified, private and insightful,&#8221; Stuurman told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.



As a result of the pilot project, Cultiver helped facilitate the drilling of boreholes for drought-stricken areas, the creation of a value-chain workshop for businesses interested in working with Enel, and the organisation of a registration event for small businesses to take part in procurement, Stuurman said.



Richard Halsey, a policy advisor on the South African team at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), praised the hotline&#8217;s free access and inclusivity for community members.



But the fact that it is funded by project owners could mean some renewable energy and mining companies or infrastructure developers may choose not to use the hotline as it is an additional, optional expense, he said.



Its effectiveness could also be limited as community members are only invited to engage once the project has started, rather than giving them an initial say in what kind of project they would like to see in their area, Halsey added.



&#8220;Effective communication across communities isn&#8217;t just a &#8216;nice to have&#8217; bonus for developers,&#8221; said Halsey.



&#8220;Real involvement and interaction can empower decision-making on both sides &#8230; smoothing the way towards clean energy deployment and helping avoid frustrating delays and opposition,&#8221; he said in emailed comments.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fighting-distrust">FIGHTING DISTRUST</h2>



South Africa is among the world&#8217;s top 15 greenhouse gas emitters &#8211; and the leading emitter in Africa. About 80% of its carbon emissions, and some 90,000 jobs, are linked to coal.



South Africa has secured $676 million in grants from rich nations to shift from coal to clean energy sources such as wind and solar power.



The country&#8217;s sweeping coastline, vast semi-desert and near all-year-round sun are seen by many renewable energy investors as offering impressive potential for solar and wind projects.



South Africa already has in place a 13-year-old programme that procures clean energy from independent power producers (IPPs) to feed into the national grid, while aiming to empower local communities by giving them some of the profits back.



IPP policy states that the power producers should prioritise socioeconomic development within a 50-km (31-mile) radius of the project site.



More than 6,000 megawatts of generation capacity, primarily from wind and solar, have already been granted to bidders under the IPP scheme, according to the U.S. International Trade Administration (ITA).



But research has shown that the money from these projects does not always trickle down to the surrounding communities, building a culture of mistrust when new projects move in.



The hotline is meant to combat this trend. It is advertised through pamphlets and community ambassadors from Cultiver, who talk directly to residents.



Gouws said community members told her that they used the hotline to understand how the wind farm would support the community, and to complain if the funding processes were not clear.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-inform-and-be-informed">&#8216;INFORM AND BE INFORMED&#8217;</h2>



In the past year the platform, which is also available via WhatsApp, received more than 150 calls from residents of Sutherland and Laingsburg, which together are home to some 12,000 people.



Around 50% of the calls were about funding and financial support for community projects under the IPP policy, 20% were grievance-related, 20% focused on training and support for small businesses, and the rest were general inquiries, Cultiver said.



The response time for grievances is about 10-20 working days, depending on the complexity, Stuurman said.



&#8220;Communities called us directly saying &#8230; we need a counsellor, we need a school psychologist, we need a safe house,&#8221; Stuurman said.



A number of calls were about a contractor who was allegedly underpaying workers and failing to supply necessary protective equipment, she said. Following guidance received via the ENGAGE! platform, the workers submitted a collective petition and a new contractor was appointed.



Gouws said students, whose bursaries were being funded through Enel&#8217;s community profit-sharing schemes, used the hotline to follow up on payment delays, resolving the issue almost immediately.



The platform was a good start to allow &#8220;quieter voices to share concerns &#8230; to inform and be informed,&#8221; said Allistar Gibbons, the manager of community services in the Karoo Hoogland Municipality in the Northern Cape, where Sutherland is.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-opportunity-to-learn">&#8216;OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN&#8217;</h2>



Community support also has a financial benefit, said Stuurman, who has witnessed protests and stoppages halt various projects she has worked on in the past decade.



&#8220;When you&#8217;re investing billions of rands into an asset, the immediate risk is around having that asset jeopardised in some shape or form,&#8221; she said.



South Africa&#8217;s economy was built on extractive mining industries, including coal, gold and diamonds, that made use of Black, migrant labour to enrich the white minority during colonial and apartheid years.



The renewable industry offers an opportunity to learn from past practices, said Holle Wlokas, co-founder of the Initiative for Social Performance in Renewable Energy (INSPIRE) non-profit.



Wlokas said ENGAGE! represented an &#8220;exciting opportunity&#8221; to keep investing in community relationships, both via the hotline and in person.



&#8220;We do see in the renewable sector, at times, community narratives comparing renewables with the mining industry,&#8221; said Wlokas in a phone interview.



&#8220;Quite a common saying is that the wind and solar projects steal the diamonds from the sky as the mining sector stole the diamonds out of the earth,&#8221; she said.



&#8220;And that experience of extraction and exploitation is an important one to listen very carefully to.&#8221;



(Reporting by Kim Harrisberg in Johannesburg. Editing by Clar Ni Chonghaile. The Thomson Reuters Foundation is the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters.)

responsive_big_webp_g4HszNIBPcEQqWKXN36WnGfcOeIXBid9O1akAXmkSmE

South African hotline gives locals a say on green energy projects

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/6A7M3AO7TJLVNGKEVN2F6TDGYE-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-493882" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/6A7M3AO7TJLVNGKEVN2F6TDGYE-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/6A7M3AO7TJLVNGKEVN2F6TDGYE-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/6A7M3AO7TJLVNGKEVN2F6TDGYE-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/6A7M3AO7TJLVNGKEVN2F6TDGYE-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/6A7M3AO7TJLVNGKEVN2F6TDGYE-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/6A7M3AO7TJLVNGKEVN2F6TDGYE-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., as IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde meets with Argentine Treasury Minister Nicolas Dujovne September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas</figcaption></figure>



WASHINGTON, July 16 (Reuters) &#8211; The global economy is set for modest growth over the next two years amid cooling activity in the U.S., a bottoming-out in Europe and stronger consumption and exports for China, but risks to the path abound, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday.



The IMF warned in an update to its World Economic Outlook(WEO) that momentum in the fight against inflation is slowing, which could further delay an easing of interest rates and keep up strong dollar pressure on developing economies.



The IMF kept its 2024 global real gross domestic product growth forecast unchanged from April at 3.2% and raised its 2025 forecast by 0.1 percentage point to 3.3%. The forecasts fail to shift growth from the lackluster levels that IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva has warned would lead to &#8220;the tepid twenties.&#8221;



But the revised outlook reflected some shifting sands among major economies, with the 2024 U.S. growth forecast reduced by 0.1 percentage point to 2.6%, reflecting slower-than-expected first-quarter consumption. The Fund&#8217;s 2025 U.S growth forecast was unchanged at 1.9%, a slowdown driven by a cooling labor market and moderating spending in response to tight monetary policy.



&#8220;Growth in major advanced economies is becoming more aligned as output gaps are closing,&#8221; IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said in a blog post accompanying the report, adding that the U.S. was showing increasing signs of cooling, while Europe was poised to pick up.



The IMF significantly hiked its China growth forecast to 5.0% &#8211; matching the Chinese government&#8217;s target for the year &#8211; from 4.6% in April due to a first-quarter rebound in private consumption and strong exports. The IMF also boosted its 2025 China growth forecast to 4.5% from 4.1% in April.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-china-risks">CHINA RISKS</h2>



But China&#8217;s momentum may be sputtering, as Beijing on Monday reported second-quarter GDP growth of just 4.7%, significantly below forecasts amid weak consumer spending amid a protracted property downturn.



Gourinchas told Reuters in an interview that the new data poses a downside risk to the IMF forecast, as it signals weakness in consumer confidence and continuing problems in the property sector. To boost domestic consumption, China needs to fully resolve its property crisis, as real estate is the main asset for most Chinese households.



&#8220;When you&#8217;re looking at China, the weaker the domestic demand, the more growth is going to rely potentially on the external sector,&#8221; he said, inviting more trade tensions.



On a more positive note, the IMF slightly upgraded its 2024 eurozone growth forecast by 0.1 percentage point to 0.9%, leaving the bloc&#8217;s 2025 forecast unchanged at 1.5%.



The eurozone has &#8220;bottomed out&#8221; and saw stronger first-half services growth, while rising real wages will help power consumption next year and easing monetary policy will aid investment, the IMF said.



It cut Japan&#8217;s 2024 growth forecast to 0.7% from 0.9% in April due in part to supply disruptions from a major auto plant shutdown and weak private investment in the first quarter.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-inflation-risks-remain">INFLATION RISKS REMAIN</h2>



The IMF warned of near-term upside risks to inflation as services prices remain elevated amid wage growth in the labor-intensive sector and said renewed trade and geopolitical tensions could stoke price pressures by increasing the cost of imported goods along the supply chain.



&#8220;The risk of elevated inflation has raised the prospects of higher-for-even-longer interest rates, which in turn increases external, fiscal and financial risks,&#8221; the IMF said in the report.



Gourinchas said that despite a fall in U.S. consumer prices last month, the Federal Reserve



can afford to wait



a bit longer to begin cutting rates to avoid any inflationary surprises.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-protectionism-risks">PROTECTIONISM RISKS</h2>



The IMF also warned of potential swings in economic policy as a result of many elections this year that could have negative spillovers to the rest of the world.



&#8220;These potential shifts entail fiscal profligacy risks that will worsen debt dynamics, adversely affecting long-term yields and ratcheting up protectionism,&#8221; the Fund said.



The Fund did not name U.S. Republican Party candidate Donald Trump, who has proposed to impose a 10% tariff on all U.S. imports, nor Democratic President Joe Biden, who has sharply hiked tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, batteries, solar panels and semiconductors.



But it said that higher tariffs and a scaling up of domestic industrial policy could create &#8220;damaging cross-border spillovers, as well as trigger retaliation, resulting in a costly race to the bottom.&#8221;



Instead, the IMF recommended that policymakers persevere with restoring price stability &#8211; easing monetary policy only gradually &#8211; replenish fiscal buffers drained during the pandemic and pursue policies that promote trade and increase productivity. 



(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Dan Burns)

IMF logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington

IMF sees steady global growth, warns of slowing disinflation momentum

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="528" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/7OMLJWHVFZILBPXIQFVWFUYC2M-820x528.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-508174" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/7OMLJWHVFZILBPXIQFVWFUYC2M-820x528.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/7OMLJWHVFZILBPXIQFVWFUYC2M-300x193.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/7OMLJWHVFZILBPXIQFVWFUYC2M-140x90.jpg 140w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/7OMLJWHVFZILBPXIQFVWFUYC2M-768x494.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/7OMLJWHVFZILBPXIQFVWFUYC2M-1536x988.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/7OMLJWHVFZILBPXIQFVWFUYC2M-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A protestor reacts during an anti-government demonstration following nationwide deadly riots over tax hikes and a controversial now-withdrawn finance bill in Kitengela, Kenya, July 16, 2024. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi</figcaption></figure>



NAIROBI, July 16 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Police in Kenya fired tear gas on Tuesday to disperse hundreds of protesters aiming to keep pressure on President William Ruto after he made a series of concessions to demonstrators&#8217; demands.



Leading activists behind weeks of protests, initially sparked by proposed tax hikes, called for a &#8220;total shutdown&#8221; of the country on Tuesday.



The protests have created the biggest crisis of Ruto&#8217;s two years in power and have continued &#8211; albeit with a smaller turnout &#8211; even after the president withdrew $2.7 billion in tax hikes and fired nearly his entire cabinet.



Many demonstrators are demanding that Ruto step down, blaming him for misgovernance, corruption and the deaths of dozens of protesters during earlier anti-government rallies.



On Tuesday, police fired tear gas in Kitengela, a town on the southern outskirts of the capital Nairobi, where around 200 protesters burned tyres and chanted &#8220;Ruto must go&#8221; and &#8220;Stop killing us&#8221;, Reuters reporters said.



Riot police in Nairobi&#8217;s city centre also fired tear gas as a few dozen protesters chanted for Ruto to step down. Demonstrators in the coastal city of Mombasa marched waving palm fronds, footage from Kenyan media showed.



Ruto&#8217;s office had announced &#8220;multi-sectoral&#8221; talks for this week to address grievances raised by the protesters, but there was no sign they had begun. Most of the leading activists behind the protests have rejected the invitation, instead calling for immediate action on issues like corruption.



Ruto&#8217;s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.



With Kenya spending over 30% of its revenues just paying the interest bills on its debt, Ruto has been caught between the demands of lenders to cut deficits and a hard-pressed population reeling from rising living costs.



The protests began peacefully but later turned violent. Some demonstrators briefly stormed parliament on June 25, and the police opened fire. More than 40 people have been killed in the protests, rights groups say.



Ruto on Monday accused the Ford Foundation, an American philanthropic organisation, of sponsoring those who had caused &#8220;violence and mayhem&#8221; in Kenya, without providing evidence.



The Ford Foundation rejected the allegation, saying it did not fund or sponsor the protests and has a strictly non-partisan policy for its grant-making.



(Additional reporting by Hereward Holland and Humphrey Malalo; Editing by Aaron Ross and Ros Russell)

Anti-government protests against the imposition of tax hikes by the government, in Kajiado

Kenya police fire tear gas as anti-government protesters burn tyres

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="499" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/IDTPN2YDDJOW3KGSUBE2QDHZYU-820x499.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-508090" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/IDTPN2YDDJOW3KGSUBE2QDHZYU-820x499.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/IDTPN2YDDJOW3KGSUBE2QDHZYU-300x183.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/IDTPN2YDDJOW3KGSUBE2QDHZYU-148x90.jpg 148w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/IDTPN2YDDJOW3KGSUBE2QDHZYU-768x468.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/IDTPN2YDDJOW3KGSUBE2QDHZYU-1536x936.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/IDTPN2YDDJOW3KGSUBE2QDHZYU-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Rwanda&#8217;s incumbent President and presidential candidate for the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) Paul Kagame casts his ballot during the Presidential election at the SOS Kinyinya polling centre in Kigali, Rwanda July 15, 2024. REUTERS/Jean Bizimana</figcaption></figure>



KIGALI, (Reuters) &#8211; Rwandans lined up on Monday to elect their next president, with early results putting incumbent Paul Kagame in the lead in a vote widely expected to give him a fourth term and extend his near quarter century in charge of the East African country.



The two men standing against him &#8211; Frank Habineza from the Democratic Green Party and independent Philippe Mpayimana &#8211; said they were hoping to make some progress, but analysts and rights groups said Kagame&#8217;s overwhelming victory was all but certain.



Kagame, who got more than 93% of the vote at the last three elections, won praise from Western and regional leaders at the time for helping end the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The U.S. State Department and others have also lauded the development of the economy.



Rwandans are also voting on Monday for members of the lower house of parliament and provisional results are expected by July 20. Polling stations were open until 3 p.m. (1300 GMT).



The overall voter turnout was 98% of the 9 million registered voters, Oda Gasinzigwa, chair of the National Electoral Commission, said in a statement on the national broadcaster later on Monday evening.



Of 78.94% of the votes counted at about 2017 GMT, Kagame was ahead with 99.15% of the votes, data from the commission showed.



Campaign groups, including Human Rights Watch, have accused authorities of cracking down on journalists, the opposition and civil society groups before the vote. Kagame has dismissed such accusations and described himself as the stability candidate.



His reelection could signal a measure of political stability for his corner of a fractured region, but also continued global scrutiny, given the accusations of abuses and of supporting rebels in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo &#8211; a charge he has also denied.



Earlier on Monday, at the Rwandexco polling centre in the capital Kigali, Barimukije Pheneas said he would vote for the 66-year-old incumbent.



&#8220;We voted smoothly without any crowding, and we are happy,&#8221; Pheneas said. &#8220;I voted for Paul Kagame because he has achieved a lot for us; he united us.&#8221;



Motorcycle taxi driver Karangwa Vedaste said the voting process was calm and peaceful, but declined to say who he had chosen.



&#8220;I voted for a leader I trust. The one I voted for is a secret in my heart. We will share it when he wins,&#8221; Vedaste said.



The electoral commission barred eight other candidates, including Kagame&#8217;s most vocal critics, from running, citing a range of reasons including missing and incomplete registration documents.



Democratic Green Party candidate Habineza, whose deputy was found dead and almost beheaded in the run-up to the 2010 vote, said there had been signs of progress.



&#8220;We toured the entire country, and wherever we went, people welcomed us warmly. They gave us gifts and assured us they would vote for us,&#8221; Habineza said after voting.



&#8220;We have to maintain this momentum and not regress,&#8221; he added.



&#8220;We are confident, each of us is confident, it&#8217;s half and half,&#8221; independent presidential candidate Mpayimana told journalists after casting his vote.



The U.S. State Department says on its website Rwanda has made &#8220;progress in developing national and local government institutions, economic development, maintaining security (and) promoting reconciliation&#8221;.



It also says it backs Rwanda efforts to &#8220;increase democratic participation (and) enhance respect for civil and political rights&#8221;.



(Writing by Elias Biryabarema and George Obulutsa; Editing by Ros Russell, Michael Perry, Andrew Heavens and Sandra Maler)

Rwanda President Paul Kagame votes during the presidential election in Kigali

Rwandans vote ‘smoothly’ in election; Kagame in early lead

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2048" height="1365" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/5ZGRRFFQPNPITEWABJ6LCA2HG4-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-507832" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/5ZGRRFFQPNPITEWABJ6LCA2HG4-scaled.jpg 2048w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/5ZGRRFFQPNPITEWABJ6LCA2HG4-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/5ZGRRFFQPNPITEWABJ6LCA2HG4-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/5ZGRRFFQPNPITEWABJ6LCA2HG4-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/5ZGRRFFQPNPITEWABJ6LCA2HG4-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/5ZGRRFFQPNPITEWABJ6LCA2HG4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A woman stands at the check out counter after shopping at Cherries Hypermarket in Abuja, Nigeria March 15, 2022. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde</figcaption></figure>



ABUJA, July 15 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Nigeria&#8217;s rate of inflation rose to a new 28-year high of 34.19% in annual terms in June, official data showed on Monday, but some analysts said it may have peaked as devaluation effects should start to fade from this month.



June&#8217;s data marked the 19th straight month that inflation had risen in Africa&#8217;s most populous nation, up from 33.95% in May.



It came roughly a week before the central bank is due to announce another interest rate decision, which will be closely watched after three hikes already this year.



Price pressures have been spurred by policies implemented by President Bola Tinubu, chiefly slashing petrol and electricity subsidies and devaluing the naira currency twice within a year.



The reforms have hurt the poor and left millions grappling with the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades.



Labour unions met with Tinubu last week to push for a new minimum wage after suspending an indefinite strike last month.



Data published by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday showed food and non-alcoholic beverages continued to be the biggest contributor to inflation in June.



Food inflation rose to 40.87% from 40.66% the previous month.



Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Olayemi Cardoso has said the bank will do whatever is necessary to tame inflation.



David Omojomolo, Africa economist at Capital Economics, said he believed inflation would soon start falling, probably from July, and drop below 30% by the end of the year.



&#8220;This, we think, will set the stage for the CBN to start thinking about interest rate cuts in the near future,&#8221; he wrote in a research note.



At its last monetary policy meeting in May, the central bank raised its key lending rate by 150 basis points to 26.25%. Its next rate decision is due on July 23.



(Additional reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe in Lagos and Mohd Edrees in Bangalore;Editing by Alexander Winning and Bernadette Baum)

People shop at Cherries Hypermarket in Abuja

Nigeria’s inflation hit new 28-year high in June, may have peaked

<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/ESY6J5J7ABKT3L6B7A2M34W7YY-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-507757" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/ESY6J5J7ABKT3L6B7A2M34W7YY-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/ESY6J5J7ABKT3L6B7A2M34W7YY-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/ESY6J5J7ABKT3L6B7A2M34W7YY-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/ESY6J5J7ABKT3L6B7A2M34W7YY-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/ESY6J5J7ABKT3L6B7A2M34W7YY-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/ESY6J5J7ABKT3L6B7A2M34W7YY-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">South Africa&#8217;s president Cyril Ramaphosa delivers the State of the Nation Address (SONA) to a joint sitting of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces in Cape Town, South Africa, February 10, 2022. Nic Bothma/Pool via REUTERS</figcaption></figure>



PRETORIA, July 15 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;South Africa&#8217;s President Cyril Ramaphosa warned other developing nations on Monday that future carbon taxes proposed by rich countries would damage their economies unless they act swiftly to ditch fossil fuels in favour of green energy.



Addressing a National Treasury and World Bank climate change conference in the capital Pretoria, Ramaphosa said the carbon intensity of South Africa&#8217;s economy, which relies heavily on burning coal to produce electricity, was unsustainable.



&#8220;For decades our reliance on coal &#8230; allowed us to produce electricity cheaply. But the world has changed and this dependency has come to pose significant risks,&#8221; he said, chiefly carbon taxes proposed by trading blocs like the European Union.



&#8220;Instruments like the European Union&#8217;s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism &#8230; (have) the potential to cause great damage to developing economies,&#8221; he said.



Data from think tank Ember shows South Africa was the most carbon-intensive major economy in 2022, producing 709 grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt hour of energy generated.



That has put it in the world&#8217;s top 15 greenhouse gas emitters &#8211; above Turkey, Italy, France or Britain, according to watchdog Climate Transparency.



Ramaphosa highlighted the impact of storms last week around the city of Cape Town, which shut down the port and caused &#8220;caused devastation to homes, communities, businesses and infrastructure&#8221;, as an example of negative climate impacts.



&#8220;The countries of the Global South &#8230; feel the effects of climate change most, despite being least responsible historically for global emissions,&#8221; he said.



South Africa&#8217;s new energy minister vowed last week to accelerate the transition to renewable energy, in a shift in rhetoric from his predecessor, a defender of the coal business. Yet few details have emerged of how this will occur.



Western donors are offering billions of dollars in loans to fund the transition, but South African officials say they barely scratch the surface of the finance needed.



The country has some of the world&#8217;s best available sun and wind energy, yet years-long bureaucratic delays to granting licenses and policy uncertainty has turned off investors, and last year the government delayed decommissioning eight coal-fired power stations well into 2030, citing energy security.



(Reporting by Tim Cocks; additional reporting by Kopano Gumbi; Editing by Alison Williams)

South Africa’s Ramaphosa urges green energy to avoid carbon border tax

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="576" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/UBA56WNMY5LWDEZ67BOH74TT2U-820x576.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-507752" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/UBA56WNMY5LWDEZ67BOH74TT2U-820x576.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/UBA56WNMY5LWDEZ67BOH74TT2U-300x211.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/UBA56WNMY5LWDEZ67BOH74TT2U-128x90.jpg 128w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/UBA56WNMY5LWDEZ67BOH74TT2U-768x539.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/UBA56WNMY5LWDEZ67BOH74TT2U-1536x1078.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/UBA56WNMY5LWDEZ67BOH74TT2U-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The head of Nigeria&#8217;s state oil company NNPC, Mele Kyari, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Abuja, Nigeria August 7, 2019. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



LAGOS, July 15 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Nigerian state-owned oil firm NNPC shareholding in Dangote refinery has been whittled down to 7.2% from 20% after failing to pay the balance of funding owed, Aliko Dangote, the refinery&#8217;s owner told the BusinessDay newspaper.



NNPC, which is in talks over another oil-backed loan to boost its finances, agreed three years ago to buy shares for $2.7 billion in the 650,000 barrels per day refinery.



But Dangote told reporters during a briefing at the plant on the outskirts of Lagos on Sunday that NNPC failed to meet its part of the deal, the BusinessDay newspaper reported on Monday.



&#8220;NNPC no longer owns a 20% stake in the Dangote refinery. They were (meant) to pay their balance in June, but have yet to fulfil the obligations. Now, they only own a 7.2% stake in the refinery,&#8221; Dangote was quoted saying.



NNPC was not immediately available to comment.



The Dangote refinery has been struggling to secure enough crude supplies locally because Nigeria&#8217;s production is constrained by lack of investment, pipeline vandalism and crude theft.



That has forced the refinery to import U.S. crude to reach its full capacity next year.



Dangote said he expected the refinery and a fertiliser plant, which is in the same complex, to be listed on the Nigerian stock exchange in the first quarter of 2025.



A senior company executive said in May the refinery aimed for a dual listing on the London and Lagos bourses.



(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe, Editing by Louise Heavens)

FILE PHOTO: The head of NNPC, Mele Kyari, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Abuja

Nigeria’s NNPC stake in Dangote refinery reduced over non-payment, CEO tells paper

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2048" height="1336" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/FEWOQ7AP7VKRLHUUH22MJ7YJ3A-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-507731" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/FEWOQ7AP7VKRLHUUH22MJ7YJ3A-scaled.jpg 2048w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/FEWOQ7AP7VKRLHUUH22MJ7YJ3A-300x196.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/FEWOQ7AP7VKRLHUUH22MJ7YJ3A-820x535.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/FEWOQ7AP7VKRLHUUH22MJ7YJ3A-138x90.jpg 138w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/FEWOQ7AP7VKRLHUUH22MJ7YJ3A-768x501.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/FEWOQ7AP7VKRLHUUH22MJ7YJ3A-1536x1002.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Kenya&#8217;s President William Ruto addresses delegates after signing the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Amendment Bill 2024, backed by the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO), at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi, Kenya July 9, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



NAIROBI, July 15 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Kenya&#8217;s government plans to cut 2024-25 spending by 1.9% and widen the fiscal deficit to 3.6% of GDP in a revised budget, the treasury said, weeks after it was forced to roll back tax hikes due to mass protests.



President William Ruto last week fired almost his entire cabinet and pledged to set up a broad-based government in his latest concession to demands from protesters.



Public demonstrations began last month against the now-binned tax hikes, but went on to demand Ruto&#8217;s resignation and deep-rooted political changes to tackle corruption and poor governance.



Ruto had earlier this month proposed spending cuts and additional borrowing in roughly equal measure to fill the nearly $2.7 billion budget hole caused by the withdrawal of the tax hikes.



When lawmakers return to parliament next week they will need to debate and pass the supplementary budget, which was signed by Chris Kiptoo, principal treasury secretary on July 11, and shared on parliament&#8217;s website.



The supplementary budget projects total spending at 3.87 trillion Kenyan shillings ($30 billion), down from 3.99 trillion shillings ($31 billion), Kiptoo said.



Recurrent expenditure is estimated to fall 2.1%, while development expenditure will drop 16.4%, he said.



Despite the withdrawal of the tax-hike legislation, the energy regulator on Monday raised the road maintenance levy to 25 shillings per litre of fuel, up from 18 shillings.



Facing the worst crisis of his two-year presidency, Ruto has been caught between the demands of lenders such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to cut deficits, and a population struggling with the high cost of living.



The IMF said on Thursday it was assessing recent developments in Kenya and making adjustments to evolving circumstances.



($1 = 128.7500 Kenyan shillings)



(Reporting by Hereward Holland; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

Kenya’s President William Ruto signs the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Amendment Bill 2024, in Nairobi

Kenya to cut spending in revised budget after tax-hike rollback

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/2TU5RF27YVKWNPFXJZY3IBZPGI-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-507696" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/2TU5RF27YVKWNPFXJZY3IBZPGI-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/2TU5RF27YVKWNPFXJZY3IBZPGI-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/2TU5RF27YVKWNPFXJZY3IBZPGI-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/2TU5RF27YVKWNPFXJZY3IBZPGI-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/2TU5RF27YVKWNPFXJZY3IBZPGI-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/2TU5RF27YVKWNPFXJZY3IBZPGI-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Rwanda&#8217;s incumbent President and presidential candidate for the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) Paul Kagame addresses his supporters during his final campaign rally in Gahanga, Kicukiro district in Kigali, Rwanda, July 13, 2024. REUTERS/Jean Bizimana</figcaption></figure>



KIGALI, July 15 (Reuters) &#8211; Voters in Rwanda lined up at polling stations on Monday to elect their next president, with 66-year-old incumbent Paul Kagame, who has ruled the central African country for nearly a quarter of a century, expected to cruise to victory.



Kagame has won more than 93% of the vote at each of the three previous elections. Eight candidates had applied to run against him, but only two were retained in the final list validated by the electoral commission.



The others, including Kagame&#8217;s most vocal critics, were barred for various reasons that included prior criminal convictions.



At the Rwandexco polling centre in the capital Kigali people started queueing 90 minutes before polls opened.



Voter Barimukije Pheneas said he had chosen to re-elect Kagame, who is praised for rebuilding the country in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide by prioritising development and putting in place effective social services.



&#8220;We voted smoothly without any crowding, and we are happy,&#8221; Pheneas said. &#8220;I voted for Paul Kagame because he has achieved a lot for us; he united us.&#8221;



Kagame is running against two other candidates, Frank Habineza and Philippe Mpayimana, who also challenged him at the last poll in 2017.



He is looking to win the endorsement of the more than 9 million eligible voters, who are also electing members of parliament. Provisional results are expected by July 20.



Motorcycle taxi driver Karangwa Vedaste said the voting process was calm and peaceful.



&#8220;I voted for a leader I trust. The one I voted for is a secret in my heart. We will share it when he wins,&#8221; Vedaste said.



Kagame won nearly 99% of the vote in the 2017 poll, which followed a constitutional change removing term limits that would have prevented him from standing again.



He has won acclaim for transforming Rwanda into a thriving economy but has also faced criticism from rights activists and Western nations for muzzling the media, stifling opposition and backing rebel groups in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.



Rwanda&#8217;s government has denied all the accusations against it, and while campaigning, Kagame promised continued development and stability.



Its human rights record was thrown into the spotlight when Rwanda struck a migration deal in 2022 with the UK to receive thousands of asylum seekers. Britain&#8217;s new government has said it would scrap the deal.



(Writing by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Ros Russell and Michael Perry)

Rwandan President Paul Kagame campaigns in Kigali

Rwandans vote in election expected to extend Kagame’s long rule

<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/NQFF6V3255MN7P5MFDWEA3F5UE-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-506788" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/NQFF6V3255MN7P5MFDWEA3F5UE-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/NQFF6V3255MN7P5MFDWEA3F5UE-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/NQFF6V3255MN7P5MFDWEA3F5UE-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/NQFF6V3255MN7P5MFDWEA3F5UE-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/NQFF6V3255MN7P5MFDWEA3F5UE-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/NQFF6V3255MN7P5MFDWEA3F5UE-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Residents walk between flooded shacks following severe weather from a cold front in Masiphumelele, Cape Town, South Africa July 11, 2024. REUTERS/Nic Bothma/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



CAPE TOWN, July 12 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;More stormy weather loomed over Cape Town after days of high winds and drenching rain that have displaced hundreds of people, flooded homes and uprooted trees, authorities said on Friday.



Close to 33,000 dwellings in both informal settlements and suburbs have been affected, the city&#8217;s disaster management centre said.



Essentials such as meals, blankets, mattresses, roof sheeting and hygiene packs were being distributed to affected communities amid biting winds and plunging temperatures.



&#8220;We have a huge humanitarian situation to deal with and all authorities are working together to address this,&#8221; Anton Bredell, Western Cape Minister for Local Government, said in a statement.



All the city&#8217;s major catchment dams were full or nearing capacity, the Western Cape government said, warning the Breede River in Swellendam town was flowing at more than 1,000 cubic metres a second and was in danger of breaching its banks as more rain is expected.



&#8220;In Laingsburg, the Floriskraal Dam is at 118% and communities in the immediate downstream vicinity have been alerted of the risk of flooding,&#8221; Bredell said, referring to affected towns beyond the city&#8217;s boundaries.



The South Africa Weather Service has warned that an approaching cold front will cause strong to near gale-force winds of around 40 to 60 kph (25-37 mph) between Table Bay and Plettenberg Bay on Sunday.



Wave heights of up to five metres (16 feet) were expected on Saturday morning. Ships at Cape Town port, one of the busiest in South Africa, were advised to taking necessary precautions such as tending to moorings regularly to prevent snapping.



Despite the damage, some residents were enjoying the bad weather. Online videos showed youngsters frolicking about in flooded roads and even boogie boarding down saturated hills.



(Reporting by Wendell Roelf)

Flooding in Cape Town

Cape Town braces for more wind and rain; thousands affected by stormy weather

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="567" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Z6ZWDH7YP5PTDIR6R7OWDNZ6MI-820x567.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-506707" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Z6ZWDH7YP5PTDIR6R7OWDNZ6MI-820x567.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Z6ZWDH7YP5PTDIR6R7OWDNZ6MI-300x208.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Z6ZWDH7YP5PTDIR6R7OWDNZ6MI-130x90.jpg 130w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Z6ZWDH7YP5PTDIR6R7OWDNZ6MI-768x531.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Z6ZWDH7YP5PTDIR6R7OWDNZ6MI-1536x1063.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Z6ZWDH7YP5PTDIR6R7OWDNZ6MI-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Kenya&#8217;s President William Ruto addresses the nation after he dissolved his entire cabinet apart from the foreign minister in the wake of nationwide protests over new taxes, at State House in Nairobi, Kenya July 11, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya</figcaption></figure>



NAIROBI, July 12 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Luxury cars, private helicopters, mounds of cash. The lavish lifestyles of Kenya&#8217;s lawmakers, splashed across TikTok and X, added fuel to anger simmering last month among a young, plugged-in population over proposed tax hikes.



Weeks-long protests about the tax measures have increasingly drawn attention to the large salaries, perks and ostentation of members of parliament (MPs) in a country where three quarters of the population is young and well-paid work is scarce.



Fury boiled over on June 25, when protesters stormed parliament and set it ablaze, pelting fleeing politicians&#8217; vehicles with stones. Since then, private residences and businesses of several MPs, mainly those associated with the ruling coalition, have been attacked.



Now, TikTok and X are being wielded as protest tools. Politicians&#8217; videos are edited and reposted with negative comments. The platforms are awash with allegations of mismanaged funds and discussions on next steps for the as-yet largely leaderless youth movement.



Activists are sharing advice how to use recall powers to topple representatives and have even built an AI-powered chatbot that spits out media reports of corruption allegations when a politician&#8217;s name is entered.



In April and May during the build-up to the protests, ruling party MP Zaheer Jhanda posted videos of himself on TikTok admiring his gleaming Range Rover, a Mercedes G Wagon and a Lexus, triggering angry online commentary.



Protesters have since tried to storm his home, in the western town of Kisii.



Jhanda did not respond to requests for comment.



&#8220;Why would you show us your lavish lifestyle and still not do your job as a leader?&#8221; said artist and activist Rachel Stephanie Akinyi, referring to politicians&#8217; social media posts.



&#8220;What are you trying to show us? &#8216;We have the power to use your money the way we want to, to take care of our own needs.&#8217; But what about us?&#8221;, said Akinyi, who goes by the stage name &#8216;Spontaneous The Poet&#8217;.



In a sign of the pressure the protests are keeping on President William Ruto, on Thursday he said that after listening to Kenyans and reflecting, he had dismissed his entire cabinet apart from the foreign minister, with the aim of setting up a new &#8220;broad-based government.&#8221;



Last week, Ruto, 57, said some officials displayed &#8220;obnoxious opulence.&#8221; He announced austerity measures including cuts to his own offices budget and ordered a review of pay rises MPs and other officials had been due to receive in July.



Didmus Barasa, the ruling party MP for Kimilili in Western Kenya, told Reuters the protesters had valid concerns about what he called the &#8220;insensitivities&#8221; of the government&#8217;s handling of economic development. He did not give further details.



Barasa denied MPs were overpaid.



His personal wealth, including a private helicopter, was a reward for legitimate business activities, he said. Barasa, who is a former soldier and not widely known as a businessman, said he owned a hospital in Turkey.



&#8220;Yes, I have a helicopter. I have a helicopter that I purchased,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I am an inspiration of very many young people in this country.&#8221;



Barasa, after being questioned by a senator about the helicopter, previously said in online comments that he could afford it because he chose to maintain only one wife and believed in God.



Caroline Gaita, Executive Director of Mzalendo, an organisation that monitors parliament, said young Kenyans previously disinterested in politics are re-engaging, aware of the impact legislation has on their daily lives and demanding lawmakers listen to them.



Calling the protests an &#8220;awakening of Gen Z,&#8221; Tom Mboya, an expert on politics and corruption in Kenya, said there was a perception that politicians were rarely, if ever, held to account since Ruto took office in 2022.



&#8220;They have become bolder in their flashy and opulent lifestyles at a time when Kenyans are being taxed to their limit,&#8221; Mboya said of officials and MPs, some of whom have been filmed handing out wads of cash to people in their constituencies.



In 2023, Kenya ranked 126 out of 180 countries in the world by Transparency International&#8217;s Corruption Perception Index,&nbsp;down three places from 2022.



Ruto&#8217;s office did not respond to requests for comment on this story.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lawmakers-face-recall">LAWMAKERS FACE RECALL</h2>



On June 26, Ruto scrapped the tax hikes that triggered the unrest. At least 39 people have been killed in violence related to the protests.



But the anger did not fade.



Having faced little opposition since his 2022 election, Ruto and MPs must now contend with smaller but ongoing country-wide protests that transcend political and ethnic divides that have historically shaped social movements in Kenya, a regional power and Western ally.



There is a growing push for lawmakers to be removed now rather than wait until elections in 2027, with guidelines published online on how to do it, in what would be the first use of recall powers introduced in 2010.



The process involves collecting signatures of at least 30 percent of registered voters in the constituency and then presenting them to the election commission.



Voters in Kabete constituency near Nairobi have collected 5,000 of the 10,000 signatures they need to recall their MP, Ndungi Githuku, a human rights activist involved in the process said.



&#8220;I&#8217;m hoping that Kabete will be able to inspire the rest of the country to take action&#8221; Githuku said. &#8220;We are taking this country back.&#8221;



Kenya&#8217;s opposition, wary of being caught up in the wave of discontent, has named six of its own members to be recalled, subject to the same process.



Even if the MPs who are under pressure escape being ousted, they have lost legitimacy in the eyes of Kenyans, said Senator Richard Onyonka, who was an MP for 15 years.



“I think they are heavily damaged,” he said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dishing-out-millions">DISHING OUT MILLIONS</h2>



Kenyan MPs earn around 33 times the national average wage, and are no strangers to accusations of corruption and waste.



Basic pay for MPs is currently 725,502 Kenya shillings ($5,650) per month in a country where annual per capita income is about $2,000, making them among the best paid in the world compared to average incomes.



They can claim extra money for sitting on committees, cheap loans for houses and extra vehicles, and thousands of dollars per month for travel to constituencies.



Every year, each of Kenya&#8217;s 290 MPs is given over $1 million under a scheme called Constituency Development Funds (CDF) set up to promote local development. The programme has long been plagued by accusations from Kenya&#8217;s Auditor-General (AG) and the national media that the money is inefficiently spent or embezzled.



Kenya&#8217;s Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that the scheme was unlawful but it has not been scrapped, providing MPs with cash to hand out on building classrooms, subsidising education or improving security.



A Reuters analysis of 100 audits of constituency spending by the Auditor-General found 42 constituencies where a total of about 1.7 billion shillings ($13 million) of spending under the CDF scheme on bursaries for school children could not be fully accounted for in the 2021/22 financial year.



The remaining 58 audits reviewed did not mention the bursaries.



The Speaker of the National Assembly did not reply to requests for comment.



MPs have long justified high pay saying that they are expected to distribute cash in their constituencies.



A 2021 report by UK and Dutch think-tanks the Westminster Foundation for Democracy Limited (WFD) and the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy found aspiring members of Kenya&#8217;s parliament had to spend over $180,000, mostly out their own pockets, to campaign in 2017, a figure likely to have risen in 2022, according to anti-corruption expert Mboya, one of the authors.



At weekends, it is not unusual for lawmakers to return home in fleets of SUVs or by helicopter.



&#8220;People are angry and hate us as leadership because every weekend, helicopters crisscross the sky, all of them going to functions where these millions are being dished (out),&#8221; Boni Khalwale told fellow senators on July 3.



(Additional reporting by Edwin Okoth, Edwin Waita and Aaron Ross in Nairobi; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)

Kenya’s President Ruto sacks cabinet after nationwide protests over new taxes

Social media fuels Kenyan youth backlash over lawmakers’ opulence

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2048" height="1365" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/VHFMCME3UZO7DANJAKAOCLCA2U-scaled.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-495905" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/VHFMCME3UZO7DANJAKAOCLCA2U-scaled.jpg 2048w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/VHFMCME3UZO7DANJAKAOCLCA2U-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/VHFMCME3UZO7DANJAKAOCLCA2U-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/VHFMCME3UZO7DANJAKAOCLCA2U-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/VHFMCME3UZO7DANJAKAOCLCA2U-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/VHFMCME3UZO7DANJAKAOCLCA2U-1536x1024.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" /><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, (Reuters) &#8211; Nigeria&#8217;s labour unions told President Bola Tinubu on Thursday that soaring prices and a weakening currency were biting hard as they pushed for a new minimum wage they say will help cushion workers from the worst cost of living crisis in generations.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-it-s-important">WHY IT&#8217;S IMPORTANT</h2>



Labour unions suspended a strike in early June to give negotiations on the new minimum wage a chance but a failure to reach an agreement could prompt unions to call for new action.



Leaders in Nigeria are mindful of deadly riots in Kenya that forced the government to backtrack from raising taxes and are trying to balance between appeasing restive workers and borrowing more to meet wage demands.



Any major disruptions to economic activity could tip over an economy struggling with tepid growth, low production of oil, its main export, and high cost of living.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-by-the-numbers">BY THE NUMBERS</h2>



The government is offering a monthly wage of 62,000 naira ($40) but unions want 250,000 naira ($160) and have asked authorities to roll back increases in gasoline and electricity prices. The last minimum wage was agreed in 2019.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-s-next">WHAT&#8217;S NEXT?</h2>



The labour leaders said they had agreed some issues with Tinubu, which they did not disclose, and added that they would reconvene another meeting in a week.



($1 = 1,560.00 naira)



(Editing by MacDonald Dzirutwe)

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

Nigeria unions meet president in push for new minimum wage

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="572" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/XFNOXFRHRNJ3PLPFQZF66W3MBE-820x572.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-506368" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/XFNOXFRHRNJ3PLPFQZF66W3MBE-820x572.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/XFNOXFRHRNJ3PLPFQZF66W3MBE-300x209.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/XFNOXFRHRNJ3PLPFQZF66W3MBE-129x90.jpg 129w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/XFNOXFRHRNJ3PLPFQZF66W3MBE-768x536.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/XFNOXFRHRNJ3PLPFQZF66W3MBE-1536x1071.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/XFNOXFRHRNJ3PLPFQZF66W3MBE.jpg 1822w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Kenya&#8217;s President William Ruto speaks at a press conference where he announced spending cuts in government after protests against Kenya&#8217;s proposed finance bill 2024/2025, in Nairobi, Kenya, July 5, 2024. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi</figcaption></figure>



NAIROBI, July 11 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Kenyan President William Ruto on Thursday fired his entire cabinet apart from the foreign minister, bowing to pressure from&nbsp;nationwide protests that have created&nbsp;the biggest crisis of his two-year presidency.



The youth-led protests against planned tax hikes started off peacefully but turned violent, killing at least 39 people in clashes with the police last month. Some demonstrators briefly stormed parliament, before Ruto abandoned the new taxes.



&#8220;I will immediately engage in extensive consultations across different sectors and political formations and other Kenyans, both in public and private, with the aim of setting up a broad-based government,&#8221; Ruto said in a televised address to the nation, adding that he would announce additional measures later.



He also dismissed the attorney general but said the office of the deputy president was not affected.



The sweeping cabinet changes were what Kenyans have been asking for, veteran anti-corruption activist John Githongo told Reuters.



&#8220;Let us see what happens now if the new ministers deal with big issues around corruption and just the arrogance and excess of his administration and the fact that a lot of Kenyans died during the demonstrations,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Hopefully this should temporarily calm things.&#8221;



Ruto has been caught between the demands of lenders such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to cut deficits and a hard-pressed population reeling from rising cost of living.



Last week he proposed spending cuts and additional borrowing in roughly equal measure to fill the nearly $2.7 billion budget hole caused by the withdrawal of the tax hikes.



Analysts have said the tax rollback means Kenya is likely to miss IMF targets although the government does not have debts that are due.



The budget deficit is now projected at 4.6% of gross domestic product in the fiscal year that started on July 1.



Ojango Omondi, a community activist from the Social Justice Centres Working Group in Nairobi, said dismissing so many cabinet ministers was a &#8220;move towards justice&#8221;, but activists would want to see who Ruto appoints in their place.



&#8220;It&#8217;s one thing to dismiss, the second is to ensure that the people that will be chosen in the cabinet are accountable to the constitution and the rule of law,&#8221; Omondi said.



(Additional reporting by Aaron Ross in Nairobi and Bhargav Acharya in Johannesburg; Writing by Alexander Winning; Editing by Bate Felix and Arun Koyyur)

Kenya’s President announces government spending cuts after protest against Kenya’s proposed finance bill 2024/2025, in Nairobi

Kenyan president sacks cabinet, bowing to pressure from protests

<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/AU3TIBJDBBNTFCB7MP32IQ4O5A-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-506442" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/AU3TIBJDBBNTFCB7MP32IQ4O5A-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/AU3TIBJDBBNTFCB7MP32IQ4O5A-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/AU3TIBJDBBNTFCB7MP32IQ4O5A-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/AU3TIBJDBBNTFCB7MP32IQ4O5A-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/AU3TIBJDBBNTFCB7MP32IQ4O5A-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/AU3TIBJDBBNTFCB7MP32IQ4O5A-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: A man counts Nigerian naira notes in a market place in Yola, Nigeria, February 22, 2023. REUTERS/Esa Alexander/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



LUSAKA, July 11 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Zambia&#8217;s kwacha and Kenya&#8217;s shilling could fall against the dollar in the next week to Thursday, while Uganda&#8217;s shilling,&nbsp;Nigeria&#8217;s naira&nbsp;and Ghana&#8217;s cedi are seen broadly stable, traders said.



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



Kenya&#8217;s shilling is expected to slip on increased demand for dollars from oil-retailing companies at a time that some market participants are holding off from big bets because of uncertainty over the budget and an International Monetary Fund (IMF) disbursement.



Commercial banks quoted the shilling at 128.75/129.75 per dollar, compared with last Thursday&#8217;s closing rate of 127.75/128.75.



In mid-June Kenya reached a staff-level agreement with IMF, paving the way for a disbursement of about $976 million once board approval is granted.



But since the staff agreement was reached Kenyan President William Ruto withdrew planned tax hikes in response to nationwide protests, a move analysts say could result in the country missing key IMF programme targets.



&#8220;There&#8217;s an element of, you know, wait and see, we still need to hear from the IMF okay and even from Treasury in terms of what is the final budget going to look like,&#8221; one trader said.



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



Nigeria&#8217;s naira is seen little changed on the official market and in street trading.



LSEG data showed the naira at 1,534 to the dollar on the official market on Thursday, compared with around 1,507 a week ago. The unit was quoted at 1,558 on the parallel market on Thursday.



Central bank governor Olayemi Cardoso said at a conference on Thursday that the bank&#8217;s clearer communication had helped reduce market volatility.



&#8220;A lot of the wide swings that we saw are gradually beginning to smoothen out as a result of a better understanding of the market, greater transparency that is taking place and the comfort that those using the market see in it,&#8221; he said.



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



Ghana&#8217;s cedi is expected to hold its ground due to improved liquidity on the interbank market.



LSEG data showed the cedi trading at 15.35 to the dollar on Thursday, compared with 15.30 at last Thursday&#8217;s close.



&#8220;The cedi has seen continued stability this week amid increased volume of dollar supply even with reduced intervention from the central bank. We expect the stability to remain in the coming week,&#8221; said Chris Nettey, head of trading at Stanbic Bank Ghana.



&#8220;(The dollar/cedi pair) has been largely directionless in recent sessions, with very little trading activity between market makers. Improved flows from corporates have also contributed to tighter bid-offer spreads. Up ahead, we expect much of the same,&#8221; said Sedem Dornoo, senior trader at Absa Bank Ghana.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-zambia">ZAMBIA</h2>



Zambia&#8217;s kwacha is expected to remain under pressure due to strong demand for hard currency.



On Thursday the currency of Africa&#8217;s second-largest copper producer was trading at 25.35 per dollar from 24.30 a week ago.



&#8220;In the foreseeable future, losses are anticipated for the kwacha,&#8221; Access Bank said in a note.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-uganda">UGANDA</h2>



Uganda&#8217;s shilling is seen trading around its current levels as hard-currency demand is curtailed by mid-month tax payments due in the local currency.



Commercial banks quoted the shilling at 3,695/3,705 to the dollar, compared to last Thursday&#8217;s close of 3,692/3,702.



&#8220;Demand will be tepid as we have mid-month taxes around the corner,&#8221; one trader said, adding the shilling would likely trade in a range of 3,680-3,710 to the U.S. currency in the coming week.



(Reporting by Chris Mfula, George Obulutsa, Elias Biryabarema, Christian Akorlie and Elisha Bala-GbogboEditing by Alexander Winning)

FILE PHOTO: Man counts Nigerian naira notes in a market place in Yola

Zambian and Kenyan currencies seen under pressure

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="543" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/LLWMXSWBVJMF3BMTIDLHLYEXLI-820x543.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-506323" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/LLWMXSWBVJMF3BMTIDLHLYEXLI-820x543.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/LLWMXSWBVJMF3BMTIDLHLYEXLI-300x199.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/LLWMXSWBVJMF3BMTIDLHLYEXLI-136x90.jpg 136w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/LLWMXSWBVJMF3BMTIDLHLYEXLI-768x508.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/LLWMXSWBVJMF3BMTIDLHLYEXLI-1536x1017.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/LLWMXSWBVJMF3BMTIDLHLYEXLI-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Rwanda&#8217;s President Paul Kagame of the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) party sits to submit his candidacy for an a July 15 election at Rwanda&#8217;s National Election Commission in Kiyovu, Kigali, Rwanda May 17, 2024. REUTERS/Jean Bizimana/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



KIGALI, July 11 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Rwandan President Paul Kagame is expected to cruise to a fourth term in office in an election on Monday against two opposition candidates who were cleared to run against him but have only modest expectations.



Kagame, 66, helped lead the rebel movement that ended the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and has served as president since 2000. He faces only two rivals because six other potential candidates were not cleared to run by the state-run electoral commission.



Kagame won nearly 99% of the vote in the last election in 2017, which followed a constitutional change removing term limits that would have barred him from standing again.



His reelection could signal further stability but also continued global scrutiny, given accusations of rights abuses and continued tensions with neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.



Kagame has won praise during his tenure for rebuilding the country of 14 million after the genocide, in which more than a million people were killed. Rwanda has emerged as a regional financial hub.



But his government has been accused by Western nations and rights activists of muzzling the media, assassinating opponents, and backing rebel groups in neighbouring Congo.



International scrutiny was intensified by the migration deal Rwanda struck in 2022 to receive thousands of asylum seekers from Britain. Newly elected British Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed on Saturday he would scrap the agreement.



Rwanda&#8217;s government has denied all the accusations against it, and while campaigning, Kagame promised continued development and stability.



&#8220;With you, there is nothing our country will not achieve, because today you have leaders who are not foolish and you are not foolish,&#8221; he told young supporters at a rally last week in Eastern Province.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-two-challengers">TWO CHALLENGERS</h2>



Eight candidates had applied to run against Kagame, but only two were retained in the final list validated by the electoral commission. The others, including Kagame&#8217;s most vocal critics, were invalidated for various reasons that included prior criminal convictions.



The two approved candidates, Frank Habineza and Philippe Mpayimana, ran against Kagame in 2017.



In an interview with Reuters, Habineza, the leader of the Democratic Green Party, said he expected to exceed his total of 0.48% of the vote from 2017.



&#8220;People are only considering 2017 and say that I got 0.4%, but they forget that our party stood for parliament and got more than 5%,&#8221; he said.



Mpayimana, who works for the Ministry of National Unity and Civic Engagement, urged voters at a campaign event to consider his candidacy.



&#8220;It&#8217;s true you cannot change the winning team, but we also have to give opportunities to the junior teams to see if they can deliver on their pledges. That is what democracy means,&#8221; he said.



Over 9 million voters are registered for the polls in which they will also elect members of the 80-seat lower house of parliament. Provisional results are expected by July 20.



(Reporting by Aaron Ross, Editing by Bate Felix and Timothy Heritage)

featured

World Bank eyes first ‘drought’ bond in next 12-18 months

Wealth growth in Turkey, South Africa shows surprising expansion

South African hotline gives locals a say on green energy projects

IMF sees steady global growth, warns of slowing disinflation momentum

Kenya police fire tear gas as anti-government protesters burn tyres

Rwandans vote ‘smoothly’ in election; Kagame in early lead

Nigeria’s inflation hit new 28-year high in June, may have peaked

South Africa’s Ramaphosa urges green energy to avoid carbon border tax

Nigeria’s NNPC stake in Dangote refinery reduced over non-payment, CEO tells paper

Kenya to cut spending in revised budget after tax-hike rollback

Rwandans vote in election expected to extend Kagame’s long rule

Cape Town braces for more wind and rain; thousands affected by stormy weather

Social media fuels Kenyan youth backlash over lawmakers’ opulence

Nigeria unions meet president in push for new minimum wage

Kenyan president sacks cabinet, bowing to pressure from protests

Zambian and Kenyan currencies seen under pressure

Kagame expected to cruise to fourth term in Rwanda election

News Tips

Advertise With Us

featured

World Bank eyes first ‘drought’ bond in next 12-18 months

Wealth growth in Turkey, South Africa shows surprising expansion

South African hotline gives locals a say on green energy projects

IMF sees steady global growth, warns of slowing disinflation momentum

Kenya police fire tear gas as anti-government protesters burn tyres

Rwandans vote ‘smoothly’ in election; Kagame in early lead

Nigeria’s inflation hit new 28-year high in June, may have peaked

South Africa’s Ramaphosa urges green energy to avoid carbon border tax

Nigeria’s NNPC stake in Dangote refinery reduced over non-payment, CEO tells paper

Kenya to cut spending in revised budget after tax-hike rollback

Rwandans vote in election expected to extend Kagame’s long rule

Cape Town braces for more wind and rain; thousands affected by stormy weather

Social media fuels Kenyan youth backlash over lawmakers’ opulence

Nigeria unions meet president in push for new minimum wage

Kenyan president sacks cabinet, bowing to pressure from protests

Zambian and Kenyan currencies seen under pressure

Kagame expected to cruise to fourth term in Rwanda election

News Tips

Advertise With Us

Newsletters