<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/V5IRAFHMYRPRVBHQAI5QG5X7UQ-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-413663" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/V5IRAFHMYRPRVBHQAI5QG5X7UQ-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/V5IRAFHMYRPRVBHQAI5QG5X7UQ-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/V5IRAFHMYRPRVBHQAI5QG5X7UQ-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/V5IRAFHMYRPRVBHQAI5QG5X7UQ-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/V5IRAFHMYRPRVBHQAI5QG5X7UQ.jpg 960w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A gas station attendant pumps fuel into a customer&#8217;s car at the NNPC Mega petrol station in Abuja, Nigeria March 19, 2020. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde</figcaption></figure>



LAGOS, April 30 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Gasoline shortages persisted in Nigeria&#8217;s major cities on Tuesday, causing a sharp increase in prices and exacerbating the country&#8217;s cost-of-living crisis.



Prices in some retail outlets in Lagos and Abuja rose above 850 naira, while those outside major cities, such as Kano, soared above 1000 naira, though the government-owned oil firm, NNPC Ltd, which imports the products sells at an average price of 617 naira.



President Bola Tinubu&#8217;s government last year removed subsidies and allowed private firms to import but foreign currency shortages and a cap on the price of petrol have meant NNPC remains the sole importer.



An NNPC spokesperson said that some outlets were taking advantage of this situation to maximise profits.



Gasoline is widely used in cars and to power generators for households and small businesses and the current shortage is weighing on the economy, which is already struggling with the highest inflation rate in 28 years.



Many commuters were left stranded waiting for buses that were stuck in long queues at various retail stations.



Analysts say the price of basic food items would see a sharp increase if shortages persist. This will add to frustrations after the government raised electricity tariffs for some consumers.



&#8220;You have the money for transport but no bus, you have the money for to buy fuel but there is scarcity. No light (electricity), heat everywhere, and high costs of goods. What did we do to deserve our leaders,&#8221; someone posted on the X platform.



The NNPC has attributed the shortages to logistical challenges, assuring customers that it has more than 1.5 billion litres of petrol, which was enough to last at least 30 days. But it is in debt and is unable to produce enough crude for its refineries.



(Reporting by Isaac Anyaogu, Editing by Louise Heavens)

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Nigerian gasoline prices soar as shortages worsen cost of living crisis

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="3956" height="2632" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/VQAZCQXPCFMLTANSLSXV7JVCKA.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-481603"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A man poses with a handful of Zimbabwean dollars at a bank in central Harare, June 15, 2015. Zimbabweans began exchanging old notes of local dollars for U.S. dollars, as President Robert Mugabe&#8217;s government seeks to officially bury the worthless currency. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo/FILE PHOTO</figcaption></figure>



HARARE, April 30 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Zimbabwe&#8217;s new gold-backed currency came into general circulation on Tuesday amid promises by monetary authorities to keep the money supply in check as they struggle to contain inflation.



The southern African country dumped the Zimdollar earlier this month after it lost more than 70% of its value against the U.S. dollar.



The new currency, the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG), is backed by gold, other precious minerals and the U.S. dollar. It was trading on Tuesday at 13.4 to the dollar, little changed from previous levels on the formal market.



Long queues formed outside banks and at Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) while others used the new currency to buy goods in supermarkets.



While some Zimbabweans have expressed mistrust over the new currency, others such as Melda Mudavanhu, a 50-year-old civil servant, remain optimistic.



&#8220;If we support the currency, since it&#8217;s the first one of its kind, this currency will succeed. Getting rid of the money changers is also welcome because they were a menace,&#8221; Mudavanhu said.



Ahead of the ZiG&#8217;s introduction, authorities moved to arrest illegal foreign currency dealers, accusing them of charging a premium on the ZiG against the greenback.



The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe on Monday set ZiG 3,000 as a daily withdrawal limit for individuals as it tries to contain the money supply.



A total of ZiG 80 million is currently on the market, according to the central bank.



The central bank&#8217;s Monetary Policy Committee pledged on Monday to support a tight monetary policy stance.



The ZiG, Zimbabwe&#8217;s fourth attempt at currency reform in a decade, has remained stable on the formal market since its introduction.



(Reporting by Nyasha Chingono, Editing by Bhargav Acharya and Gareth Jones)

VQAZCQXPCFMLTANSLSXV7JVCKA

Zimbabwe’s new gold-backed currency enters circulation

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147863877-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-481574" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147863877-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147863877-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147863877-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147863877-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147863877-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147863877-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Ajay Banga, president of the World Bank Group, speaks during an event at the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. The International Monetary Fund inched up its expectations for global economic growth this year, citing strength in the US and some emerging markets, while warning the outlook remains cautious amid persistent inflation and geopolitical risks. Photographer: Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



NAIROBI, April 30 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;World Bank President Ajay Banga said he expects donor countries to meet a request by African leaders to make record contributions to a low-interest facility for developing nations, saying these were not handouts but investments in the future.



African heads of state called on Monday for rich nations to help raise at least $120 billion for the International Development Association (IDA) at a conference to be held in Japan in December.



That would be a record for IDA, which offers long-term loans to developing nations and operates on a three-year cycle. The last round of fund-raising in 2021 raised $93 billion.



The target amount of $120 billion means donors will have to put up about $30 billion since the World Bank can borrow $3 for every dollar raised.



&#8220;There is no doubt that all the donor countries have their own challenges and their own fiscal responsibilities. But I think they all value the effect of contributing to IDA,&#8221; Banga said in an interview on Monday.



African nations account for more than half of the 75 that tap the IDA facility. Many are grappling with heavy debt burdens and climate disasters but struggle to access affordable financing on international markets.



That makes access to IDA loans crucial, the African leaders said.



Banga said rich countries should recognise that giving generously is in their own interest, citing examples of once-poor countries like China and India that have graduated from IDA recipients to become major economies.



&#8220;I think the most important message is actually that this is not a handout,&#8221; he said. &#8220;If Africa develops well, Africa has a lot to offer the world.&#8221;



(Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Aaron Ross and Nick Macfie)

Spring Meetings Of The International Monetary Fund And World Bank

World Bank chief expects rich nations to meet African donation requests

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="462" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/107403109-1713443463934-gettyimages-2147899569-AFP_34PP888-820x462.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-481532" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/107403109-1713443463934-gettyimages-2147899569-AFP_34PP888-820x462.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/107403109-1713443463934-gettyimages-2147899569-AFP_34PP888-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/107403109-1713443463934-gettyimages-2147899569-AFP_34PP888-160x90.jpeg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/107403109-1713443463934-gettyimages-2147899569-AFP_34PP888-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/107403109-1713443463934-gettyimages-2147899569-AFP_34PP888.jpeg 929w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva speaks during a briefing on the Global Policy Agenda at IMF headquarters during the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, DC on April 18, 2024. Mandel Ngan | Afp | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, played down the prospect of any negative impact from a monetary policy divergence between Europe and the U.S., but said issues could be more acute in emerging markets.



The benchmark rates of most advanced economies soared in recent years, as central banks aimed to tame inflation following the Covid-19 pandemic. These banks are now looking to bring rates back down as economies cool off, although signals in the U.S. suggest that cuts might still be some months away.



A high U.S. interest rate environment is traditionally bad news for emerging markets, as it makes their debts — often priced in U.S. dollars — more expensive. It can also trigger capital outflows, as investors opt for better returns in the U.S., and can cause much tighter financial conditions.



“It is a much more serious issue for countries where the impact of high interest rates in the United States are more profound — in many emerging market economies,” Georgieva told CNBC’s Silvia Amaro in Brussels on Monday.



“We also see some of this in Japan, and there the attention of policymakers, indeed, has to be sharpened to carefully monitor where the volatilities are becoming more significant. In Europe, this is not the case.”



In the euro zone, she said that “we are not too worried about the exchange rate impact,” adding that the IMF’s analysis showed that the 50 basis points difference between the rates of the U.S. Federal Reserve and those of the European Central bank “is likely to lead to miniscule or 0.1 to 0.2% shift in the exchange rate.”



“And that is to say that here [in Europe] this is not a big issue,” she said.

107403109-1713443463934-gettyimages-2147899569-AFP_34PP888

IMF chief warns of emerging market risk with high U.S. interest rates

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="534" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-154793123-820x534.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-481529" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-154793123-820x534.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-154793123-300x195.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-154793123-138x90.jpg 138w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-154793123-768x500.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-154793123-1536x1000.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-154793123-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A visitor descends stairs outside the offices of Anglo American Plc in the Marshalltown district of Johannesburg, South Africa, on Friday, Oct. 26, 2012. Anglo American Plc Chief Executive Officer Cynthia Carroll , the first woman, external hire and non-South African to hold the job, will quit after Anglo lost $14 billion in value in the more than five years she was in charge. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



JOHANNESBURG/LONDON, April 30 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;BHP Group&nbsp;BHP.AX&nbsp;can&#8217;t cherry pick Anglo American&nbsp;AAL.L&nbsp;assets without paying a hefty premium, Anglo investors told Reuters, concerned that they stand to lose heavily by holding shares in South African subsidiaries.



The world&#8217;s No. 1 miner is weighing up its next move after its initial $39 billion takeover proposal for smaller rival Anglo was rejected last week. The proposed premium was 31% on Anglo&#8217;s implied value.



BHP has proposed that Anglo sell its shares in units Anglo Platinum (Amplats)&nbsp;AMSJ.J&nbsp;and Kumba Iron Ore&nbsp;KIOJ.J&nbsp;as an option to exit the South African assets it doesn&#8217;t want included in the deal.



Anglo said the unsolicited proposal significantly undervalued the company and introduced uncertainty, complexities and execution risk.



If the BHP proposal goes ahead, Anglo investors &#8220;could be stuck with three pieces of paper for a deal that could take a long time to close,&#8221; a source at a Cape Town-based fund manager told Reuters.



The process to de-merge South African assets could take as long as 18 months, the source added, due to various regulatory processes that the transaction would need to go through. There is a risk that South African regulatory authorities, particularly its central bank, could be concerned about capital outflows from foreign investors not willing to hold the shares, the source added.



&#8220;BHP could just make it a clean offer and then it&#8217;s up to them to deal with the un-bundling of the shares,&#8221; the source said. &#8220;When the deal goes through they un-bundle Amplats and Kumba to their shareholders.&#8221;



Amplats and Kumba&#8217;s share prices could also come under significant selling pressure if the units were demerged, as several shareholders would not be able to hold the stocks as these are in South Africa, another source familiar with the companies said.



The majority of shares in Kumba and Amplats are sitting in liquid hands, the source said. &#8220;So the 30% premium is going to get eaten up by the loss on those other shares tanking.&#8221;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cherry-picking">CHERRY-PICKING</h2>



&#8220;I think it (the current bid) &#8230; places all of the risk on Anglo shareholders,&#8221; said Django Davidson, partner and portfolio manager at Hosking Partners, which holds shares in Anglo.



&#8220;BHP wants to buy the good bits without any of the friction of disposing of the bad bit. It&#8217;s by no means clear what the de-mergers would mean for the relationship with the South African government and what the underlying commodity prices will do over that period,&#8221; Davidson added.



BHP has until May 22 to submit a binding offer and investors anticipate the company to sweeten its bid.



&#8220;BHP is seeking to make Anglo some sort of an agent for their own deal,&#8221; Shane Watkins, Chief Investment Officer at All Weather Capital, said.



All Weather Capital holds shares in Anglo and BHP and Watkins said the nation&#8217;s central bank is unlikely to approve the transaction if Anglo opts to de-merge its South African units.



&#8220;Anglo must tell BHP they don&#8217;t like the deal or that they should buy the whole company, BHP can&#8217;t cherry-pick,&#8221; another source said.



(Reporting by Felix Njini and Clara Denina; Editing by David Evans)

Anglo American Plc’s South African Headquarters As CEO Cynthia Carroll Quits

As BHP weighs firm bid for Anglo, investors fret over cherry-picking assets

Inside Qualcomm’s chip center in India

Biden makes another push for tuition-free community college

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="562" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ETXNXR4WXZLLPG724P5NBV5VPA-820x562.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-481513" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ETXNXR4WXZLLPG724P5NBV5VPA-820x562.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ETXNXR4WXZLLPG724P5NBV5VPA-300x206.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ETXNXR4WXZLLPG724P5NBV5VPA-131x90.jpg 131w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ETXNXR4WXZLLPG724P5NBV5VPA-768x526.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ETXNXR4WXZLLPG724P5NBV5VPA-1536x1052.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ETXNXR4WXZLLPG724P5NBV5VPA-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Visitors to the BHP (formerly known as BHP Billiton) booth speak with representatives during the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) annual convention in Toronto, Ontario, Canada March 4, 2019. REUTERS/Chris Helgren</figcaption></figure>



LAUNCESTON, Australia, April 29 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;BHP Group&#8217;s proposed takeover of rival miner Anglo American is one of those rare instances where a mega-merger actually makes strong business sense, but it will be difficult to pull off to the satisfaction of all parties.



BHP&nbsp;BHP.AX, the world&#8217;s largest mining company, offered $39 billion last week to buy Anglo&nbsp;AAL.L, a move the London-listed miner that grew out of South Africa rejected as &#8220;significantly&#8221; undervalued.



The expectation now is that BHP may boost its offer, or other buyers for Anglo, or parts of its diversified portfolio, may emerge.



Much of the media attention has focused on Anglo&#8217;s copper assets as the lure for BHP, with a combined company becoming the world&#8217;s largest producer of the industrial metal with a share of around 10%.



In effect, BHP&#8217;s bid is largely seen as a massive vote of confidence in the future of copper, which is essential to the energy transition given its properties as a conductor and its resistance to corrosion.



The bid may also be a tacit admission on BHP&#8217;s part that buying copper assets is far easier than trying to find them and develop new mines.



Anglo has interests in three copper mines in Chile and its production in the 2023 financial year was 507,000 metric tons, which resulted in underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $1.452 billion.



The London-listed miner also has a 60% share in the Quellaveco mine in Peru, which gave it production of 319,000 tons and EBITDA of $1.781 billion.



This gave Anglo total copper output of 826,000 tons and EBITDA of $3.233 billion, or 32% of the group&#8217;s total for 2023.



BHP&#8217;s copper business is more diversified, with operations in Chile, Peru, Australia and the United States, and in the 2023 financial year production was 1.717 million tons for an underlying EBITDA of $6.65 billion.



For the sake of argument, assume Anglo&#8217;s copper earnings can be maintained and the copper price remains stable, it would take about six years for the earnings to pay off half of BHP&#8217;s current offer price for Anglo.



Of course, it&#8217;s likely that there would be some cost synergies, and it&#8217;s also probably the case that copper prices rally, especially if the energy transition starts to accelerate.



That would make Anglo&#8217;s copper assets more valuable to BHP as the return would be over a shorter time period.



Of course, this assumes that BHP&#8217;s view of Anglo&#8217;s assets is that copper is effectively half of the worth of the total company, even though its only 14.5% of underlying EBITDA.



The question for investors looking at BHP&#8217;s proposed takeover of Anglo is how much are Anglo&#8217;s non-copper assets worth, can they be disposed of effectively, or integrated into the wider group.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-coal-iron-ore">COAL, IRON ORE</h2>



The asset that fits best with BHP&#8217;s existing portfolio is Anglo&#8217;s metallurgical coal mines in Australia&#8217;s Queensland state.



BHP, through its alliance with Japan&#8217;s Mitsubishi, is the world&#8217;s largest exporter of the coal used primarily to make steel, while Anglo ranks third.



Combining their assets would create a dominant metallurgical coal player, so much so that the deal is likely to attract scrutiny from regulators, especially in countries like Japan, which source the vast bulk of their coal from Australia.



The current BHP proposal foresees Anglo&#8217;s South African iron ore assets, held through Kumba Iron Ore&nbsp;KIOJ.J, and the platinum mines of Anglo American Platinum&nbsp;AMSJ.J, being divested and distributed to shareholders.



This may present problems for the South African authorities, but it&#8217;s also a sad reflection of how international companies are no longer keen on assets in the country that was once renowned as a centre of mining excellence.



Iron ore is BHP&#8217;s biggest earner, and the high-grade material produced by Kumba would be useful in the portfolio, but South Africa&#8217;s political risk and crumbling infrastructure make it unattractive.



Anglo&#8217;s Brazilian iron ore operations also offer high-grade ore, which BHP could integrate or seek to sell off.



Platinum is a commodity that may struggle in the energy transition, given its use in catalytic converters for internal combustion engine vehicles.



Anglo&#8217;s other interests, such as diamonds through De Beers, and manganese through Samancor, could most probably be sold to existing partners: the Botswana government for De Beers and South 32&nbsp;S32.AX&nbsp;for the manganese.



Overall, the mechanics of the deal seem to make good sense for BHP.



They can be made to make sense for Anglo&#8217;s shareholders if the offer is raised high enough so that they can&#8217;t say no.



Winning over various regulators across several countries may be far more tricky, and compromises may be needed, and that could end up undermining the very logic of the deal in the first place.



Disclosure: At the time of publication Clyde Russell owned shares in BHP Group as an investor in a fund.



The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.



(Editing by Miral Fahmy)

A worker is seen at Anglo American’s Los Bronces copper mine in Chile

BHP’s Anglo buyout makes business sense if the price is right: Russell

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="533" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/LYNXMPEG230SK-OZATP.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-481227" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/LYNXMPEG230SK-OZATP.jpg 800w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/LYNXMPEG230SK-OZATP-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/LYNXMPEG230SK-OZATP-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/LYNXMPEG230SK-OZATP-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">President of Togo Faure Gnassingbe is seen during the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government 54th Ordinary Session in Abuja, Nigeria December 22, 2018. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



LOME, April 29 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Voting got under way in legislative elections in Togo on Monday following approval of constitutional reforms by the outgoing parliament that could extend the 19-year-old rule of President Faure Gnassingbe.



Under a new charter adopted in March introducing a parliamentary system of government, the president will be elected by parliament instead of by universal suffrage.



Details about the assembly&#8217;s election of the head of state remain unclear as yet, although under the new constitution the parliament will appoint a position described as president of the council of ministers, who will have extensive authority to manage the coastal West African nation&#8217;s government affairs.



Monday&#8217;s vote had been pushed back twice because of a fierce backlash from some opposition parties who called the constitutional changes a political manoeuvre to allow Gnassingbe to extend his tenure for life.



Over four million people are registered to vote for 113 lawmakers among 2,352 candidates. Polls opened at 0700 GMT and provisional results are expected from Tuesday.



Regional elections are also taking place.



Opposition parties are taking part, hoping to gain seats that will enable them to challenge Gnassingbe&#8217;s UNIR party after they boycotted the last legislative poll and left it effectively in control of parliament.



Togo has seen years of resistance to the Gnassingbe family&#8217;s grip on power. The president was first elected 19 years ago to succeed his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, who took office in a coup in 1967.



Violent police crackdowns on political demonstrations have been routine under Gnassingbe &#8211; reelected in a 2020 landslide disputed by the opposition &#8211; as they were during his father&#8217;s rule.



Several other African countries have pushed through constitutional and other legal changes in recent years allowing their presidents to extend their terms in office.



Monday&#8217;s vote, initially set for April 20, was postponed twice to allow for consultations on the new constitution.



Amendments unanimously approved in a second parliamentary vote earlier this month shortened presidential terms to four years from five with a two-term limit.



This does not take into account the time already spent in office, which could enable Gnassingbe to stay in power until 2033 if he is re-elected when his mandate expires in 2025. He has not yet stated his intentions.



Some opposition parties and civil society groups renewed calls for protests after the second vote, sparking small-scale demonstrations last week.



(Reporting by Alice Lawson; Writing by Sofia Christensen, Editing by William Maclean)

FILE PHOTO: President of Togo Faure Gnassingbe is seen during the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government 54th Ordinary Session in Abuja

Togo votes for a new parliament with stronger say in governance

Xpeng’s driver-assist technology allows for semi-autonomous driving

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2150650304-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-481198" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2150650304-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2150650304-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2150650304-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2150650304-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2150650304-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2150650304-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">NAIROBI, KENYA &#8211; APRIL 29: Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank, speaks to the audience during the IDA for Africa Heads of State Summit on April 29, 2024 in Nairobi, Kenya. (Photo by Patrick Meinhardt/Getty Images for Global Citizen)</figcaption></figure>



NAIROBI, April 29 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;African leaders on Monday called for rich countries to commit record contributions to a low-interest World Bank facility for developing nations that they rely on to help fund their development and combat climate change.



Donors will make their cash pledges to the International Development Association (IDA), a World Bank institution that offers loans with low interest rates and long tenures, at a conference to be held in Japan in December.



&#8220;We call on our partners to meet us at this historic moment of solidarity and respond effectively by increasing their IDA contributions&#8230; to at least $120 billion,&#8221; Kenya&#8217;s President William Ruto told a meeting of African leaders and the World Bank to discuss IDA funding.



African economies were facing a &#8220;deepening development and debt crisis that threatens our economic stability, and urgent climate emergencies that demand immediate and collective action for our planet&#8217;s survival,&#8221; Ruto said.



He cited Kenya&#8217;s own devastating floods and a severe drought affecting Southern African nations such as Malawi.



If the donors pledge the minimum amount suggested by African leaders, it will be a new high after the last round of fundraising in 2021, which raked in $93 billion.



IDA lending operates on a three-year cycle, which is usually preceded by donors making their contributions at a global meeting.



IDA offers low interest rates loans to 75 developing nations around the world, the World Bank said, with more than half of them in Africa.



The funding is used by governments to boost access to energy and healthcare, invest in farming and also build critical infrastructure such as roads.



Ajay Banga, the president of the World Bank, promised to cut down &#8220;burdensome&#8221; rules that govern lending to nations under the IDA, to make it more efficient and to deliver funds to borrower nations faster.



&#8220;We believe a simpler and reimagined IDA can be deployed with more focus to make meaningful impact,&#8221; he said.



(Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Editing by George Obulutsa and Alex Richardson)

IDA for Africa Heads of State Summit

African leaders seek record World Bank financing to combat climate change

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="461" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/107407269-1714293090268-gettyimages-1931121428-DAVOS_WEF_2024-820x461.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-481182" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/107407269-1714293090268-gettyimages-1931121428-DAVOS_WEF_2024-820x461.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/107407269-1714293090268-gettyimages-1931121428-DAVOS_WEF_2024-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/107407269-1714293090268-gettyimages-1931121428-DAVOS_WEF_2024-160x90.jpeg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/107407269-1714293090268-gettyimages-1931121428-DAVOS_WEF_2024-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/107407269-1714293090268-gettyimages-1931121428-DAVOS_WEF_2024-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/107407269-1714293090268-gettyimages-1931121428-DAVOS_WEF_2024.jpeg 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Borge Brende, president of the World Economic Forum (WEF). Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Borge Brende, president of the World Economic Forum, gave a stark outlook for the global economy saying the world faces a decade of low growth if the right economic measures are not applied.



Speaking Sunday at WEF’s “Special Meeting on Global Collaboration, Growth and Energy for Development” in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, he warned that global debt ratios are close to levels not seen since the 1820s and there was a “stagflation” risk for advanced economies.



“The global growth [estimate] this year is around 3.2 [%]. It’s not bad, but it’s not what we were used to — the trend growth used to be 4% for decades,” he told CNBC’s Dan Murphy, adding that there was a risk of a slowdown like that seen in the 1970s in some major economies.



“We cannot get into a trade war, we still have to trade with each other,” he explained when asked about avoiding a period of low growth.



“Trade will change and global value chains — there will be some more near-shoring and friend-shoring — but we shouldn’t lose the baby with the bathwater &#8230; Then we have to address the global debt situation. We haven’t seen this kind of debt since the Napoleonic Wars, we are getting close to 100% of the global GDP in debt,” he said.



He said governments needed to consider how to reduce that debt and take the right fiscal measures without getting into a situation where it kicks off a recession. He also motioned persistent inflationary pressures and that generative artificial intelligence could be an opportunity for the developing world.



His warning chimes with a recent report from the International Monetary Fund which noted that global public debt had edged up to 93% of GDP last year, and was still 9 percentage points higher than pre-pandemic levels. The IMF projected that global public debt could near 100 % of GDP by the end of the decade.



The Fund also singled out the high debt levels in China and the United States, saying loose fiscal policy in the latter puts pressure on rates and the dollar which then pushes up funding costs around the world —exacerbating pre-existing fragilities.



Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund raised its global growth forecast slightly, saying the world economy had proven “surprisingly resilient” despite inflationary pressures and monetary policy shifts. It now expects global growth of 3.2% in 2024, up by a modest 0.1 percentage point from its earlier January forecast.



WEF’s Brende said Sunday that the biggest risk for the global economy is now “the geopolitical recession that we are faced with,” highlighting recent Iran-Israel tensions.



“There is so much unpredictability, and you can easily get out of control. If Israel and Iran escalated that conflict, we could have seen an oil price of $150 overnight. And that would of course be very damaging for the global economy,” he said.

107407269-1714293090268-gettyimages-1931121428-DAVOS_WEF_2024

WEF president: ‘We haven’t seen this kind of debt since the Napoleonic Wars’

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="510" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/J4H2NTSDSNLWZN4ASKFPW2A6IA-820x510.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-481179" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/J4H2NTSDSNLWZN4ASKFPW2A6IA-820x510.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/J4H2NTSDSNLWZN4ASKFPW2A6IA-300x187.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/J4H2NTSDSNLWZN4ASKFPW2A6IA-145x90.jpg 145w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/J4H2NTSDSNLWZN4ASKFPW2A6IA-768x478.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/J4H2NTSDSNLWZN4ASKFPW2A6IA-1536x955.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/J4H2NTSDSNLWZN4ASKFPW2A6IA-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Workers talk on their mobile phones, as a Maersk container is transported by a train, near a port of Barcelona, Spain April 26, 2024. REUTERS/Nacho Doce/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



ABUJA, April 28 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Nigeria secured a $600 million investment in seaport infrastructure from Danish shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk&nbsp;MAERSKb.CO, the presidency said in a statement on Sunday.



The investment was secured during a meeting between President Bola Tinubu and Moller-Maersk Chairman Robert Maersk Uggla on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum meeting in Saudi Arabia.



&#8220;We believe in Nigeria, and we will invest $600 million in existing facilities and make the ports accommodating for bigger ships,&#8221; the Nigerian presidency quoted Uggla as saying during the meeting.



Nigeria has promised to revamp its ports, including in the commercial capital Lagos, to ease congestion that frustrates businesses.



Tinubu said during the meeting that his government would support the modernisation and automation of its ports to improve trade, reduce corruption and boost efficiency.



&#8220;A bet on Nigeria is a winning bet. It is also a bet that rewards beyond what is obtainable elsewhere,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We need to encourage more opportunities for revenue expansion and minimize trans-shipments from larger ships to smaller ships.&#8221;



(Reporting by Felix Onuah in Abuja and Kanjyik Ghosh in Bengalulu, Writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Matthew Lewis)

FILE PHOTO: Workers talk on their mobile phones as a Maersk container is transported by a train near a port of Barcelona

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