FG urge African countries to expand international trade
At the 9th United African Shippers’ Council meeting held in Lagos on Monday, President Muhammadu Buhari, represented by Ademola Adegoroye, the Minister of State for Transportation, called on African countries to increase their participation in international trade in order to grow African export trade beyond the current 3 percent.
The meeting, themed “African Continental Free Trade Agreement: A veritable platform for African shippers to mainstream into global trade,” hosted by the Nigerian Shippers Council, provided a great opportunity for industry experts across the African continent to discuss and proffer solutions to trade challenges in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the negative impact of the Russia-Ukraine war.
The President urged African countries to expand trade within the continent, as this will help to create wealth, generate employment, reduce poverty on a larger scale, and transform the African economies.
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494 beneficiaries benefit from NDE N85m empowerment facility
494 beneficiaries received N85 million as a loan from the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) under its Environmental Beautification Training Scheme (EBTS).
Abubakar Fikpo, the Director-General of the agency, disclosed this in a statement signed by the Head of Public Relations of the organisation, Israel Adekitan, on Monday.
Fikpo said the facility, comprising basic work tools and cash components, would be disbursed to the graduate trainees from the six geo-political zones of the country.
According to him, the loan disbursement is being executed under the Special Public Works Program of the NDE.
Edo govt set agenda to drive human capital development
Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State will today host a two-day conference on human capital development for the South-South region. The conference is expected to take place at the New Festival Hall and Government House in Benin City, the state capital. A statement issued by Violet Obiokoro, the Managing Director of the Edo State Skills Development Agency, read.
She said, “His Excellency, the Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, will play host to governors from the South-South for a two-day human capital development regional conference (Edo 2023).
The event is aimed at increasing human capital investments as a vehicle for poverty reduction and increased life expectancy. The conference will focus on three thematic areas: health and nutrition, education, and labour force participation.”
According to her, the conference will provide a platform for the Governor Obaseki-led administration to demonstrate the results of its continued investments in human capital development over the past six years.
IMF’s Georgieva confirms Ghana seeking debt treatment under G20 Common Framework
Kristalina Georgieva, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), confirmed on Sunday that Ghana has sought debt treatment under the Common Framework platform. This arrangement is supported by the Group of 20 major economies.
Ghana’s debt restructuring under the Common Framework aims to include non-Paris Club members, such as China, in debt relief talks. China is Ghana’s biggest bilateral creditor with $1.7 billion of debt, while the country owes $1.9 billion to Paris Club members, according to data from the International Institute of Finance (IIF).
Ghana becomes the fourth country to apply to the G20 initiative launched in 2020, which is designed to streamline the debt restructuring efforts of poorer countries.
ECB must raise rates high enough to restrict growth, Lane says
The European Central Bank’s chief economist, Philip Lane, told the Financial Times that the bank needs to raise interest rates further to a level that begins to limit growth, but it is unclear where the eventual peak in the rate cycles will be.
“Last year we could say that it’s clear that we need to bring rates up to more normal levels, and now we say, well, actually we need to bring them into restrictive territory,” Lane said in an interview.
Lane added that rates are now “ballpark” neutral, where they are neither stimulating nor holding back growth, and the peak will depend on how the economy responds to hikes that have already totaled 2.5 percentage points since July, the paper quoted him as saying on Tuesday. This is according to Reuters.
