Tag Archives: Africa

How the World’s Top Health Body Allowed Ebola to Spiral Out of Control

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“In one instance, medics weren’t deployed because they weren’t issued visas. In another, bureaucratic hurdles delayed the spending of $500,000 intended to support the disease response. Meanwhile, fresh information on the outbreak from experts in the field was slow to reach headquarters, while contact-tracers refused to work on concern they wouldn’t get paid.  The account of the WHO’s missteps, based on interviews with five people familiar with the agency who asked not to be identified, lifts the veil on the workings of an agency designed as the world’s health warden yet burdened by politics and bureaucracy.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-16/who-response-to-ebola-outbreak-foundered-on-bureaucracy.html

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U.S. to Commit $500 Million, Deploy 3,000 Troops in Ebola Fight

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“The unprecedented response will include the deployment of 3,000 U.S. military forces and more than $500 million in defense spending drawn from funding normally used for efforts like the war in Afghanistan, senior administration officials outlined Monday. Obama has called America’s response to the disease a ‘national-security priority,’ with top foreign policy and defense officials leading the government’s efforts.  The officials said Obama believes that in order to best contain the disease, the U.S. must ‘lead’ the global response effort. In the CDC’s largest deployment in response to an epidemic, more than 100 officials from the agency are currently on the ground and $175 million has been allocated.”

http://time.com/3380545/u-s-to-commit-500-million-deploy-3000-troops-in-ebola-fight/

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Are We Underestimating America’s Fracking Boom?

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“It’s the tale of a company called Sasol, the former South African state oil company, which is embarking on what could be the single-largest foreign investment project in U.S. history.  Sasol is building a 3,034-acre energy complex near a bayou in Lake Charles, La. Tapping into cheap, fracked natural gas as well as Gulf Coast pipeline and shipping infrastructure, Sasol plans to spend as much as $21 billion there.  This is engineering on a scale so large that it requires closing 26 public roads, buying out 883 public-property lots, and hiring 7,000 workers at peak construction.  In all, some 66 industrial projects—worth some $90 billion—will be breaking ground over the next five years in Louisiana.”

http://online.wsj.com/articles/are-we-underestimating-americas-fracking-boom-1401234486

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Money fund loses 0.3% of clients’ money to bailed-out African Bank

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“Absa has faced criticism for sinking 0.3% of its Money Market clients’ investments in the wake of African Bank’s crash and bailout.  Absa Money Market (AAM) clients were notified as late as Tuesday (19 August) that the fund had removed all African Bank investments from its market.  Absa had to adjust the value of its Money Market by 0.3%, effectively swiping that value off of clients’ investments, providing a 0% interest rate for the period.  With a money market value of R52.8 billion, Absa in effect swiped off R158.4 million in investments. Money Market clients were not impressed with the news, and even less so that they were notified long after the move.”

http://businesstech.co.za/news/banking/66332/why-absa-took-0-3-of-clients-money/

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Moody’s downgrades South Africa’s four biggest banks

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“Ratings agency Moody’s downgraded four South African banks on Tuesday and put them on review for further cuts, saying there was a lower likelihood of support from the central bank to protect creditors after African Bank’s debt crisis.  Moody’s cut ratings for Standard Bank of South Africa, FirstRand , Nedbank and Absa Bank, the local operation for Barclays Group Africa. The ratings agency said it was adjusting its view following the $1.6 billion bailout of African Bank by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB).  Moody’s said while SARB’s actions mitigated the risk of contagion across the banking sector, the regulator had indicated by its actions that it was willing to impose losses on creditors.”

http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/b7f27b804529137bb9b7b9a5ad025b24/Moody’s-downgrades-South-Africa’s-four-biggest-banks

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African Bank rescue rekindles bailout fears

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“South Africa’s decision to rescue a small lender seen as neither ‘too big’ nor ‘too interconnected’ to fail shows that taxpayers worldwide may have to accept that bank bailouts are here to stay.  When South Africa’s central bank recently announced a $700 million (520 million euro) rescue of faltering African Bank Investments Limited, it scarcely made a splash outside the country.  The bank’s managers made far too many bad loans to too many South Africans who could not afford to pay them back.  Because it had not asked borrowers to put up their car or any other asset as collateral, it was left with a massive hole in its balance sheet when they failed to pay.”

http://www.moneyweb.co.za/moneyweb-financial/african-bank-rescue-rekindles-bailout-fears

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Tanzania Readies Rules to Open Stock Market to Foreigners

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“Tanzania is studying proposals by the country’s stock market regulator to scrap limits on foreignshare ownership, providing a further spur to Africa’s best-performing equities gauge.  Plans by the Capital Markets and Securities Authority to change rules that cap foreign holdings of listed companies to 60 percent are with Tanzania’s Finance Ministry for approval. The amendments are expected to be implemented by the end of this year, he said.  The 11-member Tanzania Share Index gained 50 percent in 2014, the most among 17 African gauges tracked by Bloomberg, with Tanzania Breweries Ltd., National Microfinance Bank Ltd., and Tanzania Cigarette Co. leading the advance.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-19/tanzania-readies-rules-to-open-stock-market-to-foreigners.html

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After Second Ebola Patient, CDC Preps 20 U.S. Quarantine Camps

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“The disease likely arrived via the local practice of hunting for bushmeat, which the impoverished locals regularly engage in, to gather enough to eat.  But there’s growing rumors and suspicion in the region among locals.  They believe that the U.S. may have pruposefully released the disease as some sort of weapons test.  Liberia promised to beef up security after a ebolavirus victim successfully circumvented airport security and boarded a plane to Nigeria.  Back home, [the CDC] issued its highest level of travel warning — Level 3 — urging Americans to avoid travel to the region.  Just in case, it’s already prepping twenty quarantine camps in major cities around the country.”

http://www.dailytech.com/Second+Ebola+Patient+Lands+on+US+Soil+CDC+Preps+20+US+Quarantine+Camps/article36331.htm

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Don’t Buy Into the Bond Mania

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“You would think a country with a track record like Ivory Coast’s would have trouble tapping the bond market, but this week, almost exactly three years since its last default, it successfully sold $750 million worth of 10-year bonds.  Just last month Kenya sold $2 billion worth of bonds (with orders of $8 billion).  Zambia, Morocco and, less surprisingly, South Africa have also successfully issued sizable chunks of debt in recent months. Ecuador, which last defaulted in 2008, issued $2 billion worth of bonds this week. Rwanda issued $400 million in Eurobonds last year.  My concern at this point is that the bull market in bonds isn’t over yet and is, in fact, approaching a state of mania.”

http://www.investingdaily.com/20772/dont-buy-into-the-bond-mania-2/

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London Seeks New Spenders as Russians Skip $719 Champagne

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“With violence continuing in Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin pushing to reduce reliance on the West, wealthy Russians are buying fewer high-end goods from furs to Ferraris, and doing less business with the city’s law firms and investment banks. That leaves London, uniquely connected to faraway, fast-growing economies, looking for new patrons, with China and sub-Saharan African countries pitched as possible successors.  Takeovers involving Russian companies, often handled by the London offices of global banks, tumbled 39 percent in the first half of 2014 to $16.6 billion, Bloomberg data show. Russian firms are having a tougher time raising money too.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-10/london-seeks-new-spenders-as-russians-skip-719-champagne.html

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