uba — South Sudan is pleading with Kenya and Uganda for economic support to avert a humanitarian crisis after a fresh conflict brought the country to its knees.

Last week, a delegation of Transitional Government of South Sudan officials led by First Vice-President Taban Deng Gai was in Kenya on a mission seeking a bailout.

Africa Review has learnt that Juba will also be reaching out to Uganda later this month to craft a bailout package that will see Kampala pay its traders the $35.2 million Juba owes them in a bid to have them resume supplies to the country.

“The vice president will go to Kampala to request the Ugandan government to pay traders who supplied cereals to Juba but haven’t been paid. The money will then be converted into a loan, for which Juba and Kampala officials will work out a repayment plan,” a diplomatic source with the knowledge of the matter said.

The delegation to Nairobi, which included four ministers, met with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs Amina Mohamed and a number of government officials.

A source privy to the discussions said Mr Gai implored President Kenyatta to give his country a soft loan to help it deal with its current problems.

President Kenyatta is reported to have advised the group to send their finance minister, their Central Bank Governor and agriculture minister to Nairobi with a clear proposal, including the amounts needed and the modalities for repayment.

South Sudan relies on Kenyan traders for key supplies including food, edible oils, pharmaceuticals, electronic products and manufactured goods.

Uganda is South Sudan’s biggest trading partner and exports maize, vegetables, sugar, iron and steel, cement, beer, motor lubricants and detergents. However, following fresh fighting in the country in July, most foreign traders have returned to their countries for security reasons.

In an interview, South Sudan Finance minister Stephen Dhieu Dau declined to provide details on how the proposal would be structured.

“I am yet to get a briefing on the discussions in Nairobi and any other that will take place. However, we are pursuing fiscal, monetary and diplomatic routes in a bid to unlock the economic challenge the country is facing,” Mr Dau said.

The country is also yet to pass a new budget for the 2016/17 financial year.

Africa Review is a Nation Media Group initiative to tell untold African stories

Cairo — A total of 53 foreign exchange bureaus have been closed since the start of the year, deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Gamal Negm said on Friday.

The CBE has accelerated a crackdown against black market traders, closing a large number of the countries' foreign exchange offices, which it blames for growing pressure to devalue the currency.

Egypt is facing a dollar shortage with sources of hard currency inflows like tourism and investment slowing down. Driven by the shortage, rates on the black market exceed 12.65 to the dollar while banks kept the pound steady at 8.88.

Negm said during the Union of Arab Banks Forum currently held in Sharm El-Sheikh that penalties are directed towards companies that were found guilty of manipulating and speculating on the price of the US dollar in the country's parallel currency market.

The CBE's governor said that they hold daily inspection campaigns on exchange bureaus to detect violations.

"A total of 53 exchange offices have been shut since the beginning of the year; licenses of 26 companies were revoked while 27 offices were suspended for a period between three months to a year," Negm said.

On Aug. 9, parliament set prison sentences of up to 10 years and fines of up to 5 million pounds for traders selling foreign currency at black market rates.

The total number of foreign exchange bureaus licensed to operate in Egypt was 115 at the end of last year, but now there are only 62.

The CBE devalued the pound by about 14 per cent to reach EGP 8.78 against the dollar in March in an effort to close the gap between the official and parallel rates but the move failed to boost dollar liquidity or close the gap.

Years of political turmoil led to a drop by more than a half of Egypt's foreign reserves ($15.536 billion in July) in the years following the popular uprising in January 2011, which ended the rule of President Hosni Mubarak. The instability that ensued has driven tourists and investors away.

Dunkwa — The 2011 National Best farmer, Mr. Ignatius Agbo, has indicated that Ghana stands to lose volumes of tonnes in cocoa if the mass spraying exercise is not intensified.

He wants government to take pragmatic steps to augment cocoa production and maintain growth in the cocoa industry. Mr Agbo suggested that the government should consider assisting farmers to spray their cocoa farms three times in a year, as a way of ensuring that cocoa yields are maintained.

The chief farmer said the government should not play politics with the cocoa industry and make spraying insecticides accessible to farmers.

He told The Chronicle in an interview that farmers are finding it difficult to get the right insecticide to spray their farms for more yields and complained that the government is not making any effort to improve upon the situation.

The farmer chief pointed out that the brand of fertilizer imported for cocoa farmer during the regime of former President Kufuor was far better than what is being supplied to farmers now.

In a related development, the chief of Dunkwa, Nana Obeng Nuako II has called for the involvement of farmers in the growth of the agricultural sector.

He observed that the weather coupled with inadequate spraying machines have affected cocoa yield this year as compared to one million tonnes of cocoa produced in Ghana in previous years.

The chief suggested that the government should import farming inputs for supply to farmers at subsidized prices.

Citrus International Trading Plc. has begun distributing twenty million tablets that can disinfect 400 million litter water nationwide.

In a joint press conference with the Ministry of Health and Addis Ababa City Health Bureau yesterday, Company General Manager Minase Kifle said though there is a visible change in clean water delivery both in rural and urban areas, there is still a huge gap which needs further public and private investment.

Thus, he said, there is a huge need of using the scarce resources of clean water for avoiding contamination and misuse.

According to Minase, the tablets have been in use in the European market since the last 30 years. “It is easily available and affordable with only 0.62 cents for a single tablet that can purify 20 litters. It is certified by the WHO.”

Ministry Health Prevention and Promotion Case Team Leader Samuel Hailu on his part said besides to government interventions, such private intervention is crucial in providing potable water.

The team leader said the water cleaning tablets have been certified by the Ethiopian Food, Medicine and Health Care Administration and Control Authority and called upon the public to use and protect water contamination for drinking and food preparation.

The Nation planned to irrigate 4.1 million hectares of land.

Ethiopia’s economy is largely based on agriculture. Of course, for several years, agriculture has been getting special attention from the government; as a result, the sector has shown a tremendous increase. Moreover, the nation is on the verge of achieving food security. But, so far, it has not come out of rain-fed agriculture.

In fact,on several occasions, the government has been exerting efforts in reducing farmers’ dependence on rains by introducing various small-scale irrigation schemes. During the first Growth and Transformation Plan ( GTP-I ), farmers had irrigated 1.8 million hectares of land. They also had cultivated the land twice or more in a year.

Likewise, in the second Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP -II), the nation planned to irrigate 4.1 million hectares of land. In the first year of this Plan, the farmlands that have been under irrigation estimated to be over 2.6 million hectares. By the same token, 3.1 million of land will be cultivated at the end of 2017 by farmers engaged in small-scale irrigation.

Very recently, the Ministry of Farming and Natural Resource has organized consultative meeting on resource mobilization for sustainable irrigation system in the premises of Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR). During a day-long meeting, the participants held extensive discussion on 2015/16 performance review of small-scale irrigation schemes in all over the country.

At the event, they also underlined that small-scale irrigation schemes have played a big role in reducing El-Nino induced drought effects. This is because the nation has managed to increase agricultural productivity using various micro-irrigation technologies particularly during the dry season (Bega) .

Hence, all of the participants agreed that the agricultural activities, that had shown a decrease in production in last rainy season due to El Nino induced drought, have been made to increase through small-scale irrigation activities in the dry season.

Speaking at consultative meeting the Ministry of Farming and Natural Resource State Minister Frenesh Mekuria said that the nation’s overall small scale irrigation activities in last dry season (bega) were encouraging. Moreover, she said that despite El-Nino impacts, the nation managed to meet set goals irrigating over 2.6 million hectares last fiscal year alone.

According to Frenesh, every farmer needs to have at least an alternative water resource in a bid to cultivate twice or more annually and ensure food security in the near future as well.

Presenting last year’s performance review, Small -Scale Irrigation Development Director for the Ministry Elias Awol said that the unsatisfactory utilization of fertilizer on irrigated plots, lack of spareparts for water pumps, failure to create market access for farmers engaged in small-scale irrigation and others were the major challenges in the agricultural activities.

He also noted that compared to other states of the country, Afar , Gambela and Somalia States need to intensify efforts to effectively utilize the groundwater resources applying various irrigation techniques.

As to the market access for farmers engaged in small-scale irrigation activities,he said that they do not often get fair price for their agricultural products as they do not have modern direct market access. Therefore, he said that the farmers must sell the agricultural products to the cooperative unions and use improved seeds to boost the agricultural productivity.

At the end of the meeting, Farming and Natural Resource State Minister Wondirad Mandefro told participants that everyone engaging in small-scale irrigation activities needs to work based on the set goals with a view to narrowing down the gaps in such agricultural activities and to realizing food security in the near future.

Moreover, the State Minister noted that apart from working in unison at all levels, the use of new irrigation technologies is a must to gain the desired results from irrigated plots as a whole

Windhoek — Not knowing how to swim has for many years prevented some young people from applying for employment as an Air Namibia cabin crewmember, because swimming well is actually a requirement for the job.

But the national airline says this is now something of the past, as more and more people know how to swim these days, which is one of the reasons the airline recently received approximately 3 000 applications to fill 23 vacancies for the latest intake of cabin crew members.

Of course unemployment, particularly amongst the youth, is also a major contributor to the large number of applications received.

Air Namibia’s latest cabin crew recruits completed their eight weeks of intensive training on Friday, August 12, and started with their observation flights the very next day.

Besides testing their swimming abilities, part of the evaluation process included an intensive screening process, where amongst others applicants’ body mass index (BMI) and height measurements were recorded.

The required BMI for women is between 19 and 24 and between 20 and 26 for men. The required length for both males and females is 1.60 m.

According to Air Namibia spokesperson Paul Nakawa the new intake is part of the airline’s strategy, as per the Harambee Prosperity Plan, to ensure no one is left out.

Nakawa noted that the new intake represents Namibia’s cultural diversity and background.

“Time has evolved and young people are keen to know how to swim. This skill has for many years prevented many Namibians, who aspired to be cabin crew to qualify. “It is an industry requirement and we ensure whoever wants to be a cabin crew knows how to swim,” he said.

“Air Namibia will work closely with the Ministry of Education, especially the National Institute for Educational Development (NIED), to ensure that swimming is part of the vocational subjects taught at all schools in Namibia.

“We will further ensure that topics on the aviation industry are incorporated in the guidance and life-skills textbooks to introduce the learners, who want to pursue their studies in aviation later in life.

“Knowledge is power and it’s only when such information is disseminated to learners that they will make informed decisions on their career plans or choices.

“This is the beginning of a long journey ahead and management wants to ensure that opportunities are available to all who meet the industry requirements,” Nakawa noted.

Zambia’s close-run presidential election means President Edgar Lungu must now balance uniting the nation with the spending cuts needed to stay competitive.

A closely contested and unpredictable election saw Zambia’s incumbent President Edgar Lungu of the Patriotic Front (PF) emerge victorious – but with just 50.35 per cent of the vote, protesters clashing with the police in the streets, and support mostly concentrated in the north and east of the country, much needs to be done to unite a politically divided nation.

Lungu is now charged with creating that unity while also steering Zambia from its current economic downturn; this will require political will and careful control of government spending.

China’s economic downturn and the subsequent fall in copper prices greatly impacted Zambia, where copper accounts for over three-quarters of export earnings and 16 per cent of GDP. Its copper-belt region has seen thousands of miners made redundant and mining companies reduce output with investors unsettled by falling commodity prices and the political uncertainty.

【Economic woes broader than copper alone】

The decline in copper prices coincided with an energy crisis as reduced rainfall, antiquated machinery and a surge in consumer demand led to more frequent power shortages. The Kariba and Kafue hydroelectric plants cannot fully service demand, forcing government to source emergency power regionally (at an annual cost of US$660m) and its attempt to recoup costs through a 70 per cent increase in power tariffs led to public protests which forced the government to back down.

Zambia’s once buoyant growth has slowed – from 10 per cent at the start of the decade to around three per cent now – but despite this financial squeeze, the PF government has been heavily investing in infrastructure, especially social infrastructure, with 650 clinics, 32 district hospitals, 68 primary schools and more than 100 secondary schools built in the last five years. Hundreds of miles of tarred roads are now in place, with more promised, and the Social Protection Safety Net social welfare scheme has assisted thousands of households.

But this high expenditure has put additional stress on the finances with Zambia’s budget deficit now almost 10 per cent of GDP, spurred by heavy government borrowing. There have been liquidity shortages in Zambia’s banking sector – partly caused by government borrowing crowding out the private sector – servicing international debt is getting more expensive as confidence wobbles, and the currency is in decline. Discussions between Zambia and the IMF on an extended credit facility are ongoing, but a substantive deal will probably have to wait until 2017.

And this spending has not had an immediately transformative effect with almost 60 per cent of Zambia’s population classified as poor, and 42 per cent in absolute poverty. Urban unemployment and underemployment remain prevalent despite a large informal sector, and the PF has been criticised for politicising infrastructure development and being lax on corruption.

【Reasons for optimism in the medium-term】

Despite these problems, and even though copper remains king, there has been economic diversification. Zambia remains a net maize exporter to a drought- blighted region, is a major tourism hub, and is helping drive the regional economic integration process.

It is also ironic that a country which was famous for exporting labour to its southern neighbours is now a destination of choice for professionals in the region. The small but growing middle class in Zambia supports a consumer economy attractive to international investors, and the government must now develop a policy environment that allows domestic businesses to flourish.

In addition, companies that made efficiency savings during the copper ‘crash’ are now well-placed to capitalise if the global price of copper strengthens, and a broad consensus between government and mining multinationals regarding royalties – a toxic issue just a few years ago – will bolster this rebound. Zambia’s strong legal framework and investment guarantee system are competitive advantages and its partnership with the IOM (international Organization for Migration)means Zambia is actively engaging with its global diaspora to help its own development.

Zambia still faces major challenges, most immediately in reducing profligate spending. Popular policies of subsidised fuel and government-underwritten maize pricing will now come under scrutiny, and increased power tariffs may be back on the cards. But changes could generate protest, particularly if the government is perceived to be favouring its supporters.

Opposition leaders, notably the defeated United Party for National Development (UPND) leader Haikande Hichilema, will have a key role to play in uniting the nation and overcoming the political cleavages exposed in both this election, and the snap presidential election of 2015 following the death of former President Michael Sata (which also resulted in a narrow victory for Lunga).

A higher turnout (56 per cent of registered voters, compared with just 32 per cent in 2015) does give Lungu a stronger mandate than he had previously, but he will be expected to deliver on electoral promises of completing infrastructure projects, pursuing agricultural diversification, and job creation – all within a tough economic environment. But, as economic headwinds abate, Zambia should be well placed to retain its status as a regional hotspot for international investment.