Agriculture Middle East to benefit from World Bank’s $30bn food security fund The World Bank said on Wednesday it will make $30 billion available to help stem a food security crisis threatened by Russia’s war in Ukraine, which has cut off most grain exports from the two countries. The total will include $12 billion in new projects and over $18 billion funds from existing food and nutrition-related […] May 20, 2022
Health Egypt’s net foreign assets retreat further into the red Egypt’s net foreign assets (NFAs) dropped by 169.7 billion Egyptian pounds ($9.17 billion) in March, the sharpest decline since the coronavirus crisis broke out in February 2020, central bank data showed on Sunday. NFAs fell to a negative 221.3 billion pounds at the end of March from a negative 51.69 billion pounds a month earlier. […] May 15, 2022
Agriculture Brazil plans ‘fertilizer diplomacy’ trip to secure more imports Brazil’s new agriculture minister Marcos Montes will visit Jordan, Egypt and Morocco in a tour starting this week to discuss increasing fertilizer imports from those countries. “It’s a pilgrimage that we are calling fertilizer diplomacy,” Montes said in an interview with Reuters late on Monday, adding he would be joined by private sector representatives. “We […] May 3, 2022
Manufacturing $3bn IPO of Coca-Cola’s African bottler delayed Coca-Cola’s estimated $3 billion initial public offering (IPO) for its African bottling unit will likely take place in the third quarter after market turmoil linked to the war in Ukraine upset plans to list earlier, three sources have said. The flotation of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) would be the biggest on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange […] May 3, 2022
Analysis Energy Tapping oil stockpiles may not be enough to plug loss of Russian supply Top oil consuming nations may find that one of their main tools to fight high global oil prices – the release of strategic stockpiles – will prove inadequate to soothe markets starved of Russian supply since its invasion of Ukraine. The 31-member International Energy Agency, representing industrialised nations but not Russia, presided over the fourth […] May 2, 2022
Actual COVID death toll near 15 million The official death toll from the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic is about 5.4 million. But according to a new World Health Organization report, the actual number is around three times higher than that. The U.N. body said on Thursday there were 14.9 million excess deaths associated with COVID-19 by the end of […] April 29, 2022
Agriculture Ukraine war push egg prices higher worldwide Severe outbreaks of bird flu in the United States and France are tightening global egg supplies and raising prices for the food staple as the war in Ukraine disrupts shipments to Europe and the Middle East. Higher prices are particularly painful for consumers who rely on eggs as a low-cost source of protein and substitute […] April 29, 2022
Tunisia’s dinar hits record low versus dollar Tunisia’s dinar currency has fallen to record lows versus the dollar, driven down by high inflation, a worsening trade deficit and the severe impact of the Ukraine crisis on public finances. It traded at 3.074 against the dollar on Thursday, central bank data showed on Friday. Earlier this month, the state statistics institute said Tunisia’s […] April 29, 2022
Jordan’s king agreed with U.S. Biden on need to defuse Jerusalem tension Jordan’s King Abdullah agreed with U.S. President Joe Biden on the need to prevent a repeat of recent confrontations in Jerusalem’s Muslim holy sites that sparked concerns of wider conflict, state media said. In a phone call on Monday, Abdullah was quoted as saying the cornerstone of peace was a comprehensive Arab Israeli settlement based on a two-state solution […] April 27, 2022
Banking & Finance Egypt current account deficit narrows to $3.8bn Egypt’s current account deficit narrowed to $3.8 billion in the October-December quarter from $4.85 billion in the same period a year earlier, boosted by a jump in tourism, the central bank said in balance of payments figures released on Thursday. The figures also showed a sharp outflow of portfolio investment, which shrank to a deficit […] April 14, 2022
Sub-Saharan Africa’s growth to slow to 3.6% this year Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy is set to grow 3.6% this year, down from 4% in 2021, the World Bank said on Wednesday, as it warned rising food and energy prices fuelled by Russia’s war in Ukraine could spark civil unrest in the region. While it upgraded the forecast for this year by 0.1 percentage points and […] April 13, 2022
