Ukraine

Summary

• East Africa seems to be in the early beginnings of militant contestation over natural resources.

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This week, Dutch multinational Ekaterra Tea Company suspended its operations in Kericho, Kenya’s South Rift region, after militant residents invaded two of its estates and burnt mechanical tea pickers, harvesters and a tractor.

The company said its 16,000 employees would only report to work once the security situation is stabilised.

The COVID-19 Pandemic derailed economies everywhere, and in most developing countries, incomes remain well below pre-pandemic levels. Inflation, made worse by the war in Ukraine, is particularly painful in low-income and vulnerable countries where essentials like food and energy dominate household budgets. Higher interest rates are exacerbating debt distress across much of the developing world...

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What you need to know:

• The AfCFTA, the largest trading bloc since the creation of the World Trade Organisation, is expected to increase intra-Africa trade beyond the current 13 per cent.
• Kenya has already embraced the free trade pact with President Kenyatta indicating that AfCFTA will provide new export opportunities for Kenyan products.

Kenya and other African countries have been urged to tap on the new Africa trade pact to increase intra-Africa trade beyond the current 13 per cent and cut reliance of overseas imports. 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved Barbados’ final draw down of US$23 million under its Extended Fund Facility (EFF) saying that the economy is beginning to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic but warning the risk to continued recovery remains elevated with higher global commodity prices pushing up inflation.

Barbadians are being warned to prepare for some “tough times” ahead as commodity prices continue to soar, even as measures are implemented to stave off any further major fallout.

June 17, 2022 (ENA) World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley said the current humanitarian truce declared by the Ethiopian government has opened greater access to operations in Tigray region.

At the conclusion of his visit to Ethiopia, the executive director told reporters last night that some 2,500 trucks carrying food and other items have entered the region during the last two months.

Dar es Salaam. Parliament’s Budget Committee wants all government vehicles to be converted to use compressed natural gas as part of efforts to cut massive spending on fuel.

The advice comes at a time when fuel prices are rising due to disruptions in the global supply chain, fuelled by Western nations’ sanctions on key producer Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine.

I WAS THINKING about the most recent edition of the Summit of the Americas, which closed on June 10 in Los Angeles, USA.

Who did not attend –

Not in attendance were the official leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. They were not invited. Also, not in attendance, by choice, were the heads of government of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and St Vincent and the Grenadines. Their absence constituted a protest or a statement of principle, regarding the non-invitation of the aforementioned “Excluded Three”.

I WAS THINKING about the most recent edition of the Summit of the Americas, which closed on June 10 in Los Angeles, USA.

Who did not attend –

Not in attendance were the official leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. They were not invited. Also, not in attendance, by choice, were the heads of government of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and St Vincent and the Grenadines. Their absence constituted a protest or a statement of principle, regarding the non-invitation of the aforementioned “Excluded Three”.

Anyone who has never worried or thought about the future of the US must be doing so following the revelations of the January 6 panel on the US Capitol riots, which so far reveal what has been an attempted political coup. Something of course which the US has condemned in the ‘s-hole’ countries as Trump had described some countries of the world. And why should we be concerned about what is happening in the US? For one, the US still has a commanding position in the world, and whenever it sneezes many countries catch a cold.