Israel’s new right-wing government has reached its three-month mark with a lot to show for its brief stint in office. Since it was sworn in on December 29th, several tech companies, the jewels in the crown of Israel’s buoyant economy, have threatened to move abroad. Thousands of officers in elite reserve units of the armed forces have said they will refuse to report for duty. Trade unions and employers have together called for a general strike. And most recently President Joe Biden, the leader of Israel’s most important ally, has openly scolded the government, saying it “cannot continue down this…
Author: Johnson Akinyi
Read More
In the bustling city of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, a recently erected statue of Ousmane Sembène towered over the crowds visiting the Pan-African Film and Television Festival in early March. The statue (pictured above) was unveiled to mark the centenary of Sembène’s birth and portrays the legendary Senegalese filmmaker in his trademark cap, smoking his pipe with a contemplative gaze.Sembène’s legacy looms large over African cinema. His unique style of using social realist narratives in his films, which he learned at the renowned Gorky Film Studio in Moscow, has influenced generations of Senegalese filmmakers, who today tour the most prestigious film…
by Marc Thiriet, Director, Africa, Wärtsilä Energy Africa’s ability to leapfrog traditional power systems and adopt renewables on a massive scale is not a fantasy. In-depth studies from Wärtsilä have demonstrated that with the adequate support of flexible power technologies, ambitious renewable energy objectives in Africa are not only achievable, they also represent the soundest and cheapest strategy for the successful electrification of the continent. A new power generation paradigm perfectly suited for Africa There has been much discussion about Africa’s ability to ‘leapfrog’ the way power systems have been built in the western world. For over a century, traditional power systems have…
Fitch Ratings has downgraded Ethiopia’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘CCC-‘ from ‘CCC’. Fitch typically does not assign Outlooks to sovereigns with a rating of ‘CCC’ or below. Fitch has removed the Long-Term IDRs from Under Criteria Observation (UCO). A full list of rating actions is at the end of this rating action commentary. Key Rating Drivers Downgrade of IDRs: The downgrade of Ethiopia’s LT FC IDR to ‘CCC-‘ reflects the lack of identified external financing necessary to meet substantial external financing gaps, along with a material decline in Ethiopia’s external liquidity. This is balanced against…
By APA News Published: January 11, 2023 8:57 PM Rwanda’s consumer inflation accelerated for the second straight month in December 2022 on the back of higher food prices, official data has showed. Consumer price index (CPI), the main gauge of inflation, grew 21.6 percent year on year last month but it was stable on a monthly basis, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics. On annual basis, the local goods index increased by 22.4 percent, the imported goods index increased by 19.5 percent, the fresh products index increased by 50.1 percent, the energy index increased by…
By Kweku Zurek | Graphic Online Published: January 13, 2023 6:31 PM Ghana Airlines, a new national carrier is expected to begin operating in the third quarter of 2023. This is after the government of Ghana awarded Ashanti Airlines, and its operational and financial Partners the Zotus Group the tender to operate Ghana Airlines out of Accra. The airline has also obtained its air carrier licence and is in the final stages of obtaining the air operator certificate. Ashanti Airlines was shortlisted among others through a competitive process and subsequently received Cabinet approval for the Strategic Partnership on February…
By Xinhua Published: January 16, 2023 4:57 PM (Xinhua) — Ghana’s consumer inflation rate surged to 54.1 percent in December, a record high, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) said Wednesday. Samuel Kobina Annim, the government statistician at the GSS, who announced the increase at a press briefing, said the rise in the inflation rate was due to the increasing prices of food and non-food items during the month under review. “Food with a 43.1 percent share in the inflation basket increased by 59.7 percent in December from 55.3 percent in November,” said Annim. He added that non-food items,…
By Xinhua Also available: FR Published: January 17, 2023 5:00 PM (Xinhua) — Ethiopia’s general inflation rate decreased to 33.8 percent in December, after reaching 35.1 percent in November 2022, the state Ethiopian Statistics Service (ESS) revealed Monday. In its monthly report, the ESS revealed the main factors behind last month’s general inflation rate decline were decreases in food prices. In May 2022, Ethiopia recorded general inflation of 37.2 percent, one of the highest levels in recent years. Since then Ethiopia’s general inflation rate has see-sawed, decreasing to 30.7 percent in September, but then climbing upwards to reach…
By Ghana Web Published: January 18, 2023 10:47 AM The Ghanaian cedi has been ranked the second weakest currency among the top 15 currencies in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Cedi also ended 2022 as the second weakest currency on the African continent with a year-to-date loss of 38.86% to the US dollar, according to Bloomberg. With only 18 days into the year 2023, the Ghanaian Cedi has depreciated by 12.7%, making it the second weakest currency in the top 15 African currencies. The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison, at a Public Accounts Committee meeting stated…
What do PG Tips, Lipton, and Sainsbury’s Red Label have in common? They are all popular tea brands found in most UK supermarkets. But what the average British consumer doesn’t know is that some of this tea was harvested on farms in Kenya where women workers are experiencing sexual abuse by their supervisors, according to a report televised by the BBC on 20 February.The documentary contained disturbing footage made by an undercover reporter posing as a plantation worker. In one scene an independent recruiter for a farm owned by James Finlay & Co is shown pinning her against a window…