Egypt, the North African economic giant’s incoming Red Sea Petrochemicals complex, with total investments worth $7.5 billion will place it on top of countries in the world producing high-quality petrochemicals.
The country, which is Africa’s third-largest economy, signed contracts for engineering works with French energy solution giant, Axens Ink, relating to manufacturing licenses of the Red Sea petrochemical complex, a statement sent to Business A.M. by Corinne Garriga, Axens’ head of corporate communications quote the Egyptian ministry of petroleum and mineral
resources.
The incoming petrochemicals plant throws up a huge challenge to Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer but its only midstream effort in the petrochemicals
The sector is way behind, despite the massive opportunities it has in the sector.

Analysts in the Aviation sectors have expressed worry over the disparity in the charges of ground handling companies in Nigeria as well as in comparison with other countries in the West
African sub-region, saying the situation in Nigeria if not checked could impact safety as it was already impacting revenue generation negatively.
A cross-section of analysts who spoke on the matter noted that the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria was losing billions of naira annually from the 5 per cent gross annual turnover paid by the ground handling companies as some even say it is economic sabotage against Nigeria.
For instance, it is observed that ground handling rates in Nigeria is the lowest in the entire African countries, if not the world and this has been a thorny issue for over a decade.

A new report has shown that although there was a slump in its oil-driven revenue due to the onset of the Covid-19 global pandemic, Nigeria’s federal government, its 36 sub-nationals with their 774 local government councils shared in excess of N7.23 trillion in 2020.
But with a broken economic system and insincere governance the central government and its sub-nationals could not manage the huge earnings in 2020, but rather turned out to be the worst-off ever.

In its quest to meet the onerous target of raising N2.34 trillion towards the projected deficit of N5.6 trillion contained in Nigeria’s federal government’s 2021 budget, the Debt Management Office has been taking bold steps to deliver on the plan. The debt office has now raised N1.42 trillion at its bond auctions, including non-competitive sales to public agencies in just over a six months period.
However, when the smaller amounts it generates from the sale of other debt instruments, such as Sukuk and green bonds, are added to the amount realized, it is clearly on track to meet the target for the year, say analysts who have been tracking the DMO’s activities this year.

U.S. President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration in the state of Florida and ordered federal assistance to supplement state and local response efforts after a building collapse near Miami left at least one dead and nearly 100 missings.
The White House says the President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate all disaster relief efforts.
Rescue crews picked through tons of rubble on Thursday looking for survivors after the collapse of part of the oceanfront apartment tower in Surfside near Miami.

Algeria’s president has accepted the prime minister’s resignation, paving the way for the formation of a new government following parliamentary election results.
A statement by the Algerian presidency says Abdelmadjid Tebboune accepted the resignation of the government led by Abdelaziz Djerad and appointed him as caretaker premier until a new cabinet is formed.
Djerad’s resignation follows a parliamentary election on June 12 that was marked by a low turnout and no majority winner after two years of mass protests and political turmoil.

Afghan leaders Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah will meet United States President Joe Biden at the White House on Friday for a high-stake discussion likely to shape Afghanistan’s future as the US withdraws forces nearly 20 years after invading.
President Biden is expected to offer assurances of US backing for the Afghan government in Kabul and is likely to press Ghani and Abdullah to unify their rival political factions in the face of rising Taliban assaults, analysts say.
Ghani and Abdullah are expected to appeal to Biden for specific and concrete pledges of financial and diplomatic support, including continued technical assistance for embattled Afghan military forces.
Director of the Afghanistan programme at the US Institute of Peace, Scott Worden, says the security situation is alarming and it’s deteriorating.

A war of words between Moscow and London escalated on Thursday as both sides accused one another of giving inaccurate accounts of an incident involving a British warship and Russian forces in the Black Sea.
Russia says it fired warning shots and dropped bombs in the path of HMS Defender on Wednesday as it sailed off the coast of the Crimea peninsula, accusing the Royal Navy destroyer of breaching its territorial waters.
The United Kingdom disputed Russia’s account, saying no warning shots were fired and no bombs were dropped but suggested a Russian gunnery exercise had been taking place in the area.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters that HMS Defender was acting legally in international waters and described the vessel’s route as wholly appropriate.

The World Food Programme says Communities in Madagascar are on the verge of starvation, with women and children walking for hours to reach food after the worst drought in four decades devastated the south of the island.
The WFP says acute malnutrition has almost doubled over the last four months with more than a quarter of people suffering in one area.
WFP executive director, David Beasley in a statement says there have been back-to-back droughts in Madagascar which have pushed communities right to the very edge of starvation.
He added that families are suffering and people are already dying from severe hunger. WFP says $78.6 million was needed to fight the crisis.

The International Air Transport Association says the continent's aviation sector is unlikely to recover to pre-Covid-19 levels for another two years.
IATA says that vaccination should not become a mandatory requirement for air travel, owing to Africa’s slow vaccine rollout.
IATA’s vice-president for Africa and the Middle East, Kamil Al-Awadhi, says passenger numbers are unlikely to pick up any time soon.
IATA is now asking African governments to adopt a single digital platform for verifying coronavirus tests and vaccine certifications, as part of efforts to standardise ways to keep track of the health of passengers.