Newscast - Africa

The Zambian government announced that it has halted electricity exports to some neighboring countries due to reduced power generation capacity the southern African country was facing.
Minister of Energy Peter Kapala, however, said the government will not completely do away with exports in order to maintain existing power markets.
The minister says that the government was alive to the disruptions caused by the ongoing load shedding but was cautious to ensure that there was no complete shutdown.
President Hakainde Hichilema says discussions were ongoing to find short-term solutions to the ongoing electricity crisis in order to avoid reversing the gains made so far in reviving the economy.

The Federal Government paid interests of N4.12tn between 2019 and 2022 on the loans it got from the Central Bank of Nigeria through Ways and Means Advances.
Data from the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Papers and the public presentation documents of the approved budgets by the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
The interest payments rose to N912.57bn in 2020 and N1.22tn in 2021.
The interest payments hit N1.64tn in 2022, indicating the payments rose by 384.14 per cent between 2019 and 2022.

Nigeria’s Tax experts have faulted the Academic Staff Union of Universities’ proposed increase in the Tertiary Education Tax from three per cent to 10 per cent tax.
They said toeing this path would hurt private firms which were already overburdened with taxes.
The ASUU President, Prof Emmanuel Osedeke, recently proposed an increase in the education tax from three to 10 per cent to fund infrastructure in Nigeria’s universities.
Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader, PwC, Taiwo Oyedele, disagreed with ASUU, saying there was just an increase in education tax one year ago.
Oyedele argued that when companies income tax, technology tax, the police tax, science and engineering tax, among others, were computed, a firm would effectively be paying over 40 per cent tax.

President Muhammadu Buhari has been urged to immediately reverse what has been described as the unlawful, unjust and unreasonable increase in electricity tariff, which reportedly occurred in December 2022.
SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, wants Buhari to ensure the investigation of the spending of public funds as ‘investments and bailouts’ by successive governments to electricity distribution companies (DisCos) and generating companies (GenCos) since 2005, and prosecution of cases of corruption and mismanagement.”
The rights group stated that the increase in electricity tariff failed to follow due process. It is entirely inconsistent and incompatible with the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 [as amended], the Electric Power Sector Reform Act and the country’s international human rights obligations.

Bloomberg News has reported that China is planning to relax restrictions on borrowing for property developers to support the troubled sector by dialing back the three red lines policy.
The “three red lines” policy was unveiled in August 2020 to tackle property developers’ unbridled borrowing by restricting the amount of new borrowing they can raise each year.
Beijing may allow some property firms to add more leverage by easing borrowing caps and pushing back the grace period for meeting debt targets set by the policy.
Regulators could also extend the deadline by at least six months, which was originally June 30.

A court in the southeastern United States has struck down South Carolina’s so-called fetal heartbeat law, which bans abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy.
The South Carolina Supreme Court issued its decision calling the ban an unreasonable restriction that violates a woman’s constitutional right to privacy”.
The law was overturned in a narrow three-to-two vote, with the majority siding with the plaintiffs: two South Carolina physicians, a women’s clinic in the city of Greenville, and the healthcare nonprofit Planned Parenthood.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine on Orthodox Christmas, celebrated this week by both countries.
The announcement comes following a request for a ceasefire during the religious holiday from Russia’s 76-year-old Orthodox leader Patriarch Kirill.
The Kremlin says “Given the fact that a large number of citizens professing Orthodoxy live in the areas of combat, we call on the Ukrainian side to declare a ceasefire and give them the opportunity to attend church services on Christmas Eve, as well as on the Day of the Nativity of Christ.

Afghanistan's Taliban government is to sign a contract with a Chinese firm to drill for oil in the country's north.
The 25-year deal underscores China's economic involvement in the region.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid says the oil extraction agreement would see Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Company drilling for oil in the Amu Darya basin.
A Chinese state-owned company is also in talks over the operation of a copper mine in the east of the country.

US authorities are seeking to outlaw agreements that allow companies to limit the ability of staff to leave for work at competitors.
The Federal Trade Commission says non-compete clauses were exploitative and unfairly limited the opportunities of an estimated 30 million Americans.
The US Chamber of Commerce, one of the most powerful business lobbies, called the proposal blatantly unlawful.
The FTC says non-compete clauses have become embedded in the US labour market, estimating that they affect roughly one in five workers.

The government in Chad says security forces have foiled an attempt by a group of army officers to destabilize the country.
The government says security services had been arresting people linked to the plot since 8 December.
It says the head of the plot was the president of the Chadian Human Rights Organisation, Baradine Berdei Targuio.
Chad has been relatively unstable since April last year when the long-time ruler Idriss Déby died after visiting the front line to fight rebels.