Newscast - Africa

The World Bank has slashed its growth outlook for China’s economy, as nearly three years of zero-COVID” curbs and a real estate slump weigh on the world’s second-largest economy.
The Washington, DC-based institution cut China’s expected growth for 2022 to 2.7 percent, down from 4.3 percent in June.
China’s projected growth for next year was slashed from 8.1 percent to 4.3 percent.
The World Bank said in a statement says Economic activity in China continues to track the ups and downs of the pandemic – outbreaks and growth slowdowns have been followed by uneven recoveries.
Mara Warwick, World Bank country director for China, Mongolia, and Korea, says China’s continued adaptation of its pandemic policies would be crucial to the country’s economic recovery and public health.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the strengthening of Russia’s borders and instructed security services to keep greater control of society and root out “traitors, spies and saboteurs.
Putin instructed his security officials to protect the borders, increase control of society, and maximise their “use of the operational, technical and personnel potential” to prevent risks coming from abroad and internal traitors.
Putin says Work must be intensified through the border services and the Federal Security Service.

The US state of Washington is considering banning the use of TikTok for government business, potentially extending a Republican-led campaign against the Chinese-owned app to one of the most liberal parts of the United States.
Washington state would become the first Democratic stronghold to ban TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, over data privacy and national security concerns if it prohibits the use of the app on government devices.
At least 19 states, including Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, New Hampshire, Maryland, North Dakota and Utah, have banned or restricted the use of the app on government devices over data privacy and national concerns.
Louisiana’s Republican Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin called on Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards to ban the app on all state government devices.

The maker of popular video game Fortnite has agreed to pay $520m to resolve claims from US regulators that it violated child privacy laws and tricked users into making purchases.
The Federal Trade Commission says the firm duped players with deceptive interfaces that could trigger purchases while the game loaded.
It also accused it of using "privacy-invasive" default settings.
The company says no developer creates a game with the intention of ending up here while adding that they accepted this agreement because they want Epic to be at the forefront of consumer protection and provide the best experience for our players.
The FTC says that the game, which matches strangers around the world for interactive battles, was aimed at children and teens, but despite that, its developers failed to comply with rules regarding parental consent - even after making changes to address internal and public concerns.

The congressional panel probing last year’s deadly assault on the US Capitol branded Donald Trump unfit for any office as it prepared to vote on whether to recommend criminal charges against the former president.
The decision will be the culmination of an 18-month probe that interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses and held explosive public hearings on the storming of Congress on January 6, 2021.
The committee is expected to urge the Justice Department to pursue Trump on at least three charges related to the violence–inciting an insurrection, obstructing an official proceeding, and conspiring to defraud the United States.

European Union nations have agreed to cap soaring wholesale gas prices to protect consumers across the bloc.
It follows weeks of wrangling in which Germany and others sought safeguards to ensure the cap would be suspended if it had negative consequences.
Gas prices have spiked as EU countries seek ways to import less Russian gas following its invasion of Ukraine.
Jozef Skiela, the Czech minister of industry and trade says the EU had succeeded in finding an important agreement that will shield citizens from skyrocketing energy prices.
Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov called the cap "unacceptable" and said it was an attack on market pricing.

Corporate Council on Africa announced that in June 2023, the Government of the Republic of Botswana will be the national host of the Corporate Council on Africa's 15th U.S.-Africa Business Summit.
The Summits address all major economic sectors that are critical to the continent's development including infrastructure, ICT, health, energy, mining, manufacturing, and the creative industries.
Florie Liser, President and CEO of Corporate Council on Africa says the 2023 US-Africa Business Summit will be a momentous occasion to present Africa as a strong trade and investment partner for U.S. companies and to build on what CCA anticipates will be a successful U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit and Business Forum later this month.

Ghana announced the suspension of payments on most of its external debt, effectively defaulting on its debt obligations as it faces its worst economic crisis in decades.
The country suspended payments on its Eurobond, commercial term loans, and most of its bilateral debt, a week after a $3 billion agreement with the International Monetary Fund.
The IMF had demanded a comprehensive debt restructuring as a condition for support.
Ghana's finance ministry called the decision an interim emergency measure.
It said the government stands ready to engage in discussions with all of its external creditors to make Ghana's debt sustainable.

Data from the country’s local bourse revealed that retail transactions in Nigerian Exchange increased by 10.69 per cent to N26.62 billion in the month of November.
The data from the Nigerian Exchange indicated that retail transactions added N26.62bn in the month from N24.05bn in October 2022.
Institutional investors with N63.33bn outperformed retail investors (N26.62bn), as market observers believed that the appreciation was a positive indicator for Nigerian stocks, considering the current economic environment.
A capital market analyst, Ayotunde Alabi, says more Nigerians are becoming investment wiser by the day.
He attributed the past decline of the market to the capping of stocks and investors’ drive to make quick returns.

The World Bank has warned the newly redesigned naira which went into circulation last week may have a negative effect on economic activity, especially for poor Nigerians due to its timing and short transition period.
The World Bank, in its report, however, says the new policy would negatively affect small businesses, especially those who have day-to-day cash transactions.
The report says while periodic currency redesigns are normal internationally and the naira does appear to be due for it since naira notes have been redesigned for two decades, the timing of and short transition period for this demonetization may have negative impacts on economic activity, in particular for the poorest households.