Newscast - Africa

BBC reports that British economic policy faced some thinly-veiled criticism by other G7 finance ministers at the crucial meeting of major economies at the IMF.
While the UK was not identified by name, multiple participants at the round table, the debut of UK Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, raised their concerns about countries making unfunded tax cuts that threatened financial stability, at a delicate time, a clear reference to Britain.
A G7 minister said privately that the concern was really about how the UK had doubled down even after the clear financial stability implication, and that explanations would be sought.
The US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had already said publicly on the sidelines of the IMF conference that she was "watching UK developments closely.

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has directed traditional healers to stop treating people during the ongoing Ebola outbreak that has so far killed 19 people in the country.
The president also directed security officials to arrest people suspected of having contracted the virus if they refuse to go into isolation.
Mr. Museveni says there were currently no confirmed cases of Ebola in Kampala, he warned the public to continue being vigilant, assuring that health workers would bring the outbreak under control.

African health ministers attending a high-level meeting following the Ebola outbreak in Uganda want two regional health bodies to set up an Africa Ebola coordination task force.
They say this would oversee preparedness and response to the current outbreak as well as other epidemics in the continent.
Acting director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control, Ahmed Ogwell, says Africa needs to stop seeking international assistance, as it is on its own during pandemics.
The Africa CDC says the continent is dealing with 11 different public health outbreaks. They are monkeypox, cholera, flooding, influenza, Lassa fever, measles, yellow fever, hepatitis E, and the Crimean - Congo hemorrhagic fever.

The central bank governor Jose De Lima Massano says Angola will keep cutting interest rates as long as inflation is kept low, forecasting that inflation will fall to 16% this year and 9-10% by the end of 2023.
De Lima Massano says they have interest rates in Angola above 20%. So those are too high. And if we have room to keep on reducing them, we’ll do it.
Angola has started to lower interest rates, delivering a rate cut in September for the first time since 2019, by 50 basis points to 19.5%.

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency has warned Nigerians to brace for more flooding.
This comes as Nigerian authorities announced the number of people killed by floods in the country has risen to more than 500, as we reported earlier.
The head of NiMet, Professor Mansur Bako Matazu, says flooding from rainfall may have reached its peak, but the opening of dams and other water-holding facilities would continue to affect many states in northern and south-eastern areas.
He explained that water-associated risks will intensify in the coming years due to climate change.
The International Monetary Fund also warned that floods in some Nigerian states could worsen food insecurity.

The Nigerian government has been urged to save up on oil revenues as fears of a global food shock rise.
The IMF Divisional Chief, Fiscal Affairs Department, Paulo Medas, noted that while Nigeria has benefited from higher oil revenues, they haven't seen an improvement in the deficits as we hoped part because of the large energy subsidies, but also other issues with the production of oil and other pressures on the budget.
Director of the Fiscal Affairs Department at the IMF, Vitor Gaspar, noted that 19 of the 35 low-income countries in Africa are in debt distress as more than 120 million people on the continent do not have enough food to eat.

The oil major says it expects that ongoing essential repairs on the facility would have been completed and begin normal export operations.
SPDC’s Media Relations Manager, Abimbola Essien-Nelson, says in addition to the repairs, they are working to remove and clamp theft points on the onshore pipelines to ensure full crude oil receipt at the terminal.
Essien-Nelson says the active illegal connections to SPDC joint venture’s production lines and facilities in the western Niger Delta as well as the inactive illegal connection to the onshore section of the 48.

The 2023 appropriation bill of N20.5 trillion passed through the second reading in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The upper chamber referred the bill to its Committee on Appropriation for further legislative action and expressed dissatisfaction over the rise in recurrent expenditure which is up from over 6 trillion nairas this year to over 8 trillion budgeted for next year.
The lawmakers say Nigeria cannot continue to borrow to fund 1 percent of its population. Subsequently, the Senate asked its committee to report back in four weeks.
It adjourned its sitting for the next four weeks to allow its various committees to work on the 2023 budget estimates as well as a budget defense by various ministries, departments, and agencies.

The Federal Executive Council has stated that it has begun engagements with the Ethiopian Government over the controversial subject of a recent visa ban on Nigeria, in order to seek a reversal of the new policy.
The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika however, noted that the ban does not in any way affect the agreement by the two nations on Nigeria Air.
The council also approved the ratification of International Labour Organisation Convention 181 which seeks to permit the operation of private employment agencies and ensure the protection and right of people are fully respected as well as the adoption of a revised national policy on labor migration which seeks to protect the dignity of migrants workers in the country.

President William Ruto has pledged to increase the trade volume with Tanzania so as to foster strong bilateral ties between the two neighbouring countries.
President Ruto stated that the two nations will be working to double trade from the current Sh90 billion so as ensure the trade and investors benefit from the relations.
Kenya's trade with Tanzania has grown steadily in the past years in the wake of improved relations between the two countries after years of feuds that at one point resulted in retaliatory measures such as trade bans.
The Head of State mentioned that Trade Cabinet Secretaries between the two nations alongside other officials will be having a meeting to iron out fourteen trade barriers that have stifled operations between the two states.
President Ruto outlined that the remaining barriers have locked trade between the two nations in the East Africa region.