Global Steel Holdings Limited is reportedly preparing to sue the Federal Government over the control of the Ajaokuta steel mill. This was was hinted by the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite during the inspection of the National Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO) at Itakpe, Kogi State. The FG was said to have backed out of an agreement which allowed the firm to have concession of NIOMCO after the breakdown of the concession agreement of Ajaokuta Steel to the Indian company for a 10-year period. both NIOMCO and Ajaokuta Steel Complex are on FG’s agenda as plans to revive the two long-abandoned national assets have kicked off. Also, provisions were made for the iron ore mining company in the 2020 budget. This was also confirmed when the minister was quoted saying that the ‘concession modification agreement’ with the GSHL did not make any sense, as he vowed that Nigeria would keep both Ajaokuta Steel and NIOMCO.

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The Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) has weighed in on the Nigeria and Vietnam partnership seeking more economic cooperation between the two countries. According to the President of the ACCI, Adetokunbo Kayode, the need to address the trade deficit between the countries by exploring the potential in key sectors of their economies cannot be overemphasized. Areas which Kayode said needed to be improved economic cooperation include oil and gas, transportation, maritime, mining, construction, power, agriculture, cement, engineering, telecommunications and education. Speaking on the trade volume between the two countries, he said it was about $303.8 with Nigeria’s export to Vietnam put at about $232.65 million in 2017. The export, he said, was mainly in raw materials, especially cashew nuts. Kayode further said that Nigeria’s imports from Vietnam were worth $71.18 million made up of mobile phones, electronics, textiles, plastic, chemicals and machine parts.

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Following the acquisition of iHub by CcHub, Bosun Tijani, the Chief Executive Officer of both organizations has shared details of his strategy for operating the multi-country hubs. Although the acquisition of iHub by CcHub has made Tijani one of the most powerful figures in African tech with robust membership rosters, startup incubation programs, global partnerships, and VC activities from Nigeria to Kenya, he still faces plenty of challenges in integrating the two innovation hubs which are countries apart. Speaking on the coming together of CcHub and iHub and how to align the organizations on the path of sustainability, Tijani noted that Cchub has been in existence for 9 years. Tijani made known that while iHub has been active with startup seed-investments, CcHub has a portfolio of companies through its Growth Capital Fund. This he intends to use to leverage more partnerships. Going Forward, The CEO said that the team had started gaining collaborations from big African and global companies such as Facebook and MainOne.

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India needs to clean up its troubled financial sector fast in order to get economic growth back on track, says a former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Raghuram Rajan. Rajan served as RBI governor for three years — from Sept. 2013 to Sept. 2016. During his tenure, the central bank told troubled Indian lenders to clean up their books, which included identifying non-performing assets. India’s banking system has lost $24.8 billion due to non-performing loans of 416 defaulters being written off. The government has pumped in billions of dollars to help debt-laden state lenders in exchange for them implementing reforms. Public sector lenders are said to have the highest exposure to bad loans, and experts have said the sheer volume of bad debts remain high

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Apple's revenue decline in China is slowing, highlighting signs of stabilization in one of the world’s largest smartphone markets, despite the ongoing U.S.-China trade war and the continued growth of Huawei. However, analysts cautioned that Apple could face some tough quarters ahead without a 5G-capable iPhone on the market as China switches on its next-generation, high-speed mobile networks. China is a crucial market for Apple not just for sales of its products but also for the manufacturing of its iPhones. And new tariffs scheduled for December will hit the iPhone, which remains the largest contributor to Apple’s overall sales. Apple reported China's net sales of $11.13 billion in its fiscal fourth quarter on Wednesday, a 2.4% year-on-year decline. That fall in percentage terms was smaller than the 4.1% drop recorded in the June quarter and the 21.5% plunge posted in the March quarter.

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In what could be a small break for Liberia's struggling economy, the International Monetary Fund staff and the government have reached a staff-level agreement on a new program subject to fulfillment of significant prior actions in the fiscal and monetary areas. The IMF in a statement Tuesday said the key objectives of the program are to restore macroeconomic stability, provide a foundation for fiscally sustainable, inclusive growth, and address weaknesses in governance. One of the key elements of the program, according to the IMF is the implementation of a 2020 budget that constrains expenditure to available resources and avoids inflationary and reserve-depleting borrowing from the Central Bank of Liberia. The decision comes in the aftermath of lengthy discussion between the IMF mission and the Liberian government in June and September 2019 and, most recently, during the 2019 IMF Annual Meetings.

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A group of South African companies from four provinces will get an opportunity to showcase their products in China when they participate in the second China International Import Expo (CIIE) that will take place in Shanghai from 5-10 November 2019. The group's participation is organised and funded by the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) through its Export Marketing and Investment Assistance (EMIA) Scheme. Total trade between South Africa and China grew from R271 billion in 2013 to R332 billion by the end of 2018. However, 86% of our exports basket to China is concentrated on primary products. There are concerted measures underway to promote value-added goods and services by broadening the export base and increasing South Africa's market share in China," says Gina. The objective of the scheme is to develop export markets for South African products and services and to recruit new foreign direct investment into the country. According to the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Nomalungelo Gina, China is expecting to import products and services valued at more than US$10 trillion and this will provide a massive opportunity for enterprises across the world to enter the huge Chinese market.

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A new online database of human trafficking cases will help Senegal crackdown on a rampant crime that is little understood, highlighting hotspots and profiling crooks in a bid to curb the growing trade in people, the government said on Wednesday. The 'Systraite' system will collect information on victims, convictions, traffickers and more, hoping better data cuts opportunities for crime, a justice ministry official said. The West African country is a source, transit and destination country for trafficking, with children forced to beg on city streets and young women trafficked for sex work in mining camps. But there is no reliable data on how common this is or where it is happening, said Awa Ndour, a programme officer in the National Unit for Combating Trafficking in Persons (CNLTP).

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Dangote Group has announced that its refinery would be commissioned by the end of the first half in 2021. The Group Executive Director, Dangote Group, Devakumar Edwin, explained that when commissioned, the facility would meet 100% need of the country and export balance. the refinery will be able to process 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day into refined petroleum products. This will help Nigeria become an oil refining country and oil exporter as the country’s refineries are in a dilapidated state. The capacity of the Dangote Refinery would eliminate fuel import from other regions into Nigeria. Edwin also stated that the Dangote refinery would not be involved in NNPC’s (Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation) crude-for-fuel swap deal.

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