Africa

How much East Africa’s tropical glaciers have shrunk since the 20th century, according to a new study. Roughly half of the glacier area has been lost in the last two decades, the study found. Due to their proximity to the equator, glaciers atop Mount Kenya, Mount Kilimanjaro, and DR Congo’s Rwenzori Mountains are particularly exposed to global warming. The glaciers could disappear by the 2050s, according to researchers. Declining cloud cover atop the mountains — an indicator of climate change — was responsible for the rapid speed at which the glaciers are melting, the study noted.

Binance arrests underscore Nigeria’s crypto war

THE NEWS

LAGOS — Nigeria intensified its crackdown on cryptocurrency by detaining two executives of Binance, the prominent crypto trading platform that authorities allege enabled the naira currency’s slide to record lows this month.

The arrest, first reported by the Financial Times on Wednesday, follows a move last week that saw telecom providers shut off user access to the websites of Binance, Coinbase and other crypto exchanges. Crypto platforms have been scaling down services in Nigeria in the period since. On Wednesday, Binance stopped offering peer-to-peer trades that allowed users to exchange the naira for USDT, a digital currency pegged to the U.S. dollar.

During a Tuesday briefing after hiking Nigeria’s interest rate to 22.75%, central bank governor Yemi Cardoso singled out Binance while detailing suspected manipulations of the naira on crypto platforms. “In the last one year alone, $26 billion has passed through Binance Nigeria from sources and users who we cannot adequately identify,” Cardoso said.

Alleging that some trading activity involved “illicit flows,” Cardoso said Nigerian law enforcement bodies were collaborating “to do everything it takes to not allow others to manipulate our markets.”

It is not yet clear when the Binance staff were detained. A report by Nigerian publication Premium Times said the executives, an American and a British citizen, arrived in the country on Sunday and declined a request for user transaction data at a meeting with security investigators on Monday. Binance did not respond to a request for comment.

Recent interest rate increases in Kenya and Nigeria aim to bolster the nations’ struggling economies — but analysts say the measures may have only a mild effect. Kenya’s central bank increased its main lending rate by 50 basis points earlier this month in a move that surprised analysts, most of whom expected the rate to remain unchanged. In Nigeria, however, a large increase announced on Tuesday — of 400 basis points — was expected.

Central banks typically use rate increases as a tool to curb inflation. However, the effect on African economies isn’t always apparent. “The consensus is that monetary policy transmission is not as strong in its influence on prices” in Africa as it is in other emerging economies, said David Omojomolo, of Capital Economics. Structural weaknesses in the economy — from depreciating currencies to agricultural shortages — could continue exerting pressure regardless of what the interest rates are, analysts say.

In developed markets, high levels of private sector debt from mortgages or other loans mean interest rate tweaks are felt immediately. “In sub-Saharan Africa, there is virtually no private sector debt, virtually no mortgages, and so interest rates don’t affect most people very much,” says Charlie Robertson, head of macro strategy at FIM Partners.

— Alexander Onukwue

We’ve opened registration for The 2024 World Economy Summit – our boldest venture in live journalism yet and the only major media event to be held against the background of the IMF and World Bank meetings, taking place in Washington, D.C. on April 17-18. Legends of industry, Penny Pritzker and David Rubenstein will serve as our co-chairs, and today we’re thrilled to unveil our speaker line-up of global leaders on the record. Speakers, Sessions & Registration here. 

🇿🇦 French media company Canal Plus must make an offer to buy the shares of TV giant MultiChoice that it does not already own, South Africa’s Takeover Regulations Panel has ruled. Its previous offer of 105 rand ($5.45) per share was rejected earlier this month by MultiChoice’s board, who said it undervalued the broadcaster. Canal Plus recently increased its shareholdings to 35%, crossing the legal threshold where a mandatory offer is required. The panel rejected the firm’s argument that it did not have to make a mandatory offer because it was barred from holding more than 20% of the company’s voting rights due to being a foreign company.

🇳🇬 Nigeria’s federal government has introduced a new levy for companies hiring expatriate workers. It will now cost companies operating in Africa’s largest economy $15,000 per year to hire an expatriate director, and $10,000 to hire other expatriate workers. The government argues the move will help to grow the local workforce. President Bola Tinubu said the levy should not be “an obstacle to frustrate potential investors.”

🇬🇭 Ghana’s parliament has passed a new bill imposing a three-year prison sentence for anyone convicted of identifying as LGBTQ+. The bill, backed by the country’s two largest political parties, also imposes a five-year sentence for establishing or funding LGBTQ+ groups. Gay sex is already illegal in Ghana and carries a three-year sentence. The bill requires President Nana Akufo-Addo’s assent to become law. He previously said he would sign it if it was supported by most Ghanaians. The U.S. State Department said it was “deeply troubled” by the bill’s passage which it said threatened the country’s “freedoms of speech, press and assembly.”

🇸🇳 A dialogue commission organized by Senegal’s president Macky Sall has proposed June 2 as the new presidential election date. The two-day dialogue in Dakar this week was boycotted by most opposition candidates who would have run in the postponed Feb. 25 elections, because they insisted on Sall’s departure at the end of his term. Sall will make the final decision on the commission’s recommendation. Sall has said he will ask Senegal’s top court to choose a temporary president if an election is not held before his term ends on April 2.

🇬🇳 Guinea’s junta on Tuesday named former opposition leader Mamadou Oury Bah as the country’s new prime minister, a week after abruptly dissolving the interim government. Television footage showed Bah taking the oath of office, Reuters reported. The appointment of the 65-year-old economist came a day after workers began a nationwide strike to demand the release of a jailed member of the press, lower food prices, and an end to internet restrictions. Bah is expected to set up a new government to replace the one that was dismissed, and urged labor unions to call off the strike.

🇿🇦 Africa’s largest data center company is building a $104 million energy plant to power its facilities in South Africa and sidestep rolling blackouts. Teraco Data Environments, headquartered in Johannesburg, is looking to construct a 120 megawatt solar plant and an 80 MW wind farm in South Africa’s Free State province. It has raised funds from Absa Bank for the project and secured grid capacity allocation from state-owned power utility Eskom, allowing its solar plant to be connected to the national grid.

Africa’s largest mosque was inaugurated on Monday in Algeria. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune officially opened the Grand Mosque of Algiers following years of delays. Known locally as the Djamaa El-Djazair, the mosque lies on the north African country’s Mediterranean coastline. The mosque, which was built by a Chinese construction firm, is the third largest in the world, extending across 70 acres. The $900 million project was constructed over a seven-year period. The mosque can accommodate 120,000 people, and features both a helicopter landing pad and a library that can house up to 1 million books.

• Google CEO calls AI tool’s controversial responses ‘completely unacceptable.’
• Warren Buffett sees a bright future for fossil fuels.
• Senate Republicans may be warming to Congress’s $78 billion tax bill.

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— Yinka, Alexis, Alexander Onukwue, Martin Siele, and Muchira Gachenge