Facebook <a class="inline_asset" title="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/05/clear-history-2/" href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/05/clear-history-2/">said Tuesday</a> it will start telling users which websites track them across the web — and offer them the option to delete the personal data from their accounts.
The social media site collects information on Facebook users and non-Facebook users from third party websites that use Facebook&#8217;s services, like the &#8220;Like&#8221; plug-in or Facebook &#8220;pixels,&#8221; which are pieces of code that track what people do off of Facebook.
The feature, called &#8220;Clear History&#8221; — which will roll out in upcoming months — will essentially let users see and clear the information Facebook knows about their browsing history.
&#8220;To be clear, when you clear your cookies in your browser, it can make parts of your experience worse. You may have to sign back in to every website, and you may have to reconfigure things. The same will be true here. Your Facebook won&#8217;t be as good while it relearns your preferences,&#8221; CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a <a class="inline_asset" title="https://www.facebook.com/zuck" href="https://www.facebook.com/zuck">post to his personal account</a>.
&#8220;But after going through our systems, this is an example of the kind of control we think you should have,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It&#8217;s something privacy advocates have been asking for — and we will work with them to make sure we get it right.&#8221;
The new feature is another effort to give users more control over their data in response to widespread data mishandling by research firm Cambridge Analytica.
The firm was accused in recent months of improperly accessing the personal user data of as many as 87 million Facebook users. The allegations have set off a firestorm of governmental probes and privacy concerns — causing Facebook to publicly address and, in some cases, tweak its privacy policies.
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Facebook will still collect and store aggregate data from third party websites, the company said, but it will disassociate the information from user profiles.
&#8220;You&#8217;ll even be able to turn off having this information stored with your account,&#8221; Zuckerberg said.
Here&#8217;s the <a class="inline_asset" title="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/05/clear-history-2/" href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/05/clear-history-2/">full statement</a> from Facebook&#8217;s Erin Egan, chief privacy officer:
<blockquote>The past several weeks have made clear that people want more information about how Facebook works and the controls they have over their information. And today at F8 we&#8217;re sharing some of the first steps we&#8217;re taking to better protect people&#8217;s privacy.
We&#8217;re starting with a feature that addresses feedback we&#8217;ve heard consistently from people who use Facebook, privacy advocates and regulators: everyone should have more information and control over the data Facebook receives from other websites and apps that use our services.
Today, we&#8217;re announcing plans to build Clear History. This feature will enable you to see the websites and apps that send us information when you use them, delete this information from your account, and turn off our ability to store it associated with your account going forward. Apps and websites that use features such as the Like button or Facebook Analytics <a class="inline_asset" href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/04/data-off-facebook/">send us information</a> to make their content and ads better. We also use this information to make your experience on Facebook better.
If you clear your history or use the new setting, we&#8217;ll remove identifying information so a history of the websites and apps you&#8217;ve used won&#8217;t be associated with your account. We&#8217;ll still provide apps and websites with aggregated analytics – for example, we can build reports when we&#8217;re sent this information so we can tell developer if their apps are more popular with men or women in a certain age group. We can do this without storing the information in a way that&#8217;s associated with your account, and as always, we don&#8217;t tell advertisers who you are.
It will take a few months to build Clear History. We&#8217;ll work with privacy advocates, academics, policymakers and regulators to get their input on our approach, including how we plan to remove identifying information and the rare cases where we need information for security purposes. We&#8217;ve already started a series of roundtables in cities around the world, and heard specific demands for controls like these at a session we held at our headquarters two weeks ago. We&#8217;re looking forward to doing more.</blockquote>
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<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/sara-salinas/"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" title="Sara Salinas" src="https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2017/10/17/104778204-20171013-2296-2499.60x60.jpg?v=1508258333" alt="Sara Salinas" width="60" height="60" /></a>
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Facebook will start telling users which websites track them

Justina Crabtree
Source: <a href="http://https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/01/zimbabwe-mass-strikes-trouble-president-mnangagwa-ahead-of-election.html">Mass strikes in Zimbabwe trouble the new president ahead of keenly watched election</a>
<ul>
<li>Zimbabwe has been plagued by a succession of strikes in recent weeks.</li>
<li>In mid-April, 16,000 nurses were fired by the Zimbabwean government following a multi-day walkout over unpaid wages.</li>
<li>Government workers were taking advantage of new President Emmerson Mnangagwa&#8217;s &#8220;less authoritarian leadership&#8221; and recognized that civil satisfaction would be under the spotlight as the country gears up for elections in July, an expert said.</li>
</ul>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://media.cnbc.com/i/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/05/01/105173372-GettyImages-949116972.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Jekesai Njikizana | AFP | Getty Images"/>
May 1 might be celebrated as International Workers&#8217; Day across the globe, but in Zimbabwe government employees have rallied together in protest in recent weeks by staging a series of strikes.
On Friday it was announced that members of the Zimbabwe Teachers&#8217; Association would strike on May 8 when schools re-open after the holidays. The 44,000-member group cited stagnant pay and restrictive annual leave as reasons for the action.
&#8220;No amount of threats or illegal declarations from individuals in government will stop or intimidate teachers from exercising their constitutional and legal right to participate in industrial job action,&#8221; said a statement by the Zimbabwe Teachers Association Monday, addressed to the Education Ministry.
In mid-April, 16,000 nurses were fired by the Zimbabwean government following a multi-day walkout that began on April 16 over unpaid wages. The strike took place just one day after a month-long walkout by junior doctors ended.
Vice President Constantino Chiwenga described the nurses&#8217; strike as &#8220;politically motivated.&#8221;
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://media.cnbc.com/i/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/05/01/105173405-GettyImages-948122764.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Jekesai Njikizana | AFP | Getty Images"/>
The present wave of striking reflects malcontent that has &#8220;long simmered under (former President Robert) Mugabe&#8217;s leadership,&#8221; Charles Laurie, director and head of politics at consultancy firm Verisk Maplecroft, told CNBC Monday.
Zimbabwe&#8217;s workforce has &#8220;seen a rot in their earnings under generally inhospitable investment conditions,&#8221; he explained. Government workers were taking advantage of the &#8220;less authoritarian leadership under (new President Emmerson) Mnangagwa,&#8221; and recognized that civil satisfaction would be under the spotlight as the country gears up for elections promised by the president in July.
Laurie described the &#8220;contagious effect&#8221; of the succession of strikes as different groups of government staff attempted to improve their working conditions.
Mugabe was ousted in a military coup in November last year after nearly four decades of rule. He was replaced by his deputy Mnangagwa, who has pledged &#8220;free and fair&#8221; elections this summer and pushed the mantra that &#8220;Zimbabwe is open for business&#8221; in an attempt to revive the country&#8217;s economy.
But, &#8220;the man on the street has not benefited from the positive changes that are slowly taking hold in the country,&#8221; Samir Shasha, chief executive of Zimbabwe-focused investment firm Cambria Africa, told CNBC Monday. &#8220;The promised investments by visiting entrepreneurs will only bring long-term benefits,&#8221; he added.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://media.cnbc.com/i/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/05/01/105173398-GettyImages-948137814.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Jekesai Njikizana | AFP | Getty Images"/>
Zimbabwe&#8217;s economy infamously suffered from hyperinflation in the 1990s and 2000s under Mugabe. Shasha referenced the decline in the purchasing power of money as a possible reason for the dissatisfaction which caused the strikes.
Zimbabwe&#8217;s bloated civil service — an attempt to create jobs in the country — means that the government struggles to meet its wage bill every month, Laurie said.
Unemployment figures for Zimbabwe vary widely. The <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/10000939?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
World Bank 
</a> has measured the figure at 5.2 percent for 2017, though above 90 percent has been cited by other sources. This is down to the extent of Zimbabwe&#8217;s informal economy, and the prevalence of subsistence farmers.
In December 2014, Zimbabwe&#8217;s late opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai accused Mugabe&#8217;s government of creating a &#8220;poor nation of vendors; a country where everyone is trying to sell something to someone.&#8221;
Laurie said that Zimbabwe&#8217;s workforce was currently looking ahead to its brightest future in decades given the recent governmental upheaval. &#8220;Politicians need to be more receptive to their demands,&#8221; he added. But, striking workers &#8220;need to be careful of settling for unrealistic promises from politicians that are ultimately unsustainable,&#8221; he warned.

Mass strikes in Zimbabwe trouble the new president ahead of keenly watched election

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Source: <a href="http://https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/30/watch-trump-holds-joint-press-conference-with-nigerian-president.html">Watch: Trump holds joint press conference with Nigerian president</a>

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President Donald Trump is set to host a joint press conference with President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria on Monday afternoon. Buhari&#8217;s visit to the White House marks Trump&#8217;s <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/105164875?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
first official visit 
</a> from an African head of state. 
Trump reportedly called African nations &#8220;s&#8212;hole countries&#8221; in January. Weeks ago, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Nigeria and other African countries – a visit that many saw as an attempt to sooth relations after Trump&#8217;s alleged comments.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-visit-president-muhammadu-buhari-nigeria/">said in a statement</a> that Trump looks forward to advancing U.S. and Nigeria&#8217;s shared priorities: promoting economic growth and reforms, fighting terrorism and other threats to peace and security, and building on Nigeria&#8217;s role as a democratic leader in the region.

Watch: Trump holds joint press conference with Nigerian president

Justina Crabtree
Source: <a href="http://https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/30/trump-white-house-to-host-nigeria-president-buhari.html">Trump is hosting the president of Africa&#8217;s biggest oil state</a>
<ul>
<li>President Donald Trump is hosting Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari at the White House Monday.</li>
<li>The event will mark Trump&#8217;s first official visit from an African head of state.</li>
<li>Last April, the Trump administration tied up a $600 million deal with Nigeria over the sale of military aircraft intended to be used in the fight against Islamic extremist group Boko Haram.</li>
</ul>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://media.cnbc.com/i/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/04/20/105146027-RTX5RVL8r.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Kevin Lamarque | Reuters"/>
President Donald Trump is hosting Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari at the <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/10001079?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
White House 
</a> Monday in what will be his first official visit from an African head of state.
The &#8220;struggle against Islamic terrorism in the Sahel,&#8221; an area to the far north of Nigeria, as well as a &#8220;White House attempt to make nice to Africa after a series of false steps,&#8221; could be part of the agenda, John Campbell, U.S. ambassador to Nigeria from 2004 to 2007 and now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told CNBC last week. Campbell emphasized that his suggestions were just &#8220;speculation&#8221; and that he has no connection with the present U.S. administration.
In January of this year Trump is alleged to have referred to African nations as &#8220;s&#8212;hole countries,&#8221; which the White House later did not deny.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://media.cnbc.com/i/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/04/27/105164819-GettyImages-945930968.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Pius Utomi Ekpei | AFP | Getty Images"/>
The invite to Buhari was issued earlier this month, with the intention for both leaders to discuss promoting economic growth, fighting terrorism and &#8220;building on Nigeria&#8217;s role as a democratic leader in the region,&#8221; a White House communique <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-visit-president-muhammadu-buhari-nigeria/">said</a>.
Nigeria has seen its economy hammered in recent years by the volatile oil price, plunging into its first annual recession in 25 years in 2016. Gross domestic product growth for 2018 is forecast to be 2.1 percent by the <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/10000936?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
International Monetary Fund 
</a>.
Nonetheless, Nigeria competes with South Africa for the title of the largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa and is the continent&#8217;s most populous nation, with 200 million inhabitants.
Last April, the Trump administration tied up a $600 million deal with Nigeria over the sale of military aircraft intended to be used in the fight against Islamic extremist group Boko Haram. The deal dates back to former President Barack Obama&#8216;s tenure, but was delayed over human rights concerns.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://media.cnbc.com/i/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/04/27/105164863-GettyImages-931374264.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Nigerian presidency press office | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images"/>
Nigeria imports most from China, whose share of total imports accounts for more than double that of the U.S., according to the <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/10000939?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
World Bank 
</a>.
Buhari&#8217;s last foreign visit was to London for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting last week, at which he said he&#8217;d <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/105142820?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
met with Shell 
</a> for talks to help secure a potential $15 billion investment in his country.
Buhari, 75, is a former military leader. He was elected president in 2015 in what signified the first time an opposition party had won an election in Nigeria. Earlier this month it was announced that Buhari would contest the presidency once again when Nigeria heads to the polls next year.
&#8220;For Buhari it is advantageous to be seen to be active at the highest world stage while his campaign for re-election in 2019 builds steam,&#8221; Philip Walker, Nigeria analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told CNBC.

Trump is hosting the president of Africa’s biggest oil state

Justina Crabtree
Source: <a href="http://https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/27/south-africa-workers-protest-minimum-wage-ramaphosa-reassures.html">Protests grip South Africa as introduction of minimum income dubbed &#8216;poverty wage&#8217; is delayed</a>
<ul>
<li>Nationwide protests hit South Africa this week over a proposed minimum wage.</li>
<li>President Cyril Ramaphosa has pushed a minimum income of R20 ($1.62) per hour — a figure that compromises on what businesses and workers have put forward.</li>
<li>&#8220;The president recognizes that the national minimum wage is not a living wage, but we need to start somewhere,&#8221; Ramaphosa&#8217;s spokeswoman Khusela Diko said.</li>
<li>South Africa is one of the most unequal societies in the world.</li>
</ul>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://media.cnbc.com/i/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/04/27/105165163-GettyImages-951075784.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Rodger Bosch | AFP | Getty Images"/>
Disagreement over a proposed minimum wage in South Africa has led to mass protests and reassurances from the presidency this week.
President Cyril Ramaphosa met with officials from the labor ministry on Thurday, following protests the previous day that mobilized workers across the country including in the cities of Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg.
Ramaphosa has been pushing a minimum wage of R20 ($1.62) per hour, a policy that was scheduled to be implemented on May 1 though the draft legislation was since delayed in parliament. The initiative dates back to Ramaphosa&#8217;s days as deputy president under former South African leader Jacob Zuma.
The minimum wage is intended to alleviate inequality and stabilize labor. But, the South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU), the group behind the strike, described it as a &#8220;poverty wage on which no-one should be expected to live&#8221; in a press release Sunday. The minimum wage &#8220;legitimizes the unequal apartheid wage structure,&#8221; it added.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://media.cnbc.com/i/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/02/27/105031798-GettyImages-916957534.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Rodger Bosch | AFP | Getty Images"/>
&#8220;The president recognizes that the national minimum wage is not a living wage, but we need to start somewhere,&#8221; Ramaphosa&#8217;s spokeswoman Khusela Diko said, as reported by Reuters.
SAFTU, the second-largest group of its kind in the country, instead proposes a living wage of R12,500 per month — three times that of the intended minimum wage in monthly terms.
South Africa is one of the most unequal societies in the world. According to the <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/10000939?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
World Bank 
</a>, the poorest 20 percent of South Africans consume less than 3 percent of the country&#8217;s total expenditure. Meanwhile, the wealthiest 20 percent account for 65 percent.
Wages aside, the nation is also known for its rampant unemployment, currently at 26.7 percent according to Statistics South Africa.
But not all trade unions back the protests. Matthew Parks, deputy parliamentary co-ordinator of the Congress of South African Trade Unions — the largest of such groups — described the R20 minimum wage as a &#8220;huge victory&#8221; given that businesses had originally pushed for R11.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://media.cnbc.com/i/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/04/27/105165175-GettyImages-951076380.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Rodger Bosch | AFP | Getty Images"/>
&#8220;It&#8217;s a start, not the end,&#8221; he told CNBC Friday, adding that &#8220;the president played a key role in supporting us.&#8221;
The minimum wage dispute might not equal a setback to Ramaphosa&#8217;s leadership, which was widely cheered following the abrupt end to the corruption-tainted, unpopular Zuma administration in February.
&#8220;Facilitating negotiations, with the aim of reaching consensus — including over difficult issues — is a key theme of Ramaphosa&#8217;s presidency,&#8221; Pat Thaker, editorial director for the Middle East and Africa at the analysis firm Economist Intelligence Unit, told CNBC on Friday.
She added that a national minimum wage could benefit Ramaphosa by tackling deep-rooted inequality and poverty as well as giving his African National Congress party an &#8220;electoral boost in 2019,&#8221; when the country next heads to the polls.

Protests grip South Africa as introduction of minimum income dubbed ‘poverty wage’ is delayed

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Justina Crabtree
Source: <a href="http://https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/25/africa-needs-to-know-what-it-wants-from-china-expert-says.html">Africa needs to know what it wants from China, expert says. Here are two key issues</a>
<ul>
<li>China has poured billions of dollars into Africa&#8217;s development, but an expert CNBC spoke to said that the continent&#8217;s countries needed a two-pronged approach to properly benefit.</li>
<li>&#8220;Most African countries don&#8217;t have a strategy vis-a-vis China,&#8221; Ibrahima Diong, Senegal-born former regional co-ordinator for Africa at the World Bank, told CNBC.</li>
<li>The seventh meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation is scheduled for this September in Beijing.</li>
</ul>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://media.cnbc.com/i/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/04/25/105157701-GettyImages-528124902.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Per-Anders Pettersson | Corbis News | Getty Images"/>
China has poured tens of billions of dollars into Africa&#8217;s development, but the continent&#8217;s countries need a better strategy in order to properly reap the benefits, according to an expert.
&#8220;China knows what it wants from Africa,&#8221; Ibrahima Diong, Senegal-born former regional co-ordinator for Africa at the <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/10000939?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
World Bank 
</a>, told CNBC on Friday.
&#8220;But, most African countries don&#8217;t have a strategy vis-a-vis China.&#8221;
For Diong, who has served as a China adviser to the Senegalese president and is currently chief executive of consulting firm Africa Consulting &amp; Trading Afrique Group, African countries need to adopt a two-pronged approach to managing China funded-development.
African nations must make sure that such projects &#8220;will actually boost economic growth on the continent,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;If you have energy problems, infrastructure, railways, and yet you go to China to get money to build a stadium — I&#8217;m not saying it&#8217;s not important — or to build a palace, the question is: who do you blame, the Chinese or actually the country that does not make sure that the support of the investment goes to areas that are actually being productive to the economy?&#8221;
The second stumbling block for African countries to address is negotiation, Diong said. &#8220;They have to make sure that they&#8217;re actually protecting their interests.&#8221; Strength comes from African unity, and the collective understanding that, &#8220;We are a sizeable market, how do we make sure that we negotiate with China?&#8221; he added.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://media.cnbc.com/i/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/04/25/105157713-GettyImages-690955828.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Tony Karumba | AFP | Getty Images"/>
China is known for building infrastructure projects in Africa as part of its Belt and Road Initiative, a multi-billion dollar plan to resurrect ancient trading routes centred on China. The African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is also Chinese built.
But, the Asian superpower has been accused of not hiring enough local African labor, or else exploiting those that they do, for example by paying too-low wages or not providing favorable working conditions.
The seventh meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation is scheduled for this September in Beijing. The first took place in 2000. The last summit in 2015 resulted in Chinese President Xi Jinping pledging $60 billion to industrialize the African continent.
African countries&#8217; policy on China should be better integrated into governments, Diong said. &#8220;Most of the African countries should have at least a China desk — or a China ministry,&#8221; he said, adding that regional bodies such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) also needed to &#8220;help their member countries to get their strategy right.&#8221;
Development in Africa needs to &#8220;leave something behind so we don&#8217;t have to depend on the Chinese over and over again,&#8221; Diong said. &#8220;That&#8217;s really a matter for the Africans themselves, getting better organized.&#8221;
Diong said that Africa needed to hold China &#8220;accountable,&#8221; and ensure that financing was directed into sectors that would be most economically beneficial, such as energy and infrastructure.
The issue is about &#8220;knowing what you want, knowing how you get it,&#8221; he added.

Africa needs to know what it wants from China, expert says. Here are two key issues

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Justina Crabtree
Source: <a href="http://https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/23/china-does-not-have-to-ask-anyone-for-respect-ghanas-president-says.html">China does not have to ask anyone for respect, Ghana’s president says</a>
<ul>
<li>Nana Akufo-Addo pinpointed China&#8217;s development story Saturday in a speech that promoted intra-African economic co-operation.</li>
<li>He also extolled African unity as a means of generating economic prosperity.</li>
</ul>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://media.cnbc.com/i/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/04/23/105151583-GettyImages-949191316.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Dominika Zarzycka | NurPhoto | Getty Images"/>
Ghanian President Nana Akufo-Addo pinpointed China&#8217;s development story Saturday in a speech that promoted intra-African economic co-operation.
&#8220;China does not ask anyone for respect now,&#8221; he said, referring to foreign students&#8217; enthusiasm for learning Mandarin as evidence of Beijing&#8217;s influence.
&#8220;We&#8217;ve run out of excuses for the state of our continent,&#8221; Akufo-Addo added, speaking at the London School of Economics. &#8220;If we work at it, if we stop being beggars, and spend Africa&#8217;s monies inside the continent, Africa will not need to ask for respect from anyone.&#8221;
China&#8217;s influence in Africa is more nuanced than simply providing loans and building infrastructure. <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/105114262?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
Ethiopia 
</a> — among the world&#8217;s fastest growing economies with gross domestic product (GDP) expansion at 10.9 percent in 2017 — espouses a China-style state-led development model, for example.
Akufo-Addo also extolled African unity as a means of generating economic prosperity.
&#8220;Africa is losing annually more than $50 billion United States dollars through illicit financial outflows,&#8221; he said, referring to a <a href="https://www.uneca.org/sites/default/files/PublicationFiles/iff_main_report_26feb_en.pdf">United Nations report</a> led by former South African President Thabo Mbeki. &#8220;The dispiriting part of the story, of course, is the fact that some Africans are complicit.
&#8220;It is clear that we are not well-equipped to cope with those who come to conduct business in our countries with the aim of making extraordinary returns through unorthodox and illegal means.&#8221;
Akufo-Addo also highlighted the importance of a nascent <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/105076688?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
pan-African free trade agreement 
</a> proposed by the African Union.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://media.cnbc.com/i/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/04/06/105114344-GettyImages-144865684.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Jenny Vaughan | AFP | Getty Images"/>
&#8220;The free trade area will succeed as we transform the structure of our economies from economies that are dependent on the production and export of raw materials to value-adding economies,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Trade, then, is made not on the basis of raw material exports but on the basis of things we make. That is the surest route to prosperity.&#8221;
Less than 20 percent of trade in Africa is internal at present. At a March summit of African Union members in Kigali, Rwanda, 44 countries signed up to the pact — although, notably, two of the continent&#8217;s major economies, South Africa and Nigeria, did not. If implemented, the agreement would establish the largest trading bloc in terms of member countries since the formation of the World Trade Organization (WHO).
Ghana itself is among Africa&#8217;s <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/105067242?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
fastest growing economies 
</a>. In 2017, its GDP grew by 8.4 percent, more than double that of the previous year as the West African country expanded its oil production. But, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) anticipates more modest growth this year of 6.3 percent.
Akufo-Addo made headlines in December for saying that it was &#8220;not right&#8221; for Ghana to depend on European funding during a press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron.

China does not have to ask anyone for respect, Ghana’s president says

Dr. Michael Ivanovitch
Source: <a href="http://https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/23/the-us-is-losing-an-unassailable-600-billion-trade-case--commentary.html">The US is losing an unassailable $600 billion trade case</a>
<ul>
<li>With their growing surpluses on American trades, China, Japan and the European Union are defying U.S. trade policies — and getting away with it.</li>
<li>China says it is &#8220;locked and loaded&#8221; to &#8220;fight to the end&#8221; on its trade issues with the U.S.</li>
<li>German Chancellor Angela Merkel&#8217;s upcoming visit to Washington should be used to make an example-setting deal for a new architecture of fair and reciprocal trade.</li>
</ul>
Before coming to Florida last week to talk trade, plan out East Asian security and play a round of golf, Japan&#8217;s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe kicked off in Tokyo a series of meetings with China visiting State Councillor Wang Yi.
The meetings were set to strengthen the Sino-Japanese &#8220;strategic relationship of mutual benefit,&#8221; to expand a $300 billion bilateral trade and to increase further the flow of 7.3 million Chinese visitors to Japan.
Abe also welcomed the impending visit to Japan of China&#8217;s Premier Li Keqiang to (a) set up a trilateral free trade area with China and South Korea, (b) conclude the agreement on an East Asian Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, (c) join China&#8217;s erstwhile shunned <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/104958552?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
Belt and Road 
</a> infrastructure projects, (d) promote multilateral trade and (e) fight trade protectionism.
Clear messages, aren&#8217;t they?
And then, while in Florida, Abe insisted on keeping the U.S.-Japan trade in a broad multilateral framework, fearing that President Donald Trump preference for a bilateral deal would make a big dent in Japan&#8217;s $68.8 billion trade surplus on American trades.
<h4>China should golf instead of spoiling for a fight</h4>
Promising to Trump an &#8220;honest trade relationship,&#8221; Abe asked him to include Pyongyang&#8217;s short- and medium-range missiles in the forthcoming disarmament negotiations, and to get back to Japan the people North Koreans allegedly abducted.
I wonder whether he also told Trump that Japan&#8217;s high-ranking officials from foreign, defense and other government agencies were conducting consultations in Sendai, Japan last Thursday and Friday with their Chinese counterparts on contested maritime borders in the South China Sea. That comes close on the heels of a similar meeting in Shanghai last December, showing that a Sino-Japanese &#8220;strategic relationship of mutual benefit&#8221; may be heating up while Tokyo feels secure under the U.S. defense umbrella and enjoys full access to American markets.
China is not interested in the bourgeois game of golfing. No, Beijing says it is &#8220;locked and loaded&#8221; to retaliate and &#8220;fight to the end&#8221; in what it sees as an unfolding &#8220;trade war&#8221; with America.
That is an interesting negotiating posture for a country that ran a $375 billion trade surplus with the U.S. last year. And this year could be much worse. The American trade deficit with China in January and February was running at an annual rate of $391.2 billion — a 20 percent increase over the same period of 2017.
In spite of that, there is nothing in China&#8217;s official statements to indicate that Beijing intends to bring those surpluses down. One can only see a belligerent defiance, promises to open up, to cling to multilateral trade and to pursue a &#8220;win-win cooperation.&#8221;
Will Washington settle for that? Or is Trump ready to make good on his promise to give China a pass on trade for help with North Korea nukes?
<h4>Merkel for a Mar-a-Lago weekend</h4>
If true, that would be a huge mistake. There are no trade offs here. Beijing will not sell North Korea down the river in exchange for Trump&#8217;s leniency on large, and growing, trade deficits with China. And neither will China suffocate Pyongyang for Washington&#8217;s favors, whatever those might be.
Pyongyang said it is suspending nuclear and ballistic missile tests on a site that had reportedly become unusable. It also claims that no further tests are necessary — presumably for now. What will follow — if all goes well — is a long negotiating process where China will support North Korea&#8217;s demands for iron-clad security guarantees and the dismantling of the sanctions regime in exchange for gradual measures of nuclear disarmament.
There are no ultimatums for quick fixes here. There is only a devilishly difficult, long and uncertain high-stakes bargaining among actors deeply suspicious of each other&#8217;s sincerity and intentions.
But let&#8217;s get back to the trade issue. Even on a heroic assumption that the expected U.S.-North Korean summit, midwifed by China, is a resounding success, Washington still could not ignore the size and the pace of increase of its trade deficit with Beijing.
The European Union, for its part, is also threatening retaliations in spite of a $151.4 billion trade surplus with the U.S. last year.
The silver lining is that German Chancellor Angela Merkel knows better. She dispatched her vice chancellor to Washington last week to talk trade and prepare the ground for her one-day visit to the White House on Friday, April 27.
Trump would do well to show more understanding for EU trades and more warmth for Merkel. About one-fifth of American exports go to the EU. In January and February, the U.S. sales to the EU were growing at an annual rate of 9 percent — while falling 1.5 percent to China. Over the same period, American exports to Germany soared 12 percent.
Germany may not oblige its estranged cousin Trump with Chevys on its autobahns, but show more courtesy and extend Merkel&#8217;s Friday visit for a Mar-a-Lago weekend, and you might see a flood of sun-starved Germans to Florida. Also, keep in mind that Germans believe &#8220;alte Liebe rostet nicht&#8221; – old love does not rust.
<h4>Investment thoughts</h4>
China, Japan and the EU are defying Trump&#8217;s trade policies — and are getting away with it. Last year, on Trump&#8217;s watch, they ran a combined $595.4 billion surplus on their American trades — a 5.8 percent increase from 2016.
And things are now getting worse. With the U.S. domestic demand revving up a bit, America&#8217;s trade gap this year could be much wider. In January and February, the U.S. trade deficit with those three large economic systems, accounting for about 40 percent of world&#8217;s demand and output, was running at an annual rate of $612.3 billion, a 3 percent increase from the same period of 2017.
What can Washington do?
First, stop threatening. But do make sure that everybody understands the U.S. won&#8217;t be the dumping ground of the world, with systematic losses of wealth, jobs and proprietary technology.
Second, make a deal with Germany to cut U.S. trade deficits by boosting American exports to the EU while replacing a significant part of imports with products generated by European companies in their U.S. production facilities.
Japan would follow suit by stepping up supplies from its U.S.-based manufacturing outlets. But whether Tokyo will open up its markets to American goods and services will depend on Washington&#8217;s implementation of rules of reciprocity.
Third, watching all this, China would understand that it has to cooperate, provided Washington stops linking strategic security issues with what Beijing should normally do as a responsible world trader.
Remember, the Chinese realize that no trade concession on their part can wish away acute U.S.-China questions, such as Taiwan, contested maritime borders in the South China Sea, the sequels to the Korean War and &#8220;strategically competitive&#8221; issues in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.
Talk reciprocal nickels and dimes with Beijing, and make sure that the people we call our friends and allies are following the same approach. The U.S. can&#8217;t have monumental trade issues with China while its closest allies are flocking to Beijing for lucrative &#8220;golden era&#8221; relationships. If that continues, Washington will be left holding the bag.
The Chinese are in an untenable situation where they live off their main trade partners while advocating globalization, multilateralism and the empty shell of &#8220;win-win cooperation.&#8221; If they continue on that path, they will discredit China&#8217;s remarkable achievements accomplished over decades of hard and smart work to save, produce and sell to willing buyers around the world.

Commentary by Michael Ivanovitch, an independent analyst focusing on world economy, geopolitics and investment strategy. He served as a senior economist at the OECD in Paris, international economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and taught economics at Columbia Business School.

The US is losing an unassailable $600 billion trade case

What is Asean? | CNBC Explains

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By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/nyshka-chandran/">Nyshka Chandran</a>, Reporter, CNBC Asia-Pacific
<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/south-africa/">South Africa&#8217;s</a> investor appeal is experiencing a robust recovery under the two-month old government of President <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/27/ramaphosa-cabinet-reshuffle-sees-investor-favorites-return-to-run-south-africa-economy.html">Cyril Ramaphosa</a>, the country&#8217;s Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago said on Thursday.
Since Ramaphosa took power, both business and consumer confidence have improved, Kganyago told CNBC&#8217;s Joumanna Bercetche at the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/washington-dc/">Washington</a>.
The positive momentum is also reflected in financial markets. &#8220;We saw bond yields decline, the currency strengthen so there is positive investor sentiment in South Africa and that, of course, lays a basis for a cyclical recovery,&#8221; Kganyago said.
Ramaphosa, the successor to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/16/south-africas-new-era-of-leadership-could-surprise-and-make-it-a-good-place-to-put-money.html">embattled former leader Jacob Zuma</a>, is widely regarded as a pro-business politician committed to fighting graft and boosting foreign investment. Once a top performing emerging market, the economy took a hit under Zuma, who was criticized for heavy <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2017/04/04/sp-south-africa-government-divisions-could-erode-business-trust.html">government interference in business affairs</a>.
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Also encouraging was the government&#8217;s tabling of a budget, which is setting <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/21/south-africa-raises-vat-for-the-first-time-in-25-years.html">a path for fiscal consolidation</a>, and the fact that Moody&#8217;s revised its credit outlook to stable from negative last month, Kganyago continued.
Ramaphosa this week announced a drive to attract more than $100 billion in foreign investments — a target that Kganyago called &#8220;aspirational.&#8221;
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While the country has been enjoying steady portfolio investment, foreign direct investment will take longer, the central bank head said, adding that once a suitable domestic environment is created, Ramaphosa&#8217;s goal will be achievable.
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Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago: What investors now think of SA

Justina Crabtree
Source: <a href="http://https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/19/nigeria-president-buhari-hints-at-15-billion-shell-deal.html">Nigeria&#8217;s Buhari hints at $15 billion deal with Shell, says &#8216;we are not doing too badly&#8217;</a>
<ul>
<li>Nigeria&#8217;s President Muhammadu Buhari met with Shell on Wednesday as part of talks that could lead to a $15 billion investment in his country.</li>
<li>Oil accounts for approximately 35 percent of Nigeria&#8217;s gross domestic product, according to OPEC.</li>
</ul>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://media.cnbc.com/i/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/04/19/105143037-GettyImages-948149624.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Daniel Leal | Olivas-WPA Pool | Getty Images"/>
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari met with ShellRDSA-GB on Wednesday as part of talks he said were to secure $15 billion of investment in his country.
&#8220;I saw Shell Group, they came here, they saw me, they are preparing to invest $15 billion in Nigeria… so really, we are not doing too badly,&#8221; Buhari said to applause at the Commonwealth Business Forum in London on Wednesday. He was speaking as part of a panel on the ease of doing business between Commonwealth countries.
Shell confirmed to CNBC that the meeting had taken place, but did not comment on the size of the specific investment.
A spokesperson said in a statement: &#8220;Nigeria is an important country for Shell. We see good opportunities there for potential investment,&#8221; referencing its Bonga offshore oil field and the expansion of liquefied natural gas as examples of this. &#8220;Both projects are subject to a future final investment decision and we continue to work with our partners and the government towards that in each case.&#8221;
Shell&#8217;s statement added: &#8220;The potential investments feature as options in our long-term plans and would fit within our capital spending range of $25 to $30 billion per year if we decide to go ahead with them.&#8221;
Oil price volatility has hit Nigeria&#8217;s economy — the largest on the African continent — hard. In 2016, the country suffered its first full-year recession in 25 years. Economic growth remains sluggish, expected by the <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/10000936?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
International Monetary Fund 
</a> (IMF) to be 2.1 percent for 2018, well below the emerging market average of 4.9 percent.
Oil accounts for approximately 35 percent of Nigeria&#8217;s gross domestic product, according to the <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/10000937?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries 
</a> (OPEC), of which Nigeria is a member.
Buhari referenced that, as of October, Nigeria had risen 24 places in the World Bank&#8217;s Ease of Doing Business ranking to 145th out of a total of 190 economies.
&#8220;We acknowledge that much more is to be done,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We are now in the next stage, this is work in progress.&#8221;

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