<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="548" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IGCSI2ZMYJNARJNQD2J6NFMHZE-820x548.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-479267" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IGCSI2ZMYJNARJNQD2J6NFMHZE-820x548.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IGCSI2ZMYJNARJNQD2J6NFMHZE-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IGCSI2ZMYJNARJNQD2J6NFMHZE-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IGCSI2ZMYJNARJNQD2J6NFMHZE-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IGCSI2ZMYJNARJNQD2J6NFMHZE-1536x1026.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IGCSI2ZMYJNARJNQD2J6NFMHZE-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Nigeria Finance Minister Wale Edun is interviewed by Karin Strohecker, Reuters Chief Correspondent Emerging Markets, during the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors&#8217; Meeting at the IMF and World Bank’s 2024 annual Spring Meetings in Washington, U.S., April 18, 2024. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



WASHINGTON, D.C., April 22 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Nigeria is seeking up to $2.25 billion in World Bank loans and expects the bank&#8217;s board to approve the request in June, the government said in a statement following the IMF/World Bank spring meetings in Washington, D.C.



Nigeria also aims to issue diaspora bonds later this year to attract much-need foreign exchange into the country, Finance Minister Wale Edun said in the statement.



The World Bank loans would comprise $1.5 billion in development policy financing and $750 million in programme-for-results financing, the statement said, adding the bank would meet in June to consider final approval of the package.



The World Bank did not immediately comment on the statement.



Nigeria, typically Africa&#8217;s largest oil exporter, has faced a shortage of foreign exchange that pushed its naira currency to record lows versus the U.S. dollar this year, though it has since rebounded.



President Bola Tinubu also inherited an economy saddled with record debt, high unemployment and large central bank financing, though Edun, in an interview with Reuters last week, said the government had halved federal borrowing from the central bank.



(Reporting by Maxwell Akalaare Adombila; Writing and additional reporting by Libby George in London; Editing by Gareth Jones and Mark Potter)

FILE PHOTO: Nigeria Finance Minister Wale Edun is interviewed at the IMF and World Bank’s 2024 annual Spring Meetings in Washington

Nigeria seeking up to $2.25 bln in World Bank loans

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="462" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/107266210-1688397617168-gettyimages-1508048254-_dsc5612-820x462.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-479264" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/107266210-1688397617168-gettyimages-1508048254-_dsc5612-820x462.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/107266210-1688397617168-gettyimages-1508048254-_dsc5612-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/107266210-1688397617168-gettyimages-1508048254-_dsc5612-160x90.jpeg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/107266210-1688397617168-gettyimages-1508048254-_dsc5612-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/107266210-1688397617168-gettyimages-1508048254-_dsc5612.jpeg 929w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A food shopper searches for vegetables July 1, 2023 at the Hannaford supermarket in South Burlington, Vermont.  Robert Nickelsberg | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Rising food prices around the world may finally be seeing a bottom this year.



According to Oxford Economics, global food prices are expected to decline in 2024, offering some relief for shoppers.



“Our baseline forecast is for world food commodity prices to register an annual decline this year, reducing pressure on food retail prices further downstream,” the economic advisory firm wrote in a recent note.



The key driving force behind the decline in food commodity prices is the “abundant supply” for many important crops, especially wheat and maize.



Bumper harvests in recent months for both staple crops led to a steady decline in prices. Wheat futures have fallen almost 10% year-to-date, while maize futures lost about 6% over the same period, according to FactSet data.



Farmers ramped up production of both wheat and corn grains following higher prices after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.



As a result, global maize harvests for the marketing year ending August this year are likely to come in at record levels, according to Oxford’s analysis. Wheat harvests are also forecast to come in high, although slightly lower than the record level in marketing year 2022 to 2023, the Oxford report said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-russia-ukraine-war"><a></a>Russia-Ukraine war</h2>



Supply pressures of grains in Russia and Ukraine have also eased.



Despite the collapse of the Black Sea Grain initiative in July last year, Ukrainian agricultural exports have been holding up well, Oxford Economics’ Lead Economist Kiran Ahmed wrote.



Russian wheat exports have also been flooding international markets, keeping prices low, he added.



Wheat and maize, along with rice, account for over half of global caloric intake. That means the direction of their prices will critically influence consumers’ food budgets around the world, the report pointed out.



Even though wheat and corn prices have seen a robust decline, rice prices have been steadily climbing, with global supplies hampered by export restrictions imposed by India, which accounts for around 40% of the world’s rice production. Poor harvests in the country last year also pushed prices higher. Contrary to the slump seen in wheat and maize prices, rough rice futures have gained over 8% year-to-date.



Global food prices registered a decline of 9% in 2023, according to the World Bank. Similarly, the United Nations food agency’s world price index hit a three-year low in February, but saw a slight rebound in March, lifted by increases for dairy products, meat and vegetable oils. 



“We expect prices to fall a further 5.6% this year before picking up on an annual basis next year,” said Ahmed.



That said, Oxford Economics noted that risks to its food price forecast are still “overwhelmingly skewed to the upside,” with adverse weather conditions on the cards.



Bad weather has been denting confidence of agribusinesses and crop outlooks, with cocoa recently soaring to record levels as West African farmers battle with inclement weather and disease. If poor weather conditions persist, harvest prospects could be impaired in other key crop growing regions, the note added.



“However, we think prices are now near a floor and will begin to rise gradually through [the second half of] 2024,” the report said.



Buyers in Africa and Asia have also held back from purchasing wheat on hopes of even lower prices — and their return to the market could drive a recovery in prices, Ahmed said. Additionally, rice prices, which remain high, could also encourage more export restrictions coming out of India.



“Thus, while our base case is for food prices to remain subdued this year, the risks are building that prices could rebound more sharply than anticipated. This could keep food price inflation higher than in our base case, maintaining pressure on the consumer,” he concluded.

107266210-1688397617168-gettyimages-1508048254-_dsc5612

High global food prices may finally see a bottom in 2024, says Oxford Economics

Why The U.S. Government Is Buying And Destroying Homes

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="410" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/106962761-1634667390508-Screen_Shot_2021-10-19_at_90550_AM-820x410.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-478995" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/106962761-1634667390508-Screen_Shot_2021-10-19_at_90550_AM-820x410.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/106962761-1634667390508-Screen_Shot_2021-10-19_at_90550_AM-300x150.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/106962761-1634667390508-Screen_Shot_2021-10-19_at_90550_AM-160x80.jpg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/106962761-1634667390508-Screen_Shot_2021-10-19_at_90550_AM-768x384.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/106962761-1634667390508-Screen_Shot_2021-10-19_at_90550_AM.jpg 884w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Photo: via CNBC</figcaption></figure>



AUSTIN, TEXAS — Adam Sullivan left investment banking to mine bitcoin at an awkward time. It was May 2023, bitcoin was trading at around $21,000, U.S. regulators were in the thick of cracking down on the sector writ large, and Core Scientific, the company he had agreed to take over, was battling angry lenders in a Texas bankruptcy court over tens of millions of dollars in outstanding debt.



But Sullivan knew that, with a lifeline, he could get the business to a much better place. That’s because the halving was on the way, and with it would likely come a big rally in bitcoin.



Late Friday night, the bitcoin code automatically cut new issuance of the world’s largest cryptocurrency in half. It happens roughly every four years, and in addition to helping to stave off inflation, it historically precedes a major run-up in the price of bitcoin.



The technical event is relatively simple: Bitcoin miners get paid in bitcoin to validate transactions, and after 210,000 blocks of transactions are computed and added to the main chain, the reward given to the miners securing bitcoin is ‘halved.’



There are more than a dozen publicly traded miners on the network and thousands of smaller, private ones around the globe, constantly racing to process transactions and get paid in new bitcoin. Because the event leads to a cut to rewards paid to miners directly, they’ll be the first ones to feel the impact of the halving.



Typically, when the halving cuts supply, it’s led to huge rallies for bitcoin.



In fact, the previous (and only) three halvings in the chain’s history have come before every bull run, in which the coin has touched new all-time highs and a surge of investors have entered the market for the first time.



That rapid price increase has helped many miners stave off the worst since it tends to offset the impact of having the block prize cut in half.



“As a company that was already in the process of scaling our infrastructure during the previous halving, we know the toll that halvings can take on a company if it is not adequately prepared,” Core’s Sullivan told CNBC.



The aggregate market cap of the 14 U.S.-listed bitcoin miners tracked by JPMorgan analysts, which accounts for around 21% of the global Bitcoin network, declined 28% over the first half of April to $14.2 billion, reaching year-to-date lows. Bitdeer was the best-performing stock over the period, down around 20%, versus Stronghold Digital, which was 46% lower.



Some have billed the 2024 bitcoin halving as a seminal moment for the mining sector. Depending on how much prep work miners have done, it could easily make or break them.



“Being prepared for a halving means evaluating all of your power strategies, all of your software capabilities, all of your operations,” continued Sullivan.



Others are less concerned given recent price moves in bitcoin.



In a research note from Needham on Apr. 16, analysts said they expect the halving to only have a modest impact to miners’ estimated EBITDA margins, despite the 50% reduction in revenue, since the price of bitcoin has been trading in the range of $60,000 to $70,000.



“We expect geopolitical tensions and interest rate policy to be the biggest near-term drivers of crypto price action,” Needham analysts wrote, adding that at a bitcoin price above $60,000, the halving is “derisked for nearly all public miners.”



The bank did, however, single out their preference for low-cost bitcoin producers like Riot Platforms, Bitdeer, and Cipher Mining. Meanwhile, if bitcoin prices fall, Needham says the most outsized native impact will be felt by higher cost producers that are also levered to higher bitcoin prices via large treasury holdings.



Analysts from JPMorgan echoed a similar sentiment, writing in an Apr. 16 research note that they think “recent weakness offers an attractive entry point” for investors and that they are “especially bullish” on Riot, which they believe offers attractive relative valuations.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-years-spent-bracing-for-the-halving">Years spent bracing for the halving</h2>



Miners have had years to prepare for the halving, including seeking lower power costs and upgrading their fleets to more efficient machines.



“Bitcoin’s halving happens like clockwork every four years,” said Haris Basit, chief strategy officer of Bitdeer Technologies Group. “It’s a known variable that is a benchmark for us to remain focused on operational excellence.”



To that end, the Singapore-headquartered mining firm has invested in new data centers, but its core strategy has been to increase vertical integration through research and development. 25% of its staff is focused on R&amp;D efforts, which Basit says have “led to new innovations and revenue pathways, such as our recently announced 4nm mining rigs and AI Cloud offerings.”



Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald recently named Bitdeer as having one of the industry’s lowest “all-in” cost-per-coin.



Greg Beard, the CEO and Chairman of Stronghold Digital Mining, tells CNBC that&nbsp;miners whose only lever is more efficient machines will be at a disadvantage.



“Miners who own their low-cost power are better positioned,” said Beard. “Operational costs will be lower, allowing them to be more flexible with their capital.”



Core’s Sullivan agrees, noting that bitcoin mining data centers in the future will work hand-in-glove with power generators and grid operators to serve as a virtual battery for grid operators – allowing them to increase base load, curtail bitcoin data centers when they need to, and avoid peak generation loads, which he says are dirty and expensive.



“We own and operate our infrastructure, giving us greater control over operational and strategic decisions, such as the potential to expand into high-performance computing hosting,” said Sullivan.



Core Scientific, which launched in 2017 and now manages seven mining sites in five U.S. states, also owns the full technology stack. The company has been looking to diversify its revenue streams beyond purely bitcoin. Sullivan says that existing data centers offer reconfiguration opportunities to accommodate new types of high-value compute.&nbsp;



“Certain data centers are located in close proximity to major metropolitan areas, making them candidates for low-latency, high-value compute applications,” said Core’s CEO.



Riot Platforms CEO Jason Les told CNBC that preparation for the halving came down to the company’s long-standing focus on achieving a low cost of power, strong balance sheet, and significant scale of operations. Les says that’s what has positioned the firm to both withstand the halving with positive margins and be well positioned for upside on the other side of it.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Our new Corsicana Facility was energized just this week, and we will be significantly scaling up our hash rate with next-generation equipment at that new site over the remainder of the year,” said Les. “As a result, we are positioned to mine more bitcoin per day at the end of the year than we do today, despite the halving.”



Marathon Digital, which has seen its stock rise more than 70% in the last year, took a different approach to scaling the business than its rivals. CEO Fred Thiel tells CNBC that the company grew quickly using an asset-light approach, where Capex was spent on mining rigs rather than infrastructure. 



“In December, we owned less than 5% of the sites where we were hosting our miners,” said Thiel. “Today we now own 53% of our total 1.1 gigawatts of capacity, having purchased it at less than the build and replacement cost.”



Owning sites lowers Marathon’s cost to mine by up to 20% on a marginal cost basis. Thiel also noted that by the end of 2024, Marathon expects to further improve efficiency by 10% to 15% as they deploy the next generation rigs across their new sites.&nbsp;



That boost to efficiency isn’t just about new gear, however. The firm is deploying its own custom firmware, which allows it to operate even more efficiently.&nbsp;



Marathon, along with other mining firms, has begun diversifying its business model into ancillary operations beyond purely bitcoin mining, as well.



Thiel says the company recently launched an energy harvesting division, where they are compensated for converting stranded methane and bio-mass into energy, which they then sell heat back into an industrial or commercial process. The service essentially subsidizes and lowers Marathon’s cost to mine significantly. The company expects this new business line to generate a significant portion of its revenues by the halving in 2028. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Diversifying revenue</h2>



The April 2024 bitcoin halving looks a lot different than the three that came before it.



For years, increased competition resulting from new miners coming online has been cutting into profits, because more miners means more people are sharing the same pool of rewards.



In a research note from JPMorgan on Apr. 16, analysts note that the network hashrate, a proxy for industry competition and mining difficulty, was up 4% in April from the month before. Stronghold’s Beard says the halving is a headwind dwarfed by the global hashrate increasing nearly five-fold from the last one in May 2020.



“Mining is a tough industry especially because there are a lot of nation states that have extra power power and they’re dedicating it to mining,” said Nic Carter of Castle Island Ventures. “It’s a free market, anybody can enter into it as long as they have the basics.”



U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds have also significantly shifted the pricing dynamics. In years past, the price of bitcoin didn’t surge until after the halving. But in the wake of record flows into these spot bitcoin funds, the world’s largest cryptocurrency touched a fresh all-time-high above $73,000 in March.



“The recently approved bitcoin ETFs have proven to be huge pipelines of capital into bitcoin and that universe of ETFs continues to grow with the recent approvals in Hong Kong as well,” said Riot’s Les. “We think the price action we’ve seen in bitcoin year-to-date reflect that and has us very optimistic on what bitcoin mining economics can look like in the months and years post-halving.”



Blackrock’s ETF reached $17 billion in net assets within a few months of launching. Beard of Stronghold tells CNBC that if Blackrock added even just a billion dollars more of bitcoin in April to its ETF, it would single handedly create demand for more coins than the mining industry will supply post halving.



What is also different this time around is that the block reward is no longer the primary form of miner revenue. Recent programming innovations in bitcoin have given way to a burgeoning ecosystem of projects building on top of bitcoin’s blockchain, which has translated to greater transaction fee revenue for miners.



There is a limit to how large the blocks can go but the value of those blocks is about to increase significantly, according to Bill Barhydt, who is the CEO and founder of Abra. From Barhydt’s vantage point, he supports miners with a mix of services, including their auto liquidations, so he has access to a lot of macro data across the sector.



“The math is simple,” begins Barhydt. “Bitcoin blocks are fixed in size and the demand for data within those blocks is going to increase significantly for several reasons, including more retail wallet holders moving their bitcoin into and out of storage, new uses cases like Ordinals (NFTs for bitcoin) and DeFi on bitcoin, institutional settlement requirements for exchange traded products in the U.S., Hong Kong, Europe, etc., lightning settlement transactions, and more.”



At the current rate of adoption, Barhydt believes that transaction fees in this cycle would likely peak within 24 months at 10 times their cost during the previous cycle peak, due to a combination of a higher price for bitcoin itself, combined with higher demand for the space inside each block.&nbsp;



Castle Island’s Carter isn’t so sure that fee-based revenue can completely make up for lost income post-halving.



“It’s not entirely clear that fees are fully offsetting the lost revenue, and in fact, I don’t expect that to happen” said Carter.



Fees tend to be really cyclical. They rise sharply during periods of congestion, and they fall back to near zero during other normal periods. Carter cautions that miners will see spikes in fees, but there is not yet an enduring, strong, and robust fee market most of the time.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Swapping ASICs for AI</h2>



In the last year, there has been a surge in demand for AI compute and infrastructure that can support the massive workloads required to power these novel machine learning applications. In a new report, digital asset fund manager CoinShares says it expects to see more miners shift toward artificial intelligence in energy-secure locations because of the potential for higher revenues.



Already, mining firms like BitDigital, Hive, Hut 8, Terawfulf, and Core Scientific all have either current AI operations or AI growth plans.



“This trend suggests that bitcoin mining may increasingly move to stranded energy sites while investment in AI grows at more stable locations,” write analysts at CoinShares.



But pivoting from bitcoin mining to AI isn’t as simple as re-purposing existing infrastructure and machines. The data center requirements are different, as are the data network needs.



“AI presents several challenges, notably the need for distinct and considerably more costly infrastructure, which establishes barriers to entry for smaller, less capitalized entities,” continues the report. “Additionally, the necessity for a different skill set among employees leads to increased costs as companies hire more AI-skilled talent.”



The rigs used to mine bitcoin are called ASICs, short for Application-Specific Integrated Circuits. The “Specific” in that acronym means that it can’t be used to do other things, like supporting the underlying infrastructure for AI.



“If you’re a bitcoin miner, your machines can’t be repurposed,” explains Carter. “You have to buy net new machines in order to do it and the data center requirements are different for AI versus bitcoin mining.”



Sullivan says that Core Scientific, which has been mining a mix of digital assets since 2017, began to diversify into other services in 2019.



“The company has owned and hosted Nvidia DGX systems and GPUs for AI computing, having built and deployed a specialized facility specifically for high-value compute applications at our Dalton, Georgia data center campus,” he said.



Core Scientific has also partnered with CoreWeave, a cloud provider which provides infrastructure for use cases like machine learning.



Sullivan says the combined capabilities will support both AI and High Performance Compute workloads, resulting in an estimated revenue of $100 million, though he says the total potential revenue is much higher given their significant infrastructure footprint that can be fitted to host some of the most advanced GPU compute coming to market.



“Bitcoin mining is an early example of high-value compute, attracting significant capital and a number of companies scaling their operations to support the Bitcoin network,” said Sullivan.



But Sullivan thinks few operators will be able to make the transition to AI.



Sullivan continued, “Bitcoin mining sites can only be repurposed if they meet the attributes that are required for HPC. Many existing sites across North America do not meet these needs.”

106962761-1634667390508-Screen_Shot_2021-10-19_at_90550_AM

Bitcoin miners upgrade power centers and get into AI to brace for slashed revenue post halving

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147860031-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-478968" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147860031-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147860031-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147860031-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147860031-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147860031-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147860031-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">WASHINGTON DC, USA &#8211; APRIL 16: Financial Counsellor and Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department Tobias Adrian hold the press briefing of the Global Financial Stability Report at the International Monetary Fund during the 2024 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group in Washington DC, United States on April 16, 2024. (Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;The steering committee for both International Monetary Fund and the World Bank on Saturday emphasized the need for broader accountability as the institutions implemented reforms to help countries grapple with climate change and other shocks.



&#8220;We must hold ourselves accountable more broadly as we become a better and bigger bank,&#8221; said Mohammed bin Hadi Al Husseini, the United Arab Emirates&#8217; minister of state for finance, who heads the joint Development Committee this year.



Al Husseini issued a chair&#8217;s statement, rather than a communique, amid disagreements over wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, but referenced economic risks posed by the conflicts. The statement came as this week&#8217;s meetings of the IMF and World Bank drew to a close.



Governors of the institutions urged the World Bank to continue to bolster global and regional partnerships, and asked its management to push ahead with country engagement reforms and enhanced country diagnostics.



They also encouraged further collaboration between the World Bank and IMF to help countries mobilize more revenues at home, and on issues such as climate change and pandemic preparedness, as well as debt sustainability.



(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; editing by Diane Craft)

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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/UGBD2ZAOI5NQPCFYW7PX6JS46A-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-478146" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/UGBD2ZAOI5NQPCFYW7PX6JS46A-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/UGBD2ZAOI5NQPCFYW7PX6JS46A-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/UGBD2ZAOI5NQPCFYW7PX6JS46A-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/UGBD2ZAOI5NQPCFYW7PX6JS46A-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/UGBD2ZAOI5NQPCFYW7PX6JS46A-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/UGBD2ZAOI5NQPCFYW7PX6JS46A-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Street vendors wait for customers at an open market, ahead of Nigeria&#8217;s Presidential election in Awka, Anambra state, Nigeria February 23, 2023. REUTERS/Temilade Adelaja/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



JOHANNESBURG/WASHINGTON, April 19 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Incomes in Sub-Saharan Africa are falling further behind the rest of the world amid a &#8220;tepid&#8221; economic recovery, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday, warning of risks from geopolitics, domestic instability and climate change.



The IMF earlier this week said the region&#8217;s economy would grow 3.8% this year, up from 3.4% in 2023, as it begins to emerge from four years of shocks, from the COVID-19 pandemic to Russia&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine and rising global interest rates.



&#8220;When accounting for population growth, the income gap with the rest of the world is widening,&#8221; the fund said in its biannual Regional Economic Outlook report, launched during its Spring Meetings this week in Washington.



It noted that other developing countries saw real income per person more than triple since 2000, while they grew 75% in Sub-Saharan Africa and 35% in developed countries.



However, there were some positive developments.



&#8220;Two-thirds of the countries are already experiencing acceleration in growth; diversified and fairly broad-based growth,&#8221; said Abebe Selassie, director of the IMF&#8217;s African Department, said in an interview with Reuters in Washington.



Many of the more diversified economies had already enjoyed some growth recovery since the pandemic, he added.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-inflation-falling">INFLATION FALLING</h2>



Economic conditions have started to ease for many countries this year, with Ivory Coast, Benin and Kenya issuing international bonds and median inflation falling to 6% in February from almost 10% a year earlier, the IMF said.



But political instability is rising and denting investor confidence, it said, pointing to junta-led states Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger leaving the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and 18 elections across the region this year.



Devastating droughts last year in the Horn of Africa and currently in southern Africa, as well as cyclones and floods, have also increased the region&#8217;s struggles.



South Africa is set to grow just 0.9% this year, a slight increase from 0.6% in 2023, amid ongoing rolling power cuts and problems with the country&#8217;s railways and ports, the IMF said, adding that &#8220;electoral uncertainties&#8221; could derail ongoing energy sector reforms.



Africa&#8217;s most industrialised economy holds an election on May 29, in which the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party could lose its majority for the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994.



West Africa&#8217;s largest economy, Nigeria, is set to grow 3.3% this year, as it struggles with high inflation amid painful currency and subsidy reforms.



In its northern neighbour Niger, meanwhile, growth is predicted to rocket from 1.4% last year to 10.4%, as oil exports ramp up.



(Reporting by Rachel Savage and Karin Strohecker, Additional reporting by Maxwell Akalaare Adombila, Editing by Alex Richardson)

FILE PHOTO: Street vendors wait for customers at an open market, ahead of Nigeria’s Presidential election in Awka

Sub-Saharan Africa incomes falling further behind rest of world, says IMF

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="728" height="444" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/UXGWX6XZO5LIROPXQDLPV6SPGA.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-422268" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/UXGWX6XZO5LIROPXQDLPV6SPGA.jpg 728w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/UXGWX6XZO5LIROPXQDLPV6SPGA-300x183.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/UXGWX6XZO5LIROPXQDLPV6SPGA-148x90.jpg 148w" sizes="(max-width: 728px) 100vw, 728px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">South African Rand coins are seen in this illustration picture taken October 28, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings</figcaption></figure>



JOHANNESBURG, April 19 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;South Africa&#8217;s rand weakened in volatile trading early on Friday, as reports of an Israeli attack on Iran sapped risk sentiment and sent currency markets into a tailspin.



In the latest tit-for-tat exchange between the two arch-foes, Israel launched an attack on Iranian soil, sources told Reuters. Iranian state media reported that drones had been shot down.



The rand&nbsp;ZAR=D3&nbsp;initially hit a near two-month low of 19.3800 to the dollar in a sell-off of risk assets as investors scurried towards safe-haven dollar and gold.



However, some calm returned to the markets after a senior Iranian official said Iran had no plan to strike back immediately.



&#8220;Diminished concern over a broader regional conflict, as Iran reported minimal damage to its infrastructure and confirmed no impact on its nuclear sites, contributed to the markets&#8217; partial recovery,&#8221; said Andre Cilliers, currency strategist at TreasuryONE.



At 0802 GMT, the rand traded at 19.2300 against the dollar, down 0.38% from its previous close.



On the stock market, the Top-40&nbsp;.JTOPI&nbsp;index and the broader all-share&nbsp;.JALSH&nbsp;index were both trading in the red, about 0.7% weaker in early trade.



The dollar&nbsp;=USD&nbsp;was last down 0.1% against a basket of currencies but still hovered near a five-month high.



Capital Economics chief economist Neil Shearing said Iran lifting flight restrictions may also have helped the markets.



&#8220;This might indicate that the attack was at the more moderate end of the spectrum,&#8221; he said in a research note.



(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Alex Richardson)

South African Rand coins are seen in this illustration picture

Risk sensitive South African rand weakens as geopolitical tensions bite

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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ZO2TST2SFBIXRI7CA7KFKOUIUI-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-468010" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ZO2TST2SFBIXRI7CA7KFKOUIUI-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ZO2TST2SFBIXRI7CA7KFKOUIUI-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ZO2TST2SFBIXRI7CA7KFKOUIUI-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ZO2TST2SFBIXRI7CA7KFKOUIUI-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ZO2TST2SFBIXRI7CA7KFKOUIUI-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ZO2TST2SFBIXRI7CA7KFKOUIUI-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Pump jacks operate at sunset in an oil field in Midland, Texas U.S. August 22, 2018. Picture taken August 22, 2018. REUTERS/Nick Oxford/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



Oil prices jumped more than 3% on Friday after Israel carried out a strike on Iran, triggering fears of an expanding war in the Middle East.



Israel carried out a limited military strike against Iran and is currently assessing the strike’s effectiveness and damage caused, a source familiar with the situation told NBC News. The operation was conducted in the early hours of Friday morning local time.



Both oil benchmarks pared gains after initially jumping over 3% on news of explosions in Iran. Global benchmark Brent traded 1.73% higher at $88.62 a barrel after topping $90 earlier, while the U.S. West Texas Intermediate rose 1.75% to $84.1 per barrel.



Safe haven assets also rose. Spot gold prices&nbsp;surged to a fresh all-time high of 2,411.09 per ounce, while the&nbsp;yen&nbsp;strengthened 0.45% to 153.93 against the U.S. dollar.



Iran’s Fars news agency reported that explosions were heard near the airport in Isfahan, and that flights to Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz airports have been suspended. Flight tracking site Flight Radar 24 showed that multiple flights were diverted over Iranian airspace early Friday.



A Telegram channel affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that there were no explosions on the ground in Isfahan and that the explosive sounds were caused by Iran’s defenses. The country’s armed forces also said that nuclear facilities in the Isfahan province were “in complete security.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-shadow-war-is-over"><a></a>‘Shadow war’ is over</h2>



Israel on Sunday vowed to “exact a price” from Iran in response to the weekend’s large-scale aerial assault on the Jewish state.



A day earlier, Iran struck military targets inside Israel, launching more than 300 missiles and drones, in retaliation for an Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Damascus, Syria.



“With Israel’s apparent strikes on Iran today, retaliating for Iran’s attack on Israel last Sunday, we now have a direct nation-on-nation hot war,” said Rapidan Energy’s Director of Global Oil Service, Clay Seigle.



“The ‘shadow war’ chapter has come to an end,” he added.



While Washington has pledged an “ironclad” commitment to Israel, President Joe Biden has also told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the U.S. will not join any offensive operations against Iran, a senior administration official told NBC News.



“The U.S. should avoid further entrapment in Israel’s efforts to drag U.S. military forces into a broader war with Iran,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now, or Dawn.



Israel’s decision to attack Iran in spite of pleas from its primary backers is a “clear indicator of how irresponsible and unaccountable the Israeli government is,” she added.



Seigle maintained that’s it’s still too early to determine what could happen next.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>Risks to markets</h2>



However, he pointed out that the “big risk” for oil markets in the expanding Middle East war is that oil exports from the Arabian Gulf will be cut off. The region is responsible for more than 20 million barrels of oil per day.



A disruption or closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key chokepoint which sits between Iran and Oman and through which one-fifth of global oil production flows daily, would also cause oil prices to shoot higher.



“A Hormuz disruption would be very serious for the world economy, potentially driving oil prices well into the triple digits to levels that induce demand destruction,” he added.



Symbolically, the Jewish state’s attack on Iran is also “bigger than anything Israel has carried out in the past,” given how it is a direct strike against targets inside Iranian territory by the Israeli military, Eurasia Group said in a note. That being said, the political risk consultancy said such a response suggests the escalatory pressure will likely be contained — Iran has not acknowledged that a missile strike took place, blaming the explosions instead on air defense systems.



“The response from the Islamic Republic has been to downplay the attack, suggesting that the regime will feel little need to respond immediately,” said Eurasia Group.

FILE PHOTO: Pump jacks operate at sunset in an oil field in Midland

Oil jumps 3%, spot gold hits record high after Israel launches strike in Iran

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147886676-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-477848" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147886676-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147886676-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147886676-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147886676-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147886676-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147886676-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank spring meetings signage outside the IMF headquarters in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. The International Monetary Fund inched up its expectations for global economic growth this year, citing strength in the US and some emerging markets, while warning the outlook remains cautious amid persistent inflation and geopolitical risks. Photographer: Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



LONDON, April 18 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Development agencies gathering in Washington this week face one of their toughest battles in years: getting a rich world worried about wars abroad and elections at home to commit more cash to the world&#8217;s poorest countries.



The poor world&#8217;s development is backsliding at an historic rate amid debt crises, higher-for-longer global interest rates and mounting investment needs. At the same time, it needs trillions more per year to meet climate spending goals alone.



At the last round of IMF and World Bank meetings in October, global leaders expected rich-world inflation to ease more quickly than it has, and thus for interest rate cuts to take pressure off financing costs.



Since then, an expanding conflict in the Middle East and the ongoing war in Ukraine have thrown up additional funding pressures, curbing the rich world&#8217;s already waning appetite to spend on development aid.



&#8220;Budgetary constraint in a number of countries is increasing,&#8221; Odile Renaud-Basso, president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development told Reuters in London ahead of the meetings. &#8220;There is more expenditure for defense and there is tension about support for development aid.&#8221;



&#8220;The global situation is becoming increasingly challenging,&#8221; she added.



Renaud-Basso said lenders trying to raise funds, such as World Bank&#8217;s International Development Association (IDA), would provide a bellwether for the rich world&#8217;s appetite to donate.



The World Bank&#8217;s lending arm to poor countries is targeting record commitments above its last replenishment of $93 billion, which it used early due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the fallout from Russia&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine. It has begun issuing bonds to leverage its lending.



&#8220;We&#8217;ve been able to do more with the same level of donor contributions,&#8221; IDA director Dirk Reinermann told Reuters. &#8220;The problem is that this party is slowly coming to an end&#8230;the zero point where we are fully leveraged, it&#8217;s coming closer and closer.&#8221;



In its last replenishment, 52 high- and middle-income countries contributed, led by the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom and France.



But many of those are grappling with donor fatigue. France and the UK have made large cuts to overseas aid in recent years, while in the United States political battles ahead of the presidential election have stalled other foreign spending commitments, including to Israel and Ukraine.



According to a recent United Nations report, official development assistance globally hit a record in 2022, but the share of it going to developing countries fell by 2%.



&#8220;I don&#8217;t think the world has ever been in such a state,&#8221; said Vera Songwe, chair of the Liquidity and Sustainability Facility, a group that aims to lower debt costs for Africa.



Songwe herself worked on IDA&#8217;s replenishment round during her time at the World Bank, and described a whirlwind global tour to press finance ministers, parliamentarians and other officials for funding.



It is never an easy sell, she said. But this year is different.



&#8220;Even in 2008, China was still growing then. This is much more difficult.&#8221;



It amounts to a perfect storm for poor countries. In the decade after the global financial crisis, with record-low interest rates, money flowed freely and the external public debt stock in low and middle income rose to $9 trillion, from $5.6 trillion in 2012.



China during that time also opened its financial taps, lending billions via its Belt and Road Initiative. But amid simmering debt problems at home, it has since pulled back.



This has significantly narrowed the availability of affordable finance for developing countries.



&#8220;There are very few such pots of money with such low concessional rates the world over, especially pots of money that come from a multilateral lender that has certain checks and balances,&#8221; said Giulia Pellegrini, a senior portfolio manager for emerging market debt at Allianz Global Investors.



Getting money from IDA, or another multilateral lender such as EBRD, can spur private lenders and eurobond investors to open their wallets, she added.



&#8220;Seeing a strong vote of confidence from some of these multilateral bodies, giving them concessional finance is a way to say these countries are embarking on a positive reform,&#8221;&nbsp;she said.



Reinermann said IDA&#8217;s backing from the World Bank itself and other institutions is strong. But that would not, he said, make securing commitments easy.



&#8220;Fiscal situations are not flush anywhere,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Right now it looks like a real mountain to climb.&#8221;



(Reporting by Libby George and Karin Strohecker; editing by Christina Fincher)

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47% of parents still financially support adult children. Here’s how much they spend

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="573" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/NEPKJJCZ6JMDDNTX4MOGZ42NFI-820x573.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-458452" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/NEPKJJCZ6JMDDNTX4MOGZ42NFI-820x573.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/NEPKJJCZ6JMDDNTX4MOGZ42NFI-300x210.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/NEPKJJCZ6JMDDNTX4MOGZ42NFI-129x90.jpg 129w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/NEPKJJCZ6JMDDNTX4MOGZ42NFI-768x537.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/NEPKJJCZ6JMDDNTX4MOGZ42NFI-1536x1074.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/NEPKJJCZ6JMDDNTX4MOGZ42NFI-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">South Africa&#8217;s Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana speaks during his medium-term budget policy statement in Cape Town, South Africa, November 1, 2023. REUTERS/Esa Alexander</figcaption></figure>



WASHINGTON, April 18 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;South Africa will use future&nbsp;drawdowns&nbsp;of its Gold and Foreign Exchange Contingency Reserve Account to curb its debt burden, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said, adding he was pondering tax hikes and expenditure cuts in the next post-election budget.



Africa&#8217;s most industrialised nation is grappling with an ailing economy and high debt ahead of a general election on May 29 that could see the governing African National Congress party lose its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of apartheid 30 years ago.



Earlier this year, the government announced a change to the framework governing the so-called GFECRA account that captures gains and losses to foreign currency reserve transactions, allowing for a drawdown of 150 billion rand ($8 billion) over the next three years.



&#8220;Eskom is out, or Transnet,&#8221; Godongwana told Reuters on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meeting, ruling out financial support from the account for the country&#8217;s ailing state-energy firms.



&#8220;Debt service costs now have emerged the highest expenditure item &#8211; therefore that is a red flag.&#8221;



Other measures were also on the horizon a bit further out.



The country&#8217;s next 2025/2026 budget &#8211; scheduled for February next year &#8211; could also see more pronounced adjustments than the last one, the minister said.



&#8220;If you want to do a fiscal consolidation you must do it far away from the election, and the timing for us is the budget that we will table on the 19th February 2025,&#8221; said Godongwana, when asked about the absence of significant expenditure reductions in the recent budget.



The next budget, nearly a year down the line, must send a signal and timeline by which fiscal consolidation would be concluded, the minister added.



&#8220;Now that is going to require maybe well that we cut expenditure and maybe well that we tweak some taxes &#8211; it could be a combination of both,&#8221; he said.



Another push the government would focus on in the months to come was consolidating the plethora of social spending measures and grants, said Godongwana.



Prospects for economic growth, currently forecast at 1.6% for 2024, could face headwinds if loadshedding were to intensify or Middle East tension to escalate.



&#8220;I factor in that there is a possibility of downside risks.&#8221;



However, the recent droughts that have wreaked havoc across much of Sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa itself, would have no impact on food inflation, at least for now, he said.



($1 = 18.9824 rand)



(Reporting by Karin Strohecker; Editing by Toby Chopra)

South Africa issues medium-term budget policy statement

S.Africa contingency reserves won’t be spent on Eskom, Transnet, finance minister says

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147878080-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-477763" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147878080-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147878080-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147878080-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147878080-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147878080-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2147878080-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Nicolas Mombrial, senior communications officer at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), from left, Vitor Gaspar, director of fiscal affairs at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Era Dabla-Norris, division chief of fiscal affairs at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and Marcos Poplawski-Ribeiro, deputy division chief of fiscal policy and surveillance at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), during a Fiscal Monitor news conference during the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. The International Monetary Fund inched up its expectations for global economic growth this year, citing strength in the US and some emerging markets, while warning the outlook remains cautious amid persistent inflation and geopolitical risks. Photographer: Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



The International Monetary Fund says South Africa needs to implement a debt ceiling as part of an overall strategy to contain increasing indebtedness in Africa’s largest economy.



South Africa public debt to gross domestic product ratio is projected to reach 86 percent by 2029 amid slow growth and continued bailouts of struggling state-owned enterprises such as power utility Eskom, logistics operator Transnet and airliner South African Airways. The national treasury says debt should peak at 75 percent of GDP by 2027 before declining, compared with 49 percent before the Covid-19 pandemic.



&#8220;South Africa has a good fiscal rule and complementing this with a debt ceiling could be useful in improving expenditure efficiency,&#8221; Era Dabla-Norris, the IMF’s Deputy Director for Fiscal Affairs told a news briefing at the release of its April 2024 Fiscal Monitor report. &#8220;We believe more decisive efforts are needed to cut spending and this can be done by reducing transfers to state-owned enterprises, rationalizing untargeted subs while protecting public investment and protecting well targeted social assistance for vulnerable populations.&#8221;



The country barely avoided a recession last year, posting growth of 0.6 percent, which the IMF forecasts could climb to 0.9 percent this year, before accelerating to 1.2 percent in 2025 as power supply improves, and the impact of economic reforms kicks in.



For sub-Saharan Africa the fund, sees sub-Saharan fiscal deficits declining to 4 percent this year versus 5.2 percent in 2023, and further improving to 2.7 percent by 2029. General debt to GDP ratios should decline to 44 percent by 2029 compared with 55 percent last year.



The fund is recommending that governments around the world avoid fiscal slippages and focus on rebuilding buffers in order to safeguard fiscal sustainability in the medium term. This as it forecast global public debt may top 100 percent of GDP by the end of the decade from 93 percent now.



&#8220;Fiscal consolidations are never easy but it is best not to wait until markets dictate their conditions. The right approach is to start now, gradually, and credibly. Once inflation is under control, credible multiyear consolidations will help pave the way for further monetary policy easing,&#8221; the report says.



This was especially pertinent this year as half of the world’s population goes to the polls to elect new governments.



&#8220;History shows governments tend to spend more and tax less during election years,&#8221; it said. &#8220;Deficits in election years tend to exceed forecasts by 0.4 percentage points of GDP, compared to non-election years. In this great election year, governments should exercise fiscal restraint to preserve sound public finances.&#8221;

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Nigeria seeking up to $2.25 bln in World Bank loans

High global food prices may finally see a bottom in 2024, says Oxford Economics

Why The U.S. Government Is Buying And Destroying Homes

Bitcoin miners upgrade power centers and get into AI to brace for slashed revenue post halving

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Battle for development cash heats up at IMF/World Bank meetings

47% of parents still financially support adult children. Here’s how much they spend

S.Africa contingency reserves won’t be spent on Eskom, Transnet, finance minister says

IMF says South Africa needs a debt ceiling as public debt spirals

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