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Swollen shoot disease, slump in cashew prices hurt Ivory Coast badly

The economy of Ivory Coast, one of the world’s biggest exporters of cocoa and cashew nuts, is currently hurting from a combined problem of crop diseases and falling global prices

Published

5 years ago

July 26, 2018

Africa News Watch

The economy of Ivory Coast, one of the world’s biggest exporters of cocoa and cashew nuts, is currently hurting from a combined problem of crop diseases and falling global prices.

Monitored reports say swollen shoot disease is worsening in the heart of Ivory Coast’s cocoa belt with some plantations seeing a significant drop in production, farmers and exporters said on Tuesday.

The viral disease, which typically kills trees within a few years, first appeared a few years ago in southern and western Ivory Coast but is now causing serious damage to crops.

Ivory Coast is the world’s top cocoa grower with annual production reaching 2 million tonnes last season. About 60 percent of that comes from the south and west.

Meanwhile, Cashew nut farmers and exporters in Ivory Coast are seeing a slump in sales as Vietnamese exporters try to get out of contracts following a drop in world prices, an official said on Tuesday.

Ivory Coast is the world’s top cashew nut producer with output of 770,000 tonnes expected this year. Exporters in Vietnam, which has a major cashew processing industry, buy 70 percent of that production.

International prices for cashews have dropped by nearly half since March after consumers in the United States and Saudi Arabia objected to high prices. In response, exporters want to pay less than the state-imposed price for this season.

“The contracts that the exporters signed have been called into question,” Adama Coulibaly, the general director of Ivory Coast’s cotton and cashew council, told Reuters. “The Vietnamese processors have seen their margin erode.”

Coulibaly said Ivorian authorities were in discussions with the Vietnamese exporters to insist that they respect the contracts signed in February at the beginning of the cashew-growing season.

According to farmers and exporters, between 150,000 and 200,000 tonnes of cashew nuts have not been sold because exporters have not been willing to buy at the fixed price.

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Nigeria’s Tinubu to present N27.5trn budget on Wednesday

Published

1 day ago

November 28, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

The Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu, will present the 2024 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the country’s bicameral legislature, the National Assembly, on Wednesday.

The bill is an increase from the N26.01tn earlier considered by the council, according to the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Bagudu, who confirmed the approval to State House correspondents after the close of FEC’s weekly meeting presided over by President Tinubu.

In addition, the minister disclosed that the government had projected N18 trillion in revenue for the fiscal year 2024. Bagudu stated that more information regarding the appropriation bill would be made public on Wednesday when the president brought it before a joint session of the National Assembly.

The minister stated that the Council was currently reviewing the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, which was approved by the National Assembly.

Bagudu said, “Equally, the Federal Executive Council approved the 2024 Appropriation Bill and the presentation of such to the National Assembly by His Excellency, Mr. President.

“The bill has an aggregate expenditure of N27.5tn which is an increase of over N1.5tn from the previously estimated, using the old reference prices.”

He added, “The forecast revenue is now N18.32tn which is higher than the 2023 revenues, including that provided in the two supplementary budgets. Equally and commendably, the deficit is lower than that of 2023. Details of the Renewed Hope Budget will be announced by Mr. President when he makes the presentation to the National Assembly”.

With two key policy initiatives—halting the fiscal bleeding caused by petrol subsidies, and unifying the exchange rate—the Nigerian government, led by Bola Tinubu, has attempted to stabilise the economy of the nation. With its currency value declining even further and the cost of living rising sharply, the results have not been favourable.

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Nigeria’s cabinet approves $1billion AfDB loan

Published

2 days ago

November 27, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Olawale Edun, confirmed on Monday that the Federal cabinet had approved a $1 billion concessionary loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB).

The coordinating minister of the economy said the loan would support financing the budget and improving foreign exchange supply.

“(Federal Executive Council) approved a $1 billion concessionary loan for general budget support and to be used to improve forex availability in the country,” Edun said.

“The $1 billion loan from AfDB is a budget support fund for ongoing economic reforms. It is to support government programs … in power sector, social inclusion and the fiscal policy reforms as a whole sector policy initiative.”

The Nigerian government under Bola Tinubu has sought to stabilize the country’s economy with two major policy actions: the removal of the fiscal bleeding through petrol subsidies and the unification of the exchange rate. The results have not been positive with the further fall of its currency value and sharp rise in cost of living.

Falling oil prices, large-scale crude oil theft, and the substantial amount spent on fuel subsidies are currently having an impact on Nigeria’s public finances as the country struggles with mounting debt.

The level of indebtedness in African countries is at its highest in more than a decade, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and skyrocketing inflation. African nations were forced to incur even more debt, and as a result, 21 low-income African nations are currently either insolvent or at great risk of experiencing debt hardship.