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Mali achieves record high 760,000 ton production of Cotton to top list in Africa

Published

1 year ago

March 21, 2022

There is something to cheer about in Mali as the West African country has recorded its largest cotton production of more than 760,000 tons for the 2021-2022 season.

Head of the military junta, Assimi Goita declared the record production on Saturday.

The latest feat of the country puts as the top cotton producer on the African continent.

According to the government, record production was made possible by maintaining a subsidy on agricultural inputs, maintaining a minimal shift in the cost of cotton seen among other initiatives.

In September 2021, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) had indicated in its report that “Mali will be the largest cotton producer in Africa for the 2021/2022 season, followed by Benin, Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso.

The growth in Mali is mainly due to an increase in the area harvested in Mali, which jumped 382 percent from last year. This increase followed a year-long boycott in cotton production in Mali.

Cotton producers boycotted the 2020/2021 cotton season following a misunderstanding with the authorities over the price of cotton seeds set by the government.

Mali planted a record 795,000 hectares (ha), up 630,000 hectares (382%) from last year’s crop, the document noted.

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Kenya: Parliament approves appointment of Kamau Thugge as central bank governor

Published

8 hours ago

June 7, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

Months after throwing open the position for the country’s top banker, Kenya’s parliament has approved the appointment of Kamau Thugge as the country’s central bank governor.

The National Assembly on Wednesday approved the
appointment of economist and senior civil servant who was nominated by President William Ruto as the next apex bank chief.

Thugge, who served as principal secretary in the finance ministry until mid-2018, was nominated after serving as one of the president’s senior economic advisers since late last year.

He shook off competition from others shortlisted candidates like Adan Mohamed, who served in the cabinet from 2013-2022, with four others also interviewed for the role.

The new central bank governor will be faced with the immediate pressure of stabilizing the country’s monetary policy as the East African giant currently faces a shortage of funds amidst rising public debt.

Despite the odds, the World Bank in a report earlier today expects growth to edge up to 5.0% in 2023, underpinned by a recovery in agriculture.

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Ghana presents ‘working proposal’ for debt restructuring— IMF sources

Published

8 hours ago

June 7, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

West African country, Ghana has made a major move at resolving its debt crisis as the country has presented debt restructuring proposal to its creditors.

According to sources quoted by Reuters, a “working proposal” has been submitted to help the country escape its worst economic crisis in a generation.

One of the sources revealed that the proposal was a first attempt to engage the official creditor committee after its formation in May. It should be recalled that the Paris Club last month announced that official sector of creditors of Ghana had formed a committee co-chaired by China and France for debt restructuring talks.

The plan is to end restructuring of domestic debt before turning to negotiations with its official bilateral creditors and international bondholders, a government official said.

Ghana is one of several cash-strapped countries facing unprecedented delays in getting bailouts as China, its biggest bilateral creditor with about $1.7 billion of debt and Western economies disagree over how debt relief should be structured.

The first formal review of the programme will hold in the coming months as an IMF team will visit Ghana between 8th and 15th of June.