VenturesNow

Zimbabwe to begin regulation of carbon trade— Environment Minister

Published

2 weeks ago

May 23, 2023

Zimbabwe’s environment minister, Mangaliso Ndlovu has revealed that the government will closely regulate voluntary carbon offset trading in a bid to curb greenwashing.

The government believes that companies operating carbon credit projects in the country were largely unregulated as they were only registered with local councils and traditional community leaders. The situation has led to a lack of reliable data on the country’s carbon market.

Ndlovu said it would take 50% of all revenue from carbon projects, with foreign investors limited to 30% and the balance of 20% going to local communities.

“We are determined to make sure that climate finance resources, meant to empower the country, accrue to the most deserving. We do not want instances of climate washing,” Ndlovu said during the launch of the new carbon market policy.

Meanwhile, the announcement has led to a reaction from Carbon Green Africa (CGA), a Zimbabwean company which has partnered with Switzerland’s South Pole in the 785,000-hectare Kariba forest protection project which has sold 23 million carbon credits since 2011.

The corporation stated that it was waiting to see how the new policy would affect ongoing projects and hoped the carbon revenue restrictions would inspire increased community involvement in conservation initiatives.

“We need to see the money going to the respective communities so they don’t continue decimating forests if they understand that they will be deriving benefits from them,” Ndondo said.

The Zimbabwean government last week hinted at plans to take control of the production of carbon credits in the country, stipulating that it would be entitled to half of the revenue from the securities.

VenturesNow

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

Published

14 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.

VenturesNow

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

Published

15 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.