Politics

Again, Tunisian MPs want exclusive power of central bank over interest rates abolished

Published

8 hours ago

October 20, 2024

A measure by MPs on Friday indicated that the Tunisian central bank will no longer be the only entity able to alter interest rates or the country’s foreign exchange policy; rather, it will be permitted to finance the government.

President Kais Saied, who has maintained that the central bank shouldn’t be a state within a state, has continuously criticised the action, which is the most recent that will destroy the bank’s independence.

The current dire state of public finances prompts the possible significant amendment to the central bank statute. The opposition has referred to Saied’s 2021 takeover of practically all power as a coup, and since then, the nation has been unable to obtain Western support. Saied ruled by decree.

If the bank law was not altered, 27 legislators issued a dire warning, stating that Tunisia would unavoidably go bankrupt.

They claimed that the state has suffered enormous losses, estimated at $36.6 billion, due to the present law passed in 2016 and prohibits the central bank from making direct bond purchases or loans to the public treasury.

Additionally, the measure suggests that the president must give his or her consent before the bank can make agreements with international supervisory bodies.

Saied said the central bank should lend directly to the state treasury rather than through expensive bank loans, rejecting the central bank’s independence last year.

To close a budget deficit, the administration requested in January that the central bank give the Treasury $2.25 billion in direct funding.

Marouan Abassi, the former governor of the central bank, has cautioned that purchasing Treasury bonds carries risks, such as increasing inflation and depreciating the value of the Tunisian pound. Saied replaced Abassi with Zouhair Nouri earlier this year.

The central bank has had total authority over reserves, gold, and monetary policy since 2016. However, the proposed statute demonstrated that the central bank might modify exchange rates, gold-related operations, and interest rates after consulting with the government.

The bill permits the central bank to purchase government bonds from banks and lend directly to the government up to 3% of GDP for bonds that have maturities longer than five years.

According to financial sources, the action will probably open the door for a fresh government request that the central bank grant the government loans and direct facilities totalling up to $2.6 billion.

Related Topics:Featured Tunisia Tunisia Central Bank

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Politics

Kenya: After impeaching Gachagua, Ruto appoints ally as deputy

Published

2 days ago

October 18, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Shortly after the Senate voted to remove the previous occupant of the position, Rigthi Gachagua, Kenya’s President William Ruto selected Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki as his new deputy on Friday.

Ruto’s choice of a close ally, who must receive parliamentary approval, follows a period of political unrest, large-scale demonstrations, and the first impeachment of a deputy president in Kenya.

“I have received a message from … the president, regarding the nomination of Professor Kithure Kindiki to fill the vacancy which has occurred in the office,” Speaker Moses Wetang’ula said in the National Assembly.

Gachagua was impeached on five of the eleven claims against him, which included inciting ethnic hate and flagrantly violating the Constitution. He refuted the allegations and wrote them off as politically motivated.

He assisted Ruto in winning a sizable portion of the votes from the populated central Kenya region by supporting him in the 2022 election. However, Gachagua has mentioned feeling marginalised in recent months, as there have been numerous rumours in the local media indicating a rupture with Ruto as political allegiances have changed.

Kindiki was a strong candidate to be Ruto’s running mate in the 2022 election and was named interior minister in September of that same year, just after the president assumed office.

The Ministry of the Interior is in charge of the police. Rights groups have charged that during rallies earlier this year demanding the repeal of the now-shelved finance law and changes to combat corruption, the police used excessive force.

Kindiki stated in a September appearance before parliament that the government did not carry out extrajudicial executions or kidnappings and that police followed the law.

Politics

Nigerian Air Force adds 34 Italian planes, helicopters

Published

5 days ago

October 15, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Nigeria’s air force is acquiring 24 Italian-made M-346 attack jets and ten AW-109 Trekker helicopters as part of a fleet renewal strategy, a spokesperson said on Monday.

Air Force spokesperson, Olusola Akinboyewa, said in a statement that a team led by Nigeria’s Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar met with executives from Italy’s Leonardo S.p.A, the manufacturer, in Rome who confirmed the first three M-346 aircraft were expected to be delivered by early 2025, with subsequent deliveries running until mid-2026.

The Trekker helicopters are expected by early 2026, Akinboyewa said.

“The M-346 and Trekker acquisitions are key steps towards fleet renewal,” Abubakar was cited as saying, emphasizing the need for a maintenance hub in Nigeria to provide long-term support, particularly for the M-346 fleet.

Nigeria, which has been fighting a 15-year Islamist insurgency against Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in the northeast, as well as attacks by armed bandits in the northwest, has increased military spending in recent years.

Nigeria received two “Huey” helicopters in June to go with the two Trekkers it had previously purchased and the twelve American-built A-29 Super Tucano light attack jets it had been given in 2021 to combat rebels.

Wing Loong II drones manufactured in China are still awaiting delivery.