The Central Bank of Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee retained the Monetary Policy Rate at 11.5% and kept all other parameters unchanged. CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele made the announcement while addressing journalists at the bank’s headquarters in Abuja. Lowering the rate could have stimulated more borrowing while raising the rate could have signalled the CBN’s intention to reduce the economy’s money supply ..read more

The International Monetary Fund warned that the global economy is entering 2022 in a weaker position than previously expected as it downgraded its global growth outlook largely due to clouds gathering over the recoveries in the United States and China. The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook calls for the global growth to downshift from 5.9 per cent in 2021 to 4.4 per cent this year. The Fund saw the US economy growing 4.0 per cent this year while China’s economy grew 4.8 per cent this year thanks to the country’s business-sapping, zero-tolerance COVID-19 policy, and ongoing stress in its heav ..read more

Ghanaian authorities have shut down Maxam Mining Company Limited responsible for manufacturing, storing, and transporting explosive materials for mining operations in the country following a deadly explosion last week. Investigations are underway, the authorities say, into Thursday's blast near the mining town of Bogoso, that killed at least 14 people and injured dozens of others. The National Disaster Management Organisation says more than 40 critically injured people are being treated in hospitals, and more than 500 homes have been destroyed ..read more

Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera has sacked his entire cabinet over corruption concerns. The president vowed to confront all forms of lawless conduct by public officials. He says a new cabinet would be announced in two days. Three ministers are facing charges including the minister of lands who was arrested last month in a bribery case. The labour minister has been accused of diverting Covid funds and the energy minister of meddling with fuel deals. All have denied the allegations ..read more

The Federal Government is considering autogas as an alternative to the Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol. The Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, explained that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, in his capacity as the Chairman of the National Economic Council, is also leading an effort in collaboration with state governors to discuss the government’s plans to unveil palliatives to the people. The Minister says the Federal Government had in December 2021 rolled out an autogas programme called the National Gas Expansion Programme. Justice Derefaka, Technical Adviser on Gas Bu ..read more

The federal government, represented by the Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, has held a follow-up meeting with Egyptian authorities in an effort to boost electricity supply, including renewable energy in Nigeria. Aliyu affirmed the commitment of the federal government to see that Nigerians have an efficient power supply in the nearest future. Aliyu stated that the anticipated area of cooperation between Egypt’s ministry of electricity and renewable energy and Nigeria’s federal ministry of power may include the areas of provision of technical support in transmission and distribution networks ..read more

The Minister of Finance, Budget and Economic Planning, Zainab Ahmed, says that the Federal Government had postponed the planned removal of subsidies on petroleum products till further notice. The finance minister says the Federal Government initially had plans to remove subsidies on petroleum products from July this year. She says that was the reason adequate provision was made in the 2022 national budget for subsidy payment till June. She says the provision was made sequel to the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act which indicated that all petroleum products would be deregulated ..read more

Seoul says Iran is expected to regain its vote in the UN General Assembly after South Korea paid Tehran’s delinquent dues to the world body with Iranian funds frozen in the country. Iran however announced that US sanctions had impeded its ability to make the payment on its arrears for the second year in a row. The finance ministry says Seoul completed the payment of Iran’s UN dues of about $18 million through the Iranian frozen funds in South Korea, in active cooperation with related agencies such as US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and the United Nations Secretariat ..read more

The head of the German navy has resigned after coming under fire at home and abroad for saying that Ukraine would never regain the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. Vice Admiral Kay-Achim Schoenbach also said it was important to have Russia on the side against China, and suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin deserved respect. The comments came at a sensitive time as Russia has amassed tens of thousands of troops on Ukraine’s borders. Russia denies it is planning to invade Ukraine ..read more

Armenian President Armen Sarkisian announced that he was resigning his largely ceremonial position, citing the inability of his office to influence policy during times of national crisis. The announcement comes on the back of a period of instability in the ex-Soviet Caucasus nation in the wake of a war with its long-standing rival Azerbaijan. Armenia’s humiliating defeat and loss of disputed territory in late 2020 ultimately sparked massive street rallies and a domestic crisis that pitted Sarkisian against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. He says the president does not have the necessary tools ..read more