Africa Business Radio

TikTok is the world's new most popular online destination over GoogleCloudflare, an IT security company says the viral video app gets more hits than the American search engine,The rankings show that TikTok knocked Google off the top spot in February, March and June this year, and has held the number one position since August.Cloudfare says it tracks data using its tool Cloudflare Radar, which monitors web traffic.It is believed one of the reasons for the surge in Tiktok's popularity is because of the Covid pandemic, as lockdowns meant people were stuck at home and looking for entertainment.

China’s central bank has vowed to promote the healthy development of the country’s real estate market, saying it will safeguard the legal rights of home buyers and better satisfy their reasonable living needs.The statement from the People’s Bank of China says it will prioritise economic stability, amid an increasingly severe external environment and the unrelenting global pandemic.The PBOC said it will keep its monetary policy flexible and appropriate, and liquidity reasonably ample. It will strengthen support to the real economy, with a bias toward small companies.

Russia has received a NATO proposal to commence talks on Moscow’s security concerns on Jan. 12 and is considering it.Russia unveiled a wish list of security proposals it wants to negotiate, including a promise NATO would give up any military activity in Eastern Europe and Ukraine The United States and Ukraine say Russia may be preparing an invasion of its ex-Soviet neighbour. Russia denies that and says it is Ukraine’s growing relationship with NATO that has caused the standoff to escalate. It has compared it to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis when the world came to the brink of nuclear war.President Vladimir Putin says Russia wanted to avoid conflict but needed an immediate response from the United States and its allies to its demands for security guarantees. Moscow says it expects talks with U.S. officials on the subject to start in January in Geneva.

Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has welcomed the Constitutional Court judgment dismissing an application challenging the cancellation of an R1.5 billion Electronic Document Management System contract.The Department of Home Affairs said the matter started when it wanted to digitise its records.The department says in terms of the law, SITA had to issue a tender looking for a service provider on behalf of the department.The tender had initially been awarded to three companies - New Dawn, Valor IT and Ideco.The department says as long as a public institution had contingent liability on its books, the Auditor-General would flag it each year as a risk.

Cassava Smartech now trading as EcoCash Limited saw its six months to August 2021 revenue grow to $11 billion representing a 36 per cent increase from the same period last month.The company said growth was driven largely by an increase in transactional volumes for the fintech business units. Cassava's fintech business remains the largest contributor to revenue, constituting 80 per cent of the total.Cassava's management said it will continue to focus on revenue diversification as a strategy for revenue growth.The Cassava board Chairperson, Sherree Shereni, in a statement says insurtech businesses implemented various initiatives to reach previously uninsured communities, and the business section revenue contribution grew from 14 per cent in the same period last year to 19 per cent on the back of the growing strength of our short-term insurance corporate book.

Petroleum Minister Tareq el Mulla and CEO of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation Abed Ezz el Regal and CEO of Natural Resources Activities at the Italian company Eni Alessandro Politi signed a deal on oil exploration and exploitation in the Gulf of Suez and the Nile Delta, with total investments exceeding dlrs 1 billion.The Petroleum Ministry says that under the deal, Eni company is abiding by spending at least additional dlrs 20 million to dig four wells.The ministry says the deal falls within the Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ministry's strategy on increasing production rates and facing the natural decline in the wells via using the latest technologies in oil-producing areas.The ministry's strategy also aims at encouraging partners to pump more investments into the field of oil and gas exploration and back the country's proven oil reserves.

The Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, CITN has pledged commitment to continuous advocacy and enlightenment towards achieving an efficient and effective tax system in the country.President of CITN, Adesina Adedayo stated that the institute had always contributed to the country’s fiscal policy measures which have so far resulted in tax development.He also emphasized the need for continuous learning on the field for both administrators and professionals, reiterating that taxation is a dynamic field.Adedayo in his address to the newly inducted fellows tasked them with good behaviour and ethical practices that will advance the image of the Institute.

The Federal Government says that it expects Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product per capita to rise to $3,706.29 by 2025.The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investments, Niyi Adebayo, says the country’s GDP which currently hovers around $500bn was experiencing steady growth, projecting that the GDP per capita would rise to $2,300 by the end of the year.He says it shows that the county’s diversification agenda is working, the oil sector now only contributes to approximate 14 per cent of the GDP.

The Federal Executive Council meeting has approved N65.39bn in foreign and local denominations to execute power projects in the country.The Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, says the extraordinary session was to ensure the country begins 2022 on a clean slate in the area of electricity supply.Aliyu says the Buhari regime had done more than its predecessors to ensure that Nigerians experience improved electric power supply.

The U.N. Human Rights office says Belarus and Poland are pushing refugees back and forth across their border and leaving them with little if any food, clean water or shelter urging both countries to address this appalling situation. Refugees and migrants interviewed said they had suffered violence or threats in Belarus and been left hungry and cold. Thousands of migrants are stuck on the European Union’s eastern frontier. Poland and the EU accuse Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of encouraging the migrants to travel to Belarus and cross the border illegally as revenge for sanctions imposed on Minsk over human rights abuses. Stanislaw Zaryn, a spokesperson for Poland’s special services, said his country’s actions were legitimate and aimed to protect the country’s borders.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the United States is providing the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund and five other global aid groups an additional $580m to fight COVID-19. The pledge came as health officials in the US say the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus now accounts for 73.2 per cent of new cases over the past week, and as the country’s first known death linked to the variant is reported in the state of Texas. The WHO also said the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is spreading faster than the Delta strain and is causing infections in people already vaccinated or who have recovered from COVID-19.

A senior Biden administration official says United States national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, will visit Israel this week for detailed discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Iran’s nuclear programme. The visit comes as negotiations in Vienna over Iran returning to the 2015 nuclear deal have shown modest gains, but remain far from a breakthrough. The official told reporters that they will talk about where they see the state of Iran’s nuclear program and some of the timelines. The official added that It will be a good opportunity to sit down face-to-face and talk about the state of the talks, the timeframe in which they are working and to re-emphasise that they don’t have much time.

A senior White House official says faced with a surging Omicron variant, US authorities will distribute 500 million free Covid-19 tests, mobilize military medical personnel if needed and increase vaccination capacity. The Official says they have the tools to get through this wave noting there are no plans to impose new restrictions. The official added that If Americans are vaccinated and follow the precautions that we all know well, especially masking when travelling, they should feel comfortable celebrating Christmas and the holidays. The Joe Biden administration’s response is based on three principles: more hospital resources, more testing and more vaccines.

NMB Bank Limited says it will raise up to $2 billion through a private placement of a 12 month Agro Bill for onward lending to farmers for the 2021/22 agriculture season. The government is aiming to achieve a US$48,2 billion agriculture economy by 2025 riding on the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy, which seeks to achieve the targeted growth by 2025. NMB in a circular says the $2 billion Agro Bill will support new and existing commercial farmers on its loan book for the current season. NMB Bank will act as the placement agent regarding the Transaction and will distribute this Information Memorandum to a limited number of recipients for the sole purpose of assisting those recipients in deciding whether they wish to proceed to purchase the Bills.

The national carrier, RwandAir, has announced the resumption of flights to Southern Africa starting December 23. The decision to temporarily ban flights between Kigali and the Southern African region as part of the new measures to control the Omicron variant of Covid-19 from spreading into the country was announced on November 28. Among the new travel directives to curb the spread, arriving or departing passengers at Kigali International Airport must present a negative Covid-19 PCR test taken 72 hours prior to departure, and a three-day mandatory quarantine at designated hotels. Preliminary data suggest the Omicron variant is more infectious than the Delta, over the past few days, reported a surge in the number of positive cases per day, as of December 19, a total of 169 cases were recorded.

Libya’s head of the High National Electoral Commission has ordered the dissolution of the electoral committees nationwide, in a move that effectively postpones this week’s presidential elections. A statement by Imad al-Sayeh outlined six points, chiefly the disbandment of electoral regional and local branch offices and committees. A member of the HNEC’s board of directors confirmed the authenticity of the document.

Ghana's parliament was disrupted during a late-night session over a contentious government-proposed levy on electronic transactions. The chaos started after opposition MPs rushed forward to prevent Deputy Speaker Joseph Osei Owusu from leaving his seat to vote, local media reports. The opposition National Democratic Congress has rejected the proposed levy of 1.75% on electronic transactions, which includes mobile-money payments. It says it will hit low-income people and those outside the formal banking sector. Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Artta however says it is necessary to widen the tax net, arguing that it could raise an extra 6.9bn Ghanaian cedi next year.

The Federal government has reinstated Emirates Airlines daily schedule to Nigeria. Director-General, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Musa Nuhu, stated that following the further consultations with various stakeholders 2021 offer Air Peace Airlines daily slots to Dubai airports. He noted that the approval was based on compliance with the Dubai Travel Protocol as released by Dubai airports on Friday 26th November 2021 as it affects travellers travelling from Nigeria to UAE.

The House of Representatives at the plenary passed the 2022 appropriation Bill sent to it by President Muhammadu Buhari, raising the sum to N17.126 trillion. The passage of the budget followed the consideration and adoption of clauses in Bill’s report presented by the Chairman Appropriation Committee, Hon. Muktar Betara.

The IMF says it had approved the fifth and final round of debt relief under a program meant to help the world’s poorest nations weather the Covid-19 pandemic. The IMF says the $115 million in relief under the Washington-based crisis lender’s Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust affects debt service payments falling due for 25 member states between January 11 and April 13 of next year The IMF says its directors view the CCRT relief as having helped its poorest and most vulnerable members to free up resources to tackle the pandemic and its repercussions though they warn not all money pledged for the trust has been received.