The Star Online: Business
The Star Online: Business |
- African Bank: Unrest in north has hit growth
- Saab's US$40mil property sale progresses
- China pledges to boost restive west's development
| African Bank: Unrest in north has hit growth Posted: 04 Jul 2011 06:09 PM PDT JOHANNESBURG: The turmoil in North Africa is hampering economic growth across the continent but is also inspiring democratic change elsewhere, the chief economist of the Africa Development Bank said Monday. In a speech, Mthuli Ncube said the unrest in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia is likely to reduce economic growth in North Africa this year to 0.7 percent from 4.7 percent last year. Overall, Africa's growth is estimated at 3.7 percent in 2011, down from 4.9 percent last year. Further south, Ncube said economies have been affected by a drop in money sent home by Africans from elsewhere on the continent who had been working in North Africa. Niger, for example, had 200,000 citizens working in oil-rich Libya, according to bank statistics. Another knock has come from the reduction in Libyan investment across Africa as well as declining numbers of Libyan tourists within Africa, Ncube said. But he said that while the economic impact was painful, the long-term effect of political changes made it worthwhile. "Democracy is far more important," Ncube said. He noted that protests last month forced Senegal's longtime president to cancel a proposed legislative change that would have made it easier for his son to take charge of the West African nation. "It was really the North Africa effect," Ncube said. "The youth will not tolerate any behavior they don't perceive as democratic." Ncube also cited Morocco, which has seen protests calling for change even though the king remains popular. The king presented a new constitution, approved by 98 percent of voters last week, designed to curtail his powers and make his government more accountable. Ncube said the large number of unemployed youth, who used social networks to organize, helped drive protests that forced out a president in Tunisia and were followed by uprisings around the Arab world. Sub-Saharan African countries with high unemployment should also be wary, Ncube said. He noted in an interview with The Associated Press after his speech Monday that former President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa - which is struggling to cut unemployment, particularly among the young - was ousted in 2008 by his own African National Congress in campaign led by the party's youth wing. That might have been democratic South Africa's version of upheavals in the north, Ncube said. South Africa, the continent's strongest economy, has suffered from the global recession more than other African economies, and is recovering more slowly, according to the annual economic outlook the African Development Bank released Monday. Its GDP is expected to grow 3.6 percent this year. Ncube said South Africa should draw lessons from Nigeria, where growth predicted at 6.9 percent in 2011 is tied in part to reforms that have encouraged entrepreneurship. Or from Kenya, where growth predicted at 5.3 percent is linked to East Africa's progress in creating a regional market and improving infrastructure. Ncube also cautioned South Africa against nationalizing mines and other industries, a proposal pushed by younger ANC members but opposed by key party leaders and by businesses. "Nationalization, it's not a good idea," Ncube told the AP. "Governments themselves do not create jobs. They create an environment for jobs to be created." - AP Latest business news from AP-Wire Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Saab's US$40mil property sale progresses Posted: 04 Jul 2011 06:05 PM PDT STOCKHOLM: The European Investment Bank on Monday approved Saab's plan to improve its ailing finances with a US$40 million deal to sell and lease back property. If the deal is also approved by Sweden's government and the national debt office, which is expected, Saab will have cleared a key hurdle in its attempts to resolve a cash shortage that has left it struggling to pay suppliers and staff. EIB spokesman Par Isaksson said the bank, from which Saab has borrowed money, approved the agreement to sell a 50.1 percent in Saab's property, including its production plant in Trollhattan to Swedish real estate company Hemfosa. Saab's owner, Swedish Automobile, intends to sign a 15-year lease agreement so that it can continue to use the property. Saab's production has been at a standstill for months. Last week, the company said it aims to resume production within two weeks, but workers remained idle Monday and will go on two weeks scheduled vacation July 25. Earlier Monday, Saab said it aims to set up a joint venture with China's Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co. to design a small Saab model called 9-1, and two larger designs called 9-6 and 9-7. Saab spokeswoman Gunilla Gustavs said those plans are at an early stage and it remains unclear when the cars could reach the market. Youngman will provide financing for the joint venture while Saab will be responsible for developing the models. "We will now be able to develop a small entry level Saab, a car that has long been on the top of our wish list," the CEO of Saab-owner Swedish Automobile, Victor Muller said in a statement. Swedish Automobile NV, previously known as Spyker Cars, also said it has completed a previously announced 245 million ($356 million) deal to make Youngman and another Chinese firm, Pang Da Automobile Trade Co, part-owners in Swedish Automobile. The deal still requires regulatory approval. It said the agreement also allows for Russian investor Vladimir Antonov to become part-owner of Swedish Automobile, if he obtains the necessary regulatory approvals. Antonov has said he wants to inject between $50 million and $150 million into Saab, but is still waiting for an approval from the European Investment Bank. The Russian was forced out of Spyker amid reports of money laundering when Spyker bought Saab from General Motors in 2010. He has denied those allegations and has never been charged. EIB's spokesman, Isaksson declined to comment on that process Monday. Shares in Swedish Automobile rose by 17.3 percent to 2.94 ($4.27) on the Amsterdam stock exchange. - AP Latest business news from AP-Wire Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| China pledges to boost restive west's development Posted: 04 Jul 2011 05:59 PM PDT BEIJING: The governor of China's restive western region wants to boost its economy by further opening it up to external trade and investment, state media said Monday, the eve of the second anniversary of the region's worst ethnic violence in over a decade. Gov. Nur Bekri said he would promote Xinjiang's foreign trade and economic cooperation with neighboring countries, work on establishing special economic zones in the cities of Kashgar and Horgos and attract domestic and foreign investors, the China News Service said. China's leaders believe faster economic development will reduce ethnic tensions in Xinjiang, and its efforts resemble those already under way in also tense Tibet. Xinjiang is China's Central Asian frontier, bordering Pakistan, Afghanistan, Russia and other countries, and was long a gateway, the region crossed by the Silk Road caravan routes that sent Chinese silk to the Middle East and Europe. Bekri said further expanding trade and economic links was key to Xinjiang's long-term stability, the official Xinhua News Agency said. He urged the region to participate more in international cooperation and competition in economic and technological areas, it reported. Xinjiang remains tense after deadly clashes erupted between predominantly Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese migrants in 2009. Uighurs attacked Hans, overturning buses and torching shops in the regional capital of Urumqi in a riot the government says killed 197 people. In the aftermath, hundreds were arrested and about two dozen sentenced to death. Many other Uighurs remain unaccounted for and are believed to be in custody. Uighur activists say the riots, which were followed by retaliatory attacks by Han people, were the result of decades of pent-up frustration with Chinese rule. China's leaders say all ethnic groups are treated equally and point to the billions of dollars in investment that has modernized the strategically vital region with significant oil and gas deposits. Many Uighurs say they suffer discrimination in jobs and cannot get loans and passports, while many Hans see the Uighurs as a privileged minority with government jobs and university places reserved for them in Xinjiang. Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the Germany-based World Uyghur Congress, said official pressure on Uighurs continues to intensify and accused the government of using Bekri's remarks in the state media to "distort the worsening situation." "The monitoring and investigating of Uighurs is strengthening. Racial discrimination is further increasing," he said, warning that "China's systematic policy of repression is fueling the emergence of new local unrest." - AP Latest business news from AP-Wire Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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