Ghana has agreed two loans worth a total of 600 million euros ($714.54 million) to build a 100 km stretch of railway with lenders including Deutsche Bank and Investec, the finance ministry said on Tuesday.
The line will transport agricultural produce and minerals from the Huni Valley to Takoradi Port in the south of the country, the government and the lenders said in a joint statement. ($1 = 0.8397 euros)
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Ghana Signs 600 Million Euros Loan Agreements To Build Railway
Botswana Considers Issuing Debut Hard Currency Bond As External Buffers Shrink
Botswana’s foreign exchange reserves have dropped by around 41% in the past six years and the country is considering issuing its first-ever hard currency bond to shore up its external buffers, a central bank official said on Tuesday.
The diamond producing country’s foreign exchange reserves gradually fell to 47.5 billion pula ($4.34 billion)in April 2021 from over 80 billion pula in 2015, due to slower growth in exports – exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic – while imports remained high.
Botswana’s foreign exchange reserves are mostly held in a sovereign wealth fund, the Pula Fund and are used to pay for imports and external obligations while the government has often tapped into the fund to help cover budget deficits.
“We have proposed to government the options available to replenish our external buffers. One of them is to issue a hard currency bond and discussions have started but they are still at early stages,” the central bank’s director of financial markets, Lesego Moseki told a briefing on Tuesday.
The World Bank recently approved a $250 million loan to support Botswana’s economic recovery efforts while the government is also looking to its domestic borrowing programme to plug an estimated 6 billion pula deficit in the 2021 national budget.
But the domestic borrowing programme has underperformed in the past months. In a bond auction held in May, the government only managed to raise 53% of the 1.95 billion pula it was seeking as the central bank rejected the higher yields demanded by investors.
Moseki said the central bank was now in discussion with the government to allow yields to trend upwards while they were also looking at inviting foreign investors to participate on the domestic debt programme.
Currently only domestic commercial banks participate in the government bond and Treasury bill auctions.
U.S. Consumer Confidence Hits Pre-Pandemic High
U.S. consumer confidence rose in June to its highest level since the COVID-19 pandemic started more than a year ago, boosting forecasts for strong economic growth in the second quarter.
The mood of the American consumer is now the brightest it’s been since the health crisis struck more than a year ago.
Consumer confidence as measured by the Conference Board jumped in June to highs not seen since February 2020.
The data released Tuesday bolsters expectations that the economy grew swiftly during the second quarter as parts of the economy reopened and vaccinated Americans were happy to go out and spend.
Consumer spending is responsible for roughly two-thirds of all economic activity.
Capri Holdings, parent company of the Michael Kors brand, gave another positive snapshot into the mind of the consumer on Tuesday.
The upscale brand company with names like Kors, Versace and Jimmy Choo under its umbrella boosted its annual forecasts.
It is betting that consumers will want to upgrade to its luxury products after spending more than a year mostly in jeans and workout gear.
Consumers are already splurging on high-end handbags and shoes, the company said.
Like many retailers, Michael Kors and its sister brands, have beefed up their online presence to meet a surge in online shopping.
English And French Bishops In Joint Appeal Over Treatment Of Migrants
Bishops on both sides of the English Channel have appealed to their countries for more “constructive” policies on migrants and refugees than “closing frontiers”.
In a joint statement to coincide with World Refugee Week, the Anglican and Catholic bishops called for “better treatment” of undocumented migrants trying to reach Britain from France.
They were critical of current policies, which they said were being driven by “prejudice and fear”.
“These are fellow humans who deserve to be helped to find places where they can live in dignity and contribute to civil society,” they said.
“With sadness, we observe the lack of hope that drives people in distress to become exploited by traffickers and add to the profits of their illegal trade.”
The bishops went on to say that they were committed to creating a “climate of welcome”.
“We are heartened by those who generously offer financial and material support, time and skills, shelter and accommodation, whatever their religious conviction,” they said.
“They ignore the myths that lead to prejudice and fear that apparently prevent politicians from creating new and constructive policies that go beyond closing frontiers and employing more security staff.
“Their stories should be heard before decisions about their futures are announced.”
Figures show that 5,000 people have attempted the dangerous crossing in the first half of 2021.
Kent County Council has threatened legal action against the government over the crisis and refused to take any more unaccompanied asylum-seeking children into its care.
The council, which already has care of 400 unaccompanied migrant children, said its services were under “extreme pressure” and had reached “the limit of safe capacity”.
Oil Drops As Another round of Restrictions Threaten Fuel Demand Outlook
Oil prices dropped for a second day on Tuesday on worries about slower fuel demand growth as speculations and news of outbreaks of the highlycontagious variant Delta sparked new mobility restrictions around the world.
Brent crude futures fell 35 cents, or 0.5%, to $74.33 a barrel by 0706 GMT, after slumping 2% on Monday.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 34 cents, or 0.5%, to $72.57 a barrel, extending a 1.5% loss on Monday.
The flare-up in cases of the Delta variant comes as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia and allies, together known as OPEC+, are set to meet on July 1 to discuss easing their supply curbs.
OPEC’s demand forecasts show that in the fourth quarter global oil supply will fall short of demand by 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd), giving the producers some room to agree to add output.
“We expect the cartel to release 250 (thousand barrels per day) of supply curbs from August onwards. Failure to turn on the taps further may see Brent top $80 (a barrel) by next month,” said Howie Lee, economist at OCBC Treasury Research in Singapore.
Spain and Portugal, favourite summer holiday destinations for Europeans, imposed new restrictions on unvaccinated Britons on Monday, while 80% of Australians faced tighter curbs due to flare-ups of the virus across the country.
Talks on a travel corridor between the United States and Britain also slowed, partly on concerns about a rise in cases of the Delta variant in Britain, the Financial Times reported, citing officials.
Analysts expect OPEC+ to step up supply by about 500,000 bpd in August, as the market has tightened on strong growth in fuel demand in the United States and China, the world’s two biggest oil consumers.
U.S. S’Court Revives Excessive-Force Suit Against St. Louis Police
The U.S. Supreme Court has revived a lawsuit filed by the parents of a homeless man who died in police custody in Missouri that accused officers of using excessive force in the moments before their son died handcuffed and shackled in a cell.
The justices, in an unsigned decision, threw out a lower court ruling in favor of police that had concluded excessive force was not used, meaning the lawsuit was over.
Nicholas Gilbert, aged 27, died in 2015 in a St. Louis police holding cell after six officers restrained him for 15 minutes, handcuffing him, shackling his legs and placing him face down on the ground.
The Supreme Court’s decision said the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had not clearly analyzed whether the police use of a “prone restraint” was constitutional and asked the lower court to revisit the issue.
The civil rights lawsuit filed by Bryan Gilbert and Jody Lombardo accused the officers of violating the U.S. Constitution’s 4th Amendment protections against unlawful searches and seizures.
The Supreme Court stated commonly used police guidance informs officers of the suffocation risks and “indicates that the struggles of a prone suspect may be due to oxygen deficiency” rather than resistance,.
Conservative Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch dissented from the decision.
The officers had asserted a legal doctrine called qualified immunity that protects police and other types of government officials from civil litigation in certain circumstances.
Bible Withdrawn From Auction Over Looting Claims
A Bible has been withdrawn from auction after the Ethiopian Embassy said it had been looted by British forces in the 19th century.
The vellum-bound Bible had been among the items for auction at Busby Auctioneers and Valuers in Dorset last Thursday.
But the auction house agreed to remove the Bible after the embassy said it was among the artefacts taken by the British after the 1868 Battle of Magdala.
The embassy told Busby that the sale of the items was “unethical” and represented a continued “cycle of dispossession perpetrated by those who would seek to benefit from the spoils of war.”
It described the looting of Magdala as “a great injustice of the 19th century” and “a scar on the, otherwise, warm and friendly relations between the peoples of Ethiopia and the United Kingdom.”
Repatriating items looted from Magdala would “bring closure” to a “painful chapter” in Britain and Ethiopia’s shared history, the embassy said.
It is “a well-established fact that British soldiers engaged in indiscriminate looting of both the Fortress of Magdala and the surrounding areas”, said Deputy Head of Mission Beyene Gebremeskel said in a statement.
The Bible came in a sewn leather satchel and featured an Ethiopian cross. Before the embassy’s intervention, it was to go up for auction with a set of graduated horn beakers also from Magdala.
Both items came from the estate of Major-General William Arbuthnot, a Scot who served in the late 19th century British expedition to what was then Abyssinia, which culminated in the Battle of Magdala.
The Ethiopian Embassy said it was preparing for the eventual repatriation of the items to Ethiopia.
“These items are of immense cultural, spiritual, and historical value to Ethiopians,” said Gebremeskel.
“Current and future generations of Ethiopians are deserving of the restitution of their cultural heritage, so we very much look forward to returning these precious items to Ethiopia in due course.”
A spokesperson for Busby said: “The matter has been resolved with the vendor and the Ethiopian embassy in London.”
Iranian Christians Sentenced To 5 Years In Prison Over ‘Propaganda’
Three Iranian Christians have been sentenced to five years in prison for “engaging in propaganda against the Islamic regime.”
Amin Khaki, Milad Goudarzi and Alireza Nourmohammadi were sentenced by the Revolutionary Court in Karaj, northern Iran.
All three are planning to appeal the verdict, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reports.
The men were charged under a new amendment to the Iranian penal code that criminalizes “sectarian activities”.
It adds that “any deviant education or propaganda that contradicts or interferes with the sacred Islamic shari’a, will be severely punished.”
Until the introduction of the amendment earlier this year, Christians were targeted with national security laws.
CSW reports that the three men suffered the additional injustice of being made to stand trial without the presence of a lawyer.
The court said this was because their lawyer had failed to register in time, but CSW says he met the necessary requirements for participation 10 days before the start of the trial.
CSW’s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said the men should be acquitted.
“The campaign of harassment against Iranian Christians is unrelenting, as these baseless charges against these three men, under a new clause in the penal code, demonstrate,” he said.
“CSW calls for the acquittal of these innocent men. We also reiterate our call for the repeal of laws and articles formulated or utilised to target minority communities.
“Finally, we urge the Iranian authorities to release all prisoners detained on account of their religion or belief, and to end the relentless campaign of harassment of Christians and other religious minorities through the judicial system.”
S&P Futures Stall at All-Time High
Futures tracking the S&P 500 paused at an all-time high on Monday as investors stayed away from making big bets ahead of data on the health of a U.S. labor market recovery and corporate earnings later in the week.
The S&P 500 on Friday logged its best weekly performance in 20 following an agreement on President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure spending deal and waning concerns about a sooner -than-expected policy tightening from the Federal Reserve.
Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hit record levels last week. But the tech-heavy Nasdaq’s 4.4% gain is outpacing its peers in June as investors pile back into tech-oriented growth stocks on waning worries about runaway inflation.
With the S&P 500 up almost 14% as the first half of 2021 draws to a close, activity in some areas of the market indicates concern over potential volatility, with some investors suggesting the market may be overdue for a significant pullback.
At 6:41 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 60 points, or 0.17% and S&P 500 e-minis were down 2 points, or 0.05%.
Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 23.5 points, or 0.16% as megacap companies including Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc and Facebook Inc edged higher in premarket trading.
EU Court Says Poland Denied Court Officials Right To Appeal
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Polish justice minister infringed on the rights of two court officials when he dismissed them without letting them appeal.
The Justice Ministry said the ruling was politically motivated and did not involve human rights.
Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has introduced a series of judiciary reforms that critics, including the European Union’s executive, say may harm the independence of the courts.
Those included legislation giving the justice minister the power to hire and fire the heads of courts of general jurisdiction. These judges coordinate the court’s works and execute administrative duties.
Under the new rules, judges Mariusz Broda and Alina Bojara were removed from their posts as vice-presidents of the Kielce Regional Court before their six-year term of office ended without being given an explanation or the possibility to appeal.
It ruled that Poland should pay each applicant 20,000 euros in damages. Both sides have three months to appeal.
The justice ministry said in a statement that the applicants were not deprived of their judicial functions.
Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro fired more than 150 court presidents and vice-presidents over a six-month period in 2017 and 2018, according to Polish Judges Association Iustitia.
In May, the ECHR ruled that a Polish company had been denied its right to a proper hearing due to the illegal appointment of a Constitutional Court judge, opening the way for challenges to Poland’s top court.
