Botswana August inflation eases after July surge

17 September, 2007 in Botswana, Business

source: Reuters Africa
Mon 17 Sep 2007, 9:51 GMT

GABORONE (Reuters) – Botswana’s consumer inflation rate eased to 7.2 percent year-on-year in August, after a sharp jump to 7.5 percent in July, the Central Statistics Office said on Monday.

It said in a statement indices for clothing and footwear, and communication declined during the month, while prices for restaurants and hotels and furniture increased.

Botswana’s central bank, which lowered its key lending rate in June, targets inflation of between 4 and 7 percent for 2007 and in 2008 will lower its goal to 3 to 6 percent.

Inflation leapt to [continue reading]

Botswana speedster caught in Ekurhuleni

17 September, 2007 in Botswana, South Africa

source: IOL
September 17 2007 at 09:20AM

By Laura Lopez Gonzalez

Ekurhuleni police have recorded – and arrested – the fastest speedster in that municipality.

Driving at 261km per hour in a 120km/h zone, a 31-year-old Botswana man driving a Nissan Skyline with a Botswana registration was arrested at the N3 Linksfield off-ramp on Sunday morning.

It is the highest speed ever recorded by the area’s police, according to Ekurhuleni police spokesperson, Superintendent Vusi Mabanga

The man’s excuse?

He had to get to Alberton’s Westbank Raceway, Mabanga said. The off-ramp is known to be an [continue reading]

South Africa: Inflation to Be Tame `Only Next Year´

17 September, 2007 in South Africa

source: allAfrica
Business Day (Johannesburg)

17 September 2007
Posted to the web 17 September 2007

Mariam Isa
Johannesburg

THE main inflation gauge is set to subside “comfortably” inside its 3%-6% target range only in the second half of next year, raising the risk of another interest rate hike at the Reserve Bank’s policy meeting next month.

Comments from the Bank on Friday put a more hawkish spin on inflation forecasts released last month, when it predicted the annual rise in CPIX — above 6% for four months in a row — would return to its target range by the second quarter of next year.

“The most recent … forecasts of the Bank suggest … inflation should return to within the … target range during the second half of next year, and monetary policy will continue to act to ensure this outcome is achieved,” it said in an annual report on its finances.

Bank officials said the inflation forecasts had not been revised since [continue reading]

Sentamu: Zim `not an African problem´

17 September, 2007 in Zimbabwe

source: News24
17/09/2007 08:49 – (SA)

London – The Church of England’s Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, had called on the British government to change its policy on Zimbabwe and intervene with “sanctions and campaigns”, say reports.

Sentamu said: “Zimbabwe cannot any more be seen as an African problem needing an African solution”, adding Britain had to “escape from its colonial guilt” and head a campaign of sanctions similar to that which “brought an end to apartheid in South Africa”.

While the president of Zimbabwe’s neighbouring South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, had done his best, he had been unable to “persuade Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to reverse his unjust and brutal regime”, according to Sentamu.

Mugabe had “rallied a country against its former colonial master only to destroy it through a dictatorial fervour”, Sentamu wrote.

UK policy towards Zim ‘will not change’

Inflation in Zimbabwe was raging at [continue reading]

SA: Foreign-owned land `threatens´ food security

17 September, 2007 in South Africa

source: IOL
September 17 2007 at 09:09AM

By Wendy Jasson Da Cosat and Christelle Terreblanche

“Mushrooming” golf estates, coastal developments and game farms are coming under the government’s microscope as the state decides whether or not to regulate foreign land ownership.

The vast tracts needed for upmarket developments such as golf estates could impact on South Africa’s long term food security, according to Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana.

“Some of these golf estates are eating up agricultural land and cattle farms. Twenty years down the line are we still going to have enough land to ensure food security for the people of South Africa?” she asked in Pretoria, during the official launch of the report on foreign land ownership in South Africa.

The panel was appointed by the cabinet in 2004 following growing concern about [continue reading]

Sebetela calls for review of EPA processes

17 September, 2007 in Botswana, Business

source: Sunday Standard
by Sunday Standard Reporter
16.09.2007 6:16:27 P

Member of Parliament for Palapye, Boyce Sebetela has called for a review of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Union and African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP).

Speaking at the trade negotiations between the European Union and ACP countries in Brussels on Friday, Sebetela said: “It is becoming clear that the EPA process needs to be reviewed. The EU’s trade demands are supreme and our development demands are not being met.

Botswana is leading the SADC team at the trade negotiations. Of the 15-member SADC block, only eight – Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, Tanzania, South Africa and Botswana itself – are being led by Botswana.
Other members of SADC are negotiating under COMESA, while the islands states of Mauritius, the Seychelles and Madagascar also have their own negotiating bloc, the Pacific.

Botswana is under pressure to strike a new trade agreement with Europe to ensure that its beef, which enjoys preferential treatment under the Cotonou Agreement, continues to benefit beyond the December 31 deadline, failing which it will have to compete with South American beef.

THE European Union (EU) this week issued a [continue reading]

Africa: Organic Food Exporters Risk Loss in British Markets

17 September, 2007 in Africa

source: allAfrica
International Trade Centre (Geneva)

PRESS RELEASE
17 September 2007
Posted to the web 17 September 2007

The International Trade Centre is taking a strong stand against a proposed ban on airfreighting organic fruits and vegetables from developing countries to Britain.

The United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DfID), jointly with ITC, has organized a seminar in London today, 17 September, to debate the controversial issue.

The Geneva-based ITC, an agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, believes this that a ban of airfreight would have a very limited impact on greenhouse gas emissions, but is very likely to be detrimental to producers and exporters of organic products in developing countries.

The Soil Association, the UK’s principal certifying authority of organic products, is considering a range of options, including a [continue reading]

Zimbabwe unions vow to press on with strike

17 September, 2007 in Zimbabwe

source: SABCnews.com
September 16, 2007, 15:15

Zimbabwe’s main labour union will go ahead with a two-day strike this week despite government signals the wage freeze that triggered the protest would be relaxed, a top labour official said today.

President Robert Mugabe’s government ordered a price freeze in June as part of ongoing efforts to stem rampant inflation, which is running above 7 600%. Earlier this month officials extended the freeze to wages, rentals and school fees.

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) called for industrial action in protest against the blanket freeze, but state media reports on Sunday indicated the government was planning to amend the regulation to allow employers to award salary increases.

Labour Minister Nicholas Goche told the [continue reading]

Africa: Study Seeks to Promote Networking and Good Practices in Infrastructure Development

17 September, 2007 in Africa

source: allAfrica
African Development Bank (Tunis)

INTERVIEW
16 September 2007
Posted to the web 16 September 2007

Tunis

The African Development Bank has supported the preparation of more than 15 regional projects as part of its assistance in upgrading infrastructure in Africa, Dr. Ini Urua, NEPAD division manager at the African Development Bank, says in this interview, in which he discusses the Medium to Long Term Strategic Framework for Infrastructure development in Africa (MLTSF).

What is the MLTSF study and how was it conceived?

This is the Medium to Long Term Strategic Framework for infrastructure development on the continent. It seeks to institute a coherent strategic framework to serve as the basis for defining, implementing and monitoring infrastructure development on the continent as well as establishing partnerships that can best promote economic integration and support the development of trade on the continent.

The development of infrastructure on the continent has often been piecemeal in nature, with little or no coordination amongst agencies that support the development of [continue reading]