Business

22, May 2021

Yaounde-Nsimalen Airport: “Camair Co has been flying coffins for over a decade” ⁰

Even before the Friday incident at the Nsimalen International airport when a plane belonging to Cameroon’s national carrier, CAMAIR-CO ran off the runway, causing panic among passengers and flight crew, analysts had warned that CPDM corruption and poor leadership was making it difficult for the Biya regime to improve Cameroon’s air safety.

The exact circumstances of the incident are not yet known but first unofficial report hinted of no casualties.

Nsimalen airport officials say they have successfully evacuated all the passengers onboard the plane from the scene and only a scientific investigation will reveal the cause of the problem.

Despite CamairCo assurances to its customers, controversy still rages over the cause of the Nsimalen incident.

According to Cameroon Intelligence Report, which quoted an anonymous official in the Ministry of Transport, Camair Co has been flying coffins for over a decade.

The regime in Yaoundé has reportedly denied that the plane was faulty. But many in the Aviation industry contacted by Cameroon Concord News said that there were issues with the engine.

Some months ago, seven Cameroon government ministers had to make an emergency trip to the North of the country using a Kenya airways plane.

No one in the Ministry of Transport can provide any information on the various departments responsible for control of the systems, in terms of certification and control of CamairCo activities.

The general manager of CamairCo and his entire staff including the board of directors are all chartered members of the ruling CPDM Crime Syndicate. Correspondingly, the company avoids complying with government regulations by paying off officials.

If the CamairCo plane that ran off the runway on Friday was faulty, then it is evidently clear that the company paid an inspector to allow the aircraft to fly.

Air travel within Cameroon and all of Africa remains relatively dangerous. In 2010, The International Civil Aviation Organization reported that the accident rate for air traffic in Africa was more than four times the global average.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files

13, May 2021

Italy fines Google €100 million for shutting out rival’s smartphone app ⁰

Italy’s anti-trust authority said Thursday it had fined Google more than 100 million euros ($120mn) for shutting out a rival’s smartphone app offering recharging of electric vehicles.

The authority said Google, whose Android operating system and Google Play app store dominate the Italian market, had abused its market position by blocking an Enel X app for users of electric vehicles.

The regulator added it would require Google to make Enel X’s app available on Android Auto, which mirrors features of an Android device, such as a smartphone, on a car dashboard screen.

The fine of 102,084,433.91 euros is for a violation of article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union which regulates monopolies and issues involving restriction of competition.

Italy found Google did not allow Enel X Italia to develop an Android Auto-compatible version of its JuicePass app. JuicePass offers services relating to recharging electric vehicles, such as finding the nearest charging station and reserving a space there.

“By refusing Enel X Italia interoperability with Android Auto, Google has unfairly limited the possibilities for end users to avail themselves of the Enel X Italia app when driving and recharging an electric vehicle,” the authority stated.

“Google has consequently favored its own Google Maps app,” added the authority.

“The exclusion of the Enel X Italia app from Android Auto has been going on for more than two years, and if it were to continue, could permanently jeopardise Enel X Italia’s chances of building a solid user base at a time of significant growth in sales of electric vehicles.”

This, the body concluded, amounted to “an impoverishment of consumer choice and an obstacle to technological progress” which could influence the development of electric mobility.

The authority as a result said it had ordered Google to make available to Enel X Italia and other app developers app programming tools which are interoperable with Android Auto while adding it would monitor compliance of its ruling via an independent expert with whom Google would be obliged to cooperate.

Source: AFP

13, April 2021

Fitch Ratings has revised the Outlook on Cameroon’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating ⁰

Cameroon’s public finances have proven relatively resilient to the pandemic shock and we expect the deficit to be on a downward path over the medium term. The fiscal deficit on a cash basis widened in 2020 to 4.5% of GDP from 3.0% in 2019, owing to an only mild hit to tax collection and limited expenditure increases in response to the coronavirus shock (1.3% of GDP), given financing constraints. The phasing-out of pandemic-related spending and a recovery in tax receipts will bring the deficit down to 3.5% of GDP in 2021 and 3.0% in 2022. We assume the government would cut capital expenditure if revenues fell beyond the authorities’ forecast.

Near- and medium-term financing risks have lowered, in our view. We expect Cameroon to meet around 80% of its fiscal financing needs in 2021 (7.4% of GDP) through external project loans and domestic financing. The extension of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) to 1H21 will provide minor relief of 0.4% of GDP, although this will be higher if the authorities extend it for the whole year. Cameroon is likely to renew its Extended Credit Facility with the IMF before the end of 2Q21, which should catalyse additional official creditor support to fully cover funding needs in 2021 and ease funding conditions over the medium term.

At present, Cameroon is not planning to request a debt treatment under the G20’s Common Framework. It may issue another Eurobond to buy back a part of its 2025 Eurobond (USD750 million; 9.5%), due to be repaid in three instalments over 2023-2025. This would smooth the repayment schedule, although the annual amortisation over the period is small at 0.6% of GDP. We expect Cameroon will be able to roll-over domestic debt coming due in 2021 (2.7% of GDP) and interest payments on the Eurobond in 2021 and 2022, are small at 0.2% of GDP.

Cameroon’s ‘B’ ratings balance low GDP per capita and weak governance indicators against moderate government debt and low inflation supported by membership of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC).

We project general government debt to increase to 44% of GDP in 2022, from 42% of GDP in 2019, well below the current ‘B’ median forecast of 71% of GDP for 2022. Fitch’s debt ratio includes the debt of the public refinery SONARA (3% of GDP in 2020) as the government serviced this in 2020, although there is no explicit state guarantee. There has been some progress in on-going restructuring negotiations over SONARA’s debt, which could lead to an agreement before the end of the year but further delays are possible. Other SOE debt is estimated at 4.2% of GDP in 2020, although this official figure could understate its magnitude.

We expect real GDP growth to rebound to 4.3% in 2021 and 3.7% in 2022, after showing relative resilience to the pandemic shock with a 1.5% contraction in 2020 (‘B’ median of -4.2%). The recovery will be driven by higher demand for Cameroon’s agricultural exports and increased activity in the manufacturing and services sectors, but will remain moderate given persisting financing constraints, credit retrenchments and slow progress on vaccination. A slight decline in oil production in 2022 will adversely affect the growth outlook, although at 5% of GDP the sector is not a key driver. A longer or more severe pandemic shock would hit growth.

External liquidity risks are limited. Fitch forecasts the current account deficit to narrow to 4.4% of GDP in 2021 and 4.1% in 2022 from 5.2% of GDP in 2020, as agricultural and oil exports increase. The bulk of external funding needs will be funded by government borrowing. Access to CEMAC’s pooled stock of international reserves (USD7.4 billion end-January 2021) and to the convertibility guarantee provided by France somewhat mitigates external liquidity and short-term devaluation risks.

ESG – Governance: Cameroon has an ESG Relevance Score of ‘5’ for both Political Stability and Rights and for the Rule of Law, Institutional and Regulatory Quality and Control of Corruption, as is the case for all sovereigns. These scores reflect the high weight that World Bank Governance Indicators (WBGI) has in our proprietary Sovereign Rating Model. Cameroon has a low WBGI ranking at the 14th percentile, reflecting institutional weakness, political instability as well as on-going security issues in the Anglophone regions and the far-North, for which we do not expect a near-term resolution. Deeply entrenched political divisions could also compound the risk of a disorderly transition of power from the 88-year-old president, Paul Biya.

Culled from Fitchratings

26, March 2021

Suez blockage halting $9.6 billion a day of maritime traffic ⁰

Lloyd’s List, a shipping industry journal, says its “rough calculations” suggest that the massive container vessel Ever Given, which has blocked Egypt’s Suez Canal since Tuesday, is halting about $9.6 billion worth of daily marine traffic.

Lloyd’s List puts westbound traffic at around $5.1 billion a day and eastbound traffic at approximately $4.5 billion.

Satellite pictures released by Planet Labs Inc show the 400-meter long vessel wedged diagonally across the entire canal, one of the busiest trade routes in the world.

Lloyd’s estimates that about 165 vessels are waiting to transit the waterway, while data compiled by Bloomberg show that the figure is 185.

The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) on Thursday announced it was “temporarily suspending navigation” along the waterway, which connects the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and drastically shortens travel between Asia and Europe, as efforts by tugs and diggers to dislodge the vessel have failed.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s advisor on seaports, Mohab Mamish, told AFP late Thursday that “maritime navigation will resume again within 48-72 hours, maximum”.

“I have experience with several rescue operations of this kind and as the former chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, I know every centimeter of the canal,” Mamish added.

However, salvage experts had warned earlier on Thursday the Suez blockage could last days or even weeks.

Vortexa senior freight analyst, Arthur Richier, said about 13 million barrels of crude oil on 10 tankers could be affected by the disruption, adding nine vessels carrying clean petroleum products, along with biodiesel, sitting outside Suez, were awaiting the resumption of northbound convoys.

How long it takes to refloat the grounded megaship will dictate further impact on markets.

According to shipping data compiled by Bloomberg, around 300 vessels globally are either stuck in the Suez Canal, waiting to transit the waterway or signaling it as their next destination.

Amid the continued closure of the waterway, shiping giants are looking into re-routing cargo ships around the southern tip of Africa.

Japanese ship-leasing firm Shoei Kisen Kaisha, the owner of the giant vessel, said it was facing “extreme difficulty” trying to refloat it.

“We sincerely apologize for causing a great deal of worry to ships in the Suez Canal and those planning to go through the canal,” it said in a statement.

On Wednesday, historic sections of the canal were reopened in a bid to ease the congestion.

In 2018, the canal was temporarily shut after a Greek-owned bulk carrier suffered engine failure that led to a five-ship collision.

Source: Presstv

24, March 2021

Massive cargo ship turns sideways in Suez Canal, blocking all traffic ⁰

A cargo container ship that’s among the largest in the world has turned sideways and blocked all traffic in Egypt’s Suez Canal, officials said Wednesday, threatening to disrupt a global shipping system already strained by the coronavirus pandemic.

The MV Ever Given, a Panama-flagged container ship that carries trade between Asia and Europe, became grounded Tuesday in the narrow, man-made waterway dividing continental Africa from the Sinai Peninsula.

It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the Ever Given to turn sideways in the canal. GAC, a global shipping and logistics company, described the Ever Given as suffering “a blackout while transiting in a northerly direction,” without elaborating.

Evergreen Marine Corp., a major Taiwan-based shipping company that operates the ship, said in a statement provided to The Associated Press that the Ever Given had been overcome by strong winds as it entered the Suez Canal from the Red Sea but none of its containers had sunk.

An Egyptian official, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity as he wasn’t authorized to brief journalists similarly blamed a strong wind in the area for the incident. Egyptian forecasters said high winds and a sandstorm plagued the area Tuesday, with winds gusting as much as 50 kph (31 mph).

Source: AFP

9, March 2021

UK doing business with Biya ⁰

Today (9 March 2021) the United Kingdom has signed an Economic Partnership Agreement with Cameroon.

The trade deal, which will support jobs and build future prosperity, was signed by International Trade Minister Ranil Jayawardena and High Commissioner of Cameroon to the UK, H.E. Albert Fotabong Njoteh in London. The deal provides certainty for British and Cameroonian businesses, ensuring they can continue to trade as freely as they do now without any additional barriers or tariffs.

The UK-Cameroon trade was worth around £200m in 2019, and this deal lays a foundation to extend our trading relationship in the future. The UK market accounts for 12% of total exports of bananas from Cameroon and this agreement will maintain tariff-free market access to the UK. It also guarantees continued market access for UK exporters, who sold £50m in goods to Cameroon in 2019.

International Trade Minister Ranil Jayawardena said:

Today’s deal secures opportunities for both British and Cameroonian businesses – and will help support jobs and foster investment.

International trade and investment are engines of economic growth around the globe, so today’s deal will play a crucial role as we all build back better from Covid-19.

Minister for Africa James Duddridge said:

This agreement will make sure around £200m of trade between the UK and Cameroon can continue, supporting Cameroonian businesses to increase operations, enabling UK exporters to sell more goods and boosting prosperity for both countries as we together recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

This provides the continuity businesses in both the UK and Cameroon need to ensure trade between our countries continues to flourish and grow.

Today’s signing comes after the agreement to roll over current EU-Cameroon trading arrangements from 1 January 2021 concluded at the end of December.

The UK government has secured agreements covering 66 countries plus the EU, worth £890bn of trade in 2019.

Source: Gov.UK

25, February 2021

Biya poised to buy Chadian oil pipeline stake ⁰

The Chadian government, which is mired in debt and badly affected by the Covid-19 crisis, wants to speed up the sale of part of its shares in the COTCO oil pipeline to Cameroonian state-owned oil company SNH and President Biya and his ruling CPDM crime syndicate are poised to buy the Chadian oil pipeline stake as Idris Deby battles with economic crisis.

Source: Africa Intelligence

24, February 2021

EU ‘yellow cards’ Biya regime over lack of action on illegal fishing ⁰

Cameroon could lose its access to the lucrative European Union seafood market due to the government’s failure to tackle illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The European Commission has put Cameroon on notice by issuing the country a “yellow card,” which is a formal warning that could lead to a total ban on seafood exports from the country to the E.U.

Cameroon, the commission said, has so far failed to abide by agreed standards “under international law of the sea as flag, port, and market state.”

The commission identified a lack of a robust registration policy for fishing vessels to operate under its flag, and insufficient attempts to ensure efficient and adequate control over fishing activities carried out by vessels flying the country’s flag, key constraints in Cameroon’s involvement in the fight against IUU.

According to the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), Cameroon is notorious in offering a “flag of convenience” to fishing vessels operating illegally with minimal monitoring and enforcement hence facilitating illicit marine seafood harvest “by making it hard to identify and take action against boat owners.”

“We very much welcome the European Commission’s decision to warn and initiate a formal dialogue with Cameroon,” EJF Executive Director Steve Trent said.

Trent said illegal operators using Cameroon’s flag of convenience abetted illicit fishing that “undermine any attempts to manage fisheries sustainably and push fish populations to collapse, threatening food security and livelihoods in many regions.”

He commended the European Commission’s use of the carding system, which he said is a “powerful tool against flags of convenience and has helped several countries such as Togo, reform dramatically.”

The preference of Cameroon as the source of the flag of convenience has been linked to laxity in government, with EJF’s previous findings showing at least a third of vessels, now sailing under the country’s flag, were adopted “only recently, in the last two to three years, despite having no obvious link with the country.”

The country’s fishing capacity is now nine times larger than it was before 2018, according to the EJF.

“Sustained commitment to progress is needed from all countries if we are to succeed in ending illegal fishing and once again the European Union is leading the world in this commitment,” Trent said.

Previously, FAO had observed emergence of a small industrial fleet “consisting primarily of shrimp trawlers, which are however often operated in joint venture with distant fishing nations.”

Despite nearly 50 trawlers greater than 24 meters having been reported way back in 2009, FAO says there are no reliable recent figures reported.

By 2015, a total fleet of 12,700 vessels was reported with 4,000 unpowered and 7,200 powered vessels, all under 12 meters, according to the FAO. An estimated 239,000 metric tons (MT) of fish was caught at the time, with 75,000 MT from inland waters and 164,000 MT from marine waters. More than 65 percent of the total catch is small pelagics.

Source: Seafoodsource.com

15, February 2021

Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala becomes first female head of WTO ⁰

Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was appointed Monday to head the leading international trade body as it seeks to to resolve disagreements over how it decides cases involving billions in sales and thousands of jobs.

Okonjo-Iweala, 66, was appointed director-general of the World Trade Organization by representatives of the 164 member countries, according to a statement from the body.

She said in a statement that her first priority would be quickly addressing the economic and health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and to “implement the policy responses we need to get the global economy going again.”

“Our organization faces a great many challenges but working together we can collectively make the WTO stronger, more agile and better adapted to the realities of today,” she said.

The appointment came after new U.S. President Joe Biden endorsed her candidacy, which had been blocked by former President Donald Trump.

Biden’s move was a step toward his aim of supporting more cooperative approaches to international problems after Trump’s “America first” approach that launched multiple trade disputes.

But unblocking the appointment is only the start in dealing with trade disputes launched by Trump, and in resolving U.S. concerns about the WTO that date to the Obama administration. The U.S. had blocked the appointment of new judges to the WTO’s appellate body, essentially freezing its ability to resolve extended and complex trade disputes.

The U.S. government has argued that the trade organization is slow-moving and bureaucratic, ill-equipped to handle the problems posed by China’s state-dominated economy and unduly restrictive on U.S. attempts to impose sanctions on countries that unfairly subsidize their companies or export at unusually low prices.

Earlier this month, the Biden administration reversed Trump’s opposition and expressed “strong support’’ for Okonjo-Iweala and saying she “brings a wealth of knowledge in economics and international diplomacy.” She is the first African official and the first woman to hold the job.

Okonjo-Iweala, formerly Nigeria’s finance minister, had a 25-year career at the World Bank, where she rose to the No. 2 position of managing director. She holds both U.S. and Nigerian citizenship.

South Korean trade minister Yoo Myung-hee had withdrawn her candidacy, leaving Okonjo-Iweala as the only choice. Her predecessor, Roberto Azevedo, stepped down Aug. 31, a year before his term expired.

Trump repeatedly accused the WTO of unfair treatment of the U.S., started a trade war with China in defiance of the WTO system, and threatened to pull the United States out of the trade body altogether. Trump also imposed 25% steel tariffs that hit European allies on national security grounds, a justification that went beyond trade measures normally used within the WTO rules framework to address complaints about unfair trade.

So far, Biden has not said whether the U.S. will unblock the appellate appointments, and he has not withdrawn the steel tariffs either, which are backed by U.S. steel industry and union groups.

The World Trade Organization is an international body that deals with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated among the bulk of the world’s nations and ratified in their legislatures.

(AP)

15, February 2021

First woman, first African: Nigeria’s Okonjo-Iweala set to be named WTO boss ⁰

Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala looks set to be confirmed Monday as the first woman and first African leader of the beleaguered World Trade Organization, a near-paralysed institution desperately needing a kick-start.

The WTO has called a special general council meeting at which the former Nigerian finance minister and World Bank veteran is expected to be formally selected as the global trade body’s new director-general.

US President Joe Biden strongly swung behind her candidacy shortly after the only other remaining contender, South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee, pulled out.

“I look forward to finalising the process,” Okonjo-Iweala said on February 6 after securing the Biden administration’s support.

The organisation is also eager to conclude the drawn-out process, having been leaderless since Brazilian career diplomat Roberto Azevedo stepped down last August, a year ahead of schedule.

The process of picking one of eight candidates to succeed him had been expected to wrap up by November, but the administration of former US president Donald Trump blocked the consensus to appoint Okonjo-Iweala.

‘Reform candidate’

The 66-year-old will not be at the WTO’s Geneva headquarters for Monday’s virtual session and it is not known when she would take up her duties.

The 164-member organisation’s special session gets under way at 1400 GMT and Okonjo-Iweala is scheduled to hold an online press conference two hours later.

The WTO picks its leaders through consensus-finding, so even though she is the only candidate still in the race — boasting US, EU and African backing — there is always the chance of a spanner being thrown in the works.

She will take over an organisation mired in multiple crises and struggling to help member states navigate the severe global economic slump triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.

Okonjo-Iweala argued during the race that she was best placed out of the eight candidates for the post to steer the WTO through the crises.

“I am a reform candidate,” she insisted.

She has among other things warned that growing protectionism and nationalism have been spurred on by the pandemic and insists barriers need to be lowered to help the world recover.

Even before Covid-19 battered the global economy, the WTO was weighed down by stalled trade talks and struggled to curb trade tensions between the United States and China.

The WTO also faced relentless attacks from Washington under Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump. Among other things, Trump brought the WTO’s dispute settlement appeal system to a grinding halt in late 2019.

‘Boldness, courage’

Okonjo-Iweala has said her priorities include getting long-blocked trade talks on fishery subsidies across the finish line and breathing life back into WTO’s Appellate Body.

Twice Nigeria’s finance minister (2003-2006 and 2011-2015) and its first female foreign minister in a two-month stint in 2006, Okonjo-Iweala is seen as a trailblazer in her west African homeland.

She has brushed off claims she lacks experience as a trade minister or negotiator, insisting that what is needed to lead the WTO is not technical skills but “boldness, courage”.

She has portrayed herself as a champion against Nigeria’s rampant corruption — saying her own mother was even kidnapped over her attempts to tackle the scourge.

But her critics argue she should have done more to tackle it while in power.

A development economist by training with degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, Okonjo-Iweala has also had a 25-year career as a development economist at the World Bank, eventually becoming its number two.

She is on the Twitter board of directors and chaired Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

(AFP)