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NEW YORK/LONDON, June 1 (Reuters) - A bill backed by debt justice campaigners and civil society groups advocating on behalf of economically distressed countries could alter past and future sovereign debt restructurings covered by New York state law - and Wall Street is watching. Senate Bill S4747, the NY Taxpayer and International Debt Crises Protection Act, "relates to New York state's support of international debt relief initiatives for certain developing countries." The initiative has so far failed to accelerate debt relief talks, while private creditors are not even formally included in this initiative. It would "bring badly needed improvements to the framework for resolving unsustainable sovereign debt burdens," according to Nobel Prize-winning U.S. economist Joseph Stiglitz. If this bill passes, "I would recommend issuers not go through New York law, (but) through London or any other jurisdiction," said Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal, professor of banking and finance law at Queen Mary University of London.

Persons: Bill S4747, Alexander Flood, Patricia Fahy, Kathy Hochul, Joseph Stiglitz, Rishikesh Ram Bhandary, THE BILL, Rodrigo Olivares, Caminal, Rodrigo Campos, Jorgelina, Karin Strohecker, Aurora Ellis Organizations: NY Taxpayer, Senate, Institute of International Finance, Paris Club, China, WHO, Economic, Initiative, Boston, Global, Policy, THE, Queen Mary University of London, Thomson Locations: New York, United States, Ukraine, Sri Lanka, Zambia, Rishikesh, London, Paris, Brazil, Argentina, Rosario

ACCRA, June 1 (Reuters) - Ghanaian labour unions have asked the government for time to assess a proposal presented on Thursday to restructure pension funds worth around 30 billion Ghanaian cedis ($2.7 billion). The majority of eligible holders of Ghana's local bonds participated in a domestic debt exchange in February. The pension funds were exempted after unions threatened to strike, but have now been offered their own deal. Thomas Kwesi Esso, executive secretary of the lobby group for the pension funds, told Reuters that the offer was an improvement and addresses liquidity concerns with the old bonds. Editing by Alessandra Prentice, Rachel Savage and Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Abraham Koomson, ”, Thomas Kwesi, ” Anthony Yaw Baah, Alessandra Prentice, Rachel Savage, Leslie Adler Organizations: International Monetary Fund, Finance Ministry, Reuters, International Monetary, Thomson Locations: ACCRA

☆ Reaction: Biden, McCarthy debt ceiling deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

WASHINGTON, May 27 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy have reached a tentative deal to raise the federal government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, ending a months-long stalemate. DEMOCRATIC REPRESENTATIVE TED LIU"Tonight, I have been informed that there is an agreement in principle between the White House and House Republicans. This was a House Republican manufactured crisis. REPUBLICAN REPRESENTATIVE BOB GOOD "I am hearing the 'deal' is for a $4 trillion increase in the debt limit. "If we didn't reach a deal … the average American person would clearly see a hit ... we had to reach some kind of conclusion here."

Before Abdel R. Salaam traveled to Ghana last fall, he didn’t have deep knowledge of its music and dance traditions. It’s a memory that stuck with Salaam, now the festival’s artistic director who this week brings Ghana back to the DanceAfrica stage. After immersing himself in the country’s culture — and holding auditions for 21 companies in different regions — he landed on a title: “Golden Ghana: Adinkra, Ananse and Abusua.”Before its independence, in 1957, Ghana was known as the Gold Coast. He likens “Golden Ghana” to the idea of “living my life like it’s golden,” as Jill Scott sings. “You want to reach for not just material gold, but the highest level of light,” Salaam said.

Ships in the Autonomous Port of Cotonou in Benin, West Africa. Prosper Dagnitche/AFP/Getty ImagesThe stream of used cars heading to West African ports is only expected to increase with the West’s shift to electric vehicles. “It’s not like people want to drive used cars; it’s an affordability issue.”Experts say demand for used cars could explode further as the take up of electric cars in the West increases the supply of used cars to African countries. Those states also have robust port operations, making them an ideal place to ship used cars to Africa. “In terms of where Africa goes, the transition shouldn’t necessarily be from used cars to brand new combustion engines, it should be from used cars to EVs,” Ipke said.

JOHANNESBURG, May 18 (Reuters) - Ghana is targeting $10.5 billion of external debt service relief from 2023-2026, the IMF said, giving an early indication of how large a hit investors might face in an impending debt overhaul. "Our back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that this translates to a 40%-50% haircut on external debt, if there is not further restructuring of domestic debt," Bojosi Morule, an economist at Goldman Sachs, said in emailed reaction to the DSA. Ghana's already strained finances buckled under the fallout of COVID-19 and Russia's invasion of Ukraine and it is now seeking to restructure $20 billion of its roughly $30 billion external debt, including about $13 billion of Eurobonds, under the Group of 20's Common Framework platform. Earlier this year it completed a domestic debt exchange. Other risks include Ghana not regaining market access to issue debt and the domestic debt exchange posing dangers to financial sector stability, the IMF said.

☆ Aspen Pharmacare CEO Stephen Saad on the future of medicine in Africa
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Tom Page | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CEO Stephen Saad discussed the future of the pharmaceutical sector in Africa, and what lessons Aspen Pharmacare has learned from the Covid-19 pandemic, with CNN’s Eleni Giokos. During the pandemic, we’ve seen a spotlight on the inequalities that exist on the continent in the pharmaceutical sector. Aspen has had a very strong commercial presence across Africa and now you’re moving up the value chain. When Covid came and Africa needed vaccines, over 90% of the vaccines were supplied by India — and that wasn’t great. If it hadn’t been for Aspen, there would have been no vaccines made in Africa for the continent.

"Global debt is now $45 trillion higher than its pre-pandemic level and is expected to continue increasing rapidly," said the IIF in its quarterly Global Debt Monitor. The report partly focused on the effects of last year's rapid rise in rates in some bank balance sheets. The IIF voiced its concern that tighter lending practices among smaller banks would hurt some businesses and households harder. "Shadow banks now account for more than 14% of financial markets, with the majority of growth stemming from a rapid expansion of U.S. investment funds and private debt markets." "With the interest rate differential between EMs and mature markets diminishing, EM local currency debt is less appealing for foreign investors," the IIF said.

"Global debt is now $45 trillion higher than its pre-pandemic level and is expected to continue increasing rapidly," said the IIF in its quarterly Global Debt Monitor. The report partly focused on the effects of last year's rapid rise in rates in some bank balance sheets. "Shadow banks now account for more than 14% of financial markets, with the majority of growth stemming from a rapid expansion of U.S. investment funds and private debt markets." But for others access to markets has been harder or non-existent on either tighter spreads as rates rose in developed markets or fast-rising borrowing costs. "With the interest rate differential between EMs and mature markets diminishing, EM local currency debt is less appealing for foreign investors," the IIF said.

☆ Our Theater is Fighting About Diversity. Who’s Right?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Kwame Anthony Appiah | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

But casting for a colorblind utopia can be a problem when your aim is to depict racial injustice. Nontraditional casting is of particular value where there’s a tradition to be bucked; familiar works or historical episodes can be experienced in fresh ways. In high school, I was cast as the menacing Goldberg in Harold Pinter’s 1957 play, “The Birthday Party.” (“Mazel tov! There’s a useful analogy, speaking of Goldberg variations, in the “historically informed performance” movement in music. But who would limit themselves to “authentic” performances of Bach’s “Goldberg” Variations — and thus miss the marimba player Pius Cheung’s rendition?

This paved the way for a sign-off on the IMF loan, which was agreed at staff level in December. Some $5.4 billion of debt to official creditors has been earmarked for restructuring, according to government data, as well as $14.6 billion of debt to private overseas creditors. Zambia, the first African country to default in the COVID-19 era, secured an IMF loan in September 2022 and still has not agreed debt restructuring terms with creditors. Analysts expect Ghana's process to be faster and smoother than Zambia's since China holds a smaller proportion of Ghana's debt. China is Zambia's largest bilateral creditor and has been accused of delaying that country's debt restructuring, which it denies.

☆ A vegan airline passenger was given fruit and nuts instead of meals during a 6-hour flight
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A vegan passenger told Insider she received fruit and nuts instead of a hot meal during a flight. A vegan passenger said she was given fruit and nuts in place of a hot meal during a six-hour KLM flight from Ghana to Amsterdam on April 19. After she was rebooked onto the KLM flight, she said she informed staff she would need a vegan meal. According to KLM's website, the airline can only guarantee vegan meals if a passenger submits the request more than 24 hours before the flight's departure. "But this wouldn't be an issue if they put a couple of extra vegan meals on the plane."

These areas, which we've dubbed " jump zones ," span the globe, covering 6% of Earth's land mass. That's 57% more people living in jump zones than two decades earlier, increasing the odds that a deadly bat virus could spill over. The world's jump zones have lost 21% percent of their tree cover in almost two decades' time, double the worldwide rate. Almost one-third of that expansion would be in existing jump zones, where spillover risk is already high. Though those countries require mining companies to assess potential environmental harms that new concessions might cause, none require companies to evaluate spillover risk.

☆ Bat lands worldwide are besieged, seeding risk of a new pandemic
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +16 min

This collision – bats and humans competing for resources on territory long the domain of the bats – could trigger the next pandemic. As people destroy bat habitats worldwide, they are unwittingly helping bat-borne viruses mutate, multiply, and infect other species, including homo sapiens. For millennia, bat viruses lurked across the forests of West Africa and in other undisturbed parts of the world but posed little threat to humanity. They’re potent proliferators: Some roost tightly together and in close quarters with other bat species. Each of the bat viruses analyzed by Reuters has epidemic potential, according to the World Health Organization.

☆ China's rising clout spotlighted at finance chief meetings before G7 summit
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Tetsushi Kajimoto | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

China is among the biggest markets for most G7 countries, particularly for export-reliant economies such as Japan and Germany. In a joint statement on Saturday, the G7 finance chiefs stressed the urgency of addressing debt vulnerabilities in low- and middle-income countries, mentioning Zambia, Ethiopia, Ghana and Sri Lanka. "There were talks about coercion" at the G7 finance leaders' meeting, the Japanese finance ministry official said. The G7 summit will most likely have a special session on China to debate Beijing's "economic coercion" against other countries, according to a Reuters report. "No matter how the G7 want to fence in the Global South, it's not easy," said Atsushi Takeda, chief economist at the Itochu Economic Research Institute.

ACCRA, May 14 (Reuters) - Ghana expects the International Monetary Fund to approve a first loan tranche of $600 million as soon as Wednesday, paving the way for disbursement within a week, Minister of State in the Finance Ministry Mohammed Amin Adam told Reuters on Sunday. Ghana is seeking $3 billion from the Fund to shore up its battered economy. On Friday, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said Ghana's official creditors had provided the necessary financing assurances for the IMF Executive Board to look at signing off on the loan. Adam said he expected negotiations with both sets of creditors to go well once the IMF signs off on the loan. Adam said the government was also in talks with the African Development Bank for over $100 million for the stability fund.

☆ Ghana's main opposition party picks Mahama as 2024 presidential candidate
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ACCRA, May 14 (Reuters) - Ghana’s main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress, voted overwhelmingly on Saturday to retain former president, John Mahama, as its leader for the 2024 presidential election. This is the third time Mahama will run for the top job in Ghana, one of Africa's most stable democracies. The upcoming presidential vote is expected to be keenly contested. Mahama, 64, secured 297,603 votes, representing 98.9% of votes cast, the electoral commission said early on Sunday. "I am humbled by the overwhelming vote of confidence reposed in me by the party," Mahama said shortly after the declaration.

☆ Erling Haaland is on track to become 'the best striker ever' after record-breaking season
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( George Ramsay | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Would he adapt to life in the Premier League? Only Dixie Dean, who scored 63 in the 1927/28 season, has more goals in English football during a single top-flight campaign. Haaland’s Premier League tally, which includes four hat-tricks, is a league record for a single season, breaking the previous mark held jointly by Alan Shearer and Andy Cole. Haaland, Addo observes, has modified his game to devastating effect since arriving in the Premier League, taking his pace, power, and deadly finishing to another level. Mario Hommes/DeFodi Images/Getty ImagesAddo, a former Dortmund player and Ghanaian international, oversees the development of the Bundesliga club’s talented crop of young players.

☆ How can you tell if someone isn’t really into doing you a favor?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Every two minutes or so, all over the world, someone asks someone else for a small favor. But what happens in those rare instances when someone declines to do a favor? Even when humans decline a request for a favor, they almost never say the word no out loud. Now, maybe that's true, and if they keep doing it, pretty quickly you won't be that person's friend anymore." "When our responses to crises work well, we're doing things like evoking a specific social identity.

☆ Zipline: 2023 CNBC Disruptor 50
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Cnbc.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

But with the release of its latest drone, Zipline is spreading its unmanned wings far beyond medicine. Zipline also has relationships with medical providers in the country, and in recent years has conducted long-range medical drone flights in challenging geographies including the Appalachian regions of North Carolina. In 2022, Zipline became the first company to receive FAA Part 135 approval for long-range drone delivery in the U.S., a huge step towards greater domestic expansion. From lunch deliveries with Sweetgreen to health prescriptions from Walmart, Zipline can maneuver peak order times by creating its Zips in a way that automatically redistributes the drones from dock to dock for loading and launching. Zipline has already completed 540,000 deliveries to customers, which is more than what Alphabet and Amazon have delivered combined.

☆ Best rice dishes: 20 delicious specialties from around the world
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Terry Ward | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +16 min

And while famous rice dishes such as sushi, fried rice and paella are among the most prominent in the global spotlight, there are so many more rice recipes out there to put on your radar – and seek out on your travels. Wali wa kukaanga, KenyaWali wa kukaanga is Kenya’s answer to fried rice, and translates to just that in Swahili. So it’s no surprise that the Polynesian island country’s most popular rice dish, alaisa fa’apopo, has ties to the coconut, too. Thai fried rice (Khao Pad), ThailandThai fried rice uses the layering of flavors that's characteristic of the country's cuisine. ArenaCreative/Adobe StockWhen it comes to fried rice, the Chinese version tends to steal the spotlight.

Five months later, on Nov. 24, the regulator approved the plan for the Quesqui field in the southern state of Tabasco. Interviews with eight sources with direct knowledge of the matter show Hernandez had been pressured by Lopez Obrador's government and Pemex to approve Quesqui and other plans, or resign. According to these people, at least three other senior officials at the regulator were also pressured by officials in government and at the regulator to help approve the plans. One of the officials who the sources said was pressured, the former technical head, Julio Trejo, resigned shortly before the Quesqui plan was approved. Guerrero also reiterated that the Quesqui field "is a strategic project" as defined by the government.

☆ World Bank Chief Economist Gill calls for new approaches to address 'debt crisis'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) - World Bank Chief Economist Indermit Gill is calling for new approaches to address the mounting debt crisis facing many countries, including steps to factor domestic borrowing into assessment of a country's debt sustainability. Only Chad has reached a debt relief deal with creditors - and it does not include an actual reduction in debt. "Debt levels are already starting to hurt prospects, getting them into the wrong kind of spiral," he said ahead of a World Bank seminar on debt on Wednesday. The Common Framework should be replaced, he said, in the strongest terms used by a World Bank official. He said a new sovereign debt roundtable set up to address challenges in the debt relief process brought in debtor nations and private sector players, but achieved only modest results.

LONDON, April 21 (Reuters) - African countries are lining up to approve a new vaccine for malaria, with 20 million doses available for them to buy this year, the shot’s manufacturer told Reuters. African countries that do not have extensive resources for drug regulation have previously relied on the U.N. agency to initially review new medicines. "We expect many more countries to come through," Mary Hamel, the WHO's malaria vaccine implementation head, told the expert meeting on Tuesday. “We are committed to making the R21 vaccine available to people who need it most,” Poonawalla said. FUNDING DOUBTSThe moves are a further sign that African countries want to exert their own pharmaceutical oversight after COVID-19 exposed inequity in vaccine supply.

☆ Oxford malaria vaccine rollout could have 'major' implications in sub-Saharan Africa, economist says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The University of Oxford Jenner Institute, which developed the vaccine, estimates that malaria kills around 800,000 people per annum. These casualties occur predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa, where one in five childhood deaths is associated with the disease. The WHO assessed that 241 million clinical cases of malaria occurred in 2020, resulting in 627,000 deaths, mostly among children in Africa. A health worker vaccinates a child against malaria in Ndhiwa, Homabay County, western Kenya on September 13, 2019 during the launch of malaria vaccine in Kenya. Brian Ongoro | AFP | Getty ImagesIn 2021, the WHO signed off on GSK's RTS,S malaria vaccine for rollout across sub-Saharan Africa, following pilot programs in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi, which tracked 800,000 children since 2019.

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