Crypto News: Next Africa: Wreaking havoc

Welcome to Next Africa, a weekly newsletter on where the continent stands now — and where it's headed.

The continent hardest hit by climate change has done the least to cause the problem.

Now, the industrialized world that emitted the bulk of atmosphere-warming gases may start to see the consequences as extreme weather wreaks havoc on African nations.

The number of African migrants arriving at the US-Mexico border is on course for a record in 2022, as this exclusive reporting shows. Many cite droughts and floods as at least part of their reason for deciding to fly to South America and walk thousands of miles north.

Migrants of African nationalities in Tapachula, Mexico. Photographer: Victoria Razo/Bloomberg

Others brave the treacherous journey across the Sahara, through Libya and on to Europe, while some migrate to Africa's cities. By 2050, 86 million people from the poorest continent will have been forced to move because of climate change, the World Bank says.

The refugees highlight the environmental problems Africa faces, despite producing just 4% of the world's carbon emissions.

This year, the heaviest rains in at least six decades killed 459 people around the South African city of Durban and the Horn of Africa is suffering its worst drought in 40 years. Rising seas threaten West African cities and Indian Ocean island nations, while storms have pounded Mozambique and Madagascar.

And as the US fortifies its border and the UK pays Rwanda to take aslyum seeker arriving on its shores, the affluent world continues to fail to meet pledges to help fund the climate adaptation Africa needs.

Malnourished camels in the village of Nunow, Kenya, on May 20. Photographer: Simon Marks/Bloomberg

Weather early-warning systems, stronger bridges and roads and climate-smart agriculture systems could make life more bearable in the areas hardest hit.

"The rich world isn't facing up to its responsibilities: If you pollute, you pay," says Alex Simalabwi of the Global Water Partnership. But "when it comes to climate change, that's not the case."

— By Antony Sguazzin

Click here to listen to Bloomberg reporters discussing the impact of climate change on Africa at 3 p.m. Central African Time on Friday. You can also catch a recording later.

Chocolate Shame | The world's top two cocoa growers are stepping up efforts to pressure the global chocolate industry into paying more to help support poor farmers. Ivory Coast and Ghana has started publishing the country premium it received in a bid to increase transparency and encourage greater compliance. It will also allow them to name (and shame) the companies that aren't paying.

Army Talks | Sudan's military will hold direct discussions with civilian politicians and activists next week for the first time since October's coup, in a push for a political deal to salvage the economy, according to a United Nations envoy. Yet, reaching a deal will be an uphill struggle, with only some of the North African nation's civilian protest groups agreeing to participate amid deep skepticism over how much political and economic power the military and security services are prepared to cede.

Idle Mine | A major stake held by a Russian tycoon is scaring off potential financiers in Zimbabwe's biggest platinum project, sources say. Initial development on the $3 billion Darwendale deposit started in early 2020, but work was soon halted because of a lack of capital and the site has been abandoned since early last year. The government hasn't been able to attract fresh investment because European platinum buyers don't want to enter into purchase agreements with an entity with Russian shareholders.

Chosen Challenger | Nigeria's main opposition Peoples Democratic Party chose former vice-president Atiku Abubakar as its candidate for February's national election, an early step in a long campaign in the OPEC member country. The next leader will need to grapple with persistent inflation, slow growth, and high unemployment as Africa's largest economy struggles to recover from its worse recession in four decades in 2020. The ruling party holds its primaries next week.

Atiku Abubakar. Photographer: George Osodi/Bloomberg

Atomic Timing | Uranium miners are waiting for prices to recover before reviving projects in Africa's biggest producer of the ore, which is needed for nuclear power in a world shifting away from fossil fuels. Namibia is building water facilities and planning a second desalination plant to supply mines in the dry Erongo region in anticipation of higher prices attracting investors, Finance Minister Ipumbu Shiimi said in an interview.

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Data Watch

South Africa's unemployment rate fell for the first time in seven quarters as the manufacturing and mining industries added jobs. At 34.5%, it's still the highest of more than 80 countries tracked by Bloomberg.
Ugandan inflation accelerated to 6.3% in May, the fastest pace in five years. Kenya's consumer-price growth climbed to 7.1%, the highest rate in more than two years.
Senegal is in talks with about 10 possible partners for its vaccines-making facility after securing an $80 million investment from the European Investment Bank.
The number of deaths from Covid-19 in Africa may fall 94% to about 23,000 this year if current variants and transmission rates remain the same, the World Health Organization says.
Gold Fields's shares slumped after the company agreed to buy Canada's Yamana for about $7 billion in an all-share deal that will make the South African miner the world's No. 4 gold producer.

Kenya, Uganda, Mauritius and Gambia became the latest African nations to hike interest rates in response to surging food and fuel costs. Kenya surprised with a 50 basis point increase to 7.5%, its first in seven years, while Uganda lifted the benchmark a full percentage point, as did Gambia. Angola bucked the trend by leaving its rate at 20% after a rally in the value of its currency.

Coming Up

June 6 PMI releases for Uganda and Kenya, Nigeria's ruling APC starts voting for presidential candidate
June 7 South Africa first-quarter GDP data, South African reserves & central bank bond holdings for May, Mauritius budget speech, inflation & reserves for May, Seychelles inflation
June 8 Tanzania inflation for May, South African business confidence indexes for May & first quarter
June 9 South Africa first-quarter current account, mining & manufacturing data for April, Tanzania and Uganda budget speeches
June 10 Rwanda inflation data for May, S&P Global gives ratings decisions for Uganda

A Nigerian judge sentenced a Chinese man to two years in prison for ripping up local bank notes. A federal court convicted Li Lei Lei of "mutilating the Nigerian currency" during an altercation with airport officials while he was trying to leave the country in mid-May, according to its Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Li "angrily tore to pieces" 3,200 naira — worth about $8 — in bank notes when immigration officials at the West African nation's international airport in Lagos searched his luggage for drugs. He pleaded guilty to four charges of breaking central bank laws and the judge handed down a sentence of six months in prison for each charge, or he can pay a 200,000 naira fine.

A customer hands over bundles of 1,000 naira banknotes to a trader inside a market in Lagos on April 22. Photographer: Damilola Onafuwa/Bloomberg

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