Crypto News: Next Africa: Trump’s priority list

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Donald Trump has yet to move back into the Oval Office, but already nations across the world are sizing up their place in the past — and future — US president's books.

Africa will likely feature because of its position in the geopolitical competition between the US and China — if it makes it into Washington priorities at all.

Trump supporters in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Trump paid scant regard to the continent in his first term, when his most memorable gesture was to denigrate African countries. Still, top members of his national-security team identified the region as a key theater in Washington's global contest with China, and are likely to do so again.

His administration may embrace some elements of Joe Biden's policies, including the Lobito Corridor, a US-led project that aims to link Congo, Zambia and Angola via railroad to export battery metals that might otherwise be monopolized by China.

"Strategic initiatives like the Lobito Corridor will continue and possibly even be increased," Peter Pham, Trump's former special envoy to the Sahel, said in an interview.

The Trump administration will probably change the US foreign-aid budget, though, which many Republicans say is too large and doesn't fit in with American objectives.

Bloomberg's Neil Munshi and Peter Martin join Jennifer Zabasajja to discuss the US election in this week's Next Africa podcast.

Republicans are also likely to end elements of the Biden administration's pro-LGBTQ policies, which Pham describes as "social engineering." That would anger rights groups and benefit countries like Uganda, which the US kicked out of the African Growth and Opportunity Act over its crackdown on gay rights.

The big unknown is what impact Trump's proposed moves to hike tariffs on imports into the US will have.

There's a risk that trade tensions could drive up consumer prices and exacerbate the cost-of-living crisis that's already unsettled politics in nations across the continent.

If a week is a long time in politics, four years may feel like a lifetime — whether you are a friend or foe. — Peter Martin

Key stories and opinion:
World Leaders: Who Wins and Who Loses From Trump's Return
Companies Are Already Warning of Price Hikes From Trump Tariffs
Trump Win Gives Loyal Billionaire Backers Power to Sway Top Jobs
Biden to Visit Angola in December, Keeping Vow to See Africa
Biden, Harris or Trump -- the US Is Losing Africa: Andreas Kluth

Mozambique's ruling party described opposition calls for ongoing protests against the outcome of last month's elections as attempting to incite a coup. The southern African nation has been on edge since Venâncio Mondlane called on his supporters to take to the streets to back his claim that he won the vote, leaving the gas-rich country in what may be its most perilous period since a 16-year civil war ended in 1992. The top court ordered electoral authorities to clarify discrepancies in the election results, while Mondlane reversed an earlier plan to return to Mozambique to lead protests. Relative calm returned to Mozambique's capital on Friday.

A protest in Maputo on Oct. 24. Photographer: Alfredo Zuniga/AFP/Getty Images

South Africa's government will, for the first time, ask private companies to help revive dilapidated buildings it owns in the biggest urban centers. The measure comes as concern mounts about the fate of the central districts of cities such as Durban and Johannesburg, which have become bywords for urban dysfunction. The government is the largest owner of real estate in South Africa. Its properties should be used for public good, generate an income or be sold, Public Works Minister Dean Macpherson said.

Ghana's main opposition leader, John Dramani Mahama, intends to renegotiate an International Monetary Fund program to reduce taxes and smooth loan repayments if he wins next month's election. The West African nation introduced new measures last year to qualify for the $3 billion bailout after defaulting on its debts. "We must look at rationalizing the issue of tax revenues," the former president — and favorite to win the Dec. 7 vote — said in an interview. Separately, Ghana's parliament resubmitted an anti-LGBTQ bill to the president, defying an order to hold off until the Supreme Court rules on its constitutionality.

Watch the Bloomberg interview with Mahama, left, in Accra.

Mpox strains are still mutating, further raising the risk of spread both in Africa and globally, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director-General Jean Kaseya said. Recent analysis shows that clade Ia, which has circulated for decades in central and West Africa and is transmitted mainly through contact with animals, may have further mutated to enable it to spread more easily between people. More than 50,000 cases of the disease have been reported this year, with 2,532 in the past week.

Tullow's delayed project to export oil from discoveries in Kenya by pipeline to the coast could be a solution for South Sudan to transport its own crude, according to the company's chief executive officer. Connecting South Sudan's crude output to the pipeline would help make the Kenya project more viable, Tullow CEO Rahul Dhir said in an interview. South Sudan relies on a clogged pipeline that runs through its war-ridden northern neighbor. Meanwhile, oil driller Perenco, owned by the billionaire Perrodo family, will concentrate three quarters of its $2 billion investments next year in a handful of African countries.

A boy carries fuel in plastic bottles in Bor, South Sudan, on Sept. 18. Photographer: Kang-Chun Cheng/Bloomberg

Mauritania will prioritize using gas from BP's Greater Tortue Ahmeyim development as it looks to increase access to electricity while it adds more renewable energy. The nation will use the fuel from the oil major's offshore liquefied natural gas project — located on the maritime border with Senegal — to feed a planned 230-megawatt power plant, Oil and Energy Minister Mohamed Khaled said in an interview. Senegal expects the first cargo from Greater Tortue early next year. Opening the taps on the $4.8 billion project and Sangomar oil development will set up the West African country to be among the world's fastest-growing economies.

Next Africa Quiz — Which country had its first major November snowfall, just ahead of its summer? Send your answers to gbell16@bloomberg.net.

Data Watch

Ghana's annual inflation rate jumped to a four month-high of 22.1% in October, reducing the chances of another interest-rate cut later this month.
Safaricom, Kenya's biggest company by market value, said first-half profit fell 18% because of the devaluation of Ethiopia's currency.
Ethiopia plans to sell 900 billion birr ($7.4 billion) of bonds to settle debts owed by several government-owned enterprises that have hobbled the East African nation's biggest lender.
Record-high bond yields and central bank intervention have failed to stem the naira's slide, with the Nigerian currency hitting a fresh record low this week.

Coming Up

Nov. 10 Rwanda inflation for October, Mauritius election
Nov. 11 COP29 climate summit starts in Azerbaijan, Vodacom results
Nov. 12 South Africa third-quarter unemployment data & manufacturing for September,
Nov. 13 Zambia interest-rate decision, elections in Somaliland
Nov. 14 South Africa mining data for September, Kenya gasoline prices, MTN results
Nov. 15 October inflation data for Botswana, Nigeria and Eswatini, Bloomberg's monthly South Africa economic survey

"The majority of young people in Mozambique have nothing to lose. They don't have jobs, they don't have houses, they don't have hope."

Venâncio Mondlane

Mozambican opposition leader

Mondlane was commenting in an interview about post-election turmoil.

Three years ago, Kenya — one of the world's biggest tea producers — set a minimum price for the commodity to cushion farmers from losses in an oversupplied market. Now, it's been forced to suspend the plan and set about clearing a huge inventory at bargain rates. A glut that touched 100-million kilograms at its peak has been whittled down, but a backlog of 15 million kilograms remained as of October — enough to brew roughly 7.5 billion cups of tea. That could take until the middle of next year to clear. And aging reserves mean its taste is also likely to suffer, heralding more bad news for the East African tea industry. While the backlog lingers, fresh supply is also pouring in.