Africa Business

[Leadership] Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has disclosed that while huge amount of dollars has been in the last one year on pipeline repairs, a record volume of crude valued at $7billion has been lost to crude theft via illegal bunkering within the same period.

[State Department] Washington - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton signed a $100 million cash transfer agreement with Tunisia as part of the Obama administration's efforts to support the country through its democratic transition since the January 2011 ouster of ruler Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.

[State Department] REMARKS

[IFAD] Washington D.C. - 18 May, 2012 - Small farmers as a group are the largest private investors in African agriculture and supporting them to be more profitable must be a key goal of the newest effort to help countries in the region tackle food security and economic development challenges. This was the message delivered by Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), to global business and government leaders assembled in Washington D.C.

[WEF] Washington, DC - Over forty-five companies have committed to invest over US$ 3 billion in Africa's agricultural sector as part of the G8's New Alliance for Food and Nutrition Security initiative, US President Barack Obama announced today.

[State Department] REMARKS

[State Department] U.S. Department of State Ambassador Johnnie Carson, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs

[The Star] A director of the New Kenya Co-operative Creameries was been killed in a road accident on the Eldoret-Nakuru highway. Kiplagat Kogos died on the spot when his car collided head on with a lorry near the Makutano-Ravine junction. Police said Kogos, who previously served as chairman of the Agricultural Society of Kenya, was traveling to Eldoret from Nairobi to prepare for a trip to Harvard University where his son is due to graduate.

[AGRA] Nairobi - The following is a statement from acting Chair of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, Strive T. Masiyiwa.

[The Star] Police are investigating an incident in which a vehicle being driven by Kilome legislator and former assistant minister Harun Mwau knocked down a pedestrian along Kenyatta Avenue near the Nairobi Serena hotel early yesterday morning.

[IRIN] Blantyre - A sizeable devaluation of Malawi's currency, aimed at reinvigorating the economy and wooing back international donors, has triggered steep increases in the price of basic goods and pushed many Malawians deeper into poverty.

[IFAD] ROME, Italy, 9 May 2012 - When this year's G8 summit opens in the United States on 18 May, food security will take centre stage. It will be a historic moment for rural poor people, with the leaders of the world's largest economies confronting a challenge that IFAD and its partners have long faced: how to eradicate hunger and malnutrition using socially and environmentally sustainable means.

[IFAD] Rome - By José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Ertharin Cousin, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP)

[Chatham House] Egypt's economy has suffered short-term pain from the uncertainty over its political transition - but there's a chance for confidence to pick up after the presidential elections.

[Zimbabwe Independent] THE recently published consumer price index (CPI) statistics which saw the annual rate of inflation marginally increasing to 4,03% for the month of March have come under scrutiny from market players who fear the official figures are not reflective of the real situation on ground.

[Zimbabwe Independent] GOVERNMENT will introduce a policy framework to reduce banks' inflated interest rates, currently hovering between 15% and 25%, Finance minister Tendai Biti has said.

[Zimbabwe Independent] ZIMBABWE'S growing reliance on food imports, particularly from regional countries such as Zambia and Malawi, is testimony to the country's general regression over the years blamed on the government's policy failures by players within the agricultural sector, the mainstay of the economy.

[Zimbabwe Independent] THE security sector, particularly the army, is increasingly manoeuvring into the country's mining terrain, making footprints in the Marange diamond fields and right across the Great Dyke into remote areas. In Marange, the army, police, intelligence and prisons services have direct mining claims. Retired and also serving security personnel sit on the boards of various mining companies.

[Zimbabwe Independent] THE mining sector is likely to miss the projected 15,9% growth target this year due to a plethora of challenges, chief among them erratic electricity supplies and lack of financing for developmental projects.

[Zimbabwe Independent] COPAC still needs a further US$35 million to complete the constitution-making process, including holding of the referendum, over and above the US$45 million it has already gobbled.