BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali s transitional government has created working groups with members of West Africa s regional bloc, the African Union and the United Nations to work toward a return to constitutional order, it said on Wednesday. The West African state was hit hard with sanctions last month after the military junta that first seized power in a 2020 coup proposed extending its rule until 2025. Its leaders have thrown out the agreed transition timeline, lashed out at European allies and condemned the measures taken by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), but the transitional administration s latest statement suggested they may be softening their stance as sanctions start to bite. Leaders of the regional bloc ECOWAS have said they will gradually ease the sanctions, which include border closures and restrictions on financial transactions, if Mali s transitional government proposes an acceptable timetable for elections. ECOWAS last week decided not to impose sanctions
By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China s development banks provided $23 billion in financing for infrastructure projects in sub-Saharan Africa from 2007 to 2020, more than double the amount lent by such banks in the United States, Germany, Japan and France combined, a new study showed. The Center for Global Development think tank said a review of 535 public-private infrastructure deals funded in the region in those years showed that China s investments dwarfed those of other governments and multilateral development banks. Nancy Lee, lead author of the paper and a senior policy fellow at the center, said overall public funding for projects in sub-Saharan Africa remained stuck at around $9 billion, well short of what the region needs for roads, dams and bridges. There is a lot of criticism of China, she said. But if Western governments want to boost productive and sustainable investments to meaningful levels, they need to deploy their own development banks and press the multilater
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Former Leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is leading early polls ahead of October elections, said on Wednesday he would propose less taxation on the poor and more on the rich if he wins, and reduce fuel prices. Speaking on radio interviews, Lula said he would propose raising the income tax exemption bracket to five times the minimum monthly wage, or 6,060 reais ($1,160), from 1,903 reais at present. This needs to be debated, because the rich pay less tax proportionally, he said on Radio Brasil of Campinas. He would also back heavier taxes on profits and the adoption of a tax on dividends that does not exist in Brazil. With fuel prices high at the pump, Lula said he would change the pricing policy of state-controlled oil company Petrobras, which refines products but also imports gasoline. We are going to take care of the price of gasoline and diesel, he said, criticizing pricing based on international levels. Lula said Petrobras strategy to sell refin
Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS) recorded smashing placements for the batch of 2022. The college, based in Mumbai, announced the completion of its placement cycle for the MMS 2022 batch. The placement process was conducted virtually, taking into consideration varied safety norms and protocols to ensure the safety of students and the participating
LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria has approached Standard Chartered Bank for funding of two rail projects, its Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi said on Wednesday, after delays from Chinese lenders. President Muhammadu Buhari has made upgrading transport networks and improving outdated power grids the pillar of his administration, with a view to boosting agriculture and other non-oil industries to cut dependence on dwindling crude revenues. But funding has been a major constraint. Its parliament last year approved several billions of dollars in project-tied loans from the Chinese and other international lenders but funds have yet to materialize. We are actually waiting for the Chinese to give us the loan we applied for and they kept delaying us, he told reporters in Abuja. Will we wait for them forever? The answer is no. Nigeria has been negotiating a mix of loans from Chinese and European lenders to fund railway projects in the country. In July, Amaechi said Standard Chartered had agreed to f