Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is unveiling a massive pyramid of rice harvested by farmers to pay back bank loans they borrowed to expand their production. Nigerian officials say the low-interest loans helped more than double the average yield of rice and maize, ending the country’s dependence on rice imports. The Central Bank of Nigeria plans to sell the rice at below market rates to reduce the high prices that consumers have been paying for the staples.  

The massive pyramid of rice bags stacked one on top of the other was unveiled Tuesday at the chapter office of the Nigerian Chamber of Commerce in Abuja. 

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari presided over the ceremony, with top government officials, including from the Central Bank and various state governors, in attendance. 

President Buhari praised the farmers and urged more of them to participate in the loan program.

“It is my desired hope and expectation that other agricultural produce commodities will emulate the rice farmers association of Nigeria in supporting our administration drive for food self-sufficiency,” he said.

The Anchor Borrowers Program was launched in 2015 by Nigeria’s Central Bank. The plan provides rice farmers with loans and technical advice so they can expand production and increase yields while limiting the nation’s dependence on imports. 

Authorities say more than five years later, the program has yielded the desired result, reducing rice imports significantly, and boosting local production from about 4.5 tons a year to nine. 

Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, says the resilience of farmers has paid off. 

“Permit me to commend all our holder farmers and the leadership of their various associations for their diligence, bravery, patriotism and [adaptability],” he said. “The past few years your Excellency has been quite challenging for these people as they have battled with insurgency, banditry, lockdowns and other related setbacks. Indeed, we lost some of our farmers to insurgency attacks nationwide, while some could not access their farms for several months.”  

Nigeria banned rice imports in 2015 with the aim of producing the staple locally. 

At Tuesday’s launch, authorities expressed confidence that adequate quantities of rice could be produced locally, saying the trend could affect the domestic price of rice.

Meanwhile, the Rice Farmers Association urged Nigeria to leverage this opportunity and export the commodity to other West African nations. 

 
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Торги на міжбанку відбуваються на рівні 28 гривень 44–46 копійок за долар
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As winter bites, Europe is facing a gas shortage – with lower volumes of gas exports from Russia forcing a big spike in prices. But the volatility of Russia’s gas supply could be about to get worse – as Moscow plans to build a new pipeline to China, which could give Russia the power to sell gas to the highest bidder. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
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A new assessment of the global labor market finds that recovery from the employment crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic will be fragile and will worsen inequalities between rich and poor countries.  The projection comes in a new report from the United Nations’ International Labor Organization.

ILO economists say labor markets are recovering from the pandemic-induced crisis much more slowly than previously expected. They project the number of global working hours this year will be 1.8% below the numbers of pre-pandemic hours worked in the last quarter of 2019.

That deficit, they say, is equivalent to a loss of 52 million full time jobs, twice as large as the number predicted in last year’s global market survey. ILO director general, Guy Ryder, says this shortfall in the labor supply comes on top of persistently high pre-crisis levels of unemployment.

“In 2022, we project that global unemployment will stand at 207 million and that is 20 million above the pre-pandemic level in 2019.  Put in percentage terms, we expect the 2022 unemployment rate to be 5.9%,” Ryder said. 

The report finds a great divergence in recovery between regions.  It says the European and North American regions are showing encouraging signs of recovery. The worst affected regions are Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.  

Ryder says the richer countries are expected to emerge from this crisis in better shape than the poorer countries. He says a big gap exists between the labor market prospects of countries depending on their level of income and development.

“Many low-and-middle-income economies are struggling to get back to pre-pandemic levels of employment and to job quality. An insufficient access to vaccines is putting pressure on their health care systems with tight fiscal space limiting the ability of their governments to use stimulus measures to support their labor markets,” he said.  

Ryder says the International Labor Organization has not taken a policy position on the legitimacy or otherwise of vaccination mandates in the workplace. He says a fundamental problem facing worksites is the unequal access to vaccines.  

For him, he says, the bottom line is to ensure that people are able to work in healthy, safe environments.
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U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged international business leaders and economists on Monday to do their part to make post-COVID19 economic recovery equitable across the globe. 

“At this critical moment, we are setting in stone a lopsided recovery,” he told the World Economic Forum, which normally meets in Davos, Switzerland, but is virtual this year due to the pandemic. 

“The burdens of record inflation, shrinking fiscal space, high interest rates and soaring energy and food prices are hitting every corner of the world and blocking recovery — especially in low- and middle-income countries,” Guterres said. 

The U.N. chief said recovery remains “fragile and uneven” as the pandemic lingers, and poorer countries are seeing their slowest growth in a generation and need debt relief and financing. He urged reforms to the global financial system so it works for all countries. 

“The last two years have demonstrated a simple but brutal truth — if we leave anyone behind, in the end we leave everyone behind,” he said of the lifespan of the pandemic so far. 

The World Health Organization said on Thursday that 90% of countries have not met the goal of vaccinating 40% of their population by the end of 2021. In Africa alone, about one billion people have not received a single vaccine dose. 

“If we fail to vaccinate every person, we give rise to new variants that spread across borders and bring daily life and economies to a grinding halt,” Guterres warned. 

He said more must also be done to support developing countries to fight climate change. 

“To chart a new course, we need all hands on deck — especially all of you in the global business community,” he said, urging a 45% reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. To accomplish that, he reiterated his call to phase out coal and cease building new coal plants. 

“We see a clear role for businesses and investors in supporting our net-zero goal,” he added, referring to the global target of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. 

Guterres told the forum that in economic recovery and climate action, the world cannot afford to repeat the inequalities that continue to condemn millions to poverty and poor health. 
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Котирування міжбанку сягнули позначок 28 гривень 11,5–13,5 копійки за долар
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