Nigerian authorities have hailed the launch of a deepwater seaport in Lagos they say will create 300,000 jobs and reduce shipping bottlenecks. While the new port is expected to reduce losses due to congestion, shipping industry experts say Nigeria’s poor roads and rail connections to ports also must be improved.

The launch by President Mohammadu Buhari during his two-day visit this week to Lagos signaled his government’s effort to grow Nigeria’s economy through infrastructural development.

The 1.5-billion-dollar, Chinese-built Lekki Deep Sea Port sits on 90 hectares of land in the Lagos Free Trade Zone — the biggest port by size in West Africa.

Authorities say ships docking at the port could be up to four times the size of vessels at the state’s Tin Can and Apapa ports. They expect it will ease delays and congestion at ports and increase earnings by up to $360 billion in coming years.

Efioita Ephraim is a manager at Ports and Terminal Nigeria, Ltd.

“The current ports we have in the country are located along rivers, tributaries and that’s why there are limitations. It’s a welcome development to have an infrastructure like this in our country. With this, larger vessels will be able to berth at our ports and we shall be in competition with neighboring countries such as Cotonou [Benin],” said Ephraim.

Most of Nigeria’s seaports were built many decades ago and are either closed or operating below capacity.

Nigeria loses an estimated $1 billion a year to delays and bottlenecks at ports. To address the problem, the Nigerian Ports Authority launched an automated process for clearing cargo at ports.

Abiodun Gbadamosi is the former general manager of Nigeria’s western ports. He said the new deep sea port at Lagos will add to Nigeria’s economic progress and create jobs.

The country’s bureau of statistics says Nigeria’s unemployment rate is 33 percent.

“What Nigeria needs now are jobs, jobs and more jobs, and that’s going to go a very long way. It’s going to improve the commerce around that area. It’s highly commendable and it’s going to actually propel the state. Then Nigeria can now push forward the idea of being hub for the region,” he said.

Ephraim said authorities must improve road and rail accessibility to the area.

“If the items are to be conveyed out of the port and into the port by road, then I would expect the multimodal mode of transportation be encouraged to and from the Lekki deep sea port, rail water and road transportation.”

China is one of Nigeria’s biggest lenders and has been funding rail, road and power projects.

The first commercial vessel is expected to arrive in the port this Sunday.
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Уже в перший рік дії нової програми Україна може отримати від 5 до 7 мільярдів доларів, а перший транш «у найкращому разі» може надійти в квітні 2023 року
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The U.S. economy cooled only slightly at the end of last year, advancing at an annualized 2.9% rate, the Department of Commerce reported Thursday, even as forecasters are suggesting a recession is possible later in 2023.

The growth in the October-to-December quarter dropped from a 3.2% advance in the third quarter, following a half year when the world’s biggest economy shrank.

For all of 2022, the economy grew by a solid, if unspectacular 2.1%, down from a robust 5.7% growth rate in 2021 when the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic was in full force.

Last year saw contrasting themes, including the fastest growth in consumer prices in four decades, pinching the wallets of Americans at all income levels.

Yet the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years was recorded, with hundreds of thousands of new jobs being added to payrolls every month. Separately, borrowing costs for businesses and consumer loans and home mortgages rose sharply as the country’s central bank, the Federal Reserve, increased its benchmark interest rate seven times, an effort aimed at slowing economic growth and curbing inflation.

By the end of the year and into January, there were signs the economy was slowing, with some forecasters predicting a recession — meaning two straight quarters of economic decline in the coming months.

With higher interest rates, home buying and retail sales have dropped, while manufacturing output fell in November and December. The hiring of temporary workers is weakening, and major companies, especially in technology and media, are laying off thousands of workers. 

While the inflation rate in consumer prices has dropped, it remains high by historical standards — now at a 6.5% annualized rate, well above the 2% rate sought by Federal Reserve policymakers. It is likely to stay high through much of 2023.

The Fed is also planning more interest rate increases, albeit not likely as big as the ones it imposed in 2022. It is another factor that could curtail U.S. economic growth.

The White House and the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives are facing contentious negotiations over increasing the limit on the national debt, now at $31.4 trillion. The U.S. could reach the spending limit by early June.

If an agreement is not reached, the ensuing turmoil would roil world financial markets and the U.S. government’s credit rating could be cut, as occurred in 2011, the last time Congress and the White House quarreled significantly over increasing the debt limit. 
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The head of the International Monetary Fund is praising Zambia’s efforts to reform its economy and urging its creditors to restructure the country’s debts. Zambia was the first African country to default on its sovereign debt in the COVID era. Economists say prompt debt restructuring is needed to restart Zambia’s stagnant economy.

Speaking at the University of Zambia Tuesday, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva applauded Lusaka’s efforts to reform its economy, saying it had done its part and urging its creditors to do theirs.

She said the IMF had reached an understanding in principle with China to restructure almost $6 billion Zambia owes Beijing, one of its main creditors.

The IMF chief acknowledged global disruptions that shook Zambia’s economy.

“Over the last years, we have experienced two unthinkable events:  First COVID, that brought the world economy to a standstill for a prolonged period of time.  Second, the invasion by Russia of Ukraine,” said Georgieva.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year disrupted food, energy, and other markets as western governments hit Moscow with sanctions and Russia’s navy stopped Ukraine’s grain exports. 

Zambia defaulted on its debt in November 2020, the first African country to do so after the COVID pandemic.

But Lusaka’s debt problem predates the pandemic.

The government under former President Edgar Lungu from 2015 more than doubled Zambia’s debt as a percentage of GDP, according to World Bank-collected data.

An IMF study released this month says corruption flourished under Lungu’s government, which his former ruling party rejects.

Current President Hakainde Hichilema, who was elected in 2021, pledged to tackle corruption and secured $1.3 billion in IMF support for Zambia’s debt with reforms that cut wasteful spending.   

Civil Society Debt Alliance economist Boyd Muleya said creditors’ delay in negotiating Zambia’s debt is slowing its economic recovery.

“So, the challenge that Zambia faces today mostly is the protracted nature of the debt restructuring process that we have seen and the challenge that further augments this conversation is the fact that there are no timelines that are set and so it creates a lot of uncertainties in terms of economic planning going forward,” said Muleya.

IMF director Georgieva met late Monday with President Hichilema and vowed to help resolve the impasse with creditors.

The Economics Association of Zambia’s Trevor Simumba said reaching a final deal on Zambia’s debt would also help the IMF reverse negative views in Africa on its strict policies.

“As you are aware the economy is stagnant, it’s not growing at a pace that’s required to grow in order to deal with the structural problems.  Simply by the textbook theories of the IMF in terms of the usual – we need to rein in inflation, we need to make sure that the exchange rate is stable, doesn’t depreciate, these things in reality don’t work,” he said.

Zambia says its foreign debt hit $17 billion last June as prices for copper, one of its key exports, crashed.

Zambia is Africa’s second largest producer of the valuable metal after the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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«Ми розуміли, що це буде найскладніша зима в нашій історії»
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