BRICS Bank to lend in Brazilian, South African currencies

The BRICS Development Bank has announced plans to begin lending in South African and Brazilian currencies in order to reduce reliance on the US dollar. The NDB was created in 2014, by the BRICS bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, as a Global South-oriented alternative to the US-dominated World Bank, which is infamous for imposing neoliberal economic reforms on impoverished countries, which hinder their development. Vice President Kashim Shettima is currently representing President Bola Tinubu at the 15th BRICS summit in South Africa. The conference, which commenced in Johannesburg on August 22, will focus on issues of trade and investment facilitation, sustainable development, innovation, and global governance reform. Rousseff explained, “It is necessary to find ways to avoid foreign exchange risk and other issues, such as being dependent on a single currency, such as the US dollar” “The good news is that we are seeing many countries choosing to trade using their own currencies. China and Brazil, for instance, are agreeing to exchange with RMB (renminbi) and the Brazilian real”, she said. “At the NDB, we have committed to it in our strategy. For the period from 2022 to 2026, the NDB has to lend 30 per cent in local currencies, so 30 percent of our loan book will be financed in the currencies of our member countries”, Rousseff added. “That will be extremely important to help our countries avoid exchange rate risks and shortages in finance that hinder long-term investments”, the new NDB president stressed. She said the NDB would issue debt in rand for lending in South Africa and do “the same thing in Brazil with the real. We’re going to try to either do a currency swap or issue debt. And also in rupees.” Rousseff said lending in local currency would allow borrowers in member countries to avoid exchange rate risk and variations in US interest rates. She said the bank has also tried to distinguish itself from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by not setting lists of political conditions on loans. She also said the Shanghai-based lender was considering applications for membership from about 15 countries and was likely to approve the admission of four or five. Members of the NDB not only include the founders of the BRICS but also Bangladesh, the UAE, and Egypt. Uruguay is likewise in the process of joining, and many other countries have expressed interest. Argentina, Iran, and Algeria have formally applied to join the extended BRICS bloc, and according to the foreign minister of Russia, Sergei Lavrov, other nations that are interested “include Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Argentina, Mexico, and a number of African nations”.

Anthrax Outbreak: FAO strengthens partnership with Nigeria

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) have expressed their readiness to partner to check and control the spread of Anthrax disease in the country. Their partnership followed the anxiety created over the emergence of an anthrax outbreak in Nigeria, following the report of two recently confirmed cases in Lagos State. The Communications Officer FAO Nigeria, David Tsokar, made this known in a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja. According to the statement, on July 13, a suspected case of Anthrax was reported in a mixed farm at Sabon Wuse, Niger State, and a rapid response team was deployed by the Federal Government to collect samples and send them to the National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI) in Vom, Plateau. The presence of the disease was confirmed by the team and consequently, FMARD announced Government’s plan to intervene and control its possible spread. Tsokar said the Director, the Department of Veterinary and Pest Control Services, (FDVPCS) in FMARD, Dr. Columba Vakuru, said the strategy of interventions include quarantining the affected farm. Other measures include the vaccination of susceptible animals around the infected farm, educating farm workers using the One-health approach, and planning statewide vaccination of susceptible animals. The FAO Nigeria, through the Emergency Center for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) was requested to provide the technical and financial support to the intervention strategy. This has to be on logistics to the start-off of the risk-based nation-wide vaccination against Anthrax, which commenced last Friday, July 22 in Suleja (Niger State), the local government where the first case was reported. Subsequently, a nation-wide meeting with all Directors of Veterinary Services (DVS) from the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory would be convened to fashion a comprehensive response to prevent, detect and respond to further spread of Anthrax to other parts of the country. The FAO ECTAD Country Team Lead, Dr Otto Vianney Muhinda, said that “the partnership is to be enhanced within the context of the One Health approach, and efforts would be sustained using a strong team of frontline experts, to prevent the spread of the disease to other parts of the country. “With the support of USAID, we are pursuing our efforts to mobilise human and financial resources, including the Directors of Veterinary Services from the 36 States and FCT Abuja, to discuss the ongoing Anthrax outbreak and evaluate the preparedness of the States vis-à-vis the implementation of strategies to prevent the spread of the disease into the country as well as put in place control measures.” The consultative meeting with DVSs from the states would discuss risk assessment and survey, the conduct of mass nationwide vaccination of animals (cattle, sheep, and goats) against Anthrax, refresher training for epidemiology officers, and training of livestock professionals, farmers, butchers and traders on biosecurity measures. The joint field mission to Sabon Wuse was conducted by the ECTAD, FDVPCS, and the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC), where a quick risk assessment was conducted, one week after the first animal died of the disease. Vaccinations had, however, been carried out and other risk communication initiatives were deployed to avoid the spread to other farms and/or neighboring communities within 15 kilometers radius. The same team would be deployed to Lagos State to carry out the same exercise.