Thursday, December 3, 2009
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Brad Dubbelman.
Making headlines:
The World Bank is to expedite a $3,75-billion loan for South African power utility Eskom and to present the loan proposal for approval in March 2010. The loan, which will be guaranteed by the South African government, is intended to help the State-owned power utility with a critical $51,4-billion power supply expansion to enable it to meet fast-rising demand. South African President Jacob Zuma wrote to World Bank head Robert Zoellick last month asking for the financing to be expedited.
The $3,75-billion project will be financed through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank's financing arm for creditworthy poorer countries and emerging market economies. The bulk of the loan will go to developing the Medupi coal-fired power station.
Meanwhile, South African Energy Minister Dipuo Peters will today offer insight into the much-anticipated integrated resource plan, which will set the framework for future energy supply in South Africa. There has been some anxiety about the centrality of coal-fired and nuclear solutions in the plan, while potential independent power producers have expressed concern about the dominant positioning of Eskom projects.

Twenty-two developing nations agreed yesterday to slash tariffs on manufactured products in a bid to boost South-South trade in the absence of progress in the Doha Round.
Ministers gathered in Geneva for a World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting avoided engaging in negotiations about Doha but pledged to shortly take stock of the prospects for that intended accord, now in its ninth year of talks. WTO DG Pascal Lamy said at a press conference that a breakthrough would be needed by the end of March for the deal to be completed in 2010.
Developing countries sought to show that they are supportive of trade liberalisation and are not to blame for the inertia that has plagued the Doha negotiations. Foreign Minister of Argentina Jorge Taiana said that the South-South pact showed that developing countries were keen to clinch deals to expand trade.

Zimbabwe's battered economy is on track to expand for the first time in a decade this year and to grow by 7% in 2010 as agriculture and mining begin to recover.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti delivered the country's first full budget since a unity government was set up ten months ago between President Robert Mugabe and his opponents in an effort to end a crippling economic and political crisis.
Zimbabwe's 2010 gross domestic product is expected to grow by 7%, while the growth forecast for this year is set to grow from 3,7% to 4,7%, compared with a 10,9% decline in 2008.

Also making headlines:
Nigeria's Cabinet backs President Umaru Yar'Adua amid calls for him to quit for medical reasons.
The International Criminal Court says that Congo warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba must remain in custody ahead of his trial for war crimes.
Côte d'Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo urges peaceful, not rushed, elections after another delay.
And, Uganda is set to pass an antihomosexuality bill in a move away from donor influence as the country moves to join the league of oil producers.
That's a roundup of new making headlines today.