Emerging Markets Daily - June 24
New IMF $1.7 Billion Funding for Egypt, Kuaishou Hits 1 Billion Users, India's Reliance Taps Head of Saudi PIF For Board Seat, African Audiences and Stories, Pakistan Budget, Death of Apple Daily
The Top 5 Emerging Markets Stories from Global Media - June 24
IMF Approves $1.7 Billion Funding for Egypt Amid ‘Positive’ Policies
The National
“The International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed the second and final review of Egypt's economic reform programme, allowing authorities to draw $1.7 billion in funding.”
“This brings the total financing under a 12-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) to $5.4bn, or 184.8 per cent of quota, the Washington-based lender said in a statement on Thursday.”
“The IMF's executive board also concluded the 2021 Article IV consultation with Egypt. ‘The economic recovery is under way,’ Antoinette Sayeh, the IMF's deputy managing director and acting chair, said. ‘The Egyptian authorities have managed well the economic and social impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Proactive economic policies shielded the economy from the full brunt of the crisis, alleviating the health and social impact of the shock while maintaining macroeconomic stability and investor confidence.’”
“Egypt is the only country in the Middle East and North Africa region whose economy grew last year amid the Covid-19 pandemic-induced slowdown, according to the World Bank. Its economy is expected to expand by 2.8 per cent in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021, and accelerate 5.2 per cent during the 2021-22 financial year, according to IMF projections.” Deena Kamel reports.
Kuaishou Video-Sharing App Joins 1 Billion User Club
South China Morning Post
“Kuaishou Technology, operator of China’s second-biggest short video-sharing app, has amassed 1 billion monthly active users (MAUs), joining an elite club that includes TikTok owner ByteDance and Tencent Holdings, as the company pursues further expansion overseas.”
Kuaishou co-founder and chief executive Su Hua revealed that global figure in a speech in Beijing on Wednesday. The Hong Kong-listed company’s total MAUs cover all of its existing platforms in China as well as those on its Kwai and Snack Video apps targeted at international markets.”
“By comparison, privately held ByteDance has 1.9 billion global MAUs across all its platforms, including those on leading Chinese short video app Douyin. Super app WeChat, owned by Shenzhen-based Tencent, has 1.2 billion MAUs.” Tracy Qu reports
India’s Reliance Industries Appoints Head of Saudi PIF to Its Board
Financial Times
”Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries has appointed the head of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to its board, deepening ties between the powerful Indian conglomerate and the oil-rich Gulf kingdom.”“Yasir al-Rumayyan, managing director of the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, will join the board as an independent director, Ambani said at the company’s annual meeting on Thursday. Rumayyan’s appointment is part of Reliance’s years-long attempt to remake the family-run conglomerate, founded by Mukesh’s father Dhirubhai almost 50 years ago, into a 21st-century business embedded in the global energy and technology economy.”
“Reliance brought in a series of strategic investors from tech and private equity to its digital and retail businesses last year. Facebook and Google have seats on the board of Reliance’s digital subsidiary Jio Platforms, in which they have invested billions of dollars.”
“The addition of Rumayyan, who is also chair of state energy giant Saudi Aramco, to the Reliance board highlights Ambani’s quest to deepen ties with the Gulf kingdom, whose oil and cash are vital to the future of the Indian group’s core refinery business.”
“Reliance is trying to close a $15bn investment from Saudi Arabia for a 20 per cent stake in the conglomerate’s refining and petrochemical assets, first announced by Ambani in 2019. Ambani said he expected the partnership to be finalised this year.” The FT reports.
Move Over, Disney; African Audiences Want African Stories
African Business
“In Africa, the world of cartoons is booming. It can be seen in the success of the series ‘Kenda’, co-produced with the Ivorian company iMotion, and the Nigerian feature film ‘Lady Buckit and the motley mopsters’ (LBMM), broadcast by Trace.”
“…Networks (African Animation Network, based in Johannesburg…), festivals (Accra Animation Film Festival, Abidjan Animation Film Festival, Fupitoons festival…) and more professionals are emerging on the continent. Meanwhile, the sector’s giants – such as Pixar – offer the services of local animators for production of their films.”
“…The fact remains, however, that these productions are right on target. ‘First of all, there is an appetite for local stories,’ says Laouchez. ‘The public’s expectation is less about the quality of the image than about the quality of the narrative. I remember that when we started to propose African clips, we were told that they wouldn’t hold up. Today, 95% of the clips consumed by our audience are African; that’s what people here want to see and listen to, not more polished videos from elsewhere.’” Léo Pajon reports
Interest Payments Consume One-Third of Pakistan's Budget
Nikkei Asia
“Fiscal sustainability has become a major issue among political and economic analysts after Pakistan revealed early this month that servicing debt accounts for more than one-third of its federal budget.”
“Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen in the National Assembly on June 12 announced the fiscal 2021 federal budget of 8.48 trillion rupees ($54 billion). Interest payments on debt, which are expected to grow by 3.9% from the ongoing fiscal year, account for 3.06 trillion rupees, or 36% of budget expenditures. In contrast, the government is only spending 600 billion rupees on subsidies and 100 billion rupees for COVID-19 vaccinations and emergencies.” Adnan Aamir reports
What We’re Also Reading…
Geopolitics: Hong Kong’s Apple Daily Newspaper Prints Last Edition as Free-Press Era Ends
The Wall Street Journal
“Apple Daily, Hong Kong’s defiant pro-democracy newspaper that drew the ire of China’s leaders, said it would print its final issue Thursday, ending an era of unfettered reporting critical of Beijing in the city’s mainstream print scene.”
“The 26-year-old newspaper, which is majority owned by jailed Beijing critic Jimmy Lai, has come under immense pressure from Hong Kong authorities, who in the past week froze company assets, seized journalists’ computers and charged two of its top executives under a national-security law that was imposed by Beijing last year to crush dissent in the city.”
“Apple Daily reported that its management decided to run its last print edition Thursday and stop updating its website after midnight on Wednesday, citing employee safety and staffing considerations. Some of the hundreds of journalists who would have lost their jobs had quit in recent days and weeks, concerned about their security and the precarious position of their employer.” Elaine Yu reports
Two Decades After Land Grab, Zimbabwe Starts Paying Farmers
Bloomberg
“Zimbabwe made its first compensation payment as part of an agreement to settle a dispute with White commercial farmers who had their land seized violently two decades ago.”
“The state-linked Kuvimba Mining House Ltd. transfered $1 million to the farmers as the government asked for a delay in paying the full $3.5 billion compensation it had agreed to a year ago.”
“While the payment is a fraction of that agreed to, resolving the dispute is key to the country pulling out of the economic stagnation that the seizures, ordered by then President Robert Mugabe, triggered. Exports plunged, relations with multilateral lenders were severed, the U.S and the European Union imposed sanctions and Zimbabwe experienced a bout of hyperinflation.” Godfrey Marawanyika and Antony Sguazzin report
