 |
| Boakye Agyarko, Minister of Energy |
After
the recent decline in oil prices, many oil-producing
countries have
stopped investing in oil production. This may lead to oil shortages and
interruptions in oil supplies in the next three years already. As a result,
prices on gasoline and diesel fuel will grow, a report from the International
Energy Agency (IEA) said predicting the state of affairs for the global oil
market in the next five years.
According
to IEA chief Fatih Birol, current conditions on the market are completely
different from what they were a year ago. Birol also refers to the recent
change in the strategy of OPEC states.
For a
long time, the OPEC was aiming maximum volumes of production not to let
American shale oil producers enter the
market. As a result, the price per one barrel of oil fell below $30. Last year,
OPEC and 13 other countries outside the cartel decided to restrict production,
having triggered a rise in oil prices up to 55 dollars per barrel, Die Welt
wrote.
The
IEA does not doubt that oil prices will continue rising, as the phase of cheap oil always leads
to certain consequences that manifest themselves in three to four years. Until
recently, oil-producing countries were not making any investments in new oil
projects. Therefore, it remains unclear how they will cope with the growing
demand.
In the
next three years, there will be enough oil on the market, but the supply will
decrease significantly later. The trend shows that the peak of the deficit will
fall on 2022, when oil production capacities reach absolute minimum over the
past 14 years,, the report says.
According
to forecasts, the world will step over the "magic threshold" of 100
million barrels a day as early as in 2019. In 2022, mankind will be consuming
up to 104 million barrels per day. The demand in oil will grow presumably at
the expense of Asian countries, such as China and India.
If no
decisions on new projects are made, oil supplies will not be able to meet the
demand after 2020, the report also says.
Naturally,
the US, as well as a number of OPEC members such as Iran, Iraq and the UAE,
will increase production volumes, but it will not be enough to keep prices on
their current level, especially if Russia keeps its current output, while
Nigeria, Algeria and Venezuela are expected to cut production.
On
November 30, the OPEC summit in the
Austrian capital reached an agreement to cut oil production from January 1,
2017 to a level of 32.5 million barrels per day. Thus, OPEC countries are
expected to reduce the average daily production by almost 1.2 million barrels.
In the
beginning of December, eleven other non-OPEC countries joined this agreement:
Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico,
Oman, Russia, the Republic of Sudan and South Sudan. Taking into account these
countries, the total reduction in the first half of 2017 will make up 1.7-1.8
million barrels per day.
Pravda.Ru
Editorial
POOR NANA
President
Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo has to be pitied.
In
spite of the fact that he is desperately trying to please all those who helped
him to win the 2016 elections, there are signs of disgruntlement all over the
country.
The
pressure on him has pushed him to appoint as many as 110 Ministers to set the
all-time record for Ministerial appointments since the end of colonialism.
It
is the same pressure, which is behind the removal of anything and everything
which smells NDC in the public and civil service and their replacement with NPP
loyalists.
It
appears that Nana Akufo-Addo’s wish to build an all-inclusive government has
hit the rocks and his own people are still not satisfied.
For
us the way out of this situation is to dismantle the politics of patronage and
replace it with a new kind of politics that is rooted in principle.
Until
then poor Nana Akufo-Addo and all other Presidents will continue to suffer the
anger of their supporters for their inability to deliver the goodies.
LOCAL NEWS:
NPP MAN IS ANGRY
Mr
Osei Bonsu, an activist of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) at Kwabre in the
Ashanti Region is not a very happy man.
He
says that if the Akufo-Addo administration continues on the path it has chosen,
it would be in power for only four years.
In
an interview with “The Insight”, Mr. Bonsu said many of the people who made significant
sacrifices for the victory of the NPP are being ignored.
He
claimed that a loyalist of the party who worked at the Forestry Commission has
been replaced by Mr. John Allotey in the haste to get rid of all those who
worked under President Mahama.
“It
is not everybody who worked under President Mahama who is a Member or
sympathiser of the NDC and we have to be careful”, he warned.
He
said activists of the NPP sacrificed for the party’s victory in the 2016
elections so the problems of the people of Ghana can be solved.
“But
we are also Ghanaians and have a right to demand that our problems are solved
too” he said.
DELTA FORCE
The
private militia of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Kumasi, Delta Force, is
still insisting on the removal of the Ashanti Regional Security Co-ordinator
from office.
Although
the Force has apologised for vandalising the office of the Regional Security
co-ordinator and subjecting him to brutal assault, it still insists that he
ought to be removed from office.
In
an interview with “Atinka FM”, Kwame Bamba the apparent leader of the group,
said they are still waiting for President Akufo-Addo’s reaction to their
petition calling for the removal of the Regional Co-ordinator.
Asked
if they still insist on the removal of the regional co-ordinator, he said, “we
have sent our petition to the President and we are waiting for him”.
Mr
Bamba asked for forgiveness from the NPP, the Police, the President and the
general public.
“What
we did was not right and we promise that it will never happen again”, he said.
Tema Traditional Council will not work with non-native MCE
 |
| President Akufo Addo, what do you say? |
By Laudia Sawer
The Tema Traditional Council
(TTC) has threatened not to work with any non-indigene appointed by President
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to the position of the Tema Metropolitan Chief
Executive officer.
The TTC at a press conference on
Sunday said if their plea for the nomination of an indigen to the position was
not heeded to, they would fight to express their discontent.
Nii Amarh Somponu II, Tema Shipi
and Secretary of the Tema Stool land, addressing the media, stressed that
"if after all our plea, a non-indigen is imposed on us, we will not accord
him or her the usual courtesy, we shall fight back to express our
discontent".
According to them, from Accra to
Ada, it was only Tema that was facing challenges of having an indigen being
appointed to the position.
Nii Sompuno noted that the TTC
conveyed a meeting with the Memebers of Parliament for Tema East, West and
Central constituencies and the Greater Accra Regional Minister who hailed from
Tema to state emphatically that an indigene should be given the MCE position
but that was being ignored.
He regretted that it seemed that
the people of Tema were selling their identity and treasures when their
forefathers agreed to give their ancestral home for the development of the
harbour and a planned city.
"If this is the price to
pay for sacrificing our ancestral home for the building of another gateway to
Ghana, then we cannot bear it", he emphasized.
The TTC called on the New
Patriotic Party (NPP) not to satisfy some selfish and parochial interest in the
appointment but rather look out for the good interest for the people and
residents of the industrial hub and harbour city.
He expressed the Council's
displeasure at some verbal attacks on the people and chiefs of Tema by some
members of the NPP Tema East branch during a recently held press conference in
relation to the appointment of an MCE.
They noted that it was worrying
that the hierarchy of the party failed to call their members to order and asked
them to apologize if they do not support their action.
GNA
Russia awards
scholarships to 60 African students
 |
| Russian President Vladimir Putin |
By
Kester Kenn Klomegah, Moscow Bureau Chief
The
Russian Nuclear Corporation, Rosatom has announced a number of bursaries
available for African students to study towards a nuclear profession at one of
its world renowned universities.
The
announcement was made in Johannesburg, South Africa, at this year’s Working
World Exhibition, a career forum for school leaving students. More than 15 000
students attended the three day event where Rosatom representatives offered
guidance on how to apply for a free tertiary education.
Viktor
Polikarpov, Rosatom’s Regional Vice-President for Sub-Saharan Africa, noted
that Russia, was one of the global leaders in scientific development.
“We
offer a broad range of educational opportunities for foreign students and young
specialists to gain relevant knowledge in different scientific fields. There is
currently an opportunity for 60 African students, including 10 South Africans,
to study for a Bachelor’s degree in nuclear-related subjects at one of our
cutting edge learning institutions.
“This
is a great opportunity for foreign students who want to become part of a unique
learning experience which has been gained over decades. ”
South
African Master’s student at the Department of Theoretical and Experimental
Physics of Nuclear Reactors in MEPhI, Blessed Raphotle, said he privileged to
study at one of the world’s leading research universities, especially in the
field of nuclear technology.
He
said the educational process in MEPhI corresponded to highest standards aimed
at stimulating students into acquiring more knowledge. “I will take all the
knowledge I have gained back to South Africa with the hope of inspiring a set
of values and ideals towards a productive society. Everything in the University
is based on the principles of openness, internationalism, and innovation,”
noted Raphotle.
With
over 70-years’ experience in the industry, Rosatom believes that nuclear
technology has a critical role to play in the enhancement of modern society,
not just through the production of clean sustainable energy but also through
the further advancement of medicine, including; diagnostics, imaging, scanning
and analysis.
The
company has thus far, granted a number of scholarships, holds competitions with
trips to Russia as main prizes and gives local schools the equipment needed to
conduct laboratory tests. Rosatom also launched a number of exciting
competitions during this year’s Working World Exhibition, hoping to inspire
young South Africans to pursue a career.
Rosatom
is the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation bringing together over 262 000
people in 360 enterprises and scientific institutions including all Russian civil
nuclear companies, research organizations and the world’s only
nuclear-propelled icebreaker fleet.
With
70 years' expertise in the nuclear field, Rosatom remains the leader in nuclear
energy.
FOREIGN NEWS:
Small business in
Cuba
 |
| A privately run cafe in the Havana neighborhood of Alamar |
When
in April of 2011, the 6th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba approved the
Economic and Social Policy Guidelines of the Party and the Revolution, the
country began a definitive process of updating its economic model, which, as
was recognized at the time, would lead to significant changes over the
following five years.
To
conduct a review before getting to the heart of the matter, let us recall that
the Guidelines established that the economic system would continue to be based
on the entire people's socialist ownership of the fundamental means of
production, governed by the principle that distribution (also socialist) would
be based on "from each according to their capacity, to each according to
their work." Of course, the possibility of obstacles and contradictions in
the Guidelines' implementation was acknowledged.
Understanding
that only socialism is capable of overcoming difficulties and preserving the
revolutionary ideals of equality and justice, the national economy would
continue to be based on planning, while at the same time attention would be
paid to market forces, and more autonomy afforded to state enterprises and new
private forms of economic management.
In the
words of the Minister of Economy during the period 1995-2009, José Luis
Rodríguez, the Guidelines would maintain social ownership of the means of
production that were decisive to the nation's development; establish limits on
non-state property, preventing the accumulation of capital; and assure the
provision of basic social services for all, free of charge.
In
addition to maintaining the central role of state enterprises, he said - as we
have seen - the updating would recognize and promote economic activity by
foreign investors, cooperatives, small farmers, those working land granted in
usufruct, renters of state property, and the self-employed, among others.
According
to Rodríguez, now an advisor at the Center for Global Economic Research,
opening spaces for small private businesses of the self-employed; agricultural
and non-agricultural cooperatives; and joint ventures with foreign capital is a
way to give such economic forces participation in the country's development "without
being predominant, if they are channeled appropriately, and do not become
overpowering."
From
the point of view of psychologist María del Carmen Zabala, specialist in the
issue of social equality, and advisor to the Latin American Faculty of Social
Sciences' Cuba Program, the Guidelines reflect a commitment to equity and
suppose the implementation of measures which lead to more options for
employment and income, to the benefit of Cuban families.
Thus,
the strategic document outlining the Guidelines states, "In the forms of
non-state management, the concentration of property by individuals or legal
entities is not to be permitted," adding that the tax system would
establish higher rates for those with the highest incomes, in an effort to "mitigate
inequalities between citizens."
Just
as Cuban President Raúl Castro Ruz made clear during the 7th Congress of the
Communist Party of Cuba, held in April of 2016, in Havana, "The neoliberal
formulas that advocate rapid privatization of state property and social
services, such as health, education, and social security, will never be applied
in Cuban socialism."
Raúl,
also first secretary of the Party Central Committee, said, "A revolution
of the humble, by the humble, and for the humble," as Fidel defined it, with
an undeniable social project already constructed, "will never seek
solutions to its problems on the backs of the people, or with the restoration
of capitalism, which would lead to the application of shock therapies on layers
of the population with fewer resources, and destroy the unity and confidence in
the Revolution and the Party of the majority of our citizens."
In
Cuba, he has reiterated many times, "No one will be left
unprotected."
After
five years of taking steps to update the economy, the non-state sector has
grown exponentially. While employment in the state sector constituted 81.2% of
the total in 2010, it stood at 70.8% in 2015. Likewise, there were 157,371
registered self-employed in September of 2010, and more than 500,000 at the
close of 2016.
Although,
as the Cuban President noted, "The increase in self-employment and the
authorization to hire a work force has led, in practice, to the existence of
private medium sized, small, and micro-enterprises, which function today
without the appropriate legal standing, and are governed by law within a
regulatory framework designed for individuals working in small businesses
undertaken by the worker and family members," developing is an atmosphere
which does not discriminate against or stigmatize non-state work.
At the
same time, in socialist and sovereign Cuba, the people's ownership of the
principal means of production constitutes the foundation of workers' real
power, as Raúl has explained, and supports the success of non-state forms of
economic management, on the basis of strict compliance with relevant
legislation and within well defined limits.
Regarding
this issue, the Cuban President stated, "We are not naïve, or unaware of
the aspirations of powerful external forces which are betting on what they call
'empowerment' of non-state forms of management, with the goal of generating
agents of change, in hopes of putting an end to the Revolution and socialism in
Cuba through other means."
Raúl
has emphasized, "Cooperatives, the self-employed, and private medium,
small and micro-enterprises are not in their nature anti-socialist or
counterrevolutionary," noting that the vast majority working in this way
are patriots.
With
economic development, the struggle for peace, and ideological firmness as the Party's
focus, the experimental process of developing productive non-agricultural
cooperatives continues, especially in commerce, food and technical services,
small industry, and construction.
Comandante
en Jefe Fidel Castro Ruz himself insisted, "If one works with fervor and
dignity, the material and cultural goods human beings need can be
produced." This is precisely what the country is seeking, without allowing
economic decisions to affect the people's unity.
Also
worthwhile is a look at the ground rules established for the orderly, gradual
process of separating state and enterprise roles, which have often overlapped.
This effort has faced obstacles since the change requires an end to obsolete
mentalities.
Raúl
has emphasized that needed are more explications to the people, more discipline
and rigor, and greater follow-up on the change process, saying, "We must
have our ears, and our feet, firmly on the ground."
Measures
adopted to facilitate freeing the state from all responsibility for economic
administration include affording state enterprises more authority, reorganizing
the workforce and salaries to eliminate inflated rosters across all sectors,
and assuring that work is the principal way the population earns income.
On
another front, progress has been made in the development, without subsidies, of
wholesale priced supply markets, and equipment rental services to serve state
enterprises, budgeted entities, and non-state businesses.
The
Guidelines additionally propose making the social objectives of state
enterprises more flexible, so they can take maximum advantage of their
potential, as well as expanding their authority to manage working capital and
investments to a certain degree.
Another
evolution has been in what is known as "pay per performance," which
means that wages for workers in state and non-state enterprises are
increasingly linked to results obtained.
The
conceptualization of Cuba's economic model approved at the 7th Party Congress
in 2016, states that the consolidation and sustainable development of socialism
is only possible on the basis of preserving values and increasing the
productivity of labor, to provide for greater wealth and its just distribution,
a better standard and quality of life, as well as the realization of legitimate
individual and collective aspirations.
At the
same time, the National Economic and Social Plan through 2030 defines the
strategic axes and driving forces in the development of Cuba: an effective
socialist government; social integration; productive change and international
involvement; the development of infrastructure; human potential; science,
technology, and innovation; protection of natural resources and the
environment; equity and justice.
Let us
not forget that all of these changes are taking place within a reality marked
by little population growth, with low birth rates and longer life expectancy, a
negative migratory balance, increasing urbanization and aging of the
population, which imply great social and economic challenges for the country -
issues to be addressed in future editions of Granma International.
