If the official figures are any guide, the good times in the Republic of the Congo should be returning.
Five years after going into a tailspin, oil — the country’s lifeblood — is flowing at a record 350,000 barrels per day after a new field, Moho Nord, went on tap.
The IMF projected that the central African state would record growth of 4 percent for last year, after 1.6 percent in 2018 and contraction in 2016 and 2017.
However, in Pointe-Noire, a port city that is home to about one-fifth of the country’s 4.5 million people, many say that any upturn has yet to reach them.
Deschagrains Ebeh, 37, is head of De-Network, one of many companies that did well out of servicing the country’s rush for black gold.
Today, Ebeh’s business card lists a dozen activities — including computing, video surveillance, training, auditing and consulting, Web site design and even a call center. He had to diversify to survive and pitch his business to individuals rather than well-heeled corporations.
To save money, he trimmed his payroll to 10 people, works as both managing director and technical director, and opened up part of his office space for coworking to ease the burden of his US$1,120 monthly rent.
With the oil crash, “we lost 50 percent of our clients and 60 percent of our customers,” Ebeh said.
In the halcyon year of 2014-2015, his company had a turnover of 500 million CFA francs (US$851,789 at the current exchange rate).
“We haven’t made any profits for four years,” he said.
Pointe-Noire Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Agriculture and Crafts president Sylvestre Didier Mavouenzela said that the oil contraction had ricocheted down the job market.
“When the crisis hit, Total [SA], the biggest company in Pointe-Noire, renegotiated lower contracts with its subcontractors,” he said.
“Fifty thousand jobs went between 2014 and 2017,” he said.
Many expatriate posts were cut — which had a knock-on effect for those working as gardeners, child caregivers or drivers.
There has been little sign of any new oil wealth trickling down — state receipts are being used to scale down public debt, in line with an agreement with the IMF, which in July last year approved a US$448 million bailout.
Pointe-Noire’s port has recorded a big upturn in container traffic: 900,000 units last year after 800,000 in 2018.
Yet, most of the containers are in transit, rather than destined for the local economy.
They head to other ports in the region — Matadi in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo and Libreville, the capital of Gabon.
“We are going through the third round of job cuts in two years,” said Christophe Pujalte, regional director of the French group Bollore Transport & Logistics, one of the port’s operators.
“In 2015, we had 1,100 people. By the end of year, it will be less than 700,” Pujalte said.
Other figures in the local economy have plenty of complaints about governance.
They include corruption, “harassment” by tax and customs authorities and the cost of using a highway linking the city to the capital, Brazzaville — the toll is the equivalent of more than US$330 per truck for the 500km journey.
Political uncertainty is also a concern.
The last poll, in 2016, saw the re-election of Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso, 76, triggering unrest in Brazzaville and armed conflict in the fertile region of Pool that cut the vital rail line between the capital and Pointe-Noire.
Zhang Yazhou was sitting in the passenger seat of her Tesla Model 3 when she said she heard her father’s panicked voice: The brakes do not work. Approaching a red light, her father swerved around two cars before plowing into a sport utility vehicle and a sedan, and crashing into a large concrete barrier. Stunned, Zhang gazed at the deflating airbag in front of her. She could never have imagined what was to come: Tesla Inc sued her for defamation for complaining publicly about the vehicles brakes — and won. A Chinese court ordered Zhang to pay more than US$23,000 in
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that its investment plan in Arizona is going according to schedule, following a local media report claiming that the company is planning to break ground on its third wafer fab in the US in June. In a statement, TSMC said it does not comment on market speculation, but that its investments in Arizona are proceeding well. TSMC is investing more than US$65 billion in Arizona to build three advanced wafer fabs. The first one has started production using the 4-nanometer (nm) process, while the second one would start mass production using the
US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose up to 100 percent tariffs on Taiwan’s semiconductor exports to the US to encourage chip manufacturers to move their production facilities to the US, but experts are questioning his strategy, warning it could harm industries on both sides. “I’m very confused and surprised that the Trump administration would try and do this,” Bob O’Donnell, chief analyst and founder of TECHnalysis Research in California, said in an interview with the Central News Agency on Wednesday. “It seems to reflect the fact that they don’t understand how the semiconductor industry really works,” O’Donnell said. Economic sanctions would
‘NO DISRUPTION’: A US trade association said that it was ready to work with the US administration to streamline the program’s requirements and achieve shared goals The White House is seeking to renegotiate US CHIPS and Science Act awards and has signaled delays to some upcoming semiconductor disbursements, two sources familiar with the matter told reporters. The people, along with a third source, said that the new US administration is reviewing the projects awarded under the 2022 law, meant to boost US domestic semiconductor output with US$39 billion in subsidies. Washington plans to renegotiate some of the deals after assessing and changing current requirements, the sources said. The extent of the possible changes and how they would affect agreements already finalized was not immediately clear. It was not known