WEBVTT - Why the Iran War Could Shock African Economies 0:00:02.480 --> 0:00:09.440 Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. As the war in 0:00:09.480 --> 0:00:13.800 Iran continues, global economies are bracing for the economic fallout. 0:00:16.280 --> 0:00:21.439 The United States and its partners have launched Operation Epic Fury, 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:27.160 one of the largest, most complex, most overwhelming military offensives 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:30.720 the world has ever seen. Nobody's seen anything like it. 0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:35.640 With oil and gas prices rising sharply, African countries could 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:38.480 be among those facing and inflation shock. 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:41.800 You have a major energy for the facility in Katar close, 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:44.560 the largest in Katar. You have, of course, that refinery 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:48.080 in Saudi Arabia at least closed temporarily. The inflation question 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:51.479 and the inflation shock is now being priced into these markets. 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:54.440 If it becomes prolonged, then all bets world Today. 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:57.440 On today's podcast, we'll look at what the conflict is 0:00:57.480 --> 0:01:00.840 doing to energy prices and supply and what the hit 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:08.120 could be for African economies. I'm Jennifer Zabasaja and this 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:11.760 is the Next Africa Podcast, bringing you one story each 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:14.800 week from the continent driving the future of global growth 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:20.279 with the context only Bloomberg can provide. Joining me today 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:25.920 is Bloomberg's Asia Energy reporter Steven Stepchinski, and also Bloomberg Economics, 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:30.040 Africa Economists von Mango. Thank you both so much for 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:32.120 joining me. I know it's been quite a busy week 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:35.080 for the whole newsroom, but especially the two of you. 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:37.800 So appreciate your time. Steven, let's just start with you, 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:42.160 because you look very closely at the dynamics in the 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:44.800 energy sector. Give us a picture of what we had 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:48.160 been seeing with oil prices in the last few weeks 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:51.960 in the lead up to the eventual escalation that we 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:53.560 saw in the Middle East last weekend. 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:57.840 I think the oil market over the last few weeks 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:02.320 before this weekend was affecting something. You know, when you 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:04.720 talk to the traders, they were talking about the build 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:08.480 up of the military force, right the largest US military 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:12.160 force in the Middle East in decades. They were looking 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:15.880 at the rhetoric, they were looking at the negotiations happening 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:19.160 and the failure to make a deal multiple times. So 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:21.280 I think the oil market when you look at the prices, 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:26.160 oil prices kind of continuously rose from from late December 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:30.240 into January and into February were slowly kind of stepping 0:02:30.360 --> 0:02:34.400 up higher and higher with this anticipation that if a 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:37.639 deal wasn't done, every time they went to the negotiating table, 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:43.560 then maybe you could see some sort of strike on Iran, 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:46.480 and no one knew exactly the level of the strike. 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:49.320 But especially I think when the State of the Union 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:52.640 happened and Trump said that he would never allow Iran 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:55.840 to have nuclear weapons. People in the market talked to 0:02:55.840 --> 0:02:58.480 me and they said that's when they really saw, Okay, 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:00.880 maybe something would be happening. It was, of course a 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:03.679 lot of guesswork. But in the end, the market did 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:05.800 continue to rise ahead of all of that. 0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:11.120 Where have we seen the prices really rising substantially? Because 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:12.880 I feel like for a while we had been talking 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:16.480 about incremental rises right, a bit of range bound in 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:17.880 terms of Brent crude. 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:18.840 But where have you. 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:22.440 Seen the most substantial rises and prices in the energy 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:24.000 market that we should be focused on. 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:26.600 There are a number of different places, right. Brent is 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:30.280 a global benchmark, It's trade has very liquid, it can 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:33.760 be sometimes quite volatile. But you're right, the prices haven't 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:36.680 been out of sight increases. You know, you've seen incremental 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:39.840 increases of seven for today it's up two point eight percent. 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:42.840 There are other markets that are a bit more crazy. 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:46.640 Jet fuel prices in Singapore have really searched the highest 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:49.960 level in years. You're also looking at different types of 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:52.840 prices for the ships themselves to rent to ship the 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:55.520 prices are rising to the highest level in years. And 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:58.480 then also look at natural gas. Look fight natural gas 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:02.720 prices have surged quite significantly, about more than fifty percent 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:05.840 over the last three days, and that's the European benchmark 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:09.880 and the Asian benchmark. And that increase is quite interesting 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:13.320 because unlike the oil market, which I think was anticipating 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:17.160 some sort of strike for Iran, had not actually been increasing. 0:04:17.320 --> 0:04:20.960 The gas market, I think, interestingly enough, had somewhat discounted 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:23.880 that something would happen and wasn't expecting some sort of 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:26.479 large impact that we're seeing today with the Strait of 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:29.640 Horror moves getting shut and the closure of Qatar's largest 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:33.440 lique financial gas export facility. So all of that together 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:36.039 has made gas one of the more interesting parts of 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:36.760 the market. 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:39.359 You talk about the straight of horror moves, Stephen, is 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:42.560 that the route that the energy market is most fixated 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:47.479 on in terms of the risk to prices going higher. 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:48.200 What else? 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:50.800 What are the other routes potentially that we should be 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:51.400 focused on. 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:54.240 I think the oil market and gas market too, are 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:56.880 focused on two things. One straight of hor moos. Like 0:04:56.920 --> 0:04:59.239 you said, it's it's the key conduit for a fifth 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:03.760 of both oil and gas seaborne supply, but also the region. 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:04.360 Right. 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:08.080 So what's been very different about this strike in this 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:11.240 conflict versus previous ones is that it isn't just a 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:14.520 tit for tat sort of thing between Iran and Israel. 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:17.640 This is spreading to the wider region, and Iran is 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:20.560 hitting countries that many thought where they're you know, sort 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:22.800 of their allies or their friends in the region. I'm 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:28.800 talking Qatar, UAE and also Saudi Arabia. They're antagonizing their neighbors. 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:31.360 So the market is looking at okay, if there are 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:36.080 some drone strikes on Saudi Aramco's largest refinery, what is 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:38.600 the impact there? They've shut it down? How long will 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:40.839 be shut down? Is it damage? Can it come back quickly? 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:44.600 Same with Katar. They hit their largest Lick Fi natural 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:47.960 gas export facility. It supplies twenty percent of global LNG supply. 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:50.760 That was shut down. How long will that shut out? 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:55.160 How long does it take to restart fourteen LNG production trains? 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:59.320 So what's kind of interesting about this conflict is that 0:05:59.600 --> 0:06:02.400 the straight of Hormos. Theoretically, if there was a piece deal, 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:05.920 you could kind of resume traffic pretty quickly if there 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:08.320 were assurances from the US, if something happened, and then 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:11.599 the trade could resumes and everything's back to normal. But 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:14.680 if infrastructure is hit, if a pipeline is hit, if 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:18.720 i Raq is taking offline their largest oil field, suddenly 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:22.440 things get a bit more complicated. Actual barrels aren't making 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:25.480 its way into the market, and if there's damage, how 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:29.120 long does that repair take? Are we talking days, weeks, months? 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:31.920 There are a lot of unknowns and as every day 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:35.960 that this continues, the risk premium kind of chugs along 0:06:36.040 --> 0:06:36.840 and gets higher. 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:39.440 And Ivon, I'd like you to jump in here. 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:43.440 You've been looking at the impact that this could potentially 0:06:43.520 --> 0:06:47.080 have across the African continent, especially as it pertains to 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:50.400 higher energy prices. As Steven was just mentioning there, what 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:52.720 has been your focus over the past few days. 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:55.719 So a few things divide the African continent, like a 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:57.599 surge in the ore price, and the reason for that 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:01.599 is because we're primarily export as commodities and we import 0:07:01.640 --> 0:07:05.560 almost all our refined petroleum needs on the continent. So 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:08.760 such a significant increase in your price, of course, will 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:12.920 benefit our all exporters in particular countries such as Nigeria 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:16.200 and Angola. Angola in particular, we've looked. We estimated what 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:19.600 a twenty dollar increase in the barrel increase in your 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:22.280 price could mean, so in the case of Angola, that 0:07:22.360 --> 0:07:25.200 could improve its current account balance by as much as 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:28.760 three percent of GDP, so it's quite significant. However, the 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:34.520 majority of African countries are net all importers, so unfortunately 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:37.840 this is negative for the majority of the continent. Countries 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:40.320 like South Africa and Kenya will be hit on the 0:07:40.360 --> 0:07:43.200 external balances side by as much as one percent of 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:47.120 GDP on their current account as a result of such 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:50.040 a significant searche in the old price, assuming of course 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:54.440 prices remain at these levels. Aside from the trade channel, 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:57.440 we're concerned about what it means for inflation. Africa generally 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:00.160 enjoyed this inflation new trend over the past couple of 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:05.040 years that's allowed countries to reduce their inflation targets or 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:07.360 contributed to that in the case of South Africa, it 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:11.240 supported reduction of interest rates across the board. This is 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:14.720 of course, following that shop tightening when we had Russia 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:18.080 attack Ukraine and grain prices went up. So now since 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:21.720 then we've seen inflation come down nicely and interest rates 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:25.160 start to follow. Unfortunately, such a huge search in your 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:29.480 price does imply that this inflation trend will be halted 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:32.840 and interest rates may also come back onto the table 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:34.600 as an option for central banks. 0:08:35.520 --> 0:08:37.880 And Von Stephen stick with us. 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:39.560 We're going to take a quick break and when we 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:42.600 come back, we're going to dig into more about what 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:46.160 this could mean for African economies and how long lasting 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:47.960 this shock could actually be. 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:49.120 We'll be right back. 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:55.480 Welcome back. Today we're looking at the impact of the 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:59.240 war and Iran on energy prices. Steven Stepchynsky and Evon 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:03.600 Mango are still with me, Yvon. Let's just take South Africa, 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:07.120 because of course we know that has been the country's 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:09.800 been in focus recently came out with their budget just 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:12.480 a few days ago, had talked about turning around the 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:16.079 corner on a lot of the past troubles for the economy. 0:09:16.160 --> 0:09:18.200 Is this going to undo a lot of the work 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:21.360 that the SARB and the government has really done to 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:22.920 get inflation under control. 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:26.360 So yes, you raise a good point in that and 0:09:26.600 --> 0:09:28.800 we are at a positive point in terms of the 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:32.720 macro turnaround that we're anticipating. The growth is lagging. However, 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:35.240 I do think the buffers that have been put in 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:38.480 place will help in terms of mitigating the impact of 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:40.600 a high old price. An example of such a buffer 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:44.800 is the primary budget surplus that the government has accumulated 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:47.559 over the past three years, so first time in several 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:49.920 years that we actually have a primary surflus and that 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:53.960 should help in terms of mitigating the impact on the 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:58.000 fiscus on the current account. The upside that's to show 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:00.600 that the upside of having a free floating currency at 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:03.440 SO Africa does, which is a minority on the continent, 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:06.640 is that it behaves as a shock absorber. So what 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:10.839 you should see is that demand for imports should compress 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:13.280 as a round weekends on the back of a weak 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:17.240 external position, and that should help mitigate the impact on 0:10:17.320 --> 0:10:19.360 the external side of the economy. 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:23.040 Interestingly, we heard the DJ of the Treasury we talk 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:27.040 about how potentially commodity exports and gold could potentially also 0:10:27.080 --> 0:10:29.800 provide some of that buffer for South. 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:30.559 Africa, Yvon. 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:34.120 When we look at let's just bruden it back out 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:36.840 to the continent and talk about so many impacts potentially 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:42.600 on the bond market. Have we seen any significant shifts 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:46.240 higher yields as a result of the increased escalation in 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:48.240 the Middle East across African bond market? 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:52.000 So following the initial strikes at the weekend and on Monday, yes, 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:55.880 we did see the spreads between bond yields for African 0:10:56.120 --> 0:10:59.800 sovereign bonds and US treasuries widen as we saw risk 0:10:59.840 --> 0:11:04.080 of sentiments take off globally. As we move forward, of course, 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:06.160 I think what you see as investors will become a 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:09.240 bit more discerning. I think you'll see when they look 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:13.599 at just at their Africa portfolio. That's the all exporters 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:17.720 that are bond issuers will see their bund ye olds ease. 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:20.360 And the examples of those are the likes of Nigeria, 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:25.160 debon the Republic of Congo. In this environment, those countries 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:27.680 should benefit on the back of a higher ol price. 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:31.440 Where you're going to see more skepticism or concern is 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:33.320 countries that are all important. 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:36.160 Steven, Let's just let's bring you back in because it 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:39.880 really seems like the energy sector, the oil brank crud 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:42.000 is really what to watch here. I've seen a number 0:11:42.040 --> 0:11:45.480 of forecasts for how high this could potentially go. What 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:48.920 are you looking at in terms of the prices for 0:11:49.000 --> 0:11:51.680 brank crud and potentially what the next catalyst could be 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:54.560 to creep higher if we are even headed to one 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:57.440 hundred or higher, as some analysts are pointing out, I. 0:11:57.400 --> 0:12:00.800 Mean, I think anything is possible, right I think if 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:03.760 you asked me last week or two weeks ago if 0:12:04.040 --> 0:12:06.880 we would see an effective shut to the strait of 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:09.200 her moves, I would say the likelihood of that is 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:12.080 pretty low. But now we're seeing it. So we're in 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:15.640 uncharted territories. This has never happened, and so I think 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:17.360 there are a few things to watch out for him. Yes, 0:12:17.520 --> 0:12:20.000 with Brent right now around eighty three eighty four dollars 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:22.840 per barrel, so we're not at one hundred dollars yet, 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:26.200 but there is a chance where if this continues and 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:28.800 if certain things happen, we could be our way to 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:31.880 one hundred dollars or go above one hundred dollars one 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:35.240 if there is some major damage to infrastructure right now, 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:39.040 there have been some refinery shut some pipelines you know, 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:42.760 I think targeted, but overall oil is still largely pumping. 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:46.040 There has been some shutdowns in a Raq, but even 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:48.640 when you look at the ship tracking data and satellites, 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:52.480 some analysts are saying that Iran is still exporting oil. 0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:55.320 So oil is still making its way into the market. 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:58.439 But if you were to see any major impact in 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:03.000 Saudi Arabia's ability to produce, or even Iran or other 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:06.520 countries in the region, I think that starts to creep 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:09.360 up a bit more if you start to see another 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:12.040 breakdown in the talks. Right I think yesterday the New 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:15.559 York Times reported that there were some back channels between 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:18.080 Iran and the US for a potential piece deal. You 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:20.760 saw Brent and gas prices kind of fall a little bit, 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:22.840 but then Brent kind of made up some of those losses. 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:25.439 If we now see that there's a total breakdown discussions, 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:28.760 or if rhetoric from Trump changes, you could see prices 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:32.720 rise again, and then you also see potentially a bidding 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:34.840 up of prices from Asia. Right now, I think Asian 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:38.920 customers are somewhat calm. Asia is the biggest buyer of 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:42.000 this Middle Eastern oil, but yet you're not really getting 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:43.960 the sense of panic that you're getting, for example, in 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:46.720 the natural gas market. So if you do start to 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:49.600 see people fighting over shipments. If you were to have 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:52.520 what I would call a price war over deliveries that 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:55.040 are on the market and taking up that spare supply, 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:57.640 and you see the oil on the water start to shrink, 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:01.800 then you could see again prices run. But what's interesting 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:03.880 about the oil market at the moment is we were 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:06.320 supposed to enter year of an oversupply. There's quite a 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:09.960 bit of oil available, so with the glut, you know, 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:12.679 still there. If there were a piece deal, I think 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:14.320 quickly you would see a lot of the ste fleet. 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:18.320 Which, Yeah, that's a really good point that you bring up. 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:21.120 We went into twenty twenty six talking about oversupply Ivon 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:22.680 Is that similar to you? 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:24.479 Is that sort of what you're focused. 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:26.840 On really the price of crude and where it goes 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:29.600 next and how that could trickle down to the African economies. 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:30.000 Yes. 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:32.880 I think our assumption, who you look at the fundamentals, 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:35.320 is that there's an abundance of supply and that we 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:38.880 expected in the absence of a conflict, we expected the 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:42.080 oil price to main flat, if not cool. So a 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:45.200 lot depends on the locativity of the conflict and whether 0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:48.640 indeed the strait of almost remains shut for an extended period, 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:52.200 but the fundamentals outside the walls suggests that we should 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:54.840 have a cooler energy prices which would benefit the majority 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:55.480 of the continent. 0:14:55.920 --> 0:14:58.280 Still quite a bit of unknowns, but we appreciate the 0:14:58.320 --> 0:15:00.360 two of you joining us this week to break what 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:03.320 we do know at this point in time. Steven Stepchynski 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:05.760 and Ivon Mango, thank you both so much for joining 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:08.560 us this week, and you can, of course read all 0:15:08.560 --> 0:15:12.239 of our coverage on the war in Iran across Bloomberg platforms. 0:15:12.280 --> 0:15:16.320 Now here's some of the other stories we've been following 0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:20.880 across the region this week. Dan Gote Cement, Africa's biggest 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:24.640 producer of the building material, will spend one billion dollars 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:28.359 to boost capacity over the next four years as infrastructure 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:34.240 construction spurs demand. And Nigeria brought the timetable for next 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:37.880 year's election forward and announced new rules that appear to 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:42.920 catch the opposition off guard. Presidential and National Assembly elections 0:15:42.960 --> 0:15:47.040 will be held on January sixteenth, twenty twenty seven, roughly 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:51.320 a month earlier than was previously scheduled, the Independent National 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:55.800 Electoral Commission said, and you can follow these stories across 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:58.280 Bloomberg including the next African newsletter. 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:00.160 Will put a link to that in the show. 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:07.120 This program was produced by Adrian Bradley and tiwa Adebayo. 0:16:07.360 --> 0:16:10.400 Don't forget to follow and review the show wherever you 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:14.680 usually get your podcasts. I'm Jennifer's Abisaja. Thanks as always 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:15.280 for listening.