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Nairobi, Jan 16 (IANS) Kenya's economy is projected to grow by 5.3 per cent in 2025, according to the National Treasury.

In its Budget Policy Statement for 2025, the Treasury said this growth would represent an increase from 4.6 per cent in 2024 and 5.6 per cent in 2023.

The country's economy contracted in 2024 due to a deceleration in economic activities during the first three quarters of the year and a slowdown in private sector credit growth to key sectors, according to the Treasury.

The Treasury said the 2025 expansion would be driven by enhanced agricultural productivity and a resilient services sector.

"Agricultural productivity is expected to be largely driven by favourable weather conditions and productivity-enhancing government interventions," the Treasury said, adding that growth in the sector is projected to average around 3 per cent in 2025.

Similarly, the services sector is expected to remain resilient, growing at an average of 6.6 percent over the medium term, the Treasury said.

The Treasury said ongoing reforms in the ICT sector are expected to boost growth in financial services, healthcare and public administration. The tourism sub-sectors are expected to benefit from the government's efforts to revamp the sector through the promotion of high-profile international conferences, cultural festivals and wildlife safaris.

The Treasury projected that aggregate domestic demand will remain resilient, with consumption averaging around 87.4 percent of gross domestic product in 2025, supported by easing inflationary pressures, Xinhua news agency reported.

Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Economic Planning John Mbadi noted in the policy statement that the government would enhance fiscal consolidation to reduce public debt vulnerabilities while providing fiscal space to deliver essential public goods and services.

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Abidjan, Jan 16 (IANS) Cote d'Ivoire's oil and gas production is expected to rise to a total of 75,000 to 85,000 barrels per day of crude oil from the current output of 30,000 barrels per day following the "successful" start of production in phase 2 of the Baleine field, the government said.

"The cumulative production from phases 1 and 2 of Baleine is projected to reach a total of 75,000 to 85,000 barrels per day of crude oil and 80 to 85 million cubic feet of natural gas," said government spokesperson Amadou Coulibaly after a cabinet meeting in Abidjan.

On December 28, the Italian company ENI and its local partner PETROCI commenced production in phase 2 of the Baleine field offshore Cote d'Ivoire, which followed the start of phase 1 production in August 2023, with an initial output of 22,000 barrels of crude oil per day and 10 million cubic feet of natural gas.

"The crude oil output from phase 2 is expected to range from 50,000 to 60,000 barrels per day, compared to the initially planned 35,000 barrels, representing an increase of 43 per cent to 72 percent," the spokesperson said.

"In terms of natural gas, production is anticipated to be between 50 and 60 million cubic feet per day, exceeding the forecast of 40 million, reflecting an increase of 25 percent to 50 percent," he added.

According to Coulibaly, the insights gained from phases 1 and 2 will help refine studies for phase 3, with a final investment decision expected by the end of 2025.

The projected output from phase 3 is anticipated to elevate total production from the Baleine field to 150,000 barrels of crude oil per day and 200 million cubic feet of natural gas, Xinhua news agency reported.

"This significant advancement highlights Cote d'Ivoire's commitment to establishing the extractive and energy resources sector as a pillar for sustained and sustainable growth," Coulibaly said.

The Baleine field is estimated to have a total production potential of 2.5 billion barrels of oil and nearly 3,300 billion cubic feet of associated gas.

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United Nations, Jan 16 (IANS) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has welcomed the deal for a ceasefire and release of hostages in Gaza, calling it a “critical first step” towards peace in the region.

"I welcome the announcement of the deal for ceasefire and hostage release”, he said on Wednesday soon after the agreement between Israel and Hamas was announced by Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

Guterres commended Qatar, Egypt and the US for brokering the deal.

Al Thani said that under the first phase of the agreement that would come into force on Sunday, Israeli forces would withdraw from populated areas in Gaza and Hamas would release 33 hostages over 42 days when there would be a ceasefire.

The negotiations for the release of the remaining hostages and an enduring ceasefire would continue.

The deal to end the 15-month conflict came five days before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, who had threatened “all hell would break out” if the hostages were not released by then.

"Humanitarian situation is at catastrophic levels," Guterres said.

"Our priority now must be to ease the tremendous suffering caused by this conflict," he said.

About 45,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in the Israeli onslaught in retaliation for the Hamas terrorist attack in which about 1,200 Israelis were killed and about 250 were taken hostage on October 7, 2023.

Nearly half the 2.1 million people of Gaza have lost their homes and most of the zone's infrastructure has been destroyed.

"It is imperative that the ceasefire removes the significant security and political obstacles to delivering aid across Gaza so that we can support the major increase in urgent life-saving humanitarian support," Guterres said.

"This deal is a critical first step, but we must mobilise all efforts to also address broader goals," he said.

"I urge the parties and all relevant partners to seize this opportunity to establish a credible political process to a better future for Palestinians Israelis and the broader region, ending the occupation (of Palestine territories) and achieving a negotiated two state solution, with Israel and Palestine leading side by side in peace and security," he said.

The deal was foreign policy victory in his last week in office for President Joe Biden and he took credit for it calling it the result of it is the result of "of dogged and painstaking American diplomacy".

He said that it was helped by "the extreme pressure that Hamas has been under and the changed regional equation after a ceasefire in Lebanon and the weakening of Iran".

Trump also took credit, writing on Truth Social, “This EPIC ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our Historic Victory in November, as it signaled to the entire World that my Administration would seek Peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans, and our Allies”.

Although Biden called it a “joke” when a reporter asked if Trump had a role, he said: "I told my team to coordinate closely with the incoming team to make sure we're all speaking with the same voice, because that's what American presidents do."

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)

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New Delhi, Jan 16 (IANS) Over a year after the Gaza war broke out and went on to cause chaos and devastation while rattling the Middle East, a landmark agreement was reached between Israel and Hamas, with both sides reportedly agreeing to cease hostilities and exchange Israeli hostages for prisoners from Palestine.

US President Joe Biden confirmed the crucial development on Wednesday at a briefing, saying "it is a very good afternoon now". He said: "Soon, the hostages will return home to their families."

The peace deal involves a full and complete ceasefire along with the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of all the hostages held by Hamas, the BBC reported.

Biden said that Israel would release Palestinian prisoners in return.

The US President said that during the first phase of the ceasefire deal, "Palestinians can return home to their neighbourhoods and humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip will increase".

Biden also said that Israel and Hamas will negotiate the necessary arrangements in phase two for what would be the permanent end to the war.

"If negotiations take longer than six weeks, the ceasefire will continue," the US President, who was accompanied by Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken during the briefing, added.

The US President, adding to what brought about the deal, said that "after 15 months of war, Hamas' senior leaders are dead, thousands of its fighters are also dead, and now it's operationally weakened, it had agreed to this deal", the BBC reported.

Biden said that he is "deeply satisfied" this day has come, both for the sake of people in Israel with loved ones still being held captive, and those in Gaza who've suffered "unimaginable devastation".

The US President mentioned that "too many innocent people have died".

"With this deal the Palestinians can rebuild, without Hamas," he said.

Biden further added he and the team of President-elect Donald Trump worked as "one team" in their attempts to get the ceasefire deal over the line.

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Washington, Jan 15 (IANS) Marco Rubio began his confirmation hearing for the job of US secretary of state Wednesday with a sharp denunciation of China’s rise as a power by lying and cheating, and a robust defence of President-elect Donald Trump’s world view anchored in America First priorities, arguing it does not amount to isolationism.

“We welcomed the Chinese Communist Party into the global order, and they took advantage of all of its benefits, and they ignored all of its obligations and responsibilities,” Rubio said to his former colleagues of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee of which had been a long-serving member as senator before Trump named him to head the state department as secretary of state.

“Instead, they have repressed and lied and cheated and hacked and stolen their way into global superpower status, and they have done so at our expense and at the expense of the people of their own country.”

Rubio is a leading anti-China hawk and if confirmed, he will join a group of Trump officials who are equally critical of China — such as Mike Waltz, the incoming national security adviser, and Pete Hegseth, the nominee for secretary of defence who told a committee of senators on Tuesday that deterring Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific will be a priority for him.

Rubio is an old and experienced hand at foreign policy as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and has held strong views on China and Russia, both of which have been called America’s main adversaries by both Republican and Democratic administrations.

The nominee also took the opportunity of his opening remarks to address concerns raised in some quarters that President-elect Trump’s insistence on American interests above all amounts to, or will lead to, the United States isolating itself on the global stage.

“Ultimately, under President Trump, the top priority of the United States Department of State will be the United States the direction he has given for the conduct of our foreign policy is clear, every dollar we spend, every programme we fund, every policy we pursue, must be justified by the answer to one of three questions, does it make America safer? Does it make America stronger, or does it make America more prosperous?”

“Under President Trump, the dollars of hard-working American taxpayers will always be spent wisely and our power will always be yielded prudently and towards what is best for America and Americans before anything and everything else. Prudence in the conduct of foreign policy is not an abandonment of our values. It is common sense, understanding that while we remain the wealthiest and the most powerful nation on the Earth, our wealth has never been unlimited and our power has never been infinite, and placing our core national interest above all else is not isolationism. It is the common sense realisation that our foreign that a foreign policy, centred in our national interest, is not some outdated relic. Since the emergence of the modern nation-state over two centuries ago, countries acting based on what they perceive to be their core national interest have been the norm, not the exception.”

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United Nations, Jan 15 (IANS) Amid the dark clouds of conflicts, dangers from technology and climate change, and “deepening geo-political divisions”, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sees the year 2025 dawning with signs of hope.

"It is understandable to get overwhelmed by the turmoil of our world. But as we look to the year ahead, we must never lose sight of progress and potential," he said on Wednesday.

"And there are signs of hope," he said.

In his annual address to the General Assembly on his priorities for the year, Guterres included warnings about the dangers the world is facing and calls for urgent action required to face them.

On the plus side of the ledger, he listed the movement towards a ceasefire and hostage exchange in Gaza, the Lebanon ceasefire, the increasing investments in clean energy, the improvement in the status of girls, and commitments to the global future and digital technology.

"Through thick and thin, the world has come together through the United Nations to tackle some of the most intractable problems," he said.

"In a world seemingly hellbent on destruction, our organisation has been a force of construction," he said.

"But", he cautioned, "let’s have no illusions: this is very much a world in turmoil. Our actions -- or inactions -- have unleashed a modern-day Pandora’s box of ills".

He listed “runaway conflicts, rampant inequalities, the raging climate crisis, out-of-control technology”, and growing inequalities, as the dangers facing the world.

"Deepening geo-political divisions and mistrust are adding fuel to the fire," he said.

Speaking of hate and intolerance, he omitted – as he has consistently -- references to non-Abrahamic religions like Hinduism and Buddhism whose members also face violence, persecution, and bigotry.

"We must work to foster communities of belonging and end the spread of hatred and intolerance – including antisemitism, anti-Muslim bigotry, and discrimination against minority Christian communities," he said.

The Secretary-General called for "reforming and modernising the institutions of global finance to represent today’s economy — not that of 1945" by ensuring that developing countries are “represented fairly in the governance” of these institutions including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

One of his priorities was ensuring that technology in its latest iteration, Artificial Intelligence, does not overwhelm the world.

"Humanity’s hand must be firmly in control of technology," he said. "As AI reshapes our world, every nation must help shape AI. Together, let’s ensure Artificial Intelligence serves its highest purpose."

He emphasised the imperative for action on containing global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

As President-elect Donald Trump, a global warming sceptic who has vowed to ditch the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, prepares to take office next week, Guterres spoke of the California fires.

"Look no further than the hills of Los Angeles. It has gone from the home of disaster movies to a scene of disaster," he said.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)

Kampala, Jan 15 (IANS) Uganda is on high alert following a suspected Marburg virus disease (MVD) outbreak in neighboring Tanzania that has left eight people dead, a health official said here Wednesday.

Henry Kyobe Bosa, incident commander at Uganda's Ministry of Health, told Xinhua news agency over the telephone that health authorities have heightened surveillance and implemented precautionary measures at the border points with Tanzania to prevent the importation of the highly fatal virus into Uganda. According to the ministry, no case of MVD has been reported within the country.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday informed its member states of suspected cases of MVD in Tanzania's Kagera Region, with symptoms of headache, high fever, back pain, diarrhea, vomiting with blood, body weakness, and external bleeding.

"We are following WHO risk assessment to put in place measures for early detection and response, and should there be a need, to undertake active case search in view of the classified risk in the region and globally," Bosa said.

According to the WHO, the regional risk is considered high due to the strategic importance of the Kagera Region as a transit hub, with significant cross-border movement of people to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In March 2023, Tanzanian health authorities announced that an outbreak of Marburg viral disease that had killed five people in the Kagera Region was under control.

MVD is a highly virulent disease that causes hemorrhagic fever, with a fatality rate of up to 88 per cent, according to the WHO.

The highly fatal, zoonotic hemorrhagic disease is caused by the Marburg virus, and human-to-human transmission occurs through direct contact with body fluids from infected persons or contact with equipment and other materials contaminated with infectious blood or tissues, body fluids of infected people, and contaminated surfaces or materials.

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Washington, Jan 15 (IANS) Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Indian American lawmaker, introduced a resolution in the US House of Representatives on Tuesday to declare January as Tamil Language and Heritage Month. The resolution coincides with Pongal, a Tamil festival that begins in mid-January.

“As a Tamil American, I am proud to introduce this bipartisan resolution honouring the Tamil language, heritage, and culture here at home in the United States and around the world,” Congressman Krishnamoorthi said.

“America is a mosaic of different languages, cultures, ideas, and traditions, and it is my sincere hope that this resolution will shine a light on the rich and distinct culture, as well as the incredible achievements, of the more than 350,000 Tamil Americans today. I encourage my colleagues in Congress to swiftly take up this resolution to recognise the impact Tamil Americans have in our communities.”

Krishnamoorthi was joined in introducing the resolution by fellow lawmakers -- Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican, and Democrats Shri Thanedar, Ro Khanna, Suhas Subramanyam, Pramila Jayapal, Ami Bera, Ilhan Omar, Yevette Clark, Sara Jacobs, Deborah Ross, Danny Davis, Dina Titus, Don Davis, and Summer Lee.

The resolution seeks to state the House of Representatives, “I) supports the designation of ‘‘Tamil Language and Heritage Month’’; 2) recognises that Tamil Americans enhance the rich diversity of and strengthens the United States; 3) and acknowledges the significance of Pongal, a festive celebration of harvest, for the Tamil people.”

The resolution says recognising January as a Tamil Language and Heritage Month will allow “the people of the United States to celebrate the rich history, language, and culture of the Tamil people and encourage all Americans to learn about the contributions of Tamil Americans to the cultural fabric of the Nation”.

American states of North Carolina, Wisconsin, Virginia, and Minnesota have already recognised January as Tamil Heritage Month and the states of Michigan, Georgia, and Massachusetts have made proclamations to celebrate the cultural contributions of the Tamil people, according to the resolution.

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Washington, Jan 14 (IANS) Pete Hegseth, the nominee for Secretary of Defence, on Tuesday, told Senators at his confirmation hearing that it will be a priority for him to "work with our partners and allies to deter aggression in the Indo-Pacific from the Communist Chinese".

Hegseth is the first of President-elect Donald Trump's nominees to go before a panel of the US Senate for confirmation, who include, among others Marco Rubio, nominee for Secretary of State; Pam Bondi, nominee for Attorney General; Tulsi Gabbard, nominee for Director of National Intelligence; and Kash Patel, nominee to head the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They will have their confirmation hearings over the next few days.

"First and foremost, we will defend our homeland, our borders and our skies," Hegseth said in his prepared opening remarks.

"Second, we will work with our partners and allies to deter aggression in the Indo-Pacific from the Communist Chinese. And finally, we will responsibly end wars to ensure that we prioritise our resources to reorient to larger threats."

During questioning by Senators, Hegseth said the threat from China will be front and centre for him.

"When President Trump chose me for this position, the primary charge he gave me was -- to bring the warrior culture back to the Department of Defence," Hegseth said.

"He, like me, wants a Pentagon laser-focused on warfighting, lethality, meritocracy, standards, and readiness. That's it. That is my job."

He was introduced at the hearing by Mike Waltz, who is President-elect Trump's National Security Adviser, who is a known anti-China hawk and a co-chair of the India Caucus of the House of Representatives.

Hegseth is expected to face tough questioning from both Republicans and Democrats.

If confirmed, he will take over from Lloyd Austin, the current Secretary of Defence, a sprawling organisation made of nearly 3.5 million defence and civilian personnel.

Hegseth is a graduate of Princeton University and has a Graduate degree from Harvard University.

He served as an army combat veteran who served in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

He was decorated with two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman's Badge.

He went on to become a host at FOX News for eight years.

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Cape Town, Jan 14 (IANS) Technical meetings under the Group of 20 (G20) Finance Track began this week with the first Framework Working Group (FWG) meeting, the South African Government News Agency reported on Tuesday.

The virtual FWG meeting, held from Monday to Tuesday, followed South Africa's assumption of the G20 presidency, marked by the first G20 Sherpa and Finance Track meetings in December 2024.

According to the report, Monday's session focused on major global growth headwinds, ongoing supply and demand risks to inflation, and main fiscal challenges. Delegates also assessed Africa's economic outlook. On Tuesday, discussions centered on the draft FWG work plan for 2025.

This meeting is the first of four FWG sessions scheduled for 2025. "The remaining three meetings for this working group are scheduled for April, June, and September, in person, in venues across the country," said the report.

South Africa's National Treasury and Reserve Bank are jointly overseeing the G20 Finance Track, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The mandate of the FWG is to promote strong, sustainable, balanced, and inclusive growth, and does so by identifying, monitoring, and assessing global macroeconomic risks, vulnerabilities, and uncertainties, and recommending suitable policy responses to global shocks and cross-cutting global challenges," according to a statement by the National Treasury.

The G20 Leaders' Summit is expected to be held in Johannesburg, the largest city and economic hub of South Africa, in November 2025.

Last month, while addressing the first G20 Sherpas Meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa's Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Raymond Lamola outlined the host country's agenda to advance shared global goals through key priorities.

In his address, Lamola highlighted the theme of South Africa's presidency, 'Solidarity, Equality, and Sustainability', and emphasised key objectives such as bolstering disaster resilience, addressing debt challenges faced by low-income countries, and mobilizing resources for a just energy transition.

"We will address these challenges through our high-level deliverables and priorities, which lie at the core of the original G20 mandate of promoting strong, sustainable, balanced, and inclusive growth and by building partnerships across all sectors of society to find collective solutions," he said.

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