A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 has struck central Morocco, killing at least 296 people, BBC News reported.
According to the country’s interior ministry, people died in Marrakech and several areas to the south. “According to a preliminary report, the earthquake killed 296 people in the provinces and municipalities of Al-House, Marrakech, Ouarzazate, Azilal, Chichaoua and Taroudant,” the statement said, adding that 153 people were injured and hospitalized.
According to the US Geological Survey, the epicenter was in the High Atlas Mountains, 71 km (44 miles) southwest of Marrakech, at a depth of 18.5 km. The earthquake struck at 23:11 local time (22:11 GMT). A 4.9 magnitude aftershock occurred 19 minutes later.
In several videos on the network X (Twitter) shows how buildings collapsed, but their location could not be determined, writes BBC News. It is reported that local residents have decided to stay out of their homes in case the powerful tremors are repeated.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Foreign Moroccan Affairs Nassera Bourita during a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba in Rabat confirmed Morocco’s intention to resume the work of the embassy in Kiev.
According to the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Kuleba invited his Moroccan colleague to visit Ukraine.
Following the talks, the ministers signed a memorandum of cooperation between the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine named after Gennady Udovenko at the Foreign Ministry and the Moroccan Diplomatic Academy at the Moroccan Foreign Ministry.
“Since my first tour of Africa, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has conducted trainings for more than 200 African diplomats from 16 countries. It was the first attempt of its kind and a huge success story. We have agreed to develop a unique course for Morocco where we will share our experience in Ukrainian military diplomacy, strategic communications, fighting fakes and propaganda, and public diplomacy. This will be our practical contribution to strengthening the sustainability of the countries of the African continent,” the Ukrainian minister concluded.
Kuleba made the first visit of the Ukrainian Foreign Minister to Morocco since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992.
As reported, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister began his second tour of Africa.
On March 28, 2023 the Henley & Partners company provided the annual report on prosperity of Africa.
According to the Africa Wealth Report 2023, published by Henley & Partners in partnership with New World Wealth, the total amount of private wealth currently owned by individuals on the African continent is USD 2.4 trillion. This figure is expected to rise by 42% over the next 10 years.
South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya and Morocco are the “big five” in terms of concentration of private capital, together they account for 56% of all wealthy people (HNWI) of the continent and more than 90% of its billionaires. There are currently 138,000 HNWIs in Africa with a personal net worth of USD 1 million or more, as well as 328 cent-millionaires with a net worth of USD 100 million or more, and 23 dollar billionaires.
Despite a challenging past decade, South Africa still has at least twice as many wealthy people as any other African country and 30% of the continent’s cent-millionaires. Egypt leads in the number of billionaires, while Mauritius boasts the highest wealth per capita in Africa at USD 37,500, followed by South Africa at USD 10,880 and Namibia at USD 10,050.
The fastest growing markets in the world
Andrew Amolis, head of research at New World Wealth, notes: “Africa is home to some of the fastest growing markets in the world, including Rwanda, Mauritius and the Seychelles, where wealth growth has been 72%, 69% and 54% respectively over the past decade.” Mauritius is expected to show strong private capital growth of 75% over the next decade (until 2032). This would make it the fourth fastest growing country in the world for the period in terms of millionaire growth, behind Vietnam, India and New Zealand.
richest cities in africa
4 of the 10 richest cities in Africa are in South Africa: Johannesburg has the largest number of millionaires in Africa (14,600), Cairo is in second place with 7,400 ultra-wealthy residents, followed by Cape Town (7,200). Lagos (5,400) is fourth, Nairobi (4,700) is fifth. Two other South African cities, Durban (3600) and Pretoria (2400), are ranked sixth and eighth respectively.
Namibia – the new star of Africa
Namibia is predicted to become one of Africa’s fastest growing markets, with the ultra-rich projected to grow by more than 60% by 2032. By December 2022, the country’s total investment wealth was USD 26 billion, and the number of dollar millionaires was 2,100 people. Launched in March 2023, the Residential Residency (RP) offer by investment could attract even more wealthy investors from around the world.
Investment migration is an innovative financial instrument
Dominique Volek, head of private banking at Henley & Partners, notes that more and more African countries are aiming to attract wealthy people through the provision of residence permits and citizenship by investment. These direct investments have the potential to seriously transform the economy: “As wealth grows on the continent and countries realize the benefits of promoting economic progress, we expect investment migration in Africa to continue to gain momentum in the coming years. This applies not only to demand in the domestic market on the part of investors from African countries, but also on the supply side. More and more African countries are looking to launch their own investment migration programs to increase the influx of both capital and talent.”
About the Africa Wealth Report 2023
The Africa Wealth Report 2023 is published annually by Henley & Partners in association with South African think tank New World Wealth. The study provides a comprehensive analysis of private equity across the continent, including trends in high net worth consumption, the luxury market and wealth management in Africa.
For more than a decade, New World Wealth has been tracking the wealth movements and buying habits of the world’s richest people. The firm’s research covers 90 countries and 150 cities around the world. It uses a model to determine wealth levels in each country with key wealth parameters from HNWIs own database of over 150,000 contacts, stock market and real estate statistics, and household income, savings and debt statistics in each market. The New World Wealth model also displays the historical growth trends of wealth in each country, taking into account fluctuations in the exchange rate against the US dollar, as well as movements in the stock market and real estate prices.
Read the report
On Friday, 12 bulk carriers with corn, wheat, soybeans and sunflower meal left Ukrainian ports, the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) reports.
“On January 13, twelve vessels left Ukrainian ports, they are transporting a total of 346,356 tonnes of grain and other food within the framework of the Black Sea grain initiative,” the report says.
Two bulk carriers Cuma (70,799 tonnes of corn) and Georgia T (61,252 tonnes of sunflower meal) are heading to China, two vessels Solar (37,205 tonnes of wheat) and Bosphorus King (25,000 tonnes of corn) are heading to Italy. Two more bulk carriers Rio (8,500 tonnes of wheat) and Umit G (4,300 tonnes of wheat) headed for Greece.
The vessel Papua will deliver 29,300 tonnes of soybeans to the Netherlands, the vessel Cape Scott – 28,000 tonnes of corn to Portugal, the vessel New Faith – 26,500 tonnes of corn to Spain.
In addition, two vessels Garnet (33,000 tonnes of corn) and Muzaffer Ana (11,500 tonnes of soybeans) went to Turkey. Lady Hatice will ship 11,000 tonnes of sunflower meal to Morocco.
Five vessels are also being sent to the ports of Ukraine, which passed through the humanitarian corridor on Friday.
The JCC reported that “79 applications for participation in the initiative were submitted.” Ten vessels are awaiting permission to enter the ports of Ukraine, 14 loaded vessels are awaiting departure to their destinations.
“As of January 13, the total tonnage of grain and other agricultural products exported from three Ukrainian ports is 17.3 million tonnes. A total of 1,286 vessels have been allowed to move at the moment: 639 to arrive at Ukrainian ports and 647 to exit them,” the JCC summed up.
Ukrainian ports from December 20 to 29 left 41 vessels with almost 1.6 million tons of food, the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) reports.
“From December 20 to 28, 38 vessels left Ukrainian ports, they transported a total of 1,552,879 tons of grain and other foodstuffs within the framework of the Black Sea grain initiative,” the report said.
It is noted that on December, 29 three dry cargo vessels with 42,070 tons of food left Ukrainian ports.
Two vessels New Victory (23.5 tons of barley) and Panjali Teymurov (3.3 thousand tons of vegetable oil and 2 970 tons of soybean oil) went to Tunisia. Aileen dry cargo ship will deliver 12.3 thousand tons of sunflower meal to Morocco.
SKZ reported that “61 applications for participation in the initiative have been submitted.
In addition, 10 vessels are waiting for permission to enter Ukrainian ports, 31 loaded vessels are waiting for departure to their destinations.
“As of December 29, the total tonnage of grain and other agricultural products exported from the three Ukrainian ports is 15,959,660 tons. A total of 1,206 vessels have been permitted to move so far: 597 to arrive at Ukrainian ports and 609 to leave them,” the JCC summarized.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba had a conversation with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Burita.
“Ukraine and Morocco maintain friendly bilateral relations, and we look forward to their further strengthening in all areas, including food security, trade expansion and cooperation within international organizations,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter.
As reported, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday, March 31, signed a decree by which he recalled the Ukrainian ambassador to Morocco.
“There are those who work together with everyone for the defense of the state. In order for Ukraine to win back its future. We appreciate the work of each such person. And there are those who waste time just to remain in office. Today I signed a decree to recall such a person, to recall such an ambassador from Morocco,” the president said.
