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Argentina

Economic Activity Index -3.2% yoy in February vs. -6.0% consensus and -4.0% prior.

Economic Activity Index -0.2% mom in February vs. -0.8% mom prior.

Budget Balance ARS 625.0bn in March vs. ARS 1232.5bn prior.

Consumer Confidence Index 37.2 in April vs. 36.7 prior.

GLA

Little Den doubles down on the marketing...

Just released https://twitter.com/CooperationCG/status/1784957195370504211

.."Minister Denis

@ChristelSassou

Nguesso was also invited to share his vision on how the public and private sectors of the Republic of Congo can capitalize on this new era of trade and investment between Africa and the countries of the CCG. The minister took this opportunity to present the assets of the Republic of Congo, specify the reforms undertaken to create an environment conducive to business as well as the current and future measures to guarantee the security of foreign investments. He further indicated that the Congo is committed to carrying out other major actions aimed at promoting economic growth through the development of key sectors such as agriculture, industry, tourism, digital, special economic zones, etc..."

Meanwhile, BrazzaNews relays a report of ongoing brownouts in the capital, Brazzaville...

https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20240428-congo-brazzaville-cinq-jours-sans-%C3%A9lectricit%C3%A9-dans-la-capitale?

.."Just beyond the Centre national de radio et de télévision (CNRTV), all the districts of the capital of Congo-Brazzaville have become ghost zones by nightfall. You can't see any lights, like in this busy bakery, where making bread is no longer easy. Darel is one of the managers of this business: ‘For five days in a row we've had no power, and that's been difficult for us. Yesterday, we couldn't work for lack of electricity. And the generator consumes too much diesel compared to our profits, so it didn't work", he lamented.

Darel laments the fact that he cannot meet the demand of consumers who have run out of bread: ‘There is no bread in the district and people are condemned to starvation. It's really unfortunate", he added.

To cope with the lack of electricity, some businesses and shops are using generators, whose deafening noise is unbearable, as in front of this night pharmacy where sellers and buyers no longer know which way to turn: ‘If there are excessive power cuts, it's because the network has aged. There will always be an electricity problem in Brazzaville because the network hasn't been overhauled yet,’ they complain.

Fire

The company Énergie électrique du Congo explains the current situation by the destruction by fire of unknown origin of the high-voltage substation supplying the northern zone of Brazzaville. The scarcity of electricity is compounded by the lack of water. Water is flowing intermittently during this period of intense heat..."

Not the best of backdrops to your marketing, I'd say.

GLA

Apols for the somewhat O/T , but it IS the weekend.

It may be cold comfort for SRT investors, but we're not alone in being caught up in domestic Philippine politics, where this time it seems ideology, rather than financial gain, is frustrating a public good that would benefit the poor.

It concerns the recent prohibition on Golden Rice, a genetically-engineered rice that can materially reduce blindness in children caused by Vitamin A deficiency.

The case FOR is here :

hxxps://www.nnc.gov.ph/regional-offices/mindanao/region-ix-zamboanga-peninsula/5767-golden-rice-a-staple-food-with-precious-benefits

The background is here :

hxxps://geneticliteracyproject.org/2019/11/08/golden-rice-the-gmo-crop-loved-by-humanitarians-opposed-by-greenpeace/

"Note that because the two academic scientists who developed the original Golden Rice stipulated that it be made available to poor farmers for free Syngenta, or any other corporation, does not own the intellectual property in developing countries and therefore cannot charge royalties. According to IRRI (the International Rice Research Institute) the terms of the licenses in place in the Philippines and elsewhere ensure that Golden Rice varieties will cost no more than their conventional equivalents. This means that farmers will be able to save and replant Golden Rice seeds."

The benefits are clear :

.."Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is one of the most important issues in terms of global public health, according to the World Health Organization. It is a leading cause of childhood blindness in the developing world, and weakens the immune system, increasing vulnerability to illnesses such as measles, respiratory infections and diarrhea, often leading to death.

The condition affects more than 140 million pre-school children in 118 nations, and more than seven million pregnant women. UNICEF estimates that 1.15 million child deaths are precipitated by vitamin A deficiency each year..."

The recent judgment by the Court of Appeals - to put a moratorium on the use of Golden Rice- is applauded by Greenpeace in these terms

ttps://www.greenpeace.org/philippines/press/63501/greenpeace-statement-on-peoples-win-against-genetically-modified-rice/

.."We reiterate our stance: the involved companies and agencies have yet to show concrete evidence that these crops would be in the best interest of Filipinos, our environment, and our agricultural sector..."

It's not quite clear who benefits from this verdict - apart from being a 'win' for Greenpeace's worldview, which seems to be that 'the environment' matters more than the people (witness its IMO equally irrational stance against nuclear energy, even more bizarre considering its potential as a transition contributor to 'net zero').

This is all sadly redolent of the apocryphal comment after the My Lai massacre in VietNam in 1968

'In order to save them [Ed.: from Communism] we had to kill them'.

Shame on you, Greenpeace!

Rant over.

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