The sound of gunfire has returned to the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Fresh fighting has erupted on Friday between government forces and the M23 rebels.
UN forces were also on the move heading towards the front line.
The fighting prompted many locals to flee.
“We saw Tutsis (referring to M23 rebels allegedly supported by Rwanda, Ed.) had arrived where we live in Ngugo and after that we heard gunfire and then we fled. It was very, very hard to bear”, said Faida Chantal Nsumba, a displaced person from Ngugo.
The displaced people say that they are now facing the prospect of hunger in the camps where they will stay as they wait for the fighting to subside.
“There was loads of shooting in our area and that created total panic. Now we are here we are suffering from hunger. There’s nothing to eat and we left others and kids back there”, added Nshiyimana Kwako, another displaced person.
According to the United Nations nearly 40,000 Congolese have been forced to flee in just one week.
“There are 5.2 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in Tigray; that number includes 3.8 million people who are in need of health assistance and we need to reach these people,” said Ilham Abdelhai Nour, World Health Organization Team Lead for Ethiopia, Incident Management System and Emergencies Operations.
‘No access to Tigray’
“We have access in Amhara and Afar, so we know more about the situation there and we were able to intervene and support,” Ms. Nour said, referring to the regions bordering Tigray.
“However, we do not have access in Tigray; there is no air or road access in Tigray for the last six weeks.”
Malaria spike
According to WHO, malaria infections have risen by a full 80 per cent in Tigray and by 40 per cent in neighbouring Amhara compared to last year – although cases are decreasing in Amhara.
But malaria is just one of the deadly threats facing millions of people affected by the conflict and humanitarian agencies have issued repeated alerts on their behalf, since fighting between federal troops and separatists in Tigray erupted in November 2020.
Providing help in Tigray is difficult, as more than half of the region’s health facilities are closed, leaving people untreated for trauma and injuries, food insecurity and malnutrition, sexual and gender-based violence, communicable diseases such as malaria and cholera, as well as reduced access to treatment for non-communicable diseases and maternal and child health services.
Earlier this month, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, reported that civilians waiting to receive much-needed humanitarian assistance came under fire.
It also warned that newly displaced people in Tigray’s Zelazele were “in a dire situation with the vast majority sleeping in open areas directly exposed to cold weather and other protection risks”.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus – himself an ethnic Tigrayan – has echoed widespread concerns about the crisis several times, including last week, when he warned that there was only a “very narrow window” to prevent genocide there.
Despite the physical and telecommunications access barriers faced by aid teams working in Tigray, enough regular updates have emerged from the region – sometimes delivered by hand to WHO – to warrant Friday’s alert, the UN agency insisted.
Mothers bring their children to be treated for malnutrition at a displaced persons camp in Tigray, Ethiopia.
Food shortages
Citing UN World Food Programme (WFP) data, WHO noted that in Amhara and Afar, 19 per cent and 14 per cent of mainly displaced children under five were now food insecure, while in Tigray, “a staggering” 89 per cent of the population is food insecure and nearly half are severely food insecure.
“Almost one in every three children under five in Tigray is malnourished,” said Altaf Musani, Director of the Health Emergencies Interventions, speaking in Geneva. “Severe acute malnutrition among children in the region is six per cent, 65 per cent of children have not received nutritional support in over a year.”
Highlighting the clear link between malnutrition and disease, Mr. Musani described how basic health services had been cut. Understanding the true scale of needs has also been complicated by the fact that only 30 per cent of health facilities in Tigray are still able to provide weekly situation reports to WHO.
Key jabs stopped
“Immunisation services (are) a lifeline to children to keep them alive; those services have stopped,” Mr. Musani said. “We know that there are confirmed reports of stockouts, IV fluids, antibiotics other treatment medicines don’t exist in those facilities, we’ve had first-hand reports of that information.”
As peace talks between the combatants began this week in South Africa, Tigrayan communities urgently need guaranteed and safe access to provide lifesaving assistance, WHO insisted.
“Access was intermittent between March and August and during the humanitarian truce (in Afar, Amhara and Tigray) we were able to bring in, not a lot, but really a small quantity that covers really a small amount of the needs there, said Ms. Nour.
“We were also able to support essential services in Tigray, support the measles campaign there, but we were unable to distribute supplies very quickly because of little cash and fuel. We were unable to undertake malaria prevention activities because of the same reasons; we were not able to extend the COVID-19 vaccination campaign beyond the capital Mekelle, so we have a huge issue of access there.”
The alert comes amid the worst floods in a decade, which have swept across Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Cameroon.
UNHCR spokesperson Olga Sarrado said that hundreds of people had died in Nigeria, where floodwaters in the northeast swept through sites for internally displaced people and host communities in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe States.
Crisis, is now
Ms. Sarrado added that temperatures in the Sahel are also rising 1.5 times faster than the global average:
“The climate crisis is happening now – destroying livelihoods, disrupting food security, aggravating conflicts over scarce resources and driving displacement.”
More than 1.3 million people have been displaced so far in Nigeria and 2.8 million have been impacted by flooding, with farmlands and roads submerged.
In Central Sahel countries – Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso – above-average rains and flooding have killed hundreds, displaced thousands, and decimated over one million hectares of cropland.
“Countries and communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis need urgent support and financing to build defences, to adapt, and to minimize the most harmful consequences.”
‘Dangerously’ underfunded
To help those most in need in West and Central Africa, UNHCR appealed to all donors for urgent support, as its humanitarian operations are “dangerously and chronically underfunded”.
“In Chad, only 43 per cent of the funds UNHCR needs in 2022 have been received. Our 2022 operations in Burkina Faso are just 42 per cent funded. With less than two months left, we have received 39 per cent of the funds needed in Nigeria and 53 percent in Niger,” Ms. Sarrado said.
Worst in 40 years
Beyond the Sahel, she reminded that we are witnessing the worst drought in 40 years and the threat of famine in the Horn of Africa, a devastating cyclone season in Mozambique, and historic floods for a fourth consecutive year in South Sudan and Sudan.
“Extreme weather across the African continent in 2022 has killed hundreds and forced millions to flee their homes”, she told journalists.
The Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) program is a flagship African Development Bank initiative. The zones bring together the production, processing, storage, transport, and marketing of commodities – including cotton and maize. This will increase productivity and competitiveness and reduce logistics costs.
The program has four broad components: support for the development of enabling climate-adapted infrastructure for agro-industrial hubs; improving agricultural productivity and enterprise development to enhance value chains and job creation in the SAPZ catchment areas; supporting agro-industrial zone policy and institutional development, and program coordination and management.
The African Development Bank is developing SAPZs in 18 African countries. Among the projects under implementation, there is one each in Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Madagascar, Senegal, and Togo, and four in Ethiopia.
The SAPZ program in Nigeria is the largest, both in scale and scope. Phase 1 is being implemented over five years, beginning in 2022. This is in seven states: Cross River (cocoa, rice, and cassava); Imo (beef and dairy livestock); Kaduna (tomato, maize, and ginger); Kano (rice, tomato, groundnuts, and sesame oil); Kwara (livestock), Ogun (cassava, rice, poultry, and fisheries); and Oyo (cassava, soybean, rice). It is also being rolled out in the country’s Abuja Federal Capital Territory (beef and dairy livestock). The program will later be rolled out in more states. States participating in the first phase were chosen based on readiness and to achieve a balance across Nigeria’s six geo-political zones.
The project areas cover 19% of Nigeria’s land mass and 50.4 million of the country’s population. Key expected outputs of the first phase are infrastructure development for eight agro-industrial processing hubs and fifteen agricultural transformation centers. Phase one connects 2,300 hectares of irrigated land and farms to market access roads. There will be a supply of certified agricultural inputs and extension services. Other phase 1 outputs will be skills development for farmers and micro, small- and medium-scale enterprises and an updated agro-industrial zone policy with a special regulatory regime.
The African Development Bank and key development partners are co-financing the first phase for a value of $538.05 million. The African Development Bank is providing $210 million. The Islamic Development Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development are jointly contributing $310 million. The Nigerian government is providing $18.05 million.
Given Nigeria’s enormous potential for agriculture, the SAPZ program will help strengthen the country’s agricultural supply chain. It supports sustainable agro-industrial development and unlocks the country’s agriculture sector to promote industrialization by developing value chains for strategic livestock and crops, including rice, cassava, and tomatoes.
The program will enhance the competitiveness of key selected value chains. It will achieve this through increased production, aggregation, and processing activities driven by private-sector investments.
About 1.5 million households are expected to benefit directly throughout the agricultural value chain. This includes private agribusinesses, agro-processors, smallholder farmers, agripreneurs, and agro-dealers. SAPZs will create at least 400,000 direct jobs, and a further 1.6 million indirect jobs during construction and the operational phase. Micro, small, and medium enterprises, including factories, along the value chain will create most of the jobs, along with tenant industries in the agro-industrial hubs.
Additional Information:
Special zones have proven to be successful models for economic transformation. For instance, the ARISE IIP business is operating the successful $1 billion forestry-based Nkok special economic zone in Gabon, with over 100 international investors in the zone, having invested over $1.7 billion (not funded by the African Development Bank).
Ethiopia has 24 industrial parks. The African Development Bank is supporting a few agro-industrial zones there.
There are also zones in Nigeria that have been productive, including the Ogun-Guandong Free Trade Zone in Igbesa (OGFTZ) Ogun State. This free zone places a lot of emphasis on the processing and manufacturing sectors. The three main industries are ceramics production, manufacturing of lightweight items, and furniture production. The OGFTZ is concentrating on growing its presence in the engineering, marketing, and trade sectors in the long run.
The SAPZ is distinctive in that it concentrates on agricultural products in peri-urban areas to create many jobs for youth, lowering rural poverty and insecurity, and promoting rural industrialization. Source African Development Bank Group
Diamond tycoon and political maverick Sam Matekane on Friday took the oath as Lesotho’s new prime minister at a packed soccer stadium in the southern African kingdom’s capital of Maseru.
The 64-year-old political novice, who arrived at his inauguration ceremony in a light gold, convertible Rolls Royce, vowed to scale back on government spending as well as publish a lifestyle audit of himself and his incoming cabinet members.
In his maiden speech, he said his stepping into office “represents a social contract in which I promise to make Lesotho great again”.
The pro-business leader who will lead one of the poorest countries in the world, said he will be picking up the pieces of a country that has been in recession since 2017.
Matekane said the “inability of the private sector to play its part in creating employment” has strained the public sector.
“Yet…the public sector itself does not have a dependable income, a situation which is likely to get worse”.
He promised to curb graft and to “reform a public service to make it more efficient, transparent, accountable and effective”.
“We have to uproot corruption and stop a rampant embezzlement of the public funds,” Matekane said”.
In an interview with AFP before the elections, Matekane said he hoped to turn things around, bringing his business skills to the government to relaunch the economy and tackle public debt and unemployment.
Thousands of citizens shielding themselves with colourful umbrellas to avoid the scorching sun welcomed their new prime minister singing hymns and blowing horns – commonly known as vuvuzelas in neighbouring South Africa.
The Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) leader becomes Lesotho’s tenth prime minister after his party won 56 legislative seats out of 120 after the October 7 polls – just six months after its inception.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, whose country completely surrounds Lesotho, was one of the regional leaders attending the ceremony in the mountainous kingdom.
“The strong bond of our two nations are founded on family ties, shared language, history…our pasts are inseparable and our futures are also intertwined” Ramaphosa said in his congratulatory speech.
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema, himself a succesful businessman who won a historic election last year, was in attendance.
Abuja-based telemedicine provider Mobihealthcare Limited has received grant funding from the United States Trade and Development Agency. The funding will support the provider of telehealth services to assess the feasibility of expansion beyond Nigeria into Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya and Egypt. The company was one of 40 presented to investors during a series of virtual investment meetings organized by the Africa Investment Forum in March 2022.
Telemedicine entails diagnosing and finding solutions to medical problems via remote consultation with a healthcare provider.
Citing this development as tangible evidence of the power of the Africa Investment Forum platform, Senior Director said that such strategic partnerships are critical as AIF increases the proportion of innovative deals that are women-led, and women impactful.
The announcement marks an important milestone for Mobihealth, the Nigerian subsidiary of UK- based Mobihealth International Ltd, which first rolled out its services in 2020. The grant is expected to advance Mobihealth’s goal of reaching and treating at least one million patients within ten years.
Founded in 2017 by Funmi Adewara, a Nigerian-British doctor and entrepreneur, Mobihealth Ltd provides telehealth consultations in Nigeria via smartphone app, voice call, and web browser.
Mobihealth has set up telehealth kiosks on the premises of corporations, schools and churches that provide 24/7 access to local and international medical experts and remote diagnostic tools. Other offerings include an electronic medical record platform for hospitals and clinics, and Covid-19 and other diagnostic testing services.
‘The USTDA grant comes at an opportune time and will enable us to expand the scope of our integrated telehealth, EMR and digitalization services over the next few years. African female entrepreneurs find it much harder to raise funds, so this support from the USTDA, made possible through the Africa Investment Forum’s unique ability to attract investors to close Africa’s investment gaps, will be invaluable,” said Adewara.
The financing also affirms the critical role of the Africa Investment Forum as a marketplace for transactions that close Africa’s investment gaps. In March 2022, Mobihealth featured in a virtual boardroom session as part of its efforts to raise $67 million to finance a strategy that includes establishing an integrated, proprietary telemedicine platform. The company plans to roll out what it calls multi-diagnostic virtual health centers incorporating virtual reality technology in the five target countries. Mobihealth is also looking to acquire new customers, and forge partnerships with healthcare providers.
Chinelo Anohu, Senior Director of the Africa Investment Forum, said, “We are delighted to have curated this deal and to support Mobihealth as it aims to extend its telehealth services from Nigeria, where it has an established presence, to underserved populations across the continent. Given increasing connectivity and growing investment in the health technology sector, we are encouraged that this USTDA-funded study will enable Mobihealth to offer telehealth solutions that can be accessed in multiple ways across the continent. We look forward to continuing to connect Africa to investors from around the world.”
Affordable, simple telehealth solutions offer a potentially dramatic increase in access to healthcare services, with particular benefits for rural dwellers in many parts of the world, including Africa.
In addition to sourcing transactions that offer a strong return on investment, the Africa Investment Forum prioritizes projects that benefit livelihoods across the continent, such as access to electricity, transport, infrastructure, and health care. The Africa Investment Forum also promotes sectors where Africa has a comparative advantage, such as creative industries, music, film, textiles, and sports.
Projects across these sectors and more will feature at the Africa Investment Forum 2022 Market Days event that will take place in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, from 2 to 4 November.
Market Days 2022 will bring together investors, deal sponsors, and government ministers from across the world to advance transactions that have been prepared for investment-to-investment closure.
Since its inception in 2018, the Africa Investment Forum platform has mobilized investment interests in excess of $100 billion.
The platform is an initiative of the African Development Bank and seven other development institutions: Africa 50; the Africa Finance Corporation; the African Export-Import Bank; the Development Bank of Southern Africa; the Trade and Development Bank; the European Investment Bank; and the Islamic Development Bank.
In November 2021, the Africa Investment Forum signed a memorandum of outstanding with USTDA to support high-quality infrastructure solutions for sub-Saharan Africa. The pact draws on the Africa Investment Forum’s capacity to mobilize capital and USTDA’s focus on assuring the bankability of deals. It has already led to a mutually beneficial collaboration to advance sustainable infrastructure projects that support Africa’s long-term growth, as the two organizations share their deal pipelines. Source African Development Bank Group
Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Africa Investment Forum, a marketplace for transactions that close Africa’s investment gaps, has channeled investments to projects that address the continent’s biggest healthcare challenges – building quality healthcare infrastructure; developing the continent’s pharmaceutical industry; and increasing the capacity of vaccine manufacturing.
These priorities were outlined by African Development Bank president Dr Akinwumi Adesina earlier this year, when he warned at an African Union summit that “Africa cannot afford to outsource the healthcare security of its 1.4 billion citizens to the benevolence of others.”
In March 2022, the Africa Investment Forum brought together investors, deal sponsors and government ministers for virtual Boardroom meetings to advance transactions that had been prepared for closure.
Five of those boardroom transactions, with a value of $484 million, were healthcare projects spanning virtually all regions of the continent. They included two specialist hospitals, a multinational health fund, a pharmaceutical and biomed industrial hub, and a mobile telemedicine project.
These projects demonstrate the breadth of opportunity available in what is expected to be a fast-growing sector over the next decades. They also showcase the Africa Investment Forum’s power as a connector of Africa to investors from around the world.
Mobihealth, the telehealth provider mentioned earlier sets up kiosks on the premises of corporations, schools and churches that provide 24/7 access to local and international medical experts and remote diagnostic tools. It plans to integrate virtual reality in the service of medical diagnostics. The company is seeking $67 million to drive its target of reaching and treating at least one million patients within ten years. It will achieve this by rolling out services in several new countries in East and North Africa.
Given that there are around 0.4 trained doctors for every 1000 people sub-Saharan Africans, and even fewer in rural parts of the continent, telemedicine offers a promising solution that can cut the likelihood that serious illnesses will progress unchecked and also create skilled jobs. Rising rates of smartphone adoption are expected to expand the customer base for these services.
The onset of Covid-19—and the vaccine inequality that followed – also underscored the importance of improving preventive care in Africa, the continent with the highest disease burden.
In February 2022 The World Health Organization announced that Kenya, Senegal, Tunisia, South Africa, Egypt, and Nigeria would be the pioneering participants in its mRNA technology transfer hub initiative. An mRNA vaccine is a type of vaccine that uses a copy of a molecule called messenger RNA (mRNA) to produce an immune response.
The WHO’s initiative paved the way for the manufacture and licensing of a range of pharmaceuticals in these six countries.
Among the transformational Boardroom transactions that exemplifies the opportunities, is the construction of an $80 million industrial pharmaceutical and biomedical hub to meet the vaccine needs of the West Africa region, and perhaps beyond. The plan includes the integration of several components: industrial production of drugs and related activities; a logistics platform; a pharmaceutical research & development zone; and a university centre focused on pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences.
Another project points to a growing health threat. Cancer rates are expected to double in Africa during the next two decades, according to study by an American university. The project is for the development of a $140 million specialist oncology hospital serving the southern Africa region. It will provide 30-day beds, 30 adult medical oncology beds, 30 adult and 10 paediatric and medical oncology beds and another 50 beds for those in physical rehabilitation.
The Africa Investment Forum’s 2022 Market Days will present these and many other transactions to investors from around the world. Market Days is taking place from 2nd to 4th November in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
In addition to health care transactions, the event will feature deals in the energy, transport, infrastructure and agribusiness sectors. Market Days will also promote opportunities in industries where Africa has a comparative advantage such as music, film and textiles, as well as transactions that offer considerable benefit to women.
The deals will be sourced from the investment pipelines of the eight founding partners of the platform. They are: the African Development Bank, Africa50; the Africa Finance Corporation; the African Export-Import Bank; the Development Bank of Southern Africa; the Trade and Development Bank; the European Investment Bank; and the Islamic Development Bank.
Since its inception in 2018, the Africa Investment Forum platform has mobilised investment interests in excess of $100 billion. Source African Development Bank Group
A “first” in Kenya: police officers are being prosecuted for “crimes against humanity,” including the murder of a baby, during post-election violence in 2017, the prosecutor announced Friday, denouncing “systematic attacks on the civilian population.”
The Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights had documented 94 deaths, 201 cases of sexual violence and more than 300 injuries, attributed mainly to law enforcement.
A six-month-old baby, Samantha Pendo, was beaten by police following a raid in Kisumu, in the west of the country.
“Investigations have established that police officers may be responsible for the killing” of a baby and “other serious human rights violations,” according to the statement from the prosecutor’s office, which did not specify the identity or number of people targeted.
“The attacks were planned, coordinated and not random,” it said, referring to “murder, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence against civilians.
According to the prosecutor’s office, these are “the first cases of crimes against humanity charged under Kenyan law.
The new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk welcomed the decision of the Kenyan judicial authorities, saying it is an “important step towards accountability for gross human rights violations in Kenya” after the 2017 post-election violence.
Dismantling
In 2017, incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner of the election, but his main opponent, Raila Odinga, pointed to fraud and challenged the results.
Demonstrations by Odinga’s supporters were suppressed by the police.
The prosecutor’s office said the delay in the investigation was due in part to “the complexity of the offences.
Kenyan President William Ruto, who was elected in August, announced on October 16 the dismantling of the dreaded Special Services Unit (SSU), a 20-year-old police unit under fire for enforced disappearances and killings. The head of state also promised an overhaul of the police.
“We can effectively suppress crime, monitor, disrupt and apprehend criminals without abducting, torturing, killing or disappearing citizens,” Ruto said.
On October 24, four police officers, members of the SSU, were charged with the disappearance of three men, whose bodies were never found.
The Kenyan police have been accused in the past of running hit squads targeting people investigating alleged human rights violations by the security services, including lawyers.
According to Missing Voices, an organization that campaigns against extrajudicial killings in Kenya, 1,264 people have died at the hands of law enforcement since it began collecting data in 2007.
Few investigations into these disappearances have resulted in convictions.
“Nearly four million left Russia in the first three months of 2022,” reads a post on Aljazeera. It is also estimated that over seven million refugees fleeing Ukraine are scattered across Europe. In this post, we discuss the massive exodus affecting both countries as a direct result of the ongoing conflict.
Ukraine’s Brain Drain
Movement from Russia is making the most headlines. Still, we cannot ignore the millions of Ukrainians fleeing the country. As stated at the beginning of this post, the numbers are worse in Ukraine than in Russia. Still, Russia is losing more elites, as you will see towards the end.
An estimated 7.4 million Ukrainian refugees have been recorded in Europe alone. The BBC approximates that 12 million Ukrainians have fled their homes since the invasion. Where are they going? That would be Russia, Poland, Moldova, Slovakia, Romania, Belarus, and Hungary. That’s right: some are crossing the border to Russia, especially from Luhansk and Donetsk regions, dominated by pro-Russian separatist forces at the time of writing.
Understandably, most of the workforce leaving Ukraine is unemployed, with reports showing that almost 5 million jobs have been lost so far. The Ukrainian economy has been severely impacted, too, pushing more people to leave in search of greener pastures.
The IT employee market is one of the most hit, with estimates from the IT Ukraine Association suggesting that at least 16 percent of the workforce, primarily women, have relocated outside the country.
The Ukrainian Government has tried to strengthen the national social protection system by providing benefits through digital technologies. Such efforts may have contributed to border crossings back to the country. Reports show that over 2.5 million Ukrainians have returned to the country since the war started. However, we don’t know if they are returning to stay permanently or whether there is a pendulum effect.
Russia’s Brain Drain
You’d think Ukraine, being invaded, would be the one to lose all the workers as they flee from uncertainty and insecurity. However, Russia is also taking a big hit, with reports suggesting movement by the millions.
Most of the workforce leaving is composed of IT specialists, journalists, researchers, and analysts. The IT industry is the worst hit, probably due to the abundance of a tech-savvy workforce increasingly working remotely. Aljazeera suggests that at least 70,000 IT professionals have bolted the country since the beginning of the “special operation” in Ukraine.
Moreover, it doesn’t help that over 1,000 companies have already boycotted the country, some taking their workers with them, leading to a massive loss of revenue. For instance, the big companies, such as American Express, IKEA, Adidas, PwC and Amazon Web Services, have already left with most of their employees and services previously offered. We’ve also seen top online casinos and other gaming operators terminate their operations in the country and make statements opposing the war on Ukraine.
Understandably, most of these companies left to either show their position concerning the conflict or maintain a good image. The big question, however, is why Russian citizens would ditch their country.
Among the reasons for leaving that have come up so far is the search for better opportunities now that many businesses have shut down operations in Russia. Multiple organisations, such as sports federations, have also banned Russia from participating in international events, which may have further shrunk opportunities of Russian citizens. There are those, too, who have left as a show of rebellion against the invasion of Ukraine.
In a post on BBC, a 23-year-old political science graduate says he emigrated from Russia to act against the regime. He adds that he had a responsibility to show support for Ukrainians. In the same post, BBC reported estimates from a Russian economist that put the number of Russians who had left the country at 200,000, but that was early 2022 — the numbers have grown exponentially since then.
One Country’s Loss Is Another Country’s Gain
You must wonder where all these people are going and who’s benefiting from the new workforce supply. Firstly, we must point out that Europe suffers a considerable shortage of tech specialists, with projections suggesting a skill deficit of about 1 million people up to 2025.
Secondly, Ukraine and Russia are primed for poaching, especially in the tech industry. Coursera’s 2020 Global Skills Index report showed that Russians excelled in technology and data science skills.
Ukraine, too, has been enjoying a flourishing IT sector that boasted the highest salaries in the nation and supplied about 200,000 IT workers that performed critical services to major industries worldwide, including Lyft maps, JP Morgan Chase, and Citigroup, among others.
Therefore, it would make sense that some countries consider losses from these two nations a potential gain and be eager to snap up the new pool of tech exiles. This is especially true for Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, which have received the elite crowd in large numbers.
On the other hand, millions of lesser skilled labourers are making their way to countries that don’t require visas, including Georgia, Armenia, and Central Asia, while others are part of the millions living as refugees in Europe. These are economically unstable regions where people move out under normal circumstances, so you bet job opportunities will only get scarcer.
President Putin has taken notice of the brain drain and is trying to mitigate it with measures such as legislation to exempt tech specialists from income taxes up to 2024. Will that deter further migration? We are still waiting to see.
In the meantime, Zelensky and other supporters of Ukraine are encouraging migration out of Russia. Things are not looking good for Putin, considering that those leaving Russia are highly educated and able to get better jobs abroad, while those leaving Ukraine are mostly doing so because they have run out of options.
For the first time in two decades, the US dollar and the Euro hit parity in July 2022. The currency, shared by 19 European countries, has slumped more than 11 per cent since the beginning of this year.
But the weakened Euro holds great economic significance for businesses as well as individuals, especially those earning and spending in US dollars, or in currencies pegged to the dollar.
In terms of real estate too, while certain property values have gone up, the cost in plenty of areas has come down from what it was two years ago.
“June 2022 alone recorded the highest figures with over €78 million investments in the Portugal Golden Visa program, a first since 2020.”
Rise in numbers:
More than €78 million investments in Portugal Golden Visa in June.
Real estate in Lisbon growing at a rate of 2.5% annually since 2016.
Santa Maria da Feira experienced an annual growth of 12%.
Demand for properties has grown by 20% in Porto and Sintra.
83% of investors in Portugal foresee a rise in demand from tenants for sustainable properties.
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This certainly also makes it the best time to invest in a long-term residence permit in Europe. June 2022 alone recorded the highest figures with over €78 million investments in the Portugal Golden Visa program, a first since 2020.
Jeremy Savory, founder and CEO of Savory & Partners – a leading global residency and citizenship by investment (RCBI) company headquartered in Dubai, says, “If I can talk about the impact in the context of the RCBI industry, it’s an excellent opportunity for those earning in dollar-pegged currencies.
Right now, many investors see everything turning red in terms of stock, crypto, and real estate. Now is the time for people to invest in something that is already discounted, diversifies their currency, and with interest rates that don’t directly affect their investment.”
Jeremy Savory with his family in Portugal
Real estate boom
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Savory points out that the Portuguese Golden Visa program is one of the best ways for investors to access this market. Adding, however, that time is of essence here.
Cyprus has closed down its citizenship program and the Montenegro citizenship program is expected to close by the end of the year, Turkey has increased its investment threshold and Greece is expected to follow suit.
“I think we have some months before it comes into effect. Portugal only changed their legislation nine months ago, so I can’t see them changing it again so soon.
Increased threshold does not mean higher fees. It means you just end up buying more real estate and there’s nothing wrong with buying more property.”
Best places to invest in real estate in Portugal
As a long-term resident of Portugal himself, Savory says Portugal’s golden visa gives the investor the opportunity to be part of one of the most progressive real estate destinations in the world.
Three popular neighbourhoods across Portugal that according to him are the best for families to choose to buy a home in are Melides, the Municipality of Oeiras and Belem.
“Melides, right next to Comporta, is fast becoming one of the most expensive price per sqm attracting ultra HNW Europeans and Americans”, he says, adding that you can invest in an office space in Oeiras, get a Golden Visa, and you would get very high-quality tenants too.
A personal favourite of Savory, Belem, with its beautiful parks, beach-front restaurants and cultural landmarks is a preferred real estate investment.
Jeremy alongside his wife, Helena Savory, expanded the family business with the RCBI company, and with just the two of them in the beginning, Savory and Partners has now grown to become a global corporation with over 60 industry experts worldwide.
Helena Savory, Managing Director of the company and a mother of two young boys says access to exceptional education, high quality healthcare, low cost of living, safety and its amazing climate made Portugal a preferred option for her to gain residency in as a family and businesswoman.
“As an example, a coffee and the much-loved pastry, Pastel de Nata, would cost you not more than €1 (equivalent to $0.96 cents), which shows you the unbelievably low cost of living in Portugal.” – Helena Savory
Helena adds that Portugal’s education sector is impressively expansive. Its higher education system is ranked as the 35th best in the world. Public education is free and compulsory until the age of 18.
She notes that the country occupies the sixth position in the ranking of countries with the highest percentage of women entrepreneurs, ahead of countries such as Spain, Italy or Ireland. “Women are making their way to the top of the business ladder, and investment migration can help them take their success to a global stage.”
Portugal is witnessing an increased interest in investors looking for property and recently, the Green Visa scheme was introduced through which investors can obtain the Portuguese passport with an investment in environmental projects.
Savory and Partners has a strong bilingual team in Lisbon and offices across the world to help investors find the best residency option for themselves. Find out more by visiting www.SavoryandPartners.com.
