next up again how else will look at nigeria's economy africa business. of tomorrow's presidential elections good. it's time for berlin sixty nine film festival. we give you the lowdown on all the stars. and gossip. coming up at twenty nine every day on d.-day. i'm not thinking out of the well i guess sometimes i am but i stand up and whip that german thinks deep into

the german culture of looking at the stereotypes classics in your sink you see from the country that i now know the time. needed to be taken as grandma. it's all about ok. i'm rachel join me to meet the german sunday help you. post. that of this weekend's elections in nigeria we have a look at ask how slow growth in a ticking population time bomb off threatening sustainable prosperity in africa's largest economy. also coming up the lights back on the insult africa but how much longer can the struggling power company has come so far without a government bailout. and after days of talks between china and the us no trade deal is in sight but one star invest some tells d.w.

the chinese are the only ones who understand almost trump. welcome to business africa on the w m god office. earlier this week it became clear that the nigerian economy narrowly missed the expected growth target of two percent for last year the national bureau of statistics put it at one point nine percent and that is unwelcome news for president mahmoud more model hari who came to power in twenty fifteen on a pledge to turn the economy around in this sunday's elections he's facing a stiff challenge from businessman and former vice president who by car economic issues are taking center stage in the election nigeria is struggling with a whole range of them. congested roads and heavy foot full scenes like this are widespread across nigeria the country is home to more than one hundred ninety five million people making it africa's most populous nation the

number of inhabitants is expected to double by twenty fifty. this is likely to pose enormous challenges to the country roads power grids and hospitals in many parts of nigeria are knocking or an urgent need of expansion increasingly it's chinese companies that are filling the gaps. between two thousand and five and twenty seventeen china invested more in nigeria than in any other african country with construction projects worth thirty seven billion dollars that's well ahead of algeria ethiopia and on golda which saw just over twenty billion dollars each in chinese construction. while china is investing heavily german companies have been more restrained in twenty sixteen for instance their investment in nigeria came to the comparatively small sum of two hundred nine million dollars.

south africa's struggling state's powerful. switch the lights back on again after five days of rolling outages businesses across the country but it's at the power system remains vulnerable with several generators the utility has practiced sharing where it switches off different parts of the grid so prevent a full failure as supplies ninety percent of the country's electricity to. have rippled through the economy with a south african rand on course to lose three percent of value for the week. so that's good news for now it's well the problems of the last week just a symptom of troubles the state owned utilities expects to be bankrupt. by a probe meaning africa's most developed economy could suffer further blackouts unless action is taken but that won't be easy that's a closer look at the company's problems most importantly eskom is sitting on

a rather impressive pile of dead from thirty billion dollars worth of it that makes borrowing difficult which creates a problem for daily operations like maintenance and repairs and that means it's harder to keep the network in working order as comms ability to generate electricity has fallen over the years as the entire grid becomes more fragile so as a government bailout inevitable well south africa's state finances are not in the best shape either the country's debt load has already been climbing in comparison to g.d.p. spoking investors and more debt could cause more trouble for the rating agency moody's has already warned it will further downgrade the country if it bails out eskom so where do things stand president obama pose a hazard and also plan to restructure the company and he says the government will indeed provide more financial help here's what he told parliament on thursday it has become clear that indeed it has come does need to be i says that by the

state so that it can stabilize is fine because doing so also means that we are stabilizing the economy of our country. now here's a roundup of some of the other business stories making headlines today. global sales of german comic of folks foreign dropped almost two percent in january compared to last year company blamed weak demand in the u.s. which cancelled out sales growth in other regions. british billionaire richard branson says he's organizing a concert to raise money to help the people of venezuela he said the event could take place next week in colombia branson is hoping the public city will pressure socialist president nicolas maduro to allow much needed aid into the country. a body representing the mobile telecoms industry has called on european governments to introduce security tests instead of excluding certain companies from the market

this as the u.s. urges its allies not to do business with china's weiwei operators say that a ban on weiwei could delay next generation five g. mobile networks. the largest bank in the us j.p. morgan chase is launching its own cryptocurrency the new j.p.n. coin will use block same technology and will have a fixed value of one u.s. dollars j.p. morgan is the first major bank to launch its own virtual currency it says it wants to cut costs and risks for customers by making transfers instantaneous. the head of the international monetary fund received god has called on spain italy portugal and greece to fight their high youth unemployment slug said structural reforms were needed to ensure that incomes of poor e.u. members catch up with their rich and neighbors that she said would address some of the worries fueling the success of populist particles. u.s.

and chinese negotiators have been meeting for a second day of talks in beijing sources describe the atmosphere fear there is good but that might not be sufficient to resolve the ongoing trade spot which cost both nations billions of dollars in tariffs meanwhile the two parties agreed to hold another round of talks in washington next week. picture says more than a thousand words not really reporters in beijing would have liked to hear a word or two on how the latest round of u.s. chinese trade talks for progressing instead all they got was a neatly arranged family photo featuring u.s. treasury secretary stephen minu chin and trade representative robert light hisor along their hosts the chinese delegation led by vice premier league the top economic adviser to president sheath meanwhile in washington reporters couldn't get anything either. again i talked to the group they're covering all the ground

they're hard at it they are going to meet with with president xi so that's a very good sign and they're just soldiering on so you know i like that story and i will stay with the phrase that i was good back if i can't give you details while beijing says it will buy more u.s. made goods to ease the trade deficit between the two economic superpowers there are other sticking points reports say little progress has been made on u.s. demands that china crack down on force technology transfers and reduce subsidies for domestic companies it is unclear if chinese president xi jinping participation on friday was simply meant to flatter the americans or if he came with a sincere offer to move forward it was earlier this week she's u.s. counterparts donald trump has suggested he may extend the deadline for the trade talks and push back new terrorists for another two months. investment analyst

fischer calls trump a master of destruction we asked him whether the chinese understand trump's strategy. i think more than most yes the chinese certainly get it more than europeans get him he seems so crazy to a european that it makes no sense but what he's always done and he wrote about this . in his book the art of the deal people just don't believe that he tries to do it is he makes extreme statements does extreme things seems like he's a crazy man with extreme demands and then he ends up settling for something in the order of twenty percent of what he demanded and then he walks away declaring victory he did that with the north american free trade agreement he's doing that with tariffs in europe and generally he starts big blows up creates the concern of chaos but the chinese are more used to that because

they've got a despotic world to begin with they've got a top down control economy and they're used to the notion of extremity. returning to the top story the upcoming elections in nigeria on the economic problems that we have now established a connection with our correspondent why so interest in. why so what can you say about the growing chinese influence and economy has it become visible. while it is visibly more visit would then take chinese presence in nigeria this is a county where the chinese from britannia in small businesses in delic ninety's now they have to can all buy a lot of constructions randwick construction is being conducted by the chinese into power projects in different parts of nigeria into importation even within the nigerian economy does through into my kitting you see chinese retained in cities

like connelly in lagos to open a lot of chinese sent us so that business is is growing and running into billions of dollars in nigeria. return to the elections what are the biggest economic issues in the companion right now. that are to be cast issues issues of security i issue an economy in times of security because of the fight against boko haram which is yet to an all good the government said he doesn't see credit them but we have seen the presence of the flop and isis which the government came out to see so it is taken and locked up consigned issues in the country and then the issue of economy because of the poll by tonight you basic country of just about one hundred nineteen million in twenty fifty the country

would be four hundred media but property is almost everywhere the economy is the one thousand the country came to camp out of recession. i'm not really seeing in. a group culture has nigeria has not been put to rest for quite some times the force of either is enough for us thank you very much. and that's the business africa for you today for you can always go to our website that's slash business stay tuned for the news that's off next right after this quick quick check on global.

eco africa plastic waste has a productive future thanks to eco heroes from cameroon. she collects bottles on the streets of the capital galton de. blas and lots of fun and then she gets down to work making furniture from plastic. sixty minutes from. the munich security conference.

superpower competition trade nationalism on the poor. in the european union compete effectively in this new in. the twenty nineteen extra. today. this is news africa coming up in the next fifteen minutes africa's most populous nation goes to the polls candidates have been making their final pitches it's now up to nigeria's eighty four million registered voters to choose the next president we have an exclusive with one of the men zion for the top job. and the story of a young girl whose dream up becoming a superhero is threatened by terminal illness we'll talk to one of the screenwriter winning film supermoto.