remarks questioning the health of nato in previously described the ministry alliance as brain dead i think the rebuke today us president don't trust us nato leaders coming up to talk 70 years since the founding of yachts. seem beardsley has all the business units from africa next so stay tuned for that cut i'll be back at the top of it good to. earth. home to those of species. worth saving. those are big changes and most start with small steps. tell stories of creative people and innovative projects around the world. used to

come to clinics used clean image solutions and reforestation. community interactive content teaching the next generation of the mental touch action. using channels available to inspire people to take action and ways of turning to doing some thinking for the next generation. the environment series of global $3000.00 on d w and online. south africa's economy continues to real g.d.p. growth turned negative in the 3rd quarter the 2nd contraction this year in the country turn its fortunes around before received another junk bond rating. also on the show zimbabwe is in the middle of a hunger crisis it's not just economic mismanagement behind it but increasing drought. and it was

a showcase project for china in africa so why is the moment also nairobi railway struggling to attract business. this is your business after report i'm stephen beers in berlin thanks for watching. south africa has slipped back into negative economic growth latest figures showing g.d.p. shrank by 6 tenths of a percent during the 3rd quarter of this year that's well below the small amount of growth that analysts had predicted and it continues a volatile trend that has seen south africa a yo yo between expansion and contraction over the past few years and this time around the economy was let down by certain industries in particular namely mining manufacturing storage and communication now add to that rolling blackouts and unemployment of 29 percent and you have a worrying picture of south africa's economy. now earlier i spoke with bronwyn seaborne about these figures she's business editor of south african broadcaster bt t.v. and she joined me from johannesburg. infrastructure underperforming

industries there are a lot of issues here but is there one overriding problem afflicting the south african economy or is it a kind of perfect storm. that certainly is a perfect storm and you can see how the storm is affecting the economy if you take a look at today's growth figures that were released in the economy contracted northpoint to 6 percent in the 3rd quarter and if you drill down into the detail of it you can see that it was largely broad based mining agriculture and manufacturing output all coming under pressure if you take a look at manufacturing specifically the sector is a big contribution to growth in south africa but it's really is a story all week demond and it's quite a circular story if you think about it because we grow that leads to weak demand which leads to weak. and usually in that situation we have global demand come through and help the sick but with the u.s. china trade war that is a growing we're seeing weak global demand as well demand in the mining sector also

coming to bear and that's coming under pressure and then dropped the leading to a lot of pressure points in the agricultural sector as well and then amidst all of that government unable to spend in the economy and that potentially spearing growth but we're not seeing it happen because the government's finances on such a precarious position they're having to bail out a lot of state owned enterprises or state owned companies and so they just don't have the room to spend in the economy and that all coming to big and that's why the economy is in such a tough position that it is in at the moment. and of course looming over everything is the threat of a 3rd junk bond rating how critical is it for south africa to avoid that. it is quite critical moody's is the only ratings agency at the moment that rates us at investment grade fitch and is simply both have us on a jew. status and moody's is running out of patience they have been quite

understanding up to this point but they have said that south africa needs to get the ship in order and if we don't they all going to lower our investment grade rating we're going to look at the budget in february specifically to decide whether that will happen on lost a lot of analysts say that we are going to see that john great to come through in the 1st quarter of next year if it does happen and the investment grade rating is that people here like to say we will see south african government bonds fall out of the footsie global bond index and funds that track that will have to sell out so we can see quite a lot of flow and for this for some that's a major concern others however are saying that a junk status by moody's wouldn't be the end of the world because it could be a wake up call to government that it needs to do something. business editor at bt t.v.

. thank you. well it was a prestigious project for both china and kenya a chinese finance $3300000000.00 rail line between nairobi port city. suppose a boon for business but it hasn't worked out that way just as companies aren't too keen with the line many still using trucks now can use government is forcing them to use the new railway. when the mombasa nairobi railway line opened 2 years ago the president hailed it there now as well. as others. but many freight operators have shunned it moving a container between the ports and the capital cost $800.00 us dollars with a truck the train costs $1200.00 making food and other goods more expensive it also

takes a lot of time for importers to get their goods cleared at the jest of nairobi trained . they might have to get used to that because now they will have to use the train service kenya owes the chinese lender ex-im bank $6500000000.00 for the railway and other projects that's about a 10th of its national debt. kenya railways says the high of freight judges are necessary to meet the loan repayments china has sought to allay fears that its infrastructure projects overload some countries with debt last year a degree to restructure more than 12000000000 dollars in repayments owed by ethiopia whose chinese funded role is also struggling now some kenyan politicians are asking whether their once a promising railway was worth the cost. and let's go back to southern africa now zimbabwe and have speculated for years about the extent of robert mugabe's wealth

now there are some answers following his september death according to the herald newspaper mugabe's daughter sent a letter to the high court listing 4 houses in harare 10 cars one farm his country home an orchard and $10000000.00 u.s. dollars in a local bank the list however appears incomplete it does not include several farms a dairy business he ran with his wife or overseas holdings. contrast that wealth with the current state of zimbabwe it's in the middle of a hunger crisis a country that was once a net a net exporter of wheat and corn has been rocked not just by economic collapse but by an ongoing drought and that's left millions of zimbabweans in a situation the u.n. describes as tragic. this is what africa's breadbasket has become a place where children and the elderly must queue to receive food it. zimbabwe's economy has been more basket case than bread basket for most of the last 20 years

but on top of rampant inflation and basic shortages drought has exacerbated the situation to a level that has prompted un intervention. we have facing the worst hunger crisis in more than a decade half of the population 7700000 is food insecurity and b. of p. will nearly double its current assistance to reach 4100000 people next year as much as zimbabwe and have already endured the drought has made things much worse things this is all part of an unprecedented climate driven disaster gripping southern africa. the country has experienced normal rainfall in just one of the last 5 growing seasons already many animals have died as a result of starvation worse is feared in the same year as the death of the

country's long time ruler robert mugabe it is a brutal reminder of his grim legacy. u.s. president donald trump has alarmed investors by saying that a trade deal with china may have to wait until after the 2020 u.s. presidential election one year from now during a visit he's making to london trump claimed that china was keen to agree to a deal but that he was in no rush and was happy to wait markets have been hoping for a conclusion to the trade war by the end of the year. the north stream 2 pipeline is nearing completion the project is designed to bring gas from russia to germany and it has a lot of critics among them the european commission the u.s. and poland and some fear the e.u. will become too dependent on russian natural gas while others feel that they're just pawns in russia's larger power game. loop mean in northeastern germany this is where the 1200 kilometer long north stream to pipeline reaches the german

baltic sea coast soon natural gas from russia will be flowing towards western europe circumventing ukraine. gas market expert heiko loman says there's a very clear reason for building the pipeline. naturally the russian side always insists that nord stream too wasn't built to bypass ukraine like nord stream one but i believe that's exactly why. as special ships lay pipeline sections just a few kilometers off the german baltic sea coast resistance is coming from the u.s. they're planning sanctions possibly to include those operating the vessels instead of natural gas from russia the usa wants to sell its liquid gas there's also opposition to the pipeline in poland its anti trust authority has led a $20000000.00 fine on north stream to use financing company reportedly because the

proper documents went submitted my opinion notion to cannot be stopped because it's so. it's. in the way that actually make it impossible to put a hold now however there is a chance to take the profit the visibility of it project down to gas from the well to operate normally to harder ply payday in lithuania the baltic country gets its liquefied natural gas by ship from qatar poland has signed contracts with the us for liquefied gas both countries want to free themselves from dependence on russia. but taking climate change into consideration the north stream to pipeline could also be used to transport hydrogen instead of natural gas experts like heiko loman say climate killing greenhouse gases can be avoided that way. when he. was supposed to use natural gas long term and i'm supposed to split hydrogen carbon

dioxide when the russians are working on a process for making solid carbon so there won't even be a need for carbon dioxide storage. that means large volumes of liquefied hydrogen could be transported by not stream to replacing climate damaging natural gas it's only a dream for the future but climate change is accelerating the process. and that's all for me and the business team you can find out about these and other stories online at www dot com slash business stay tuned for business news for news africa without a micro coming up right next after a quick check on global markets. take

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mine. every journey begins with the 1st step and every language the 1st word. coaxing germany. why not. it's simple on your mobile and free. music the learning course. german made easy. this is d.w. news africa coming up on the program. that's this where shipped into slavery from africa to america now to 400 years and into where it all began searching for traces of history and they are not going back to the us. from a very young age i kind of felt like i never belonged to be. on the it was known

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