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Exchange Rates
Monday, September 14th
Daily Interbank FX Rates
Currency	Buying(¢)	Selling(¢)
USD	5.6939	5.6995
Sterling	7.2779	7.2857
Euro	6.7407	6.7467
SEK	0.6487	0.6491
Naira	66.7931	67.0564
Yuan	0.8333	0.8338
Source: Bank of Ghana Daily Interbank FX Rates

Swedish FX Bank Rates
Currency	I want to buy...	I want to sell...
USD	9.5196	8.0561
Sterling	12.2061	10.3087
Euro	11.1677	9.6655
Source: Forex Bank, Sweden

Public spending in Ghana: Ghana has long struggled to spend sensibly. A new initiative may help. Tuberculosis is a terrible disease. It destroys lungs from the inside out, leaving sufferers coughing up the bloody remains. In Ghana too few people are diagnosed in time: the disease kills over 15,000 people a year, about 5% of all deaths. But a recent pilot scheme shows that diagnosis can be faster and more accurate simply by whisking samples from clinics that lack the latest testing technology to the nearest well-equipped testing centre. This could save more than 3,000 lives in six years if plans to scale up were followed through. Since the benefits are estimated at 166 times the costs over 20 years, the scheme is patently a fine idea. Read the rest from The Economist...

African entertainers are wowing global audiences: “I swear to make sure you never forget about me,” sings Burna Boy on the opening track of “Twice as Tall”, which was released last month. These days there is little chance of that. The Nigerian musician’s fifth album, an evocative blend of contemporary sounds, score-settling and social commentary, topped the streaming charts in dozens of countries. It was streamed 5m times in the hour after it came out. Burna Boy is one of the biggest stars associated with Afrobeats also known as Afropop. Read more from The Economist...

African pop artists are popular outside the continent and American artists are cashing in on them

Tegnell om dödstalen: Väldigt komplext: Den snabba nedstängningen av Norge räddade liv. Det anser landets smitt-skyddschef Frode Forland. Men enligt Anders Tegnell finns det flera för klaringar till varför dödstalen mellan Sverige och Norge skiljer sig åt. -Det här är en väldigt komplex situation och det finns väldigt många anledningar till att det skiljer sig, säger Anders Tegnell i Morgonstudion. Han vill inte recensera de norska insatserna, men säger att han inte tror att en nedstängning av Sverige hade påverkat smittspridningen påäldreboenden. (SVT text, September 18, 2020)

Moderaterna vill utvisa gängkriminella utan dom: M vill att fler gängkriminella som är utländska medborgare ska utvisas, även om de inte är dömda för något brott. -Som vi vet är det ett allvarligt läge på alla möjliga sätt, säger M-ledaren Ulf Kristersson, när partiet under torsdagen presenterade ett tiopunkts- program mot gängkriminaliteten. Partiet vill bl.a. att fler brott ska omfattas av utvisning. Man vill även utvidga existerande lagstiftning om särskild utlänningskontroll för att på så sätt kunna utvisa gängkriminella som utgör ett kvalificerat hot, även innan de hunnit begå något brott. (SVT text, September 15, 2020)

Covid-19 knocks out Nollywood: In the past two decades Nigeria’s film industry has blossomed into a mighty national asset. Its romances, family sagas and tales of derring-do are lapped up by many millions of viewers at home, across the rest of Africa and in the African diaspora. It employs more than a million people and generates nearly $2bn a year from cinema tickets and dvd sales, tv rights, royalties and fees. Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital and film hub, is said to produce more films than there are stars in the sky. But covid-19 has given Nollywood a nasty viral knock...

Nigeria’s film industry has taken a viral knock, but covid-19 may force it to sharpen up

SVT/Novus: Socialdemokraterna tappar: För andra mätningen i rad backar S i SVT/Novus väljarbarometer. Partiet har nu stöd av drygt 28 procent av väljarna och är tillbaka på samma nivå som vid valet 2018. Krisstämningen vid pandemiutbrottet fick folk att sluta upp kring sitt
lands ledning. Mönstret har återfunnits i flera europeiska länder, däribland Sverige. I maj nådde S en toppnotering på 31,5 procent. Nedgången till 28,3 procent i augusti är statistiskt säkerställd. Väljarflykten har främst gått till M och SD, enligt mätningen. Sammanställning av undersökningen: Socialdemokraterna: 28,3 % (-2,3) Moderaterna: 21,2 % (+0,5) Sverigedemokraterna: 19,4 % (+1,0) Vänsterpartiet: 9,3 % (-0,1) Centerpartiet: 7,6 % (-0,2) Kristdemokraterna: 5,8 % (+0,1) Miljöpartiet: 3,8 % (+0,4) Liberalerna: 2,9 % (-0,1). (Svt texttv)

Africa declared free of wild polio in 'milestone': Africa has been declared free from wild polio by the independent body, the Africa Regional Certification Commission. Polio usually affects children under five. Twenty-five years ago thousands of children in Africa were paralysed by the virus. The disease is now only found in Afghanistan and Pakistan. There is no cure but the polio vaccine protects children for life. Nigeria is the last African country to be declared free from wild polio, having accounted for more than half of all global cases less than a decade ago. Read more...

Polio, which has no cure, has now been eradicated in Africa through an effective vaccination programme

What next for Mali?: Malians are no strangers to coups d’état. In 1991 the armed forces stepped in after sustained protests against Moussa Traoré, the dictator who had ruled the west African country since 1968. (Traoré himself had led a coup against his predecessor.) In March 2012 mutinous soldiers angry at the government’s handling of a rebellion in the north ousted the president, Amadou Toumani Touré. The latest coup, on August 18th, has familiar echoes. It comes after months of protests. Read the rest...

What next for Mali after the latest coup, the fourth since 1968?

Evacuation of stranded Ghanaians: The Embassy of the Republic of Ghana in Copenhagen has been organising evacuations of stranded Ghanaians on KLM flights back to Ghana. The evacuees are responsible for their air fair and hotel bills in Ghana during their quarantine. It appears the flights are organised to depart on Mondays. So far, 10th and 17th August have been the assigned dates. Those who wish to avail themselves of the opportunity should visit the embassy site regularly or contact the embassy by mail or telephone for the latest on the exercise. The relevant web address is https://ghanaembassy.dk/notices/evacuation-of-stranded-ghanaians.html; +4539628222; covid19@ghanaembassy.dk.

Svenska universitet rankas högt: Tre svenska universitet kvalar in bland de 100 bästa i en färsk rankning av världens universitet. Karolinska institutet hamnar högst av de svenska lärosätena, med plats 45 på listan Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), men har backat sju platser sedan i fjol. Stockholms universitet får i årets lista plats 69, en förbättring jämfört med förra årets plats 73. Uppsala universitet landar på plats 77 jämfört med förra årets plats 62. Amerikanska universiteten Harvard och Stanford är etta respektive tvåa på listan. (SVT teletext 200817)

GUSS grillfest in time of Covid-19: Despite the pandemic hanging over our heads, Ghana Union’s grillfest went on successfully two weeks ago at Vårby strand. There were the usual threats – lots of meat, drinks and games. The ladies won a tough tug of war competition against the men. The kids also had tug of war. Social distancing was observed. Union president, Hien Dechor, took the opportunity to invite people to join the Union – the only one in Stockholm that is for all Ghanaians irrespective of their backgrounds. Sixteen individuals signed up for membership. Click here to see pictures from the occasion...