Europe’s Horsemeat Scandal Leaves Immigrants in Limbo

Karlskrona, Sweden// The bizzare discovery of horsemeat in food items across Europe that claimed to only contain beef has left many immigrants with the alternative of avoiding meat while they stay in Europe, amid reports that lasagna containing horsemeat may have been served in Swedish schools and hospitals.

The discovery of horsemeat started in Britain and Ireland and henceforth has been spreading across Europe like wildfire, becoming random headlines on newspaper, radio and TVs. horse-burger

Immigrants, especially Africans and those from the Middle East have been baffled by the news, prompting an unanswered mystery surrounding the lives of many.

“May be I have eaten horsemeat many times. Only God knows”, said Rizgar Kurdi, a Kurdistan immigrant who says he eats meat many times a week.

“When you read on the labeled it says ‘nötkött’ (Swedish for beef) or something. We believe in suppliers and what they labeled on the product and this made us always think we are buying the right product.

“For me it is not a problem to eat horsemeat, but misleading consumers based on product labeling is not a good idea. That is why yesterday my family has decided to go to the countryside and buy two sheep that we can slaughter and frozen. We want to stop buying meat from the Swedish market, especially a meat we didn’t witness when it was prepared,” he added. Rizgar

The scandal raised many eyebrows in Europe, as food safety authorities ruffled feathers in Sweden to discuss how to combat the scandal and prevent future meat fraud, in the wake of reports that 9, 000 (nine thousand) horses go missing each year in Sweden.

Officials plan to investigate why and how 9,000 horses disappear from Sweden each year, with experts suspecting they may be illegally sold to continental food factories.

Swedish supermarket chains Ica, Coop, and Axfood all confirmed on Wednesday that their lasagna products contain horsemeat, with the retailers' produce all coming from the French supplier Comigel.
The same French company had to recall beef lasagna ready meals in the UK too after tests there showed that they contained up to 99 percent horsemeat.

Comigel delivers frozen meals to 16 countries, including Scandinavia.
The British Food Standards Agency (FSA) said the Findus lasagna is probably not dangerous but ordered tests to determine whether it contains the common horse painkiller phenylbutazone, often known as Bute, which is banned from entering the food chain.

Unlike their European neighbors, many African immigrants in Europe have withdrawn their spending on meat; and rather have decided to spend it on chicken and vegetables.

“Since the news got to my ears I have stopped buying meat at the stores. We don’t know what type of meat we are eating,” Said Madi Mboob, a Gambian living in Blekinge, Sweden.

Like Swedish Agriculture Minister Eskil Erlandsson, Madi has called on those responsible to be brought to book.

Erlandsson has also said that he didn't believe any changes to food packaging rules were necessary in the wake of the scandal, noting that he did not have “any indications from our expert authorities on a need for changes [of packaging]".

"We have a very strict legal framework - whatever it says on the packet should be the same as what is in the packet," he noted, adding suppliers should be reported to the police.

Dawoud Ataee, an Afghan immigrant living in Blekinge said he was not surprised to hear of the news, saying he comes from Asia and cases of such nature are common in that part of the world.

“Since I came from Asia, I have experienced this. I have heard the same things about dogs and cats. You know it’s true. Usually I buy a complete chicken and me and my family tries not to eat hamburger, because we doubt the meat.

“We will buy meat from the Muslim’s stores or we buy halal; even though the so called halal is not as we know halal to be, but it’s quite better, because it contains no horsemeat,” he said.

Research carried out by county officials in the south of Sweden and the Hästnäringens nationella stiftelse, HNS ("The Equine Industry Association") showed an inexplicable gap in the number of horse deaths reported in Sweden.

With a total population of 360,000 horses in Sweden, and a horse living on average 15 years, statistics indicate that around 20,000 horses should die each year, wrote the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper (SvD).


Swedish food company Findus has come under fire when their ready-made lasagna meals were found to contain traces of horsemeat - in some instances as much as 90 percent per meal, even though the meat was labeled as beef.

However, Swedish large supermarket chain, Ica, has recalled so many ready-made meals that its overstuffed warehouse in southern Sweden has started sending excess food to be recycled into biogas.

'Gambians Don't Respect Local Government Election' - IEC Chairman

The chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has told the government-controlled newspaper, Daily Observer, that people in the small West African country "don't respect local government election".

“Gambians don't respect local government election and that’s why when you watch the television, you see me sensitising the people and my staff are also going round sensitising the people so that we will have a successful local government election this time,” he said.

The Gambia is due to hold its local government election on April 4th, paving way for the crippled opposition parties to reach to the masses with their political agenda.

However, political awareness in the former British colony is as tin as a needle: forum on political discussions are rare, because the masses have been living under a climate of fear.

Mr Carayol urged all political parties in the country to contest the election, saying the election would help signal a stepping stone to grass-roots democracy.

“Parties need to get at least a few councillors who will be on the ground for them for the next five years so that before the next election, at least they will prepare the ground for them, but you are a political party with no member in parliament and council. Let them all come out and contest and as the IEC did during the Parliamentary election, we are going to pay all agents of candidates.”

With a small economy and little if any natural resources, the Council has stipulated a staggering sum of D19M for the election.

Any Gambian above 20 years is eligible to contest for the election.

GAMBIA: OUTSTANDING DOMESTIC DEBT INCREASES

Central Bank building in the hearts of the capital, Banjul

Despite stern warnings to reduce domestic borrowing, by a team of experts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that visited the country about a year ago, the small West African country is reeling with an outstanding domestic debt that claims the country's 37% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“The outstanding domestic debt increased to D10.7 billion (37% of GDP) in 2012, or 14.3% from a year ago. Treasury bills and Sukuk Al-Salam combined and accounting for 80% of the domestic debt, [which] rose to D8.6 billion, or 21.0%,” says Amadou Kolley, the governor of the Central Bank of The Gambia (CBG).


A report by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the CBG has revealed that the country’s banking industry’s net profit rose from D12.2 million in 2011 to D102.2 million in 2012.

Governor Colley said that the return on assets and return on equity increased to 1.98% and 3.33% compared to 0.26% and 0.46% respectively in 2012.
According to him, the yield on all the maturity profiles increased in 2012 with the exception of the 364-day bills.

“The yield on the 19-day and 182-day bill, it says, increased to 9.53% and 10.21% from 8.07% and 10.18% in 2011. Similarly, the yield on the SAS bills rose to 9.77% from 9.07% during the same period. In contrast, the yield on the 364-day bills declined to 10.9% from 11.85% in December 2011.”

The provisional balance of payments estimates for the first nine months of 2012 indicates an overall deficit of US$64.47 compared to a surplus of US$64.14 million in the corresponding period a year ago. The deficit in the financial account widened to US$28.35 million from US$0.34 million in the corresponding period in 2011, ” he added.

Colley observed that Gross International Reserves stood at US$184.5 million as at end of December 2012, equivalent to about 5.0 months of imports of goods and services. “The volume of transactions in the domestic foreign exchange market, measured by aggregate purchase and sales, increased to US$1.6 billion in 2012 from US$1.4 billion in 2011."

ECOWAS Business Directory Network launched in Gambia

The Economic Community of West African States’s Business Directory Regional Information System on Business Opportunities (ECOBIZ) was launched yesterday, Monday, 4th February 2013, at the Independence Stadium, by officials of The Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), as part of activities of the ongoing sixth Trade Fair.

ECOBIZ aims to set up an online directory data base of businesses that are operating within the ECOWAS, with a view to exposing and creating opportunities among trading partners in the sub-region.

Speaking at the occasion, a representative of the Ministry of Trade, Integration and Employment, Baturu Camara-Ceesay, described ECOBIZ as a very important initiative that is in line with the strategies of the ministry, ‘especially when it comes to access to business information’.

She assured that the Trade ministry is doing all it can to make sure that business information is both accessible by the business community.

“We are delighted to be associated with the initiative and we congratulate GCCI and its partners on this,” she stated, while urging the business community to make best use of such initiatives.

The Chamber’s corporate service manager, Beatrice A. Prom, who is also the administrator of ECOBIZ Gambia, described the initiative as significant and challenged businesses to make best use of it. She used the opportunity to inform that last month they signed a partnership with the Centre International du Commerce Exterieur du Senegal (CICES), an institution that organises trade fairs in that country.

“The benefits of the partnership include provision of a-25-square metre space during the Trade Fair Gambia,” she said.

Gambia: The Banking industry remains fundamentally sound

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of The Gambia (CBG) has stated that the banking industry in small West African country remains fundamentally sound, revealing that the industry’s capital and reserves increased to D3.06 billion in December 2012 compared to its D2.63 billion in 2011, mainly on account of capital injection amounting to D392.4 million.

At a press briefing with journalists held at the CBG office in Banjul on Monday, the governor of the CBG, Amodu Colley, also revealed that the average risk-weighted capital of the industry’s adequacy ratio was also increased to 33.0% compared to 25.1% in 2011, and the minimum requirement of 10%.

“The gearing ratio was only 3.03 times, lower than the 4.0 times in 2011 and the prudential ceiling of 10 times.”
On the global aspect, the Central Bank governor said that global economic prospects have improved modestly even though global economic growth was estimated to have decelerated to 3.2% in 2012 from 3.9% in 2011, while output is projected to strengthen gradually through 2013, averaging 3.5%.

“Further strengthening to 4.1% is expected in 2014. There are, however, downside risks to the outlook including slow recovery in the Euro Area and excessive near term fiscal consolidations in the United States,” he remarked.
Commenting on the economic situation of both advanced and developing countries in future, Colley indicated that for advanced economies, economic growth is projected at 1.4% in 2013 from the 1.6% projected earlier. He said that economic activity in emerging and developing economies remain robust due to their supportive policies, while noting that growth is expected to reach 5.5% in 2013 from 5.1% in 2012.

The CBG governor said that the Gambia Bureau of Statistic has revealed that the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Gambia economy was estimated to have grown by 4.0% in 2012 following a contraction of 4.3% in 2011.
“Preliminary projections indicate that output would expand by 10.0% in 2013 premised on strong growth of agriculture and tourism,” he added.

He explained that the pace of monetary expansion moderated inline with expectations, noting that money supply grew by 7.8% in 2012 compared to 11.0% in 2011 and the target of 8.5%.
“The bank’s operating target rose by 6.8% compared to 15.6% in 2011. Reserve money was projected to grow by 5.8% in 2012,” he noted.

Colley observed that in order to ensure effective transmission of monetary policy, it is essential to continue strengthening the resilience of banks, while outlining that bank soundness is also critical to protect depositors and other creditors as well as ensuring an appropriate provision of credit to the economy. He said the total banking industry assets increased to D20.6 billion, or 10.5% from 2011. “Loans and advances accounting for 26.4% of total assets decreased to D5.3 billion or 2.4% from a year ago,” he further remarked.

The Central Bank governor underscored the preliminary estimates of government’s fiscal operations in 2012, which showed a lower deficit including grants of 4.4% of the GDP compared to 4.6% of GDP in 2011.
He continued: “Total revenue and grants increased to D6.5 billion (22.5% of GDP) or 15.7% from 2011. Government expenditure and net lending also rose to D7.7 billion (26.9% of GDP), or 13.6% from 2011.”
He stated that the end-period inflation measured by the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI), increased slightly to 4.9% in December 2012 from 4.4% in December 2011, while average inflation 12-month moving average was 4.5% compared to 5.4% a year ago.

Inflation outbreak

The MPC observed that inflation is forecast to remain in single digits consistent with the pace of monetary expansion. It however, assesses the balance or risk to the inflation outlook to be on the upside given heightened inflationary expectations.

In respect of these, the MPC is of the view that the current monetary policy stance is appropriate and has therefore decided to leave the re-discount rate and the bank’s policy rate unchanged at 12.0%, while also continuing to monitor price developments and to take action consistent with its mandate to keep inflation low and non-volatile.