China to Scrap Tariffs for Most of Africa from May
Visitors walk past illuminated lantern displays ahead of Lunar New Year in Beijing, China, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Beijing's scrapping of tariffs for all but one African country will start May 1, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Saturday, according to state media.
China already has a zero-tariff policy for imports from 33 African countries, but Beijing said last year it would extend the policy to all 53 of its diplomatic partners on the continent.
China is Africa's largest trading partner and a key backer of major infrastructure projects in the region through its vast "Belt and Road" initiative.
From May 1, zero levies will apply to all African countries except Eswatini, which maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
China claims the democratic island as its own and does not rule out using force to take it.
Many African countries are increasingly looking to China and other trading partners since US President Donald Trump imposed steep tariffs worldwide last year.
Xi said the zero-tariff deal "will undoubtedly provide new opportunities for African development", announcing the date as leaders across the continent gathered in Ethiopia for the annual African Union summit.
The announcement came as Africa’s top regional body hosted its annual summit in Ethiopia this weekend to discuss the future of the continent of some 1.4 billion people.
Budget Airlines First to Cut Flights as Jet Fuel Prices Soarhttps://english.aawsat.com/business/5267226-budget-airlines-first-cut-flights-jet-fuel-prices-soar
An aircraft of low-cost Irish airline Ryanair taxis before take off the Berlin-Brandenburg airport in Schoenefeld near Berlin, on April 4, 2024. (AFP)
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Budget Airlines First to Cut Flights as Jet Fuel Prices Soar
An aircraft of low-cost Irish airline Ryanair taxis before take off the Berlin-Brandenburg airport in Schoenefeld near Berlin, on April 4, 2024. (AFP)
Ryanair, Transavia, Volotea and other low-cost airlines are feeling the financial pain from high jet fuel prices as a result of the Middle East war and are cutting flights.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has taken a huge chunk of oil supplies off the market, sending the price of jet fuel soaring and triggering fears of shortages that could force airlines to cancel flights.
Airlines aren't waiting for a lack of supplies to react.
"Travel alert: airlines are cutting thousands of flights right now," Travel Therapy TV host Karen Schaler said in an Instagram reel this past weekend. "Book early."
That advice would win the approval of Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary, who expressed concern earlier this month that fears of fuel shortages were making people put off booking flights.
Low-cost carriers -- which control a little more than a third of the global market, according to various estimates -- are feeling the pinch first due to the nature of their business model.
With cheaper tickets, they have less capacity to absorb the rise in fuel costs.
Some of the cancellations may be the normal adjustments airlines tend to make when demand doesn't meet expectations on certain routes.
"It is not unusual for carriers to adjust their schedules at this time of the year," financial analyst Dudley Shanley at investment bank Goodbody told AFP.
But "if jet fuel prices remain at this level, there will have to be a little bit more trimming for low-cost airlines", he added.
If before the war airlines were able to maintain marginally profitable routes or even unprofitable routes, the surge in jet fuel prices will force them to make difficult choices.
That will start with many during the peak summer travel season.
"Unfortunately, it's very likely that many people's holidays will be affected, either by flight cancellations or very, very expensive tickets," the EU's energy commissioner Dan Jorgensen told Sky News last week.
- 'Faster than the bear' -
The speed with which airlines are reacting depends in part upon the extent to which they secured fuel supplies in advance at fixed prices.
European airlines tend to do this to a greater extent than their rivals in other parts of the world.
Air Transat, a low-cost Canadian airline, has cut six percent of its May-October flight schedule.
Southeast Asia's largest low-cost carrier, AirAsia X, announced on Friday announced it was cutting more flights and even some connections, without providing an overall figure.
Earlier this month the Malaysia-based no-frills airline said it was raising fares by up to 40 percent and about 10 percent of its overall flights had been cut so far.
Hungary's low-cost airline Wizz Air has so far resisted cutting flights.
"We are not taking capacity out, because I think the other guys will take capacity out," its chief executive Jozsef Varadi was quoted as saying recently by trade magazine Aviation Week.
"You don't have to run faster than the bear, but faster than the guy next to you," he added.
He may have been thinking of the most spectacular cuts made in the industry by German group Lufthansa, which had just announced it was chopping 20,000 flights from its schedule through October, along with halting its regional feeder airline CityLine.
Its European rival Air France-KLM has trimmed two percent of flights in May and June at its low-cost Transavia subsidiary.
KLM has kept cancellations down to one percent of its European flights.
Ryanair didn't cite fuel prices but high costs and taxes when announcing last week it would reduce flights to and from Berlin starting in October.
It is also cutting 10 percent of flights from Dublin, criticizing limited capacity at the airport.
Since the beginning of the month, Spain's Volotea has trimmed nearly one percent of flights from its summer schedule.
Shell to Acquire Canada's ARC In Output-Boosting $16.4 Billion Dealhttps://english.aawsat.com/business/5267217-shell-acquire-canadas-arc-output-boosting-164-billion-deal
Shell to Acquire Canada's ARC In Output-Boosting $16.4 Billion Deal
The Shell gas logo is displayed at a gas station on April 27, 2026 in Austin, Texas. (Getty Images/AFP)
Shell has agreed to buy Calgary-based Canadian energy company ARC Resources in a deal valued at $16.4 billion, including debt, which the British oil and gas major said on Monday would boost its output by 370,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Analysts and the company had forecast Shell needed an acquisition or exploration breakthrough to make up for an expected production shortage of 350,000 to 800,000 boed (barrels of oil equivalent per day) roughly by the middle of the next decade due to maturing fields unable to meet its output targets, Reuters previously reported.
London-listed Shell said in a statement it will pay ARC shareholders 8.20 Canadian dollar in cash and 0.40247 shares of Shell for each ARC share, or around 25% cash and 75% shares at a 20% premium to ARC’s average share price over the last 30 days.
“Shell will take on approximately $2.8 billion in net debt and leases resulting in an enterprise value of approximately $16.4 billion.
The equity value of $13.6 billion will be funded via $3.4 billion in cash and $10.2 billion in Shell shares,” Shell said.
The deal will give Shell 2 billion barrels of reserves and would generate double-digit returns and boost free cash flow per share from 2027 without affecting its investment budget of $20 billion to $22 billion through to 2028, it added.
Shell’s “reserve life”, or how long its proven reserves can sustain current output levels, was equivalent to less than eight years of production as of 2025 — the company’s lowest level since 2021.
The deal allows Shell to raise its compound annual production growth target for the decade from 1% to 4% compared to 2025.
ARC’s senior leadership team will be hosting a conference call to discuss the Company’s first quarter 2026 results on Wednesday.
Shell shares were down slightly in early trading on Monday.
Saudi Arabia Links Recruitment to Digital Systems to Strengthen Compliance and Wage Protectionhttps://english.aawsat.com/business/5267044-saudi-arabia-links-recruitment-digital-systems-strengthen-compliance-and-wage
Saudi Arabia Links Recruitment to Digital Systems to Strengthen Compliance and Wage Protection
Participants at the Global Labor Market Conference in Riyadh (SPA)
Saudi Arabia’s labor market is undergoing rapid transformation driven by reforms under Vision 2030, aimed at strengthening compliance, protecting wages, and improving the efficiency of the business environment. These efforts run in parallel with expanding the integration of recruitment into digital systems, advancing international partnerships to regulate labor mobility, and supporting workforce diversification, thereby reinforcing institutional trust and international cooperation in labor market governance.
In this context, Dr. Tariq Al-Hamad, Deputy Minister for International Affairs at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, told Asharq Al-Awsat that labor market reforms in the Kingdom have delivered tangible progress in modernizing regulations, enhancing worker protection, and creating a more dynamic and inclusive work environment. He noted that these transformations are no longer confined to the domestic level, but have expanded to include a more structured international dimension through bilateral agreements, including those signed with Nepal and Nigeria, which serve as governance tools to regulate labor mobility and strengthen worker protection.
Labor market shifts
Al-Hamad said the reforms have achieved measurable progress in updating regulatory frameworks, enhancing worker protection, and improving operational efficiency, with clear gains in participation, compliance, and productivity. He added that updates to labor mobility regulations since 2021 have enabled greater flexibility for workers to move between employers within regulatory frameworks aligned with international best practices. This shift was reinforced by the Contractual Relationship Improvement Initiative launched in March 2021, which marked a pivotal transformation in regulating job mobility.
At the institutional level, more than 11 million employment contracts have been documented via the Qiwa Platform, enhancing transparency and raising compliance levels in the private sector. He added that the implementation of a wage protection system has introduced preventive safeguards and strengthened trust between parties to employment contracts.
Strengthening worker protection
Alongside these changes, the worker protection framework has seen notable progress. Al-Hamad stated that more than 90 percent of private-sector establishments are compliant with the Wage Protection Program, ensuring accurate and timely salary payments.
He added that labor dispute resolution procedures have become faster, more efficient, and more transparent. The reforms have also driven greater inclusivity, with female labor force participation more than doubling between 2018 and 2024, one of the fastest growth rates globally. Meanwhile, around 2.48 million Saudis have joined private-sector jobs since 2020.
Deputy Minister for International Affairs at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, Dr. Tariq Al-Hamad (Asharq Al-Awsat)
International cooperation
As reforms accelerate, they are no longer confined to the domestic level, increasing the need for a structured international framework to sustain them. Al-Hamad emphasized that organized international labor cooperation is a strategic priority, as it strengthens the Kingdom’s position as a partner committed to ethical recruitment, regulatory modernization, and shared responsibility. It also reinforces institutional trust and diplomatic cooperation in labor markets.
He explained that these agreements align cross-border labor mobility with modern regulatory standards, transparency requirements, and digital compliance systems. The expansion of such agreements, including those with Bangladesh, Nepal, and Nigeria, reflects a shift from traditional recruitment models toward long-term institutional partnerships between governments, providing more stable labor mobility channels and strengthening trust.
Governance enhancement
Reflecting this direction, Al-Hamad said agreements with Nepal and Nigeria regulate the full worker lifecycle, from recruitment licensing and contract documentation to wage transparency and dispute coordination and resolution mechanisms. He added that they enhance oversight of recruitment agencies, clarify contractual obligations, and establish institutional cooperation between governments to monitor compliance and resolve complaints efficiently.
He also noted that linking these agreements to digital infrastructure, such as the Qiwa platform and the Wage Protection Program, ensures that commitments are translated into enforceable mechanisms supported by real-time monitoring. This is complemented by joint oversight frameworks and regular information exchange, strengthening continuous supervision and accelerating the handling of labor cases.
Aligning skills with economic needs
As part of improving market efficiency, Al-Hamad stressed that aligning labor mobility with sectoral economic needs is a core pillar of the labor market strategy. Recent agreements are increasingly based on specific sector needs, ensuring recruitment is driven by actual demand rather than volume, particularly in sectors such as construction, tourism, logistics, healthcare, and advanced services.
He explained that the ministry relies on digital data through the Qiwa platform to continuously analyze market needs and identify skills gaps, allowing recruitment to be directed in line with economic requirements. Coordination with partner countries prior to worker arrival also helps verify skills, improve workforce readiness, and reduce skills gaps from the outset of employment.
He added that workforce planning is increasingly integrated with major national projects to ensure expatriate labor complements, rather than replaces, localization efforts. This is supported by programs such as Nitaqat, which incentivize the hiring of national talent across sectors.
International recognition of reforms
At the global level, these reforms have received growing recognition. Al-Hamad noted that the International Monetary Fund has pointed to tangible outcomes, including declining unemployment among Saudis, increased female participation in the labor market, and growth in private-sector employment.
He added that the “A Decade of Progress” report, developed in cooperation with the World Bank, highlighted structural transformations in the labor market.
The International Labour Organization has also commended the Kingdom’s role in developing labor policies and engaging in global dialogue, reflecting its growing status as a model in labor market reform, inclusivity, and economic flexibility.
Future priorities
Al-Hamad concluded that the next phase will focus on deepening international cooperation at both bilateral and multilateral levels by expanding labor agreements with new countries and strengthening partnerships with international organizations such as the International Labour Organization and the World Bank. These efforts aim to support knowledge transfer and policy development.
He added that the ministry is working to enhance collaboration with the private sector, academic institutions, and international stakeholders to keep pace with labor market transformations, with the goal of consolidating the Kingdom’s position as a trusted global partner in labor market development and delivering sustainable outcomes.
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