States approach their respective national fuel systems in different ways. All countries pay the same price for oil in international markets but retail petroleum prices tend to vary significantly from one country to the next.
The price of oil has been bullish all year. Relentlessly so. In places like California, petrol prices hit record highs last observed in 2012. The UK is in a similar situation. Advanced economies pay higher for petroleum than developing nations because of government policy that tends to lean towards heavy fossil fuel taxation. In the developing world, it is not unusual for government to opt to subsidise petrol instead.
Crude oil is the basic component to produce all petrochemical and petroleum products. If oil prices go up because of OPEC decisions or supply shortages, then the price you pay for fuel will likely follow. There’s a plethora more factors that affect petroleum prices including profit margins for oil companies as well as mining, refinery and transportation costs.
Countries boasting substantial petroleum reserves may nationalise the resource so that citizens pay next to nothing in the retail market. Iran, Algeria and Kuwait are examples of such states. Per litre gasoline retail prices are SZL 0.93, SZL 5.05 and SZL 5.29 respectively 🤲🏾. Must be nice. I probably was yet to be born the last time fuel cost 5 bucks per litre in Eswatini. Emaswati are paying more than double that these days.
It must be mentioned that we do not have it that bad. My case in point is Mzansi fo sho. Our demand for petroleum is satisfied by South Africa, but we enjoy a 6 bucks discount compared to our brothers and sisters across the border. Our government found it strategically sound to deliberately influence prices through subsidies to ensure affordability for both industrial and domestic use. In SA, tax on fuel and contributions to the Road Accident Fund account for almost 40% of the price motorists pay. This policy decision has an - dare I say - unfair consequence. SA supplies petroleum to most, if not all, of its neighbouring countries - they all maintain retail price points that are substantially lower than theirs.
If you’ve had enough of going bankrupt from your commute, I’ve got you. Let’s emigrate.
Russia Blew Up Its Own Satellite
The Russians literally lit up the sky. On Monday morning, the Russian space program, famous for being the first space program to put a man in space notwithstanding what NASA tells you, made a satellite go ka-boom. The Russians fired a sophisticated weapon designed to destroy astroids and meteors on a dangerous collision course with Earth. However, the target was not an immediate threat to Earth in this instance, it was just one of the Russia’s defunct satellites. The missile that was fired was meant to declutter space to having one fewer useless satellite in orbit as well as test the weapon’s technology.
Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) received a distressed signal from Earth instructing them to occupy the space equivalent of a lifeboat in case the debris left behind by the Russians collided with the ISS. There were 7 astronauts aboard, 2 of whom were Russian. They had to jump into capsules every 90 minutes until the dust had settled.
The aftermath saw a furious America call Russia’s actions “dangerous, reckless, and irresponsible,” and an equally furious Russia respond with a “I know Science. Pipe down.” A back-and-forth that is reminiscent of the original space race from the last century.
PS: I may have taken some creative liberties with Russia’s response.
Africa, Super Power of the Future?
I watched a great video this week about how social structure relates to economic progress. You quite often see a think piece comparing Africa to China. China’s population of 1.3 billion, is comparable with ours. China is resource rich. So are we. China was agrarian before it became an industrial super power. That can be said of Africa today, about 66% of the working population is in Agriculture. You can see how tempting it is to draw a comparison between the 2 regions. It has been argued that Africa is basically China 35 years ago.
Some people say that the exponential growth that was observed in China from 1980 all the way into the 21st century is a precursor of what is to come for Africa. We welcome that of course but there are challenges. Not least of all, social challenges. The main point of the video was how the demographic structure of China changed in lock step with economic progress.
In the ‘80s, the Chinese population pyramid had a wide base because of high fertility rates before the one child policy. lf you take our 2021 population pyramid and juxtapose it with that of 1980 China, you can barely tell them apart. This is characteristic of a developing region.
When Beijing began enforcing the one child policy, the histogram began to change. It shape-shifted to resemble advanced economies and with that shape-shift came their most productive years. The working population grew in size while the population of dependants, i.e. children and pensioners, shrunk. This means the ratio of people contributing to growth to the non-productive population segment tipped in favour of the former. Simple enough right? And people said economics was difficult.
Here’s a SirLushaba summary. My man in the video is basically talking about black tax, without saying black tax because… you know… racial tension innit. The more dependants you have, the less resources you have to invest into your future. It’s a good video. I couldn’t recommend it enough.
Hi, Adele
Adele is back and you know all R&B huns have cleared the runway. Whatever plans your faves had are out of the window now. I saw Taylor Swift re-released her 2012 album a week before Adele 😂. I can’t even knock it. Nobody wants to go toe-to-toe with Miss Adele and her new bod’. Adele is the Amapiano of Pop. Amapiano has suspended all other genres of music in South Africa until further notice.
Adele released Easy on Me in October and shattered streaming records. She is still the record holder for most album sales in the 21st century. She wasn’t kidding when she said she was rolling in the deep. As I write this, Adele is number 1 in 90 countries. Talk about being in your bag. She’s iconic. Forever.
Adele has the joint most grammy wins in one night by a female artist. When award season comes along in early 2022, she will clean up again. She can’t miss this one. I wouldn’t bother turning up to the shows mina, personally. It’s Adele season. Allow it, man.
What I’m Reading
Uhm. One book a week protocol is on the ropes 🙈. I didn’t hit my reading goals this week so I am still reading this. Football is back as well. So… yeah… pique.
If anything else happened this week, I missed it. Till next Sunday 👋🏾.
Comments