𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑨𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝑭𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍 (𝑪𝑨𝑭) 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒑𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑰𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍. 𝑫𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝑭𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝑪𝒐𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝑺𝒚𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒖𝒎 𝒊𝒏 𝑨𝒃𝒊𝒅𝒋𝒂𝒏, 𝒐𝒏 𝑺𝒆𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 12, 2024, 𝒂 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒄 𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝑪𝑨𝑭 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑰𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑭𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝑭𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 (𝑭𝑰𝑭).
𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 “𝑳𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒄𝒚 𝑭𝒖𝒏𝒅”, 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 20% 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑪𝑨𝑵 2023 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 $14 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒙𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 8.5 𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑪𝑭𝑨 𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒔, 𝒊𝒏 𝑰𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍. 𝑷𝒂𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝑴𝒐𝒕𝒔𝒆𝒑𝒆, 𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑪𝑨𝑭, 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈: “𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝑰𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝑪𝒐𝒂𝒔𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒎 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒀𝒂𝒚𝒂 𝑻𝒐𝒖𝒓é 𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝑫𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒓 𝑫𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒃𝒂.”𝒀𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝑰𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒔 𝑫𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒐, 𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝑰𝑭, 𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒔: “𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒃𝒐𝒚𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍𝒔. 𝑪𝑨𝑭 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒚𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒔𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝑭𝑰𝑭𝑨 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒑𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒔.” 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑰𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒂𝒔 𝑫𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒅: “𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒖𝒎 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆. 𝑰𝒇 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒚 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒑.”
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑴𝒓. 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒎𝒈𝒐-𝑶𝒎𝒃𝒂, 𝑺𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝑪𝑨𝑭, 𝒕𝒉𝒖𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒄 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝑪𝑨𝑭 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑭𝑰𝑭 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑰𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒆. 𝑩𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔, 𝑰𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝑪𝒐𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒂 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝑨𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔.
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆, 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅-𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑪𝑨𝑭’𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈-𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎 𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒑𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑨𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒇𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑪𝑨𝑵 2023 𝒕𝒐 𝒏𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒔. 𝑨𝒔 𝑰𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝑪𝒐𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑪𝑨𝑵 2023, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒔 𝒖𝒑 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒏𝒕.