Author: The Exchange

IGMS 2026 platform underscores Dubai’s growing reputation as a regional and global hub for the advanced construction and façade industries. Glass industry is experiencing a qualitative leap fueled by rapid urban expansion, large-scale real estate developments, and growing demand for sustainable and smart construction solutions. About 17,000 visitors, including professionals, buyers, and decision-makers from across the globe to attend the showcase. The Emirate of Dubai is set to welcome the third edition of International Glass Manufacturing Show (IGMS 2026), taking place from April 13 to 15, 2026, at Dubai World Trade Centre. This premier event will offer a specialized platform…

The IMF counsels that successful debt stabilization requires measures to strengthen public finances and institutions, alongside pro-growth structural reforms and a sound macroeconomic environment. Fiscal adjustment is likely to result in stronger, more durable reductions in debt when complemented by pro-growth structural reforms and by measures to strengthen institutional frameworks. In the context of high global uncertainty, tighter global financial conditions, and rising borrowing costs, concerns about sub-Saharan Africa’s debt vulnerabilities are mounting. But the region is tackling this issue head-on and public debt ratios have stabilized on average. Our analytical note in the International Monetary Funds (IMF)’s latest Regional Economic…

South African exports to the U.S. would be subjected to a flat 30 per cent tariff, effective August 1, 2025. Trump accuses South Africa of maintaining one-sided trade practices that include “tariff and non-tariff barriers” and a “lack of reciprocity.” South Africa faults the move saying calculation misrepresents actual trade balance and fails to consider that over half of U.S. goods enter South Africa duty-free. As the U.S. gears up for a new round of global trade realignments, South Africa faces an uphill diplomatic and economic task after being hit with a sweeping 30 per cent tariff on all exports…

Donald Trump: Any country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10 per cent tariff. Pronouncement comes as BRICS leaders convene in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for their annual summit this week. BRICS has been escalating efforts to challenge U.S. economic dominance—particularly its central role in the global financial system. U.S. President Donald Trump has unveiled a sweeping new trade directive that could disrupt the growing momentum of BRICS nations to loosen their dependence on the U.S. dollar. In a post on his Truth Social platform Sunday night, Trump threatened to impose an additional…

Increasing revenues, establishing an effective budget framework, and scaling up the cash transfer system can all support Nigeria’s progress, states IMF. Country needs stronger and more sustained growth to lift millions of people out of poverty and food insecurity. Over the past two years, Nigeria—Africa’s most populous country—has implemented difficult reforms to tackle long-standing obstacles weighing on the economy. While the reforms are starting to show results, poverty and food insecurity remain high, and the uncertain global environment presents additional challenges. As discussed in the International Monetary Fund’s latest annual economic health check of the West African nation, the right…

Donald Trump’s July 9-11 U.S.-Africa summit in Washington will bring together presidents from Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal. Agenda to focus heavily on U.S. economic interests in West Africa’s critical minerals sector and pressing regional security concerns. Meeting comes on the heels of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement between the DRC and Rwanda, signed last week at the White House. Just weeks after the United States sealed over $2.5 billion in trade and investment deals at the U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Luanda, Angola, U.S. President Donald Trump is set to host a high-level summit with select west African heads of…

For some, the reappearance of a once-powerful strongman Joseph Kabila raises concerns about instability; for others, it sparks speculation about whether he is staging a calculated return to power—or simply creating noise to protect old interests. This environment is fertile ground for political disruption—and Kabila, a man who led Congo for nearly two decades — knows this terrain very Already, the Congo River Alliance and M23 factions are actively welcoming his presence, and Congolese authorities have been unable to control his movements in the east. When Joseph Kabila, the former President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), reemerged in…

This year, Joseph Kabila’s political comeback gained traction amid mounting tensions with the President Félix Tshisekedi administration, which accused him of plotting insurrection and revoked his immunity from prosecution. His recent reemergence, particularly in M23-held Goma, has sparked a flurry of debate: is this the calculated return of a power-hungry strongman, or the quiet evolution of a statesman ready to contribute to peace and reform? When Joseph Kabila handed over power in 2019 after 18 turbulent years at the helm of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), it was seen as a rare peaceful transition in a nation often synonymous…

In the six months to June 30, EU identified four major mining projects in Africa among its 13 globally strategic targets under the Critical Raw Materials Act. These projects spread across Malawi, South Africa, Madagascar and Zambia will receive direct EU financing and technical support. EU sees Africa as a key supplier of critical raw materials essential to decarbonisation, green technologies, and clean energy value chains. In the six months to June 30, 2025, the European Union significantly ramped up its financial and technical support for Africa’s mining sector, aligning its foreign investment strategy with the continent’s growing role in…

M23 rebels have dismissed the Congo-Rwanda peace agreement brokered by Trump as irrelevant to their cause. Currently, thousands of Rwandan troops remain in Congo, and roughly seven million Congolese remain displaced. For Trump to declare “peace” in such conditions feels premature at best, opportunistic at worst. Last week, the foreign ministers of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda signed a peace agreement to end decades of bloodshed in eastern Congo. With Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Donald Trump present at the signing ceremony in Washington, the moment was framed by the administration as a landmark victory for…