Tuesday, March 28

Africa

  • Global deal activity down 27.5 percent Month-on-Month (M-o-M) and 46.7 percent Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) in January 2023.
  • All the deal types under coverage witnessed massive double-digit decline
  • According to the data, a total of 3,667 deals* were announced globally during January 2023, which is a decline of 27.5 percent compared to 5,055 deals announced during the previous month and a massive 46.7 percent Y-o-Y (Year on Year) decline over January 2022. 

Mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and venture financing deal activity is off to a slow start in 2023 globally as the first month of the year itself saw a significant contraction in deals volume according to the latest data from GlobalData, data and analytics company. 

According to the data, a total of 3,667 deals were announced globally during January 2023, which is a decline of 27.5 percent compared to 5,055 deals announced during the previous month and a massive 46.7

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  • Inflation is cooling gradually but remains stubbornly high in most economies, including Africa, UK and U.S. despite the efforts of central banks according to economic experts. 
  • In 2023 EIU forecast that disinflation in SSA will be slower than on all continents barring Latin America and Asia and Australasia, and that SSA inflation will average 12.5 percent. 
  • Markets are now betting on a longer period of higher interest rates as they begin to take heed of the message from central bank officials.

Inflation is cooling gradually but remains stubbornly high in most economies, including Africa, UK and U.S. despite the efforts of central banks according to economic experts.

Average annual inflation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in 2022, hit 14.5 percent year-on-year on aggregate according to Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and is estimated to have been higher than in any other region of the world except the Middle East and North Africa, …

  • Limited infrastructure, lack of standardized regulations and high air transport costs are among the challenges affecting the air transport sector in the East African Community according to a new report by East Africa Business Council. 
  • According to the report, limited liberalization of air transport contributes to high flight ticket rates and visa restrictions limit the movement of non-residents into the EAC region.
  • The report calls for an EAC single air transport services agreement in a bid to lower the cost of air transport within the region. 

Air Transport costs in the East African Community are higher than those in Europe and other African countries according to a new report by East Africa Business Council. 

According to the report, the ticket price per kilometre in the EAC region is more than twice the ticket price for destinations in Europe and other countries in Africa.

‘‘The average ticket price per km in

This year’s progress has been threatened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has caused a global economic shock that has hit Africa at a time when the government’s policy space to respond to it is small to nonexistent.…

Ahead of the US-Africa Summit in December, the Russia-Africa Summit next year and as new geopolitical alliances form, Africa is under great pressure to take sides.

China is increasingly becoming a strong economic powerhouse while Russia is making its own stand. The West finds itself reliving history, scrambling for portions of Africa.

This summer was most fulfilling for me, not because the Earth’s revolution had finally brought the sun to shine on my part of the World, I live in Tanzania, East Africa, its spring and summer all year around.

  • Africa is under increasing pressure to take sides in new global alliances
  • Africa wants an economic proposal in the upcoming US-Africa Summit
  • 2022 witnessed the highest number of diplomats & presidents visiting Africa

No, it was not the weather, the reason my summer was most memorable is that my daughter came to visit from the US. We had excellent family …

Meanwhile, Africa is looking to take pre-emptive action to avert the inevitable food crisis.

The United States has pledged support to help the continent grow and distribute more food. The aid will come through the African Development Bank (AfDB). The Bank is looking to fund a significant increase in food production in an effort to ward off the food crisis wrought by the Russia-Ukraine war.

In May this year, the AfDB set up a US$1.5 billion African Emergency Food Production Facility. It was established with the aim of supporting some 20 million smallholder farmers produce more food and to do so more sustainably.…

The connection bypass road launched by the five presidents of the East African Community (EAC) has set precedence in the importance of neighbouring countries undertaking joint projects to improve transport infrastructure between and amongst themselves.

This point is underlined in the World Bank report; “Patterns of shipping, transshipping, and distribution mean that trade depends not only on the quality of infrastructure in the two trading countries but also of that in key third party countries on the trading network.”

The point is that while two countries can come together to improve transport infrastructure, it is not enough because trade, in many cases, goes much further than the border between two countries.…

The Kenyan economy’s leading indices of economic activity show ongoing solid growth in the second quarter of 2022, according to CBK, with strong activity in storage and transport, retail and wholesale trade, construction, information and communication, and lodging and food services.

“Despite decreased agricultural performance and sluggish global growth, the economy is anticipated to remain resilient throughout the balance of 2022,” CBK added.

Goods exports have been strong, increasing by 11.0 per cent in the year to August 2022 compared to the same time in 2021.…

The continent comes in last in terms of funding and green development mechanisms in the global carbon market, which increased by 164% to a record $851 billion last year.

The largest market for trading carbon credits is in Africa, but what are the responsibilities of the sellers and buyers? Munyazikwiye questioned.

According to Mohamed Adow, the founder of the climate think tank Power Shift Africa, “Rich countries do not want to decarbonize their economies. It’s a sky trap. Rather than cutting emissions, they pay poor countries to run projects that lower emissions and take credit for that. Africa doesn’t have emissions to cut, but emissions to avoid.”

Adow urged all African leaders to take the helm of climate talks in their nations because “you need to choose the appropriate climate path if you’re the least developed and confront the highest climate vulnerabilities.”…