I am by nature an optimist. A long and challenging life has tempered that optimism with a large dose of realism but I am definitely a “glass half-full” kind of man. As a regular contributor to The Exchange I don’t really want to blame another contributor for tipping me over the edge into downright pessimism but, having read the excellent piece by Eric Kimunguyi entitled, “Europe taking on the world to lock out agriculture” I am not of good heart. In fact, I cannot remember a time when I have been less optimistic about the financial future of the world economy. 

The world financial system is even sicker than the world’s population. The Covid-19 pandemic is still having devastating effects on human health and wealth around the world – some 18 months after it first appeared. The world’s leading economies are broken and are still printing money to subsidise their

On Thursday, May 13, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) disclosed that African countries had acquired 38.03 million Covid-19 vaccines thus far. 

For a continent with close to 1.5 billion people, the acquisition is at snail’s pace, sporadic and at best remains a lengthy process that may never be completed to successfully cover every African citizen in need of the vaccine. 

Out of the 38 million doses, 22.4 million doses had been administered corresponding to a coverage rate of 1.48 per cent of the continent. Only five out of the 55 African nations had administered most of the doses of the Covid-19 vaccine respective to their populations.…

There are thousands upon thousands, if not millions, of African artifacts scattered all across Europe. According to the most commonly cited figures from a 2007 UNESCO forum, 90 per cent to 95 per cent of sub-Saharan cultural artifacts are housed outside Africa. Many, like the works from Benin, were taken during the colonial period and ended up in museums across Europe and North America. 

Be they in national museums or private collections, African masks, paintings, carvings, sculptures, potteries—all ancient and priceless—are being held abroad, and the keepers refuse to return them. 

For the purpose of formalities let us look at the arguments posed by museums.  After all these are the places where the artifacts are on public display and clearly labeled, for instance, ‘Ancient Benin Bronze Axe 1897’ yet the piece is in a French museum and the museum will not release it back to the Kingdom of Benin—present day

According to Brand Africa 100: Africa’s Best Brands 2020 survey, Africans prefer foreign brands over local ones. In 2011, the representation of African brands seemed very optimistic when they registered a 34% representation, but in 2020 it dropped to an all-time low of 13%. 

This is a worrying statistic as it may indicate that Africa is failing to meet the needs of its growing consumer market, which was worth $1.4 trillion in 2020. The AfCFTA if properly implemented will create an even bigger continental free trade zone with a potential market of 1.7 billion people. …