- Tanzania at COP28
- AfDB partners with Prince’s Trust International to address youth unemployment in Africa
- AstraZeneca pioneers AI solutions for reforestation in Africa
- TotalEnergies divests 36% stake in South Africa’s National Petroleum Refiners
- Lipa Later’s $1.6M boost revives Sky.Garden’s East African market presence
- COP28: unmasking greenwashing in Africa and the challenge for sustainable development
- COP28: Early win with $260 million for climate damages
- Africa’s tech experts to convene for the 8th Edition of Digital and Technology Week
Regional Markets
- AFDB has revised its short to medium-term macroeconomic forecast for Africa, for 2023 and 2024 downwards to 3.4% and 3.8%, from 4.0% and 4.3%.
- The bank cites the effects of COVID-19, geopolitical conflicts, climate shocks, a global economic slowdown, and limited fiscal space as constraints to Africa’s recovery.
- AfDB is calling on governments to scale up investment in human capital and infrastructure to boost productivity, and regain momentum in economic growth.
Global shocks have prompted the African Development Bank (AfDB) to revise its short to medium-term macroeconomic projections for Africa in 2023 and 2024, reducing the forecast to 3.4 per cent and 3.8 per cent from the earlier estimates of 4 per cent and 4.3 per cent.
AfDB cited persistent global shocks impacting African economies in the period under focus. The bank said the enduring impacts of COVID-19, ongoing geopolitical tensions and conflicts, climate-related shocks, a worldwide economic deceleration, and …
- The advent of BRICS Pay could further strengthen these ties, offering African nations an alternative to the dollar-dominated trade and financial systems.
- BRICS Pay is a bold step towards a more multipolar world economic order.
- Its impact on US-Africa trade will depend on various factors, including its adoption by businesses and financial institutions across the coalition of nations.
The launch of BRICS Pay, a digital payment platform developed by the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), marks a pivotal moment in international trade dynamics. This innovative system promises to streamline transactions among these emerging economies, potentially challenging the long-standing dominance of the US Dollar in global trade.
BRICS Pay is a testament to the growing influence of these five major emerging economies. By facilitating payments in local currencies, the system is poised to reduce reliance on the US Dollar, fostering a more diversified and resilient global …
- Annual tourist arrivals to the EAC are anticipated to increase to about 14.05 million by 2025, from the 7.2 million recorded in 2019.Â
- Kenya targets 5.5 million international tourist arrivals and a $6.3 billion annual contribution by 2028.
- Fast-tracking of the EAC Single Tourism Visa remains critical to sell the region as a single tourism investment hub.
Diversification of products beyond traditional attractions and joint promotion of the region is a catalyst to revamping the East African Community as a single tourism market. This call on a single tourism market was underscored by regional Ministers responsible for EAC Affairs and Tourism and Wildlife Management who converged for the opening of the 3rd EAC Regional Tourism Expo (EARTE’23) and the Magical Kenya Travel Expo in Nairobi, Kenya.
The three-day Expo that kicked off on Monday provides an opportunity for EAC Partner States to create awareness of tourism investment opportunities and …
Currently, Africa is over-exposed to the impact of the US Dollar. Thus, African nations must either act individually or together to mitigate these effects. Dollar strength bursts are cyclical. Therefore, there should be enough time to implement efforts before the next one occurs. African governments have recognized the harm done in the previous year and should work round the clock to find a lasting solution.…
- The change in patterns of trade triggered by these two major events is now forcing the MNCs to go back to the drawing board.
- MNCs need to reconfigure their trade routes. They have to re-lobby for assured capital and they have to broker new destinations for their goods.
- With the changing global trade polarities, the MNCs are rethinking China, and eyeing future giants like Africa.Â
The much acclaimed African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) that came into being last year may just have saved Africa from a new world trade order.
Thanks to the global pandemic and then the Russia-Ukraine war, the plate tectonic of global trade is shifting. The resulting divergence and convergence are squeezing and pulling in different directions.
Multinational Companies (MNCs) have, for the last three decades or more, controlled trade. These international corporations have enjoyed the fruits of globalization more than any other business entity.
They
The two south American nations are exploring methods to increase bilateral commerce and wean themselves off the mighty US currency. Its announcement has been widely criticized since they are not a natural fit for a single currency. This is due to one country's relative economic prosperity and the other's economic upheaval. This experience between Brazil and Argentina is instructive and illustrative for African nations with comparable aspirations to develop a single currency.
- Brazil and Argentina announced early last month that they would create a joint currency to increase trade and political relations.
- Similarly Africa has expressed the same ambitions at different times. The advent of AfCFTA gives further impetus to the concept that Brazil and Argentina has reignited.
- Brazil and Argentina first came up with the idea of a joint currency in the 1980s but it never took off because economic fundamentals.
- The joint currency experiment by Brazil and Argentina
- TransCentury Plc’s right issue is set to be reopened following approval from the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) after the initial issue failed to hit a 50 per cent threshold.Â
- Unfortunately, the rights issue performed below expectations, and as a result, CMA has invoked its powers under Section 14 of the Public Offers and Listings Regulations to allow TransCentury to reopen the issue.Â
- The rights’ issue will be open from March 20 -30 this year with additional information provided in the secondary prospectus to be issued by March 17 as the firm seeks shareholders’ approval to enable the conversion of shareholder loans to ordinary shares as a mode of payment for rights.
TransCentury Plc’s right issue is set to be reopened following approval from the Capital Markets Authority (CMA)Â after the initial issue failed to hit a 50 per cent threshold.Â
TC shareholders had until January 23, 2023 to take …
- AGOA has been a cornerstone of the U.S trade policy in Sub-Saharan Africa since the year 2000.
- The non-reciprocal trade preference programme that provides duty-free access to the U.S market.
- A range of manufactured goods and processed mineral products account for the bulk of exports.
African countries are pulling together to lobby the U.S Congress to approve the renewal of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) this year.
Kenya and South Africa are leading the push to have a 10-year extension on the pact that allows a select number of African countries to export finished products to the US.
AGOA has been a cornerstone of the U.S trade policy in Sub-Saharan Africa since the year 2000.
The non-reciprocal trade preference programme that provides duty-free access to the U.S market, for about 40 eligible African countries, is set to expire in 2025.
Initially, it was intended to last 15 years …
Most of the countries have no choice but borrow to bridge budget deficits. According to the IMF, the major EAC nations, namely Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda, together, had borrowed more than $100 billion in both external and domestic borrowing.
With the global economy in teeters post Covid-19 and the impact of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, economies worldwide are contracting, leaving East African nations in a perilous situation.
According to the IMF, about