Browsing: African governments

In recent years, Africa has emerged as a promising destination for global investment, with its vast natural resources, expanding consumer markets, and growing middle class. As the continent’s economies continue to strengthen and diversify, global players increasingly recognise the potential for mutually beneficial partnerships. The United States has significantly contributed to Africa’s economic transformation among these partners.…

Until substantial reforms are implemented, and remittance flows channelled towards long-term economic prospects, the diaspora will continue to be a net negative for weak African economies. Africa cannot depend on exporting its brilliant people abroad to bring money home forever. Thus, governments must establish vibrant economies that appreciate the continent’s human capital and enable bright individuals to prosper.…

In addition, governments have to make things better for businesses. Currently, tech start-ups have to pay a lot to comply with regulations that are sometimes not clear. These regulations differ in the 54 different African countries which makes it a lot of work for investors to scale faster across the continent. 

To deal with this, leaders in the different African nations need to come up with a common, unified framework that makes it easy to expand into regional markets. 

For things to work much better and faster, there is need to get more people to help each other since ecosystems that have more links are stronger and grow faster. African leaders should work on policies that can enable ecosystem players start a Pan-African tech start-up network to help tech start-ups grow and get better. 

To address these challenges, African governments need to quickly create and implement a digital economic policy …

The continent’s most promising markets are South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Mauritius and Tanzania.

According to a PwC report, Hotels outlook: 2019–2023 Future resilience, South Africa would see some sustained but suppressed growth through 2019 hitting R16.8 billion from the R16.7 billion recorded in 2018. With the pandemic, this growth slowed down but the recovery is promising especially with the lockdowns and other safety measures dropped.

The report indicates that overall revenue from hotel room accommodation rose by 0.5 per cent with international visitor numbers to South Africa continuing on an upward trajectory at just 1.7 per cent over 2017 numbers.

“We forecast that hotel room revenue will grow by 0.4 per cent in 2019 to R16.8 billion with a compound annual growth rate of 3.3 per cent over the forecast period. The growth in hotel rooms in South Africa will continue, with an additional 3,800 rooms to be added over …

Women’s role in trade and economic growth is significant and across Africa; they have mostly worked in export-oriented industries like textiles and clothing, agriculture, and tourism. 

For long, women have been stuck in low-paid labour but with increased demand for skills, things are changing. The AfCFTA offers an opportunity for African women to take a deep dive into the opportunities it offers. Women are now taking on more jobs in wholesale and retail trade, finance, business services, and hospitality which have prepared them for the opportunities that the continent offers under the trade agreement.  

Intra-African trade is expected to rise by between 33 per cent and 52 per cent but this is dependent on how much tariff liberalisation takes place between African countries.…

An internship is a short-term work experience opportunity that could be paid or not. The short-term position serves as an introduction to a career path. Internships allow interns to get real-world experience in their chosen subject.

Depending on opportunity availability, an internship may take place during the school year, over a school break or during a certain quarter. Completing an internship could help one obtain college credit for it.

An internship helps with gaining useful work experience, completing college requirements, and enhancing one’s curriculum vitae. During the period, many parts of full-time employment can be introduced while allowing one to explore their own interests and establish their own professional goals through internships. …

Treasury is expected to continue its trajectory f fiscal consolidation and discipline together with increasing incentives to grow investments in value chain sectors and stability in power supply.
On the taxation front the budget was expected to provide relief to the poor who make up at least 49.9 per cent of the population of the country. This is particularly significant because it has been said on several occasions that Zimbabwean people are among the most taxed in southern Africa.
This is partly the legacy of the minister of finance’s austerity for prosperity policy which resulted in a largely resented 2 per cent transfer tax on all transactions. There have been calls for this tax to be repealed and the tax-free threshold to be increased.…

Unemployment remains a big challenge for African governments yet the continent is missing job opportunities offered by the region’s biggest employer, the agriculture sector. 

For Africa, food security remains an elusive dream with projections showing that the continent is spending billions of dollars importing what it should be producing. The food import bill hit US$43 billion in 2019, according to Brookings. 

The World Bank notes that in the last few decades, Africa’s food import bill has more than tripled, hitting about US$35 billion a year. The irony is that most of what is imported could be produced locally, which could create jobs that are much needed.…

Urban-based sectors of the economy are expected to be hit hard by covid-19 related effects, leading to substantial losses in productive jobs.…

The Belt and Road Initiative is a China-led strategy to strengthen global trade links across the world, in particular between Asia, Africa and Europe…