Browsing: Ghana

• African countries undermine their economic growth by prioritising trade with Europe and the United States over regional markets.
• How do we ensure that African countries trade among themselves? asks Dr. Phenyo Butale, Botswana’s Minister of International Relations.
• “We [Botswana] have high-quality beef in Botswana and the North West province, we export it to the European Union, yet Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo buy their beef from Brazil. Does that make sense? It doesn’t,” says Dr. Butale.

Despite its vast resources and production capacity, regional trade in Africa remains low with many economies relying heavily on overseas markets. This state of affairs has prompted Botswana to raise the alarm about low levels of intra-African trade.

“It’s disheartening that Africa is still unable to realise trade among its countries,” said Dr Phenyo Butale, Botswana’s Minister of International Relations, delivering a lecture in honour of the late South African Deputy …

• Suspension of USAID funding could severely affect the availability of antiretroviral drugs, HIV testing, and prevention programmes.
• Other essential programmes at risk are malaria prevention, maternal and child health, family planning, reproductive health, nutrition.
• Ghana is exploring alternative funding mechanisms and reallocate resources to prevent any disruption in these vital programmes.

President Donald Trump’s recent move to dismantle USAID has left Ghana grappling with a funding shortfall of roughly $156 million for her healthcare and social programmes.

With the funding gap, the country is likely to face a crisis in tackling a range of pressing healthcare challenges including fighting malaria, enhancing child health among other key interventions critical to the country’s success.

Under President Trump’s new administration, USAID, traditionally a key plank in U.S. humanitarian and development efforts globally, is being dismantled and merged into the State Department. This move has resulted in a freeze on billions of dollars …

• Africa’s hospitality sector has matured in ways that not only meet but anticipate the desires of modern travellers.
• By embracing responsible tourism, fostering local community interactions, and providing avenues for health and wellness, Africa is redefining what it means to travel meaningfully.
• Africa’s lower cost of living is making it an attractive destination for digital nomads.

Africa’s hospitality sector has long offered unique experiences and the 2025 travel trends show a continent aligning in unique way to tap changing preferences of holidaymakers from different source markets across the world.

By February this year, an estimated 150,000 European tourists had visited South Africa. The succeeding months look promising as this year’s United Nations Tourism Report says there is increasing interest in East and West Africa holiday destinations by holidaymakers from Europe.

At the moment, tourists from Britain and German are the trailblazers with their changing values and preferences setting the tone …

• Sudan has stepped forward, increasing its pledge to $3 million in the African Development Fund.
• Sudan’s pledge aligns it with other African nations, which have each committed to raise at least $1 million to the fund by 2025.
• With backing from The Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Ghana, Africa’s commitment to funding its key projects is strengthening.

African nations are coming together to secure a $25 billion replenishment for the African Development Fund (ADF), an ambitious target that signals a continent-wide push toward self-driven financing for projects.

In the latest update, Sudan has stepped forward, increasing its pledge to $3 million in this collective movement. With backing from countries including The Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Ghana, Africa’s commitment to funding its development projects is strengthening.

As governments, led by the African Development Bank (AfDB), advocate for this replenishment, they set a critical precedent for financial autonomy in achieving Africa’s …

• Kenya solidifies its position as East Africa’s tourism hub, with Nairobi chosen to host the Africa Youth in Tourism Innovation Summit for 2025, 2026, and 2027.
• The summit, which draws hundreds of innovators, government leaders, and tourism experts, will boost Kenya’s post-COVID tourism recovery.
• Organized by TEAMS Africa, the event underscores Nairobi’s growing prominence on the global tourism stage following a successful edition in Namibia.

Kenya, East Africa’s travel and tourism industry hub, has yet again cemented its position in the hospitality sector after the capital Nairobi was picked to host the Africa Youth in Tourism Innovation Summit and Challenge (AYTIS) for the years 2025, 2026, and 2027.

This feat further reinforces Kenya as a tourism destination of choice as the industry continues to register growth post the Covid-19 economic fallout.

AYTIS is a platform that is fashioned to promote and uplift innovative investors within the dynamic tourism industry in …

• Chocolate companies are avoiding paying minimum prices to cocoa farmers.
• In Ghana and Ivory Coast, farmers are forced to engage in child labour to maintain optimum cocoa production amid meagre returns.
• Cocoa prices peaked at $12,072 per tonne in February 2024.

Cocoa prices peaked at $12,072 per tonne in February of this year, only to drop to $7,960 per tonne this September, leaving farmers seeking solutions on how to cushion against such adverse price swings.

“Market reports say the world market price of cocoa has witnessed the highest levels of volatility over the past 12 months,” reported the Ghana Food and Agriculture Minister, Dr. Bryan Acheampong.

Ghana is one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of cocoa, one of the highest-priced agricultural food products in the world. To protect her farmers, Ghana has increased the producer price of cocoa by over 129 per cent, the minister announced.

“The cocoa …

• China-backed Jamestown Fishing Port is expected to inject new energy into Ghana’s fishing industry.
• It is equipped with facilities such as a fish market, ice-making plant, cold storage, and a ship repair station.
• The port has a huge potential to generate and sustain millions of jobs, thereby stimulating the local economy.

Ghana has made a landmark move in its journey towards economic revitalization and modernization with the inauguration of the $60 million Jamestown Fishing Port in Accra. This project, which further cements China-led investments in Africa is poised to transform the nation’s fishing industry, bringing jobs, growth, and national prosperity.

Developed by China’s CRCC Harbor and Channel Engineering Bureau Group Co., Ltd., the new port features a range of essential infrastructure to support artisanal fishing—a lifeblood of Ghana’s coastal economy.

With artisanal fishing contributing a big share of income among coastal communities, the Jamestown Fishing Port is expected to …

• Across Ghana and Ivory Coast, climate change, illegal mining, cocoa industry woes, and a devastating disease known as swollen shoot have conspired to end West Africa’s cocoa supremacy.
• In Ivory Coast, 30% of cocoa plantations are infected by swollen shoot disease. Upto 600,000 hectares under Cocoa in Ghana are infected, too.
• The crisis in West Africa is offering opportunity to Ecuador, Brazil and Peru to become global cocoa production titans.

A double whammy of a devastating disease coupled with unchecked gold mining activities has set up a storm that is fast threatening to kill West Africa’s Cocoa supremacy.

For decades, Ghana and the Ivory Coast have held the mantle of titans in the cocoa world, jointly supplying over 60 per cent of the beans’ global demand. However, this year’s poor harvest as noted by an exclusive piece by Reuters, could spark a seismic shift in the cocoa production industry, …

• As national debts grow, many African countries find themselves spending more on debt than on health.
• IMF says the debt ratio in Sub-Saharan Africa surged to 60% from 30% of the countries’ GDP between 2013 and December 2022.
• Kenya is for instance using nearly 60% of its annual revenues on paying debt obligations.

As the Africa debt crisis roils, over half of the countries have found themselves spending more money in servicing their loan obligations than even the amount they have budgeted for health services to their citizens.

This unfolding scenario is further burdening millions of their citizens who have little choice but to shoulder heavy tax burdens to settle mountains of debt.

Prof Danny Bradlow, a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship in Pretoria, South Africa, captures the dire situation, stating: “over the  last three years (2019/22), more than 25 African governments allocated …

• Opera MiniPay Momentum continues following the successful launch of MiniPay in Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana.
• MiniPay empowers users to save, send, and receive funds instantly on their mobile phones with very low transaction fees.
• With a mission to onboard millions of users to Web3 across Africa, Celo and Mento Labs aim to provide accessible financial tools through MiniPay embedded in Opera Mini.

In collaboration with Celo and Mento Labs, Opera has announced a significant achievement: surpassing 1 million users of the MiniPay wallet across Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana markets.

This milestone for the global web innovator was marked today at the Africa Money and DeFi Summit, taking place on February 14-15 in Nairobi, Kenya.

Launched in 2006, Opera Mini has unique features such as data compression, offline file sharing, and a built-in ad-blocker. MiniPay is a self-custodial dollar stablecoin wallet seamlessly integrated into the Opera Mini browser for Android …