Zimbabwe has begun to implement economic reforms that, if continued, could help the struggling nation improve the quality of life for the vast majority of its citizens. The nascent reform movement also suggests that government leaders have realized that reliance on China alone will not solve the country’s economic ills.
The efforts by Finance Minister,…
Two of the world’s fastest-growing economies — Cote d’Ivoire and Tanzania — held presidential elections this week. Both countries have re-elected the governing party but the difference between their two experiences was as far apart as the countries themselves.
In Cote d’Ivoire, incumbent president Alassane Ouattara has won a second five-year term by a landslide. …
During the recent meeting of the President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa (PAC-DBIA), Commerce Secretary Pritzker candidly admitted that the Obama Administration has been “grappling” with how to move forward on the proposed U.S.-Africa Infrastructure Center because the U.S. Commercial Service does not have the necessary resources and training to effect a…
In the face of low commodity prices and concerns about China’s economic health, Kenya and Nigeria are turning to their own citizens — both home and abroad — as an alternative source of financing.
In Kenya, the Treasury has launched the M-Akiba Bond, “the first-ever government bond offered exclusively via mobile phone.” A high rate…
For years, many observers treated Africa’s plans for regional integration with a healthy dose of skepticism. Though the skepticism remains, what has changed is the wide-spread acknowledgement and elevated importance of regional economic integration to grow Africa’s economies, create jobs for its rapidly growing youth population, and improve lives. Last month’s AGOA Forum, hosted by…
In the midst of questions about how China’s economic health will impact Africa, the foreign ministers of China and South Africa have announced that the sixth Ministerial Meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation will be upgraded to a summit. Nearly a decade after the first China-Africa Leaders summit which was held in Beijing, this…
Later this month, Gabon will host two major African investment forums: the AGOA Forum and the New York Forum AFRICA.
Established by the African Growth and Opportunity Act, the AGOA Forum is an annual gathering that brings together high-level African and U.S. government officials to discuss strengthening economic ties between the U.S. and the continent.…
Nigerian government officials are once again contemplating legislation that would require certain private companies to list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (“NSE”). According to Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara, the listing requirement would apply to companies in the oil, gas and telecommunication sectors and is necessary “in order to deepen the…
The past few years have been replete with media stories of an unfolding “African digital renaissance” and the wonders of the “Silicon Savannah” and other Sub-Saharan African tech hubs, with coverage reaching a fever pitch in the wake of the recent Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi. Yet francophone Africa has been noticeably…
The nation of Kenya was gripped by a palpable sense of excitement and outsized expectations prior to President Obama’s arrival on Friday, July 24. On the day the president arrived, offices in Nairobi were closed, banks shut down early, and the city’s emptied streets were adorned with American flags and ubiquitous posters conveying the message,…
