Features

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) — How much more calamity can East Africa take? Already struggling with the twin crises of the coronavirus pandemic and a Biblical scourge of locusts, the region is now being lashed by exceptionally heavy rainfall, with floods that threaten life and livelihood from Ethiopia to Tanzania, and all parts in between. For the continent’s most economically vibrant region, the trifecta of tribulations may well add up to a fourth: food…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Chinese authorities acted late to contain COVID-19 because of local governments’ initial confusion and obfuscation of the mysterious illness, and they then had to resort to extreme social-distancing controls and lockdown measures. The new infections curve in China was also flattened through large-scale virus testing, which led to more accurate diagnosis and ultimately slowed the contagion. Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan quickly learned from this example and were able…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Regional financial integration refers to a process, market-driven and/or institutionalized, that broaden and deepen financial links within the region. At the very least, this process involves eliminating barriers to cross border investments and differentiated treatment of foreign investors. Further deepening of financial links can take the form of harmonizing national policies, laws, and institutions. Over time, cohesion of regulatory frameworks, operational structures and information systems, and convergence of prices…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – From Johannesburg to Lagos, Cairo to Dakar, Kinshasa to Kigali, Nairobi to Accra, etc., the debate on how Africa should respond to the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is raging. At an African regional policy platform, I had expressed some of these (personal) views some weeks ago but I have been encouraged by most members to circulate them in Africa beyond the platform. This year, 2020, begins a new decade…

This year’s Africa Energy Forum (aef) has been rescheduled to take place in Amsterdam, the Netherlands from 20-22 October 2020. Previously due to take place in July, the move comes in the interests of all attendees’ safety after monitoring the COVID-19 situation and its impact on global economies. The Forum, organised by EnergyNet, brings together decision-makers in Africa’s energy sector to form partnerships, identify opportunities and collectively move the industry forward. EnergyNet’s Managing Director Simon…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Cocoa processing probably declined in the first quarter on falling chocolate demand from retail outlets shuttered across the globe because of the coronavirus outbreak, according to surveys conducted by Bloomberg. In Europe, the biggest consuming region, grinding may fall 3% from a year earlier, according to the median estimate in a survey of seven analysts, brokers and processors. Estimates ranged from a drop of 1% to as much as 11%….

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) — Global health emergencies will be a fact of life in the 21st century. So, too, will be the World Health Organization’s chronic inability to rise to the occasion. President Donald Trump is hoping that the body’s failures in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic can be corrected with punishment. The U.S. will halt payments to the WHO to hold it “accountable” for its failure to warn earlier of a public health…