As African ministers prepare for next week’s meeting in Beijing – a follow-up to last September’s Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit – a new World Bank report warns that nations participating in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) will need significant policy reforms to truly benefit from the BRI…
When it comes to the critical role of remittances, it’s hard to overstate the impact in African nations and the trend only continues to grow. For Gambians, such remittances – money sent home to families from loved ones working abroad – accounted for 15.1 percent of GDP in 2018. That’s…
A study that looked at the potential regional impacts of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement suggests that it’s Central Africa that stands to gain the most from a unified African market of 1.3 billion consumers, and the easier movement of people and goods across borders. Research director…
China will host the next step in achieving the goals of last September’s Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit, with a coordinators’ meeting planned for June 24 and 25 in Beijing. The meeting, announced Monday by spokesman Geng Shuang of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will see ministerial officials from…
Equatorial Guinea is set to host the African Development Bank’s annual meeting, which begins Tuesday in Malabo and runs through the week. “Equatorial Guinea is one of the most developed countries in Africa, but not many people know that,” said Vincent Nmehielle, the secretary general for AfDB, at a press…
President Faure Gnassingbé of Togo was joined by former British prime minister Tony Blair on Thursday to talk economic development at the Togo-UK Investment Summit in London. Gnassingbé made his pitch to investors while announcing a new deal for a logistics hub in Lomé, after meeting with CEO Geoffrey White…
The president of Botswana began an 11-day trip to the United States on Tuesday, leaving from Sir Seretse Khama International Airport as he headed off for his working visit to a number of cities. President Mokgweetsi Masisi will visit Las Vegas, San Francisco, New York and New Haven during his…
It’s been a year since South African goat farmers came under scrutiny from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Asia. The films PETA released, alleging unethical and cruel practices in the mohair industry, led to hundreds of clothing and home furnishing retailers refusing to use South African angora…
China again denied claims that its loan policies put African nations and others in the developing world into “debt traps,” countering reports that United States legislators are looking to pass legislation that would limit China’s ability to do so. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang said Wednesday that Beijing’s…
Nearly USD$62 million for women in business is headed to the African continent, after the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) announced on Monday its funding allocation for the African Development Bank and its own women-focused programs. The funding through AfDB’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) will be…
United Nations Secretary General António Guterres says the African continent needs a “quantum leap” in climate change and development funding – especially so because we are not, Guterres said, winning the battle against climate change impacts. “The African continent practically does not contribute to climate change, but the African continent…
President of Mozambique Filipe Nyusi met with Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as they attended the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing. She assured him that a USD$118 million loan, approved by the IMF last week to support recovery from Cyclone Idai impacts, reflects the…
Sudan and Nigeria are among countries in the world where economic growth already has been most damaged by global warming, according to new research from Stanford University in the United States. The research, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), also listed Brazil, India…
China will welcome African leaders to Beijing next week for the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, but ahead of the event it also welcomed praise from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) on how the Belt and Road Initiative can boost African jobs. “The positive…
An investigative report from Global Witness accuses a high-ranking though disreputable military leader in Democratic Republic of Congo of acquiring illegally traded timber licenses in a matter of days, and then selling the associated company to a Chinese timber kingpin already operating in the country. General Gabriel Amisi Kumba is…