Tag Archives: Business and Finance

You may know nothing about it, but your phone – or your laptop or tablet – could be taken over by someone else who has found their way in through a back door. They could have infected your device with malware to make it a “bot” or a “zombie” and …

Dakar, Senegal — In Senegal, two major traffic crashes in just eight days killed 62 people, reviving the question of road safety standards in Senegal and across Africa. The continent is home to the highest rate of road fatalities in the world. Experts blame a dangerous mix of poor infrastructure …

Johannesburg, South Africa — China’s new Foreign Minister Qin Gang wrapped up his first international tour to Africa this week, during which he visited five diverse countries — Ethiopia, Gabon, Benin, Angola and Egypt — and stressed that China does not see the continent as an arena for a power …

Shipping ports are crucial for the global economy. They handle the majority of trade, are industrial and transportation hubs and provide employment. But ports, by their nature, are located in coastal areas or on large rivers and are exposed to natural hazards such as storms and floods as a result. …

In 2022, an energy crisis hit Europe, causing fuel shortages, business closures and economic slowdowns. The impacted countries were prompted to adjust domestic energy policy, and the world is feeling the spillover. Energy uncertainty will remain into 2023, given ongoing geopolitical conflicts, global warming and exchange rate volatility. Moreover, the …

Sydney — Inflation worries topped Ipsos’s What Worries the World survey in 2022 overtaking COVID concerns. The return of inflation caught major central banks, e.g., the US Federal Reserve (Fed), Bank of England, European Central Bank “off guard”. The persistence of inflation also surprised the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The …

San Jose — With a median age of 20 years and 60 percent of the population under 25, Africa is the youngest continent in the world and holds the future.  Projections show that a quarter of the world’s people will be African by 2050 (The Guardian). Africa has an opportunity …

The AfCFTA is in motion, but Africa’s leading economies must be willing to create policy space for others. Applying the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement has always been described as a marathon, not a sprint. This has proven true as no commercially significant trade has occurred under the …

Nairobi — Concerns are rife that while Africa is growing more crops, these are not for food and that on the current trajectory, present food import costs into Africa, now estimated at 55 billion US dollars a year, could double by 2030. Three crop species-maize, wheat and rice meet an …

Expectations are that China’s grand ‘reopening’ will provide the lifeline many countries desperately need. With continuing global economic uncertainty in 2023, there’s been precious little to cheer about for Africa. However, China’s recent reopening after lengthy COVID-19 restrictions has sparked enthusiasm around a demand-led stimulus to the global economy, boosting …

Although electricity is critical to healthcare provision, nearly a billion people in poorer countries – one-eighth of the global population – are served by health facilities that lack reliable supply, a UN-backed report launched on Saturday has revealed. The study presents the latest data on electrification of healthcare facilities in …

Governments are not investing enough in those children who need education the most, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said in a report published on Tuesday, calling for equitable financing to combat “learning poverty”. Children from the poorest households benefit the least from national public education funding, according to the study, …