Economy

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) — The International Monetary Fund has warned that Zimbabwe needs urgent aid as the coronavirus exacerbates the impact a food shortage following the worst drought in nearly four decades. The southern African nation needs hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid in the coming months to fend off a humanitarian crisis that’s likely to leave more than half of the population hungry, the Washington-based institution said. “The outbreak has…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) — South Africa emerged from the 2008 global financial crisis in a strong position thanks to robust economic growth and a budget surplus when the downswing came. A rapid deterioration in public finances over the past decade means the opposite is likely after the coronavirus pandemic. “We’re starting off this crisis in a far worse position than what we started off the global financial crisis,” said Johann Els, chief economist at…

ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa)  — Ivory Coast’s economy will probably expand at the slowest pace since the end of a crisis in 2011 as the outbreak of coronavirus is seen to hit foreign direct investment and the roll-out of infrastructure. The world’s top cocoa producer cut its 2020 economic growth forecast to 5.8%, from an initial estimate of 7.3%, Minister of Economy and Finance Adama Coulibaly said in an interview. The loss of income…

ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ivory Coast’s economy is more than a third bigger than previously estimated after the West African nation changed its base for measuring gross domestic product. The country’s GDP at current prices measured 27.1 trillion CFA francs ($46 billion) in 2015, government spokesman Sidi Toure said in an emailed statement. That’s 38% bigger than the 19.6 trillion francs-estimate of the previous 1996 base. The statement didn’t give updated figures for…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s economy expanded the most in four years in 2019 as oil output increased and the central bank took steps to boost credit growth. Gross domestic product expanded 2.27% last year, the most since 2015, the Abuja-based National Bureau of Statistics said on its website on Monday. The economy grew 2.55% in the three months through December from a year earlier, compared with 2.3% in the third quarter. The…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa)- Despite improved macroeconomic indicators, the demands for bread, freedom and social justice remain elusive for most. Nine years ago today, the Egyptian people toppled Hosni Mubarak, their ruler of nearly 30 years. What had begun as protests against police brutality drew inspiration from the success of anti-regime demonstrations in Tunisia, and escalated into demands for the fall of the dictatorship. Among the most popular chants in Cairo’s Tahrir Square…

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa)- The country scores high on development metrics; it just needs to break free of dependence on commodities. Every time a region of the world goes from being poor to being rich one country tends to be responsible for getting the process started. In Europe that was the U.K., which was the first to industrialize. In East Asia it was Japan. In West Africa, it could be Ghana. Ghana has a number of big…