Introduction When U.S. President Donald Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on April 2, 2025, African exporters braced for impact. Eight member states of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) found their goods suddenly subject to duties ranging from 10% up to 50%, even as critical minerals remained exempt. Faced with this abrupt policy […]
Introduction Kenya’s vibrant horticulture sector, long celebrated for supplying Europe with beans, peas, and an array of fresh produce, faced a dramatic setback in 2024 when the European Union’s (EU) tightened pesticide and phytosanitary protocols slashed export volumes by over 50 percent. According to the 2025 Economic Survey published by the Kenya National Bureau of […]
Introduction Early on Friday, Moody’s Investors Service cut the United States’ sovereign credit rating by one notch—from Aaa to Aa1—citing the nation’s burgeoning US $36 trillion debt burden and a track record of persistent fiscal deficits. As the last of the three major ratings agencies to downgrade America’s once-pristine rating, Moody’s move has sharpened investor […]
A New Chapter in Ethiopia’s Green Mobility Journey In a landmark event on May 17, Chinese automaker Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd (GAC Group) unveiled two of its electric vehicle (EV) models—the AION Y and the Trumpchi ES9—to the Ethiopian market in Addis Ababa. This marks GAC’s official entry into East Africa’s burgeoning EV space, […]
Kenya’s fashion landscape is undergoing a paradigm shift—one that reconciles the vibrant trade in second-hand clothing, known locally as Mitumba, with a burgeoning domestic apparel manufacturing industry. A landmark report released on 15 May 2025 by the Mitumba Consortium Association of Kenya (MCAK) titled “A Future Look at the Apparel and Footwear Industry in Kenya […]
Global oil markets are shifting beneath the weight of economic uncertainties and a surging wave of electric vehicle (EV) adoption. In its May Oil Market Report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that, after a surprisingly robust first quarter, demand growth for the remainder of 2025 will cool materially signaling a pivotal moment for producers, […]
Moody’s Investors Service has elevated the City of Cape Town’s long-term local-currency issuer rating from Ba3 to Ba2, bringing it just one notch below South Africa’s sovereign rating of Ba1. This milestone reflects Cape Town’s disciplined financial governance, robust liquidity, and a cautiously improving economic outlook—despite the broader challenges facing the national economy (Engineering News, […]
Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen), the country’s leading power producer, has announced plans to develop a KSh 17 billion (approximately USD 132 million) 100 MW green hydrogen facility at its Olkaria geothermal complex in Naivasha. Funded through concessional finance from the German government, the project marks Kenya’s first large-scale foray into renewable hydrogen, a zero-carbon […]
Bangladesh is poised to unlock $1.3 billion in June from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), covering both the fourth and fifth tranches of its $4.7 billion Extended Credit Facility. The long-delayed disbursement follows a staff-level agreement on key reforms—most critically, a shift toward a more flexible exchange-rate regime via a crawling peg mechanism, alongside an […]
South Africa’s labour market showed renewed stress in the first quarter of 2025, with the official unemployment rate climbing to 32.9 percent, up a full percentage point from 31.9 percent in Q4 2024. The unexpected rise—well above economists’ forecast of a 0.2 point uptick—underscores persistent structural challenges in what remains one of the world’s highest […]
In a pivotal moment for Kenya's economic trajectory, President William Ruto has officially assented to three critical National Assembly Bills:...
In a significant pronouncement that reverberates through the burgeoning digital asset landscape, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), often referred...
The Coca-Cola Company, a global beverage giant, has unveiled a groundbreaking study highlighting its monumental socio-economic impact across the African...
A transformative era has dawned for chilli farmers in Kenya's coastal region with the official commissioning of a state-of-the-art Sh250...
