The Information and communication technologies (ICT) sector in Africa has continued to grow, a trend that is likely to continue. Of late, mobile technologies and services have generated 1.7 million direct jobs (both formal and informal), contributed to $144 billion of economic value (8.5 percent of the GDP of sub-Saharan Africa), and contributed $15.6 billion to the public sector through ...

A strategy for strengthening relations between Malta and the continent of Africa was launched for public consultation, highlighting the already established connections between Europe’s smallest member state and the second-largest continent in the world. The strategy, which seeks to guide Malta’s path forward between 2020 and 2025, seeks to deepen and strengthen the relationship between Malta and Africa, as a union ...

Absa has signed a deal with the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (Miga) which will enable it to reduce the regulatory risk weighting of mandatory reserves held by its subsidiaries across sub-Saharan Africa, thus freeing up lending capacity. Absa’s subsidiaries outside of South Africa are required to maintain reserves at the central banks in their respective jurisdictions, based on the volume of ...

The new year 2020 marks the beginning of a promising decade for Africa. Through at least the first half of the decade, economic growth across Africa will continue to outperform that of other regions, with the continent continuing to be home to seven of the world’s 10 fastest-growing economies. Collective action among African and global policymakers to improve the livelihoods of ...

The African continental free trade area is an engine for regional integration and the promotion of employment in North Africa. Over the past decade, North Africa has made significant progress in economic development. In terms of Sustainable Development Goals, three North African countries are among the top five in Africa. But, they are still over 30% away from achieving the ...

President Uhuru Kenyatta and Guinea Bissau President-Elect Umaro Cissoko Embalo recently said their respective countries will enhance their cooperation for the mutual benefit of citizens of the two nations. Speaking during a meeting at State House, Mombasa, the two leaders singled out exchange of students and teachers, collaboration in technical training, trade and security as some of the key areas of focus ...

Farmers have resumed exporting their wool and mohair through the South African broker in Port Elizabeth. This follows the passing of the Agricultural Marketing (Wool and Mohair Licensing) (Amendment) Regulation 2019 No 68 in the national assembly last month and the release of the act in a government gazette of 29 November 2019. The amended regulations allow farmers to export their ...

In December 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari said the country will start issuing a visa on arrival at the point of entry to all persons holding passports of African countries, effective January 2020. Speaking at the 2019 Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development in Africa, in Egypt, the president said the decision was to bring down barriers that have hindered the free movement of ...

More than two million West African farmers toil daily to produce precious cocoa beans, but few will ever taste the fine chocolate it eventually produces. The trees that produce these butter-rich pods do not grow outside the steamy tropics, thriving instead on the bulge of Africa. As such, the region produces the bulk of the world’s cocoa. Yet, Belgian, Swiss, Italian and ...

Eskom’s new chief executive took charge of the crisis-plagued utility, embarking sooner than planned on the mammoth task of fixing a national power deficit and restructuring debts that have hobbled South Africa’s economy. Andre de Ruyter, appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa in November, will oversee a government plan to split state-owned Eskom into three units – for generation, transmission and distribution ...