October 10, 2022
Ghana: Debt Restructuring Must Go Hand-in-Hand With Managing Finances Better
Ghana is struggling with managing its debt, 20-year high inflation, a weak currency, and rising inequality. For example, inflation rose to 33.9% in August 2022 from 9.7% a year… Read more »
October 08, 2022
Uganda: Fuel Smugglers - Are the Opec Boys (Anti-)heroes of the Marginalised?
Smuggling in the Ugandan border region of West Nile has a long and chequered history. It straddles the fine line between legitimacy and legality. Governance and conflict researcher… Read more »
October 07, 2022
Uganda: Uganda's Owen Falls Dam - a Colonial Legacy That Still Stings, 67 Years Later
Uganda's Owen Falls hydropower plant has a rich history that predates the country's independence in 1962. The plant is located across the White Nile and sits between the towns of… Read more »
October 05, 2022
South Africa: Construction Waste Is Costly - What's Causing It On South African Building Sites
The construction industry contributes significantly to a country's economy through infrastructure development. The industry has expanded rapidly worldwide and further growth is… Read more »
Africa: On the Brink - Global Crises Demand Radical Change
We have damaged our planet through destructive exploitation of fossil fuels and the insatiable demand for things we don't need. We are cooking ourselves to death and it may already… Read more »
October 04, 2022
Ghana: Blaming Poor Labour Conditions in Transport Sector On Ride-Hailing Companies Misses the Deeper Issues
Ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft have become ubiquitous in many parts of the world over the past decade. Criticism of their business model has also become commonplace:… Read more »
South Africa: A Basic Income Grant for South Africa - More Money in Poor People's Pockets, but At a Heavy Cost
Analyses of the implications of extending income support measures in South Africa, including a basic income grant, have focused on one of three things: how much it will cost,… Read more »
October 03, 2022
Ghana: Ghana's Petroleum Sector Management Is a Mess - What's Gone Wrong?
After three decades of prospecting Ghana discovered commercially viable quantities of petroleum in 2007. Within 3.5 years, it exported its first barrels of crude oil. The… Read more »
Kenya: New Finance Minister Has Good Credentials but He Can't Work Miracles
President William Ruto has nominated Njuguna Ndung'u to head Kenya's National Treasury. A Central Bank of Kenya governor for eight years between 2007 and 2015, Ndung'u is also an… Read more »
September 29, 2022
Africa: Africa Risks Losing Out On Trade As Rich Countries Cement Relationships With Trusted Partners
Over the past few years, the world's supply chains have been strained and disrupted by the COVID pandemic, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and rising geopolitical tensions. These… Read more »
Africa: Green Hydrogen Sounds Like a Win for Developing Countries. But Cost and Transport Are Problems
Hydrogen is used mainly to make chemicals such as fertiliser, and in oil refineries. Most hydrogen in the world today is made from natural gas or coal - methods associated with… Read more »
Nigeria: Foreign Investment Into Nigeria Has Fallen Sharply - Rights and Freedoms May Be One Reason
Nigeria has always managed to attract foreign direct investment despite its poor economic outlook. This is thanks to its oil reserves and the consumption potential of its large… Read more »
September 27, 2022
Ghana: Northern Ghana Is Underdeveloped Because of Underinvestment During Colonial Rule, Not Geography
Ghana's most important development problem is arguably the disparity between the north and south of the country. The north is acutely underdeveloped, trailing the south in… Read more »
September 23, 2022
Africa: How Money and Technology Are Militarising the Fight Against the Illegal Wildlife Trade
Thousands of animals and plants are bought and sold each year globally as food, medicine, clothing and furniture - even in the form of musical instruments. Wildlife, it seems, is… Read more »
September 26, 2022
South Africa: Some Plants Can Short-Circuit the Toxic Effects of Metals - Scientists Are Trying to Harness Their Power
At first glance, it's hard to see what gold, iron, lead, arsenic, silver, platinum and tin have in common. A look at the periodic table will clear up the confusion: they are all… Read more »
South Africa: 5 Steps You Can Take to Manage a Hike in Interest Rates
The governor of the South African Reserve Bank recently announced an increase in the lending rate by 75 basis points. This means the repo rate (the rate at which the central bank… Read more »
September 23, 2022
Africa: To Reach Net Zero the World Still Needs Mining #AfricaClimateCrisis
On the wooded hill above the Stan Terg lead and zinc mine in Kosovo, there is an old concrete diving platform looming over what was once an open-air swimming pool. Before the… Read more »
September 24, 2022
Nigeria: Nigeria Is Producing Less and Less Oil. Here's Why
Nigeria's oil output was at the lowest since 1990 as its crude oil production fell below 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in August 2022. And data from the Organisation of the… Read more »
September 21, 2022
South Africa: 12% Percent of Working Women Are Domestic Workers - Yet They Don't Receive Proper Maternity Leave or Pay
Most of the world's domestic workers - (76%) - are women. They mainly do housework like cleaning, washing clothes, cooking and childcare, usually in private households. Domestic… Read more »
Kenya: Kenya Has Breached Its Public Debt Ceiling - How It Got There and What That Means
Kenya's newly elected president, William Ruto, has earned more legal space to borrow for his grandiose economic plan after parliament recently raised the country's public debt… Read more »
Nigeria: Nigeria's Universities Can Find Funds and Produce Job Creators - Here's How
Industrial action by Nigeria's university lecturers has entered its seventh month. The strike is one of the longest by academic staff in Africa's most populous country. Read more »
September 20, 2022
Africa: Three Reasons Why the US Federal Reserve Bank Holds Africa in Its Hands
Inflation is a global problem. At the end of August, it was 8.3% in the US and 9.1% in the Euro area. It is 20.3% in Nigeria, 25% in Malawi, and over 30% in Ethiopia and Ghana. Read more »
September 19, 2022
Africa: South Africa's Farm Exports Are an Economic Lifeline - With Weak Spots
International trade has been at the core of South Africa's agricultural progress since the early 2000s. Since 1994, the country has excelled in opening up new markets, as evidenced… Read more »
Africa: Supply Chain Management Needs a Rethink - Covid Changed Everything, or Did It?
COVID-19 has laid bare the vulnerability of the supply chain model that has dominated the way African firms have organised their production. In this model firms rely on multiple… Read more »
East Africa: Tanzania and Zambia Want to Upgrade the 'Uhuru Railway' - But Can They?
Half a century ago, the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (Tazara) stood out as a crucial symbol of Africa's struggle for independence. The 1,860km-long railway connects Kapiri Mposhi in… Read more »