Africa Economy

In the latest push by Nigeria’s larger corporates to expand their continental footprint, Dangote Industries has announced plans for significant new capital commitments throughout sub-Saharan Africa alongside two of the world’s largest institutional investors at the first ever US-Africa Summit in Washington DC in August.

Having been among the continent’s fastest-growing economies on the back of an oil-fuelled boom, Ghana has cut its growth target for this year and revised its forecast for inflation and budget deficit upwards as a result of slowing commodity revenues and high current spending.

Debts markets in Nigeria have traditionally been dominated by sovereign issuances, but as demand for African bonds continues unabated, an increasing number of Nigerian banks are looking to tap into rising investor sentiment to expand their financing options.

Setting a new record for a maiden sovereign issuance in Africa, Kenya successfully tapped the Eurobond markets for the first time in June, selling $2bn worth at better-than-expected rates.

A l’occasion d’une visite du roi du Maroc Mohammed VI fin mai, le Maroc a conclu avec la Tunisie toute une série d’accords de coopération, relatifs aux secteurs public et privé, afin de renforcer les liens bilatéraux et encourager une plus grande intégration régionale.

Devolution in Kenya is still in its early stages, and there have been growing pains with complications relating to funding and concerns over governance, but a spate of new initiatives is looking to increase momentum at the county level on both industrial and social development indicators.