With the most energy-intensive economy on the continent, South Africa has undergone a spate of load shedding in recent years as demand for electricity continues to outstrip supply. While faltering output and poorly maintained infrastructure have had an adverse effect on the country’s economic performance, a range of government initiatives – notably the country’s independent power producer (IPP...
Africa Energy
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With an estimated $2.5trn worth of proven mineral reserves, the mining sector accounts for around 8% of South Africa’s GDP and 14% of total employment, making it the second-largest employer in the country. However, the industry’s output and performance have been under pressure in recent years, as bottlenecks in labour relations, uncertainty in policy direction and power shortages have weighed...
The second-largest economy in Africa after Nigeria, South Africa benefits from some of the most sophisticated financial markets in the world, paired with a robust regulatory system, and is also home to the headquarters of a number of major multinational players in the fields of industry, energy and financial services.
Once known as the Gold Coast, Ghana is a key player in the international gold market and Africa’s second-largest producer. In 2013, 86.6% of export revenues from the mining sector came from gold, making the metal the top export and source of foreign currency. Gold generated $4.2bn in 2013, compared with $3.2bn from oil and $1.3bn from cocoa. Growth has been hampered in recent years by external...
Chapter | Energy & Utilities from The Report: Ghana 2016
Ghana’s energy sector is both young and growing fast, with a second major oil and gas field set to commence production in 2016 and a third to follow soon thereafter. Legal and regulatory regimes are still being established, while improvements are being made to infrastructure to catch up with a rise in demand. This will help to remove obstacles to the use of domestic energy supply to speed up...
Situated on the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa, Ghana’s natural resource wealth and status as a stable democracy have helped make it a prominent player in the region. It is the world’s second-largest exporter of cocoa, behind Côte d’Ivoire, and one of the continent’s largest gold producers. Recently discovered reserves of oil and gas have powered the economy to double-digit growth in the past decade.