Africa Energy

Thanks to its economic centrality South Africa’s mining industry has long been the focus of political rhetoric, which has sometimes resulted in polarising debates. Calls from radical elements in the African National Congress (ANC) over the course of 2011 for the nationalisation of mines have badly shaken investor confidence and – while these calls...

Currently heavily reliant on coal-fired power stations that have contributed to the country’s ranking as the world’s 13th-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, South Africa’s energy master plan aims to significantly increase the contribution of renewables to electricity generation. From a very limited current contribution, the Integrated Resource...

Investment by international mining companies has long formed a key part of the country’s economic backbone, with extraction often receiving the largest share of foreign direct investment (FDI). While its share of total FDI stock in South Africa remains solid, capital flows into extractive industries were hit hard by the global economic crisis and...

The mining industry has long been a driving force behind South Africa’s economic growth. Although some mines have reached maturity, the country still relies heavily on its mineral output and the industry’s producers have become global behemoths. South Africa’s total reserves, while diminished, remain some of the world’s most valuable, with an...

Although southern Africa has been consistently inhabited for tens of thousands of years, South Africa’s modern history traces back most directly to the aboriginal Khoisan. The majority of modern South Africa’s black population is descended from a mix of ethnic groups, including the Bantu, who migrated from elsewhere in Africa over the past 2500...

One of West Africa’s most politically stable countries, with equally strong macroeconomic fundamentals, Ghana has a relatively high per capita GDP due in part to its sizeable gold and cocoa production, which will increase in the coming years as the country begins to pump its modest oil reserves. The economy quadrupled in size during the 2000s and a...