Author: NLM Correspondent

The negative 2020 outlook for sovereign creditworthiness in Sub-Saharan Africa reflects the worsening external environment, weak government finances and subdued GDP growth, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report last month. Sovereigns have made limited progress in reducing risks linked to elevated debt burdens and debt servicing needs, while growth won’t be strong enough to meaningfully buttress incomes or increase economic resilience. “The less predictable external environment is aggravating Sub-Saharan African sovereigns’ existing challenges and makes them more vulnerable to event risk,” said David Rogovic, a Moody’s Vice President – Senior Analyst and the report’s co-author. “Most governments’ limited capacity…

By David Onjili CES 2020 took place between Jan 7 and Jan 20, 2020 at the Las Vegas Convention Centre, Las Vegas, Nevada in the USA. This annual technology conference for the consumer electronics industry is the launching point for more than 20,000 new tech products each year – even though some large tech companies like Apple, Microsoft and Amazon have given it a wide berth recently; it also remains the single largest trade show in the United States. Interestingly, and in a clear shift from last year’s event which was characterised by more tangible products, this year’s event predominantly…

Shutting down internet and social media access—an increasingly popular choice for governments on the continent in response to protests and dissent—came at a cost of $2.1 billion in 2019. Deliberate internet and social media blackouts lasted nearly 8,000 hours across Sub-Saharan Africa, according to analysis in The Global Cost of Internet Shutdowns in 2019 report. The report’s analysis excluded internet outages due to natural disasters or infrastructural failure. With losses of $8 billion attributed to internet and social media shutdowns around the world, Africa accounted for around 25 percent of global economic impact. It calculated the economic cost of blackouts using the Cost of…

London Stock Exchange has welcomed two landmark bonds this week, showcasing London’s position as a leading international listing venue for African issuers, sustainable finance and a centre of excellence for offshore local currency bonds. Acorn Holdings listed its Kenyan Shilling green bond on London Stock Exchange with proceeds financing environmentally friendly accommodation for 5,000 university students in Nairobi. Acorn is the first Kenyan issuer to launch a green bond in the international market and the first company to issue a Kenyan shilling-denominated green bond. The bond is also the first from an African issuer to list on London’s Sustainable Bond…

By Antony Mutunga Start-ups are known for building solutions, through the generation of new technology, to tackle consumer needs and development challenges. Examples are mobile money, which helped to increase financial inclusion, and the drones that are now used to transport medicine supplies to remote areas. Countries such as Kenya, Egypt and Nigeria have invested immensely in technology start-ups, the result of which has been a rise in investments for African tech start-ups throughout the continent. According to Disrupt Africa, in 2016 tech-start-ups in the continent raised over Sh13 billion ($129 million). In 2019, the total investment raised, according to…

How Supreme Court of Kenya gutted freedom of assembly and right to demonstrate By Walter Khobe F reedom of assembly and the right to demonstrate are constitutionally entrenched in Kenya. The recognition of these twin freedoms in theory has not translated to substantive actualisation of the constitutional goal of ushering democratic governance and a culture of justification in our polity. Instead, a presumption of limitation of the freedom of assembly is the norm and all too often the right to protest is easily dispensed with at the altar of public order in continuation of the state organisation logic…

By Njuguna Ndung’u and Landry Signé The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR)—characterised by the fusion of the digital, biological, and physical worlds, as well as the growing utilisation of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, robotics, 3D printing, the Internet of Things, and advanced wireless technologies, among others—has ushered in a new era of economic disruption with uncertain socio-economic consequences for Africa. However, Africa has been left behind during the past industrial revolutions. Will this time be different? So far, it does not appear that Africa has yet claimed the 21st Century, as it still lags behind in several…

By Vera Songwe With all Africa now signed on to the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and 29 countries having ratified it (as of January 2020), the region is now implementing a single continental market for goods and services and laying the foundations for the establishment of a continental customs union. Many on the continent look to the AfCFTA as an investment, economic diversification, and job creation blueprint that will shape the future of Africa in the years to come, help meet the SDG targets by 2030, and consolidate progress toward the African Union’s Agenda 2063. Indeed, with a…

It is unlikely the continent will be able to successfully and effectively implement and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in 2030 or Agenda 2063 unless institutions are reformed to enforce good governance undergirded by the rule of law By John Mukun Mbaku Among the seven key aspirations listed in Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want—the African Union’s (AU) shared 50-year development and transformation program for realizing the full potential of the continent—one stands out in its interconnectedness: “[a]n Africa of good governance, democracy, respect for human rights, justice and the rule of law” [emphasis added]. The key to Africa’s political and economic…

By Homi Kharas A round the world, household final consumption expenditure rose by $18.2 trillion in 2011 PPP terms between 2010 and 2020, from $46.5 trillion to $64.8 trillion. This growth, averaging about 3.3 percent per year, was the same as the average growth over the previous forty years—a bit better than growth in the first decade of this century, a bit worse than the growth in the last decade of the last century. It represents a continuation of a period of sustained advances in material prosperity in most places across the world that has seen average real consumption per…