Africa Archives

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Country Report

ANGOLA: SEEKING A NEW PATH

Country Report | Angola Up until 2013, Angola's GDP, buoyed by booming oil revenues, grew by an average rate of 10.7%, reaching an all-time high of 23.2% in 2007. Now, as economic growth slows and the country’s financial coffers move from surplus to deficit, Angola is rethinking its dependence on “black gold.”

Banking

EGYPT: AN INTERVIEW WITH CIB’S CHAIRMAN

Global Finance sat down with Egyptian bank CIB’s chairman and MD, Hisham Ezz Al-Arab, to discuss its strategy during the Arab Spring and how it plans to attract a younger clientele.

Emerging & Frontier Markets

JUMBE LATEST FINANCE MINISTER TO JUMP SHIP

Newsmakers | Malawi Friday Jumbe is set to become the latest African finance minister to swap his political ambitions to take up a senior post in a development bank.

Capital Raising & Corporate Finance

MOZAMBIQUE COMING INTO ITS OWN

Country Report | Mozambique Mozambique is the current star in Africa’s rising inward-investment constellation. For much of the last quarter of the 20th century, Mozambique was a war zone. Today the only war on its horizon is a bidders war, as investors salivate over the opportunities this Southern African country offers.

Economics, Policy & Regulation

NIGERIA: FORTHCOMING ELECTIONS PROMPT FEAR AMONG VOTERS

Nigeria | Milestones Nigerians go to the polls next month with some trepidation...

Capital Raising & Corporate Finance

SOUTH AMERICA’S TOTAL TAX RATE SURPASSES THAT OF AFRICA

Corporate Tax | Trends By replacing cascading sales taxes with a value-added tax (VAT), Africa has succeeded in lowering its total tax rate to 46.6% from a peak of 72.2% in 2005.

Capital Raising & Corporate Finance

SOVEREIGN DEBT: AFRICAN BORROWERS ACTIVE AHEAD OF FED RATE MOVES

Sovereign Debt | Capital Markets Governments in Africa issued a record amount of debt in international markets in 2014, taking advantage of strong investor demand and low borrowing costs ahead of the Federal Reserve’s expected rate increases this year.

Banking

Deepening Africa’s Financial Markets

Africa | Emerging Markets Regional Review African economies are well on their way to transforming the region’s status from a frontier to an emerging market. The IMF predicts Africa will grow by 5.8% in 2015, up from 5.1% this year, with Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mozambique projected to growth over 8%.

Economics, Policy & Regulation

TUNISIA: COMPROMISE IS KEY TO STABILITY

Tunisia | Newsmakers Elections in Tunisia in October, which saw the secular Nidaa Tounes party (39.7%) narrowly beat the incumbent Islamic party, Ennahda (31.8% of the vote), were widely praised for being free and fair. Questions remain, however, about their democratic robustness.

Capital Raising & Corporate Finance

LEVANT: LONG-TERM PROSPECTS OUTWEIGH INSTABILITIES

Regional Focus | The Levant Offshore energy reserves, a stable banking sector and infrastructure gaps all present opportunities for foreign investment in the Levant region.

Capital Raising & Corporate Finance

AFRICA’S CONSUMER BOOM

AFRICA 2014 | INTRA-AFRICA TRADE The rise of the African consumer market is providing an opportunity for domestic companies to increase their footprint across the region.

Economics, Policy & Regulation

CEMENTING REGIONAL TIES

AFRICA 2014 | UNITY Africa’s dream of greater economic unity is gradually becoming a reality, with plans to establish a free-trade area spanning eastern and southern African countries well under way. Yet it could take time for the associated economic and trading benefits to play out.