Africa
Africa Backs USD 514 Billion in New City Projects to Solve Urbanisation Challenges
Private developers and governments across Africa are backing over two billion square metres of land reclamation and new city projects, costing over USD 514 billion, to cater to the region’s growing urban centres, according to Estate Intel’s Africa’s New Cities 2023 Factsheet. According to Estate Intel, North Africa has emerged as the leading region, accounting for 88% of planned new city developments across Africa, followed by West Africa at 5.5% and East Africa at 3%. This distribution has been attributed to increased government commitments to ensure quality living and infrastructure in the face of rising urban populations. Notably, regarding the top five countries in new city developments, Egypt emerged as the leading country, accounting for 33%, followed by Nigeria (17.9%), Mauritius (8.9%), Ghana (7.1%) and Kenya (5.4%).
Source: Daily News Egypt
Africa
19 Countries to Benefit from ECOWAS USD 338.7 Million Off-grid Electricity Project
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has signed a contract with TSC Global, an international African consultancy firm, for the execution of the Regional Off-grid Electricity Access Project (ROGEAP). The USD 338.7 million project is financed by the World Bank, the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and the Dutch Cooperation (DGIS). At the same time, the ECOWAS Commission, the Regional Centre for Renewable Energies and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) and the West African Development Bank (BOAD) are responsible for implementation. The CEO/president of TSC Global, Engr. Amara Sackor said the project aims to provide off-grid electricity access and affordability to private and public sectors in 19 countries within the West African region. Sackor, who spoke during the contract signing in Abuja, said with TSC Global/Intech-GOPA/AFC/BB&Co as “Project Fund Manager,” when completed, the project will reduce the regional power gap, assuring that it will be diligently executed in line with ECOWAS and World Bank guidelines.
Source: The Guardian
Africa
Africa’s Deepwater Leads Global Oil, Gas Exploration
Deepwater areas of Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean are set to lead the global oil and gas industry in a USD 22 billion yearly exploration spending. Although the spending excludes appraisal, the development, which was revealed in a report released by Wood Mackenzie showed recovery from historic lows. The recovery was hinged on attractive exploration economics, the need for energy security and the emergence of new frontiers. According to the research body, these indicators would incentivise oil and gas companies, led by national and major oil companies, to increase exploration spending through 2027. Titled ‘Exploration quietly recovering’, the director of global exploration research at Wood Mackenzie, Julie Wilson, said explorers would become bolder in the coming years. Wilson said: “While this rebound might surprise some, it must be seen in context.” Exploration boomed during 2006-2014, and spending peaked at USD 79 billion (in 2023 terms). But in the prior six years, the average was USD 27 billion annually up to 2023. The report noted that the growth is likely in 2023, with spending projected to increase 6.8 percent over 2022 totals.
Source: The Guardian
East Africa
EAC seeks to Ease Electricity Sales with Creation of a Regional Board
Energy Minister Ruth Nankabirwa has said East Africa will, by the end of 2024, have established the East African Electricity Regulatory Board, enabling the ease of power sale across the region. Data from the Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP) indicates that the East African Community (EAC) shares a total of 90,000 megawatts (MW) with a consumption surplus of more than 40,000 MW. Speaking during the EAPP Conference in Kampala, Ms Nankabirwa said that by the end of 2024, East Africa, as a region, will start trading between member states, which will override the current bilateral power sales agreements. The board will enable countries such as Uganda, which has excess power, to easily sell power to invest in the distribution network. “Any power generated and not utilised is deemed energy, which one has to pay. Instead of waiting for the money and then establishing distribution networks, we would rather sell it to get money to invest in the distribution networks,” Ms Nankabirwa said. Speaking at the same event, Mr Joshua Karamagi, the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company managing director, said Uganda is currently doing cross-border electricity sales under bilateral arrangements with Kenya and lately to parts of South Sudan.
Source: Monitor
Morocco
Morocco Plant to Receive USD 20 Billion from Chinese Cobalt Supplier Huayou
Chinese cobalt supplier Huayou unveiled plans to invest USD 20 billion in a factory dedicated to manufacturing batteries for electric vehicles in Morocco’s Laayoune Sakya Al Hamra province. According to the converging report, the news was announced during a visit of the Chinese delegation, the director of the CRI for the Laayoune-Sakya El Hamra region, to the location of the prospective plant. The plant results from the collaboration between the Regional Investment Center (CRI) of Laâyoune Sakya Al Hamra and the Moroccan Agency for Investment Development (AMDI), reports indicate. The project is expected to meet the rising demand for electric battery components in the domestic and international markets. The plant is projected to produce components for EV batteries that could supply 6 million vehicles by 2030. The project is also expected to create over 13,000 direct job opportunities. In recent years, Morocco saw a rise in the number of companies interested in investing in cobalt. In January 2022, Managem, a Moroccan mining company, announced a partnership with the Anglo-Swiss multinational Glencore to produce cobalt from recycled battery materials at Managem’s CTT Hydrometallurgical Refinery in Guemssa, located 30 kilometres off Marrakech.
Source: Morocco World News
Nigeria
NEXIM, AFREXIM Eye USD 6.6 Billion Market to Unlock Funding to MSMEs
The Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) and the African Export-Import Bank (AFREXIM) have rallied stakeholders to commence the services with a regulation while awaiting the law. The Managing Director of Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), Mr Abba Bello, said factoring remained one of the financing options that will mitigate the traditional challenges of SMEs in meeting the eligibility criteria for accessing credit from traditional banking institutions. Speaking at the opening of the factoring training workshop under the auspices of Afreximbank /AfDB FAPA grant consulting activity in Abuja, Bello said it was important to make progress with factoring services, particularly against the backdrop of the AfCFTA and the need to promote financial inclusion and MSMEs’ development for economic growth and employment generation. Essentially, factoring involves a business selling its accounts receivables to a third party called a factor at a discount to solve an immediate cash need and is considered low-hanging fruit in providing a huge financing lifeline to SMEs, which are often starved of the funds they need to grow and contribute meaningfully to the economy. Reports estimated that Nigeria’s factoring market is worth over USD 6.6 billion due to the high informal sector and could increase to USD 27.1 billion with more formalisation of SMEs and a conducive policy environment, among others.
Source: This Day Live
Uganda
State in talks with Potential Partners for USD 4 Billion Oil Refinery
Uganda has initiated talks with undisclosed partners from Africa, the Middle East and China for developing a proposed 60,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery project, reported by African Business, citing a senior executive at the government regulator. The move comes despite the exit of Albertine Graben Refinery Consortium (AGRC) from the USD 4 billion refinery project in June 2023. The news agency cited Uganda Petroleum Authority legal and corporate affairs director Ali Ssekatawa as saying that the Uganda National Oil Company will continue to advance the development of the refinery project while the government looks for a strategic project partner. The director said they will announce the next steps within three months. Ssekatawa stated: “There is a lot of appetite and interest in developing the refinery.” He confirmed that talks have taken place with Algerian state-owned company Sonatrach. Discussions have now been initiated with several interested parties from Africa, the Middle East and China. Ssekatawa added: “The preferred option is the Uganda National Oil Company working with another national oil company to take this project forward.”
Source: Offshore Technology
South Africa
South Africa’s USD 2.6 Billion Renewable Rail Plan on Track
AP Moller-Maersk A/S, Port of Rotterdam, Bouygues SA and Yapi Merkezi are among the companies that have been asked to submit construction and funding plans for a new 50 billion rand (USD 2.6 billion) hydrogen-focused port and rail link in South Africa. The companies are part of three consortia that bid for the project, state-owned Transnet National Port Authority, a unit of Transnet SOC Ltd., said in a statement sent to Bloomberg. AP Moller-Maersk and Port of Rotterdam are part of the Boegoebaai Port & Rail Consortium. Bouygues is part of the Boegoebaai Development Consortium along with Vinci SA. Yapi Merkezi of Turkey and Mota-Engil SGPS SA are part of the Project Elephant Consortium. Transnet’s plan is to build a port at Boegoebaai on the country’s northwest coast to export hydrogen and its derivatives and other commodities. Sasol, South Africa’s biggest company by revenue, has expressed interest in developing green hydrogen production facilities near Boegoebaai. The rail network would stretch about 800 kilometres (497 miles) inland. Metals such as manganese could also be exported from the port.
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Reports
Tax Transparency in Africa 2023
Domestic resource mobilisation (DRM) is at the fore of the development agenda in Africa. With this in mind, the African Union Commission (AU Commission) supports initiatives that strive to reduce Africa’s dependency on external sources of revenue and sustain DRM on the continent. This includes the fight against all forms of illicit financial flows (IFFs) that deprive African nations of the much-needed resources for their development. The Africa Initiative is a concrete and impactful contribution tackling tax evasion and other forms of IFFs through tax transparency. Looking at the results achieved in a few years, particularly in DRM, the AU Commission continues to encourage a high level of commitment and engagement in African countries.
With the support of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (Global Forum) and other partners, African countries are implementing more robust tax transparency frameworks and advancing the use of exchange of information (EOI). Challenges, however, remain, and many African countries are beginning their tax transparency journey and have yet to translate EOI into revenues. This requires the Africa Initiative to ensure that African countries are also engaged and benefit from the global move towards better transparency in tax matters.
Click here to read and download the report.
The African Tech Startups Funding Report
In 2022, 633 African tech startups raised a combined USD 3.3 billion, a record in both respects and a funding total, surpassing the USD 3 billion mark for the first time. Despite global conditions, this represented significant growth, though smaller than the previous year. The number of funded startups increased by 12.2 percent to 564 in 2021, while the total secured funding jumped 55.1 percent to USD 2.1 billion in 2021. In this report, Africa Disrupt details the value of funding flowing into Africa’s various markets, the number of funding rounds raised in each country and sector, average deal sizes, and standout deals.
The report provides an analysis of seven key markets across the continent and details of funding trends in a further 20 countries. It also looks in-depth at 15 different tech sectors. A separate section is dedicated to tracking acquisitions on the continent, while the full list of funded African tech startups is provided as an appendix, sorted by country and sector. In addition, the report looks at the makeup of founder teams in terms of gender and nationality and examines the job creation ability of funded African tech ventures.
Click here to read and download the report.
Economic Development in Africa Report 2023
UNCTAD’s Economic Development in Africa Report 2023 examines the continent’s potential to participate in global supply chains for high-technology sectors like automobiles, mobile telephones, renewable energy and health care. Recent disruptions due to trade turbulence, economic uncertainty, a global pandemic and geopolitical events have compelled manufacturers worldwide to diversify their production locations and geographical footprint. This presents opportunities for African governments and businesses to position the continent as the new destination for global supply chains. It has an abundance of critical minerals needed for high-tech and green products. It is home to a young, tech-savvy population, an adaptable workforce and a burgeoning middle class.
The African Continental Free Trade Area also offers advantages by easing access to regional markets and strengthening production chains across the continent, helping domestic industries become more prepared for the global arena. The report recommends policy actions to overcome supply chain hurdles African countries face, including poor logistics, low levels of technology, fragmented markets, limited capital sources, and weak institutions and regulations.
Click here to read and download the report.
World Investment Report
The World Investment Report 2023 reveals a widening annual investment deficit that developing countries face as they work to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The gap is now about USD 4 trillion per year – up from USD 2.5 trillion in 2015 when the SDGs were adopted. The report shows that global foreign direct investment (FDI) fell 12% in 2022 and analyses how investment policy and capital market trends impact investment in the SDGs, particularly in clean energy. It highlights that developing countries need renewable energy investments of about USD 1.7 trillion yearly but attracted only USD 544 billion in clean energy FDI in 2022.
Although investments in renewables have nearly tripled since 2015, most of the money has gone to developed countries. The report calls for urgent support to developing countries to enable them to attract significantly more investment for their transition to clean energy. It proposes a compact setting out priority actions, ranging from financing mechanisms to investment policies, to ensure sustainable energy for all.
