Africa
Afreximbank to Double Intra-African Trade Financing to USD 40 Billion by 2026
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) plans to double its financing of intra-African trade from USD 20 billion in 2021 to USD 40 billion by 2026, Mr Haytham El Maayergi, Afreximbank’s Executive Vice President, Global Trade Bank, recently said. Mr El Maayergi was addressing participants and guests at the African Caucus Meeting of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, where he represented Prof Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank.
Attended mainly by finance ministers and central bank governors from across Africa, the meeting aimed to identify key challenges facing Africa in achieving full integration and engaging in strategic dialogues to engender sustainable solutions. Mr El Maayergi said that Afreximbank had been a champion in facilitating intra-African trade since its founding and that it had committed USD 1 billion to support the funding of the African Continental Free Trade Area Adjustment Fund and a USD 10 million grant to facilitate the establishment and operationalisation of that fund.
Source: Afrieximbank
Cameroon
Cameroon to Develop 4 GW of Renewable Energy by 2035
Cameroon is on its way to developing up to 4GW of renewable energy across a range of technologies by 2035. A renewable energy provider recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Cameroon West Regional that will see the country develop multiple projects located across the Western Region of Cameroon. The projects will be created in phases and will likely include solar, battery storage, wind, hydropower, and biomass plants.
Cameroon has seen a 27 percent increase in electricity consumption per capita over the last two decades, but its energy demands are currently primarily met by gas and hydropower. Renewable energy projects will provide clean power and contribute to the economic and social development of a country with rampant poverty.
UN-Habitat will play an essential role in the projects’ development. The organisation will provide technical assistance, participate in feasibility studies, develop a governance system for energy generation and distribution, create programmes for the productive use of energy, and ensure that communities benefit from the energy generated to improve their living conditions.
Source: ESI Africa
Egypt
Egypt Launches Africa’s 1st Carbon Market
Egypt has launched its first regulated voluntary carbon market for registering, issuing, and trading carbon reduction certificates, according to Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning and Economic Development. This is a significant step towards achieving economic and environmental sustainability.
Al-Mashat, speaking at a conference announcing the completion of regulatory frameworks for carbon reduction projects at the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) headquarters in the Smart Village, said the launch signifies Egypt’s commitment to innovative policies for mitigating climate change.
“The establishment of this market is the result of collaboration between all relevant parties, including development partners,” Al-Mashat said. She highlighted the role of the Development Policy Financing Program, implemented by the Ministry with the World Bank, which has supported the launch through structural reforms and technical assistance for the FRA to issue three key decisions regarding local carbon markets.
The minister emphasised the continued implementation of the Development Policy Financing Program with the World Bank and other partners to drive structural reforms that promote a green transition.
Source: Daily News Egypt
Ethiopia
Ethiopian Airlines Signs Deal for USD 6 Billion Mega Airport
Ethiopian Airlines chief executive Mesfin Tasew was quoted at a press conference recently as saying the new hub will handle 100 million passengers a year once completed. He said Ethiopian Airlines had signed a memorandum of understanding with Dubai-based consulting company Dar to develop the design for the airport, which will have four runways. He said it will be built in Bishoftu, about 40 kilometres southeast of the capital Addis Ababa, and stretch across 35 square kilometres.
“The first phase includes the construction of the airport facility with a capacity of 60 million passengers per year, and the completion of phase two of the airport project will grow to handle more than 100 million passengers per year,” Mesfin said, according to state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate.
Dar director of operations Tariq Al-Qanni, who was at the press conference, said it would be the biggest airport in Africa once complete, Fana reported. “The scope of the agreement is for Dar to develop the detailed design of the new airport and at the same time to assist Ethiopian Airlines in the selection of the contractors who will build the new airport facilities,” Mesfin added.
Source: France24
Ghana
Ghana Begins Construction of USD 12 Billion Oil Refinery
Ghana officially launched the construction of a 300,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery, which will position Ghana as a key petroleum hub in the region. Reuters reported that Ghana, known as the world’s second-largest cocoa producer, began producing oil in 2010 and currently outputs about 132,000 barrels of crude oil per day along with 325 million standard cubic feet of natural gas daily.
“The project promises to be a cornerstone of our nation’s development,” Akufo-Addo said recently at the site of the project in the southwestern city of Jomoro, which will also include petrochemical plants. Phase one of the project, with an estimated cost of USD 12 billion, will be financed and constructed by a consortium including Touchstone Capital Group Holdings, UIC Energy Ghana, China Wuhan Engineering Co., and China Construction Third Engineering Bureau Co.
According to the African Refiners and Distributors Association, West Africa consumes about 800,000 barrels of oil per day, with nearly 90 percent of that imported. Ghana’s petroleum hub project, outlined in an agreement signed in June 2018, aims to meet the region’s demand for refined products and by-products by 2036.
Source: Business Insider Africa
Morocco
Morocco’s Aerospace Industry Exports Expected to Reach USD 4 Billion by 2030
Morocco’s aerospace sector is projected to experience an average growth rate of 15 percent starting from the current year, according to Hamid El Andaloussi, president of the industrial cluster Midparc. This will contribute to doubling job opportunities to 40,000 and doubling export value to USD 4 billion by 2030.
The country’s aerospace industry has been developing for 25 years and now boasts companies capable of producing critical aircraft components, and engines, and providing maintenance and upgrade services.
In a recent interview with Asharq Business, Hamid El Andaloussi, president of the industrial cluster “Midparc”, revealed that the country’s aerospace exports are projected to double to USD 4 billion by the end of the current decade. Midparc is Morocco’s largest aerospace industrial zone. Increasing orders from global manufacturers such as Boeing and Airbus primarily drive this growth.
Morocco’s aerospace exports have already demonstrated impressive performance in the first half of 2024, reaching USD 1.3 billion, a 16.5 percent year-on-year increase. According to data from the Foreign Exchange Office, this sector is a top performer among the country’s main export industries, which include automotive, phosphates, and food processing. The Moroccan aerospace ecosystem comprises 145 companies that exported USD 2.1 billion worth of goods in 2023.
Source: Morocco World News
Rwanda
Rwanda Expresses Interest in Joining Kenya-EU Economic Partnership Deal
Rwanda has expressed interest in joining Kenya’s Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU), a top official said, becoming the first partner state of the East African Community (EAC) to do so. Ambassador Henriette Geiger, the Head of the EU delegation in Kenya, recently said that Rwanda has signalled its intention to join the deal. The EPA, which took effect in July 2024, gives products from Kenya duty-free access to the 27 countries in the EU. “It seems that Rwanda is now ready to join (the EPA).
They have signalled their interest, but we [have not] started negotiating it,” said Ms Geiger. “The EPA was supposed to be an agreement of the EU [and] the entire [EAC]. We will have to see whether others will join,” she said. Ms Geiger was speaking in Nairobi during a courtesy call to Cabinet Secretary for Investments, Trade and Industrialization Salim Mvurya. Kenya is the only country in the EAC that has not been enjoying duty-free and quota-free access to the EU. The other EAC countries have been enjoying duty-free access to the key economic bloc as they are designated as least-developed countries. The EAC allowed Kenya to negotiate a bilateral agreement with the EU with an option for the other countries to join later.
Source: Business Daily
Uganda
Uganda’s Proven Oil Reserves May Hit 6.5 Billion Barrels Amidst New ExplorationUganda is conducting oil exploration in two additional regions that could boost the country’s proven reserves beyond the current 6.5 billion barrels. Commercial crude oil deposits were first discovered nearly two decades ago in the Albertine Graben basin, located in western Uganda near the Democratic Republic of Congo border, Reuters reported.
As the country inches closer to becoming an oil-producing nation, it generated an additional UGX 44 billion (approx. USD 11.8 million) from oil tax revenues during the 30 June 2023 financial year. Crude production is not expected to commence until next year.
Energy Minister Ruth Nankabirwa announced during a press conference in the capital, Kampala, that government geologists are currently conducting exploration in two new regions in northern and northeastern Uganda.
Uganda is now focusing on securing Chinese funding, including from EXIM Bank and SINOSURE, to help finance the 1,445-kilometer East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). The pipeline is designed to facilitate the export of Uganda’s crude oil via Tanzania’s Indian Ocean port.
Source: The Citizen
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Reports
African Trade Report 2024 | Afreximbank
The 2024 African Trade Report, titled “Climate Implications of the AfCFTA Implementation”, acknowledges the significant threats climate change poses on African and other developing economies. Climate disasters have already eroded significant proportions of the African economy and 77 percent of African trade. This Report, which aligns with a broader technical study on “The Implications of Decarbonisation on Africa’s Development Imperatives: Review of the Pathways and the Role of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)” commissioned by Afreximbank in 2023, suggests that abrupt decarbonisation could further erode African GDP and merchandise exports by 1 and 14.6 percent, respectively.
It highlights the potential of the AfCFTA to reduce carbon emissions through the domestication of value addition, which would cut emissions caused by shipments of primary commodities and re-imports of value-added goods back into the continent. The report acknowledges and commends the unified continental response to the crisis as Adaptation and Resilience. Climate considerations have become central to Afreximbank’s operations. The Bank’s climate-linked programmes aim to enhance access to financing and, more importantly, to ensure just transitions from fossil-dependent economies to green growth.
Click here to read and download the full report.
AI for Africa: Use Cases Delivering Impact | GSMA
Infrastructure development is crucial for Africa’s economic growth, but public and private investments require significant support. Public and private investment flows are key inputs in developing a network of physical infrastructure assets over time, including economic infrastructure (ports, railways, roads, airports, among others) and social infrastructure (schools, hospitals, etc.). Unfortunately, while a country’s capital stock has been shown to contribute towards higher productivity growth and living standards, Africa’s total capital stock has experienced near stagnation over the past three decades.
This report seeks to address this gap by identifying AI-enabled use cases and solutions for development in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, some of the continent’s tech leaders. The findings are based on the analysis of over 90 use case applications identified across sectors, including agriculture and food security, energy and climate action. The report also examines the maturity of the AI ecosystem and enabling environment, considering factors such as the availability of and access to data, computing, and skills to understand their impact on the development and adoption of use cases. It provides recommendations to various stakeholders on key priority actions to support AI deployment and adoption across the continent.
Click here to read and download the full report.
Sub-Saharan Africa: Policies and Finance for Renewable Energy Deployment| IRENA
While numerous advanced economies are bracing for a ‘soft landing’ in 2024, many developing economies across the globe and especially in Africa, are grappling with the burden of servicing high levels of debt, double-digit inflation rates, and a severe lack of access to crucial development and climate financing. Despite two decades of advancement, disparities in the Human Development Index, which gauges a nation’s health, education and standard of living, are widening between countries at the pinnacle of the index and those at the bottom, with many of the latter located in Africa.
Against this backdrop, the 2024 Africa Sustainable Development Report utilises unique country perspectives and evaluates the advancements made by African countries in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union Agenda 2063. This report explores trends in renewable energy investment, finance and policy in Sub-Saharan Africa, to unlock the potential of renewable energy as an important lever of socio-economic development in the region.
Click here to read and download the full report.
Unlocking Financing to Combat the Plastics Crisis | World Bank
Plastic pollution is a global challenge that requires coordinated actions and innovative solutions. Plastic crediting offers a results-based mechanism to connect public and private sector finance with specific activities that address plastic pollution. By quantifying and certifying the results of plastic pollution reduction initiatives, plastic credits provide a means for organisations to financially support these projects and contribute to the transition to a circular economy.
The report highlights the potential benefits of plastic crediting, such as increased funding for plastic waste management projects, enhanced accountability and transparency, and the promotion of sustainable practices. However, it also acknowledges the challenges and risks associated with plastic crediting, including the lack of a common definition and standards, the potential for greenwashing, and the need for robust governance and enforcement.
The report provides a set of recommendations for key stakeholders to address these challenges and fully realise the potential benefits of plastic crediting. These recommendations include developing a centralised, independent, and neutral governance framework, establishing clear guidelines for plastic crediting programs and associated claims, and fostering market development through pre-purchase facilities and clear pricing guidelines.
