Leadership is crucial to achieving sustainable economic growth as it involves putting in place structures that enable growth and progressive development. Elections are a referendum on the president and his economic legacy and are therefore a key determinant of a country’s social, political, and economic performance. A country’s pace of development relies heavily on the…
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Economic pressures bring political instability – and economic pressures abound today. Global supply chains are still suffering from frictions related to the pandemic-re-opening, there is war in two of the world’s key food exporters, and sanctions on one of the world’s biggest crude oil exporters. Life could not be any worse for emerging economies that…
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Globally, climatic shocks have become more frequent and intense. Many people still think of climate change as a future phenomenon, probably because climate change-related projections are tied to future dates: 2030, 2050, or 2100, for instance. But we are, unfortunately, experiencing climate change, and have done so for some time now. Over the past century,…
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14th February was not just about chocolates and roses; it was also the second anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa. The COVID-19 pandemic brought atypical disruptions to Africa—crunching incomes, magnifying poverty and food insecurity, and leading the region into its first recession in 25 years. Faced with the shock of unprecedented proportions, Africa has…
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The average African feels entitled to subsidies. Due to prevailing poverty, subsidies are perceived to be a necessity because of the wide gap between the market-determined price of goods and services and the financial strength of the wider population. From agriculture subsidies in Kenya and Malawi, to transport subsidies in South Africa, and fuel subsidies…
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Money begets money. That is the logical justification for debt accumulation. The pursuit of economic prosperity or at least survival amidst limited economic growth explains why countries borrow. Debt is considered a stimulant – borrow, invest in productive activities, and reap the benefits of growth. However, as countries emerge from the troughs of the pandemic-induced…
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Is Africa experiencing a coup culture resurgence? No less than 220 coups – attempted and successful – had been perpetrated in Africa since the 1950s, exceeding records from any other continent in the world. It is estimated that three of every four coups in the world take place in Africa, and the situation is even…
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By November 3, the United States of America (USA) will be making a choice between a Trump or Biden presidency. Increased uncertainty on the outcome of the elections drove jitters on major US equity indexes last week, as the markets priced in the possibility of an election contest given the increased adoption of mail-voting as…
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There’s been a paradigm shift in the global world economic order. The third wave of globalization that began in the 1970s is slowly winding down, and the coronavirus pandemic could just be the final nail on the coffin. Severe pandemics can have extremely important and potentially long-lasting lopsided economic consequences. As the world emerges from…
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Africa is an exceptional region with uneven patterns in economic growth, development, population distribution, and stability among member countries. The region is resource-rich, but its resource wealth is one of the lowest among the world’s developing regions. Africa is blessed with a vast amount of human capital, a burgeoning middle-class, and remains the fastest-growing continent.…
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