via Activists escalate efforts to stop Indian farmers from using GMO seeds — Genetic Literacy Project
economic development
Mozambique’s Gas Projects Enter Implementation Phase — Database of Press Releases related to Africa – APO-Source
With a second FID in just 2 years, Mozambique has officially positioned itself as a key player in the global gas and LNG market for years to come. The latest FID on the US$20 billion Mozambique LNG project, makes it the largest sanction ever in sub-Saharan Africa oil and gas. Described by His Excellency President […]
UK aid to boost access to finance for sub-Saharan Africa — Financing for Development in Africa
New UK aid package will help mobilise £500 million in private sector investment and create 50,000 jobs across sub-Saharan Africa. UK aid to mobilise over £500 million of private sector investment, creating over 50,000 jobs in sub-Saharan Africa. The package will support financial start-ups and entrepreneurs and boost economic growth across the region. It will […]
via UK aid to boost access to finance for sub-Saharan Africa — Financing for Development in Africa
Filling the missing pieces: East and Southern Africa partners set targets for collating sustainable intensification data — Africa RISING
Participants group photo during the Africa RISING East and Southern Africa Project review and planning meeting held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 10–11 September 2019 (photo credit: Eveline Massam/ IITA).Earlier this month (10–11 September 2019), the Africa RISING project in East and Southern Africa (ESA) held its annual review and planning meeting in Dar es…
7th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7): Invest in Africa’s food markets to win the war on hunger and boost nutrition – African Development Bank — Database of Press Releases related to Africa – APO-Source
By investing in Africa’s food markets, governments can win the fight against stunting and improve nutrition across the continent. And with support from institutions like the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org), the results would be a win-win situation for all. “What a huge potential the food markets represent. “Feed Africa,” which is one of the Bank’s […]
Amidst “record-breaking” production, US government shows appetite to develop industrial dialogue with Africa on LNG — Database of Press Releases related to Africa – APO-Source
With record-breaking US gas production this year, and the promotion of gas as a “cleaner, cheaper” energy source a continued priority for the current White House, the US Department of Energy is now looking towards Africa to develop opportunities in the exploration, production and monetization of LNG. In the words of Energy Secretary Rick Perry, […]
Reliable Electricity is Essential to Economic Development
No Roads and No Electricity: Why Fossil Fuels are Indispensable for Development
I live in the Silicon Valley of India, Bangalore. Except for the tech companies, there aren’t many similarities between Bangalore (now Bengaluru) and the Silicon Valley in California.
I live in the northern part of the city. Roads here remain in an unusable condition. They are worse than any bad road you would find in the U.S. The road leading to my neighborhood—frequented by thousands of cars every day—has remained dug up for more than 400 days now. In fact, reports indicate that around 30,000 roads in the city of Bengaluru remain either dug up or in worse condition.
Electricity infrastructure experiences frequent failures and inability to cope with even a slight drizzle of rain. Power blackouts—like the one that occurred in New York in early July—are an everyday event in many parts of India.
That is an appalling situation even by Third World standards, given that the city is the hub of some of the richest tech companies in the world.
Despite rapid economic development in India, some of India’s biggest cities still lack basic infrastructure and sanitation facilities. One reason is how rapidly its economy has grown—outpacing the growth of its infrastructure.
With 1.3 billion people, India’s developing economy can only achieve infrastructure progress in its major cities by achieving rapid economic progress. The economic progress in turn is primarily dependent on its energy sector. Energy is the backbone of any developing economy.
Ever since the liberalization of its economy in the 1990s, India has progressed by leaps and bounds. The manufacturing and service industries are slowly drawing people away from agriculture.
Many forget that this propulsion of India’s economy in the past three decades, and of any growing economy for that matter, was made possible because fossil fuels have provided energy and improved agricultural outputs: the two key pillars of India’s economy.
Today, India produces more electricity than required, but the transmission infrastructure is far behind the standards of developed countries. Fossil fuel provides more than three-fourths of the country’s energy. Fossil fuel-based fertilizers and pesticides have helped the country produce enough food for domestic consumption and export.
Twenty years ago, everyone I knew was aware of the fact that coal is one of the major solutions to our energy problems. We were right.
Today, coal is not only the country’s largest contributor to electricity, it is also the cheapest and most abundant source, resulting in uninterrupted power supply in places that have good grid infrastructure.
Our infrastructure—including transport and other public utility systems—will improve only as our economy continues to use the coal reserves, the existing oil resources, and the newly discovered natural gas reserves.
India’s defiant embrace of fossil fuels, despite pressure from anti-fossil establishments, gives hope to residents like me who can dream about a future with drivable roads and uninterrupted power supply.
Featured image by John Fornander on Unsplash.
Africa Oil Week and Menas Associates release Africa Oil and Gas Outlook for 2019 — Database of Press Releases related to Africa – APO-Source
A report released by Africa Oil Week (www.Africa-OilWeek.com) and Menas Associates about what lies in store for Africa’s oil and gas industry has concluded that, on balance, the continent’s economic performance is promising, particularly as global oil markets finally recover from their 2015-2016 lows. Africa’s proven oil and gas reserves respectively account for 7.5% and […]
Investment Opportunities in Africa
African Economic Development through Foreign Investment
Rand Merchant Bank report, “Where to Invest in Africa,” among other business information services, ranks African countries for their business environment including ease of doing business and a corruption index to help foreign and domestic investors identify good investments. Most of the data comes from UNCTAD, UN Conference on Trade and Development, or other public sources but is compiled to help potential investors. Rand Merchant Bank is an investment bank headquartered in South Africa. RMB “Where to Invest in Africa” brochure can be downloaded without charge by those seriously interested in learning about investing in Africa at https://www.rmb.co.za/where-to-invest-in-africa-2018-edition/
African Development Bank Group is another source of economic and investment information, among other sources. You can download the brochure “African Economic Outlook 2018” for free at https://www.afdb.org/en/knowledge/publications/african-economic-outlook/. In addition to private investment and business information services, you can find financial information about any countries or regions through the International Monetary Fund, IMF, at www.imf.org, the World Bank, at www.worldbank.org and UN Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD, at http://unctad.org, which publishes an annual World Investment Report. Most of the information in the private investment and financial databases are summaries from one of these public sources.
Personal remittances that immigrants send back home are an important cash flow into the economy for most of the countries in Africa. Remittances to families in the impoverished areas benefit the most from it, but it helps the overall economy. Let me give you an example closer to home. Mexico officially receives $26.1 billion in remittances sent back to families by Mexican immigrants, mostly from the United States. That’s roughly 2.5 percent of Mexico’s GDP, which is a significant contribution to the country’s economy. Generally, remittances have been on the rise since 2000 worldwide due to increased migration from poor countries to developed countries. For this reason, it is beneficial for developing countries to encourage migration.
Table 1: Top Ten Recipients of Foreign Direct Investments in 2016
| Country | Percent of Total Foreign Direct Investments | Year Over Year Percentage Change |
| 1 Angola (US$14.4bn) | 24.2% | -11.2% |
| 2 Egypt (US$8.1bn) | 13.7% | 17.1% |
| 3 Nigeria (US$4.4bn) | 7.5% | 45.2% |
| 4 Ghana (US$4.4bn) | 7.5% | 45.2% |
| 5 Ethiopia (US$3.2bn) | 5.4% | 45.7% |
| 6 Mozambique (US$3.0bn) | 5.2% | -20.0% |
| 7 Morocco (US$2.3bn) | 3.9% | -28.7% |
| 8 South Africa (US$2.3bn) | 3.8% | 31.3% |
| 9 Congo (US$2.0bn) | 3.4% | 7.5% |
| 10 Algeria (US$1.5bn) | 2.6% | 17.1% |
77.2 percent of all FDI in Africa is included in these top ten countries. Countries suffering from violence and political unrest account for the reductions in the table above.
Source: UN Conference on Trade and Development, (UNCTAD)
“A number of emerging and developed markets acquired a keen eye for African assets in 2016, with capital investments from the Asia-Pacific region firmly outpacing traditional markets . . . Egypt, South Africa and Tanzania were among the largest destinations for Chinese and Japanese investors seeking strategic investments in technology, media and telecommunications (TMT), diversified industrial products (DIP), and the automotive and business services sectors.” — Rand Merchant Bank, Where to Invest in Africa, 2018
Table 2: Top Ten Investors in Africa in 2016
| Country | Investment |
| 1. UK | US$ 66 billion |
| 2. US | US$ 64 billion |
| 3. France | US$52 billion |
| 4. China | US$32 billion |
| 5. S. Africa | US$26 billion |
| 6. Italy | US$19 billion |
| 7. Singapore | US$17 billion |
| 8. India | US$15 billion |
| 9. Malasia | US$14 billion |
| 10. Germany | US$13 billion |
Source: UN Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD
Table 3: Top Ten Most and Least Corrupt Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa
| Rank worldwide | Most Corrupt | Score | Rank worldwide | Least Corrupt | Score | |
| 176 | Somalia | 10 | 35 | Botswana | 60 | |
| 175 | South Sudan | 11 | 38 | Cape Verde | 59 | |
| 170 | Sudan | 14 | 50 | Rwanda | 54 | |
| 168 | Guinea-Bissau | 16 | 50 | Mauritius | 54 | |
| 164 | Eritrea | 18 | 53 | Namibia | 52 | |
| 164 | Angola | 18 | 62 | São Tomé and Principe | 46 | |
| 159 | Republic of Congo | 20 | 64 | Senegal | 45 | |
| 159 | Chad | 20 | 64 | South Africa | 45 | |
| 159 | CAR | 20 | 70 | Ghana | 43 | |
| 159 | Burundi | 20 | 72 | Burkina Faso | 42 |
Source: Transparency International, Corruption Perceptions Index 2016
Table 4: Leading Mineral Production in Africa
| Material | Percent of world production | Countries |
| Diamonds | 73% | Botswana 35%, Congo (Kinshasa) 34%, South Africa 17%, Angola, 8% |
| Gold | 89% | South Africa 56%, Ghana, 13%, Tanzania, 10%, and Mali, 8% |
| Uranium | 16% | Namibia 46%, Niger 44%, South Africa less than 10% |
| Bauxite (for aluminum) | 9% | Guinea 95%, Ghana 5% |
| Steel | 2% | South Africa 54%, Egypt 32%, Libya 7%, Algeria 6% |
| Aluminum | 5% | South Africa 48%, Mozambique 32%, Egypt 14% |
| Copper | 5% | Zambia 65%/77%, South Africa 15%/19%, Congo (Kinshasa) 13%/0%, Egypt 0%/3% |
| Platinum/Palladium | 92% | South Africa 97% / 96% |
| Coal | 5% | South Africa 99% |
Source: Wikipedia “Mineral Industry in Africa”
Figure 5: Top Five of the Twenty-nine Stock Exchanges in Africa
| Exchange | Market Capitalizations | Number of Listings |
| 1. Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) | $987 billion | 388 |
| 2. Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) | $44 billion | 176 |
| 3. Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) | $46 billion | 222 |
| 4. Casablanca Stock Exchange (Casa SE) | $48 billion | 75 |
| 5. Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) | $76 billion | 36 |
Source: © Copyright 2018| Nairametrics
Table 6: Intended use of selected sovereign bond issues in selected African countries
| Country, Year | Value
(M US$) |
Intended Use |
| Côte d’Ivoire, 2014 | 750 | Public investment, especially in health care and education |
| Côte d’Ivoire, 2015 | 1,000 | National Development Plan (NDP), which focuses on infrastructure, education, health care, and poverty reduction |
| Ethiopia, 2014 | 1,000 | Infrastructure, notably the Renaissance Dam |
| Ghana, 2013 | 750 | Capital expenditure and refinancing of public debt to reduce the cost of borrowing |
| Kenya, 2014 | 2,000 | Infrastructure projects and repayment of a $600 million loan that matured in August 2014 |
| Nigeria, 2013 | 1,000 | Projects in the electricity sector, which is undergoing privatization, and support of the shift from domestic borrowing toward cheaper foreign credit |
| Rwanda, 2013 | 400 | Construction of a 28-megawatt hydropower plant, construction of a hotel, and payment of some state-owned RwandAir debt |
| Senegal, 2014 | 500 | Construction of a major highway and the upgrading and repair of energy infrastructure |
Source: AfDB compilation, based on various sources.
“African Economic Outlook 2018,” African Development Bank
The new hope for Africa involves improving infrastructure, attracting foreign and domestic investment, and ending internationally funded government corruption that discourages investment and permits interference by international programs that keep populations low and the rural poor isolated, ignorant, sick and helpless. Governments that rely on taxes from a growing economy are more accountable to the people, so that they will be prompted to develop infrastructure, such as roads and electricity, and maintain political and economic stability, all of which will encourage increased investments and grow the economy. Corruption is the number one deterrent to global investment, so it is important to end foreign aid that props up corrupt politicians, clean up the government and stabilize the economy.
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Focus on achieving wider impacts and building resilience for larger populations, Africa RISING urged — Africa RISING
The Africa RISING program should keep working towards achieving wider impacts and building resilience for larger populations, USAID Bureau for Food Security program leader for sustainable intensification, Jerry Glover, has said.