Policy & Power
How decisions are made across Africa, and who makes them.
South Africa’s fiscal turnaround gathers pace
South Africa’s National Treasury reported a primary budget surplus of R86.7 billion (1.1% of GDP) for 2025/26, exceeding the 0.9% Budget estimate and marking a third consecutive primary surplus. The main budget deficit…
South Africa’s June 30 shutdown arrives
Anti-immigration protesters marched across South Africa’s major cities on June 30, the deadline set by the March and March movement for undocumented…
South Africa braces for June 30
South Africa’s police service has activated joint operations in all nine provinces at a projected cost of R600 million ahead of the June 30 national…
Ghana’s 1,400bps rate cut leads Africa
Ghana’s Bank of Ghana cut its benchmark rate by a cumulative 1,400 basis points from 28% in January 2025 to 14% by March 2026, the most aggressive…
Nigeria slams the IMF’s tax prescriptions
A Nigerian think tank, the Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics, has criticised the IMF’s 2026 Article IV recommendations including excise…
Stop checking passports, SA minister warns
South Africa’s Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi warned at an Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration briefing on June 14 that private citizens…
Tanzania self-funds its $24bn budget
Tanzania’s Finance Minister Khamis Mussa presented the Tsh62.33 trillion ($24 billion) 2026/27 budget on June 11, targeting 75% domestic funding, up…
Cardoso wins Central Bank of the Year
Nigeria’s Central Bank was named Central Bank of the Year 2026 at the Central Banking Awards in London on June 10. Governor Yemi Cardoso accepted…
Rwanda’s Rwf7.8tn budget hits parliament
Rwanda Finance Minister Yusuf Murangwa presented the Rwf7.8 trillion ($990 million) national budget to Parliament on June 11, a 12% increase from…
Kenya wins the ICA-Africa chair
McLoud Malonza, Chair of Co-operative Bank Holdings and the Co-operative Alliance of Kenya, was elected Chairperson of ICA-Africa in Maputo on June…
TikTok’s AI purges 4m Nigerian videos
TikTok removed more than 4 million videos in Nigeria in Q4 2025, with 99.9% proactively identified before any user report and 98.4% removed within…
Ramaphosa tightens immigration amid unrest
President Ramaphosa announced a sweeping immigration crackdown in a June 7 national address, committing to tighter border controls, faster…
Salt River Market transformed into 970 homes
Cape Town’s Salt River Market site was formally handed to developer Communicare on June 8 after more than a decade in planning, enabling 970…
Rwanda locks in $250m IMF credit facility
The IMF Executive Board approved Rwanda’s $250 million, 38-month Extended Credit Facility on June 9, with an immediate $35.7 million disbursement.…
Ethiopia clears IMF review, unlocks $468m
The IMF reached a staff-level agreement on Ethiopia’s fifth ECF review on June 3, paving the way for a $468 million disbursement that would bring…
Tinubu’s three-year reform scorecard is mixed
Three years into Tinubu’s reforms, Nigeria’s GDP averages 3.46% quarterly growth, external reserves stand at $49.26 billion and federal revenues…
Markets price Senegal for debt restructuring
JPMorgan’s May 26 research note revealed that Senegal’s 2033 Eurobonds are pricing in a restructuring scenario with a 15% haircut, five-year…
Brazzaville gives AfDB’s NAFAD a mandate
The AfDB’s 61st Annual Meetings closed in Brazzaville on May 29 with governors formally endorsing the New African Financial Architecture for…
NNPC challenges Dangote’s prices in court
NNPC filed a court counter-affidavit on May 27 arguing that Dangote Petroleum Refinery’s petrol is sold at significantly high and fluctuating…
AfDB: 12 fastest economies are African
The AfDB’s African Economic Outlook 2026, launched today in Brazzaville, reveals that Africa’s real GDP grew 4.2% in 2025, with 12 of the world’s 20…
Best countries to invest in Africa 2026
The best African countries to invest and do business in 2026 ranked by governance quality, business environment, growth trajectory and sector…
South Africa’s Starlink law fight escalates
South Africa’s Communications Minister Solly Malatsi announced plans to amend the Electronic Communications Act to embed Equity Equivalent…
AfDB opens in Brazzaville this weekend
The AfDB’s 61st Annual Meetings open in Brazzaville on May 25 under the theme “Mobilising Africa’s Development Financing at Scale in a Fragmented…
South Africa’s NHI loses in ConCourt
South Africa’s Constitutional Court struck down the Certificate of Need provisions in the National Health Act on May 18, removing the state’s power…
WHO declares Ebola continental emergency
WHO declared the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in DRC and Uganda a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on May 16. Africa CDC followed with…
Nigeria catches its fugitive power minister
Nigeria’s EFCC arrested former Minister of Power Saleh Mamman at 3:30am on May 19 in Kaduna, more than a week after he was sentenced in absentia to…
Museveni signs law that rattles investors
Uganda’s President Museveni signed the Protection of Sovereignty Act into law on May 17, requiring individuals acting on behalf of foreign interests…
South Africa’s debt has peaked: Moody’s confirms the turn
Moody’s confirmed South Africa’s general government debt peaked at 86.8% of GDP in 2025 and will decline to 84.9% by 2028, marking the end of a…
Somalia slides toward famine as aid collapses and Hormuz bites
Parts of southern Somalia face famine for the first time since 2022 as Hormuz disruption drives up to 60% price surges for diesel and therapeutic…
SA minister forces Starlink showdown
Communications Minister Malatsi declared his patience exhausted with ICASA after a four-month stall on his Equity Equivalent Investment Programme…
Africa’s food supply under threat: AU acts
The African Union convened a Joint Extraordinary STC on fertiliser market disruption and food system risk from the Hormuz conflict for May 20-22,…
Zambia cuts rates to two-year low
The Bank of Zambia cut its Monetary Policy Rate by 25 basis points to 13.25% at its May 2026 meeting, bringing borrowing costs to their lowest since…
SA ends rail monopoly: 11 operators in
Transnet concluded Rail Access Agreements with 11 private Train Operating Companies on May 13, ending the state monopoly on South Africa’s freight…
South Africa sheds 345,000 jobs in Q1
South Africa’s unemployment rate rose to 32.7% in Q1 2026 from 31.4% in Q4 2025 as 345,000 jobs were shed, Stats SA reported on May 12. The number…
Museveni grabs seventh term: 40 years
Yoweri Museveni was sworn in for a seventh consecutive term on May 12, extending his 40-year rule to 2031. The disputed election was challenged by…
Tanzania steps in as Hormuz fuel shock hits East Africa
Tanzania’s government has intervened to contain fuel price increases from the Hormuz oil shock, joining South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia and Ghana in…