Argor-Heraeus’ CEO Robin Kolvenbach holds one kilo bars of silver and gold at the plant of refiner and bar manufacturer Argor-Heraeus in Mendrisio, Switzerland, July 13, 2022. Denis Balibouse | Reuters Precious metals saw strong gains on Wednesday, while the value of the dollar fell, following the U.S. midterm elections. Spot gold was 2.7% higher…
Addis Abeba — Kenya has overtaken Ethiopia as Eastern Africa’s largest economy measured by nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in US dollar terms, according to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) October 2026 World Economic Outlook (WEO), a shift largely attributed to exchange-rate movements rather than faster real economic growth. The IMF’s estimates show Ethiopia’s economy…
A fresh wave of US tariffs on a wide array of Canadian goods came into effect on Saturday after a last-minute breakdown in trade talks. Announcing the suspension of negotiations shortly before the Friday night deadline, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he would impose reciprocal tariffs on US goods “dollar for dollar”. Carney said…
Many cross-border transactions still rely on the US dollar as an intermediary currency. At the same time, African currencies are often difficult to exchange directly, and few mechanisms exist for countries to settle payments with one another in local currencies. Cross-border payments in Africa remain among the most expensive in the world, despite the rapid…
Renminbi and US dollar banknotes are captured in Fuyang City, Anhui Province, China, on March 1, 2026. (Photo by Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images Every June, policymakers, regulators, bankers, investors, and financial executives gather in Shanghai for the Lujiazui Forum, China‘s premier financial policy conference. If Davos is where global…
Standard Bank has become the first African-based lender authorised to clear renminbi transactions on the continent, a step that deepens the financial plumbing connecting Africa to China and moves more of their trade off the US dollar. The bank, the largest in Africa by assets, said on Friday it had been jointly authorised with the…
Elon Musk looks on as U.S President Donald Trump meets President Cyril Ramaphosa in the the White House in May 2025. Kevin Lamarque/Reuters Few business leaders have been as deeply embedded in popular culture as Elon Musk, the ambitious entrepreneur who has become a central figure in internet culture and amassed a fortune that has…
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg makes a keynote speech at the Meta Connect annual event at the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., on Sept. 25, 2024. Manuel Orbegozo | Reuters Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was so optimistic last year about his company’s Llama family of artificial intelligence models that he predicted they would become the…
End last month, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in Eastern Africa published a press release indicating that, among others, eastern African exports are demonstrating remarkable resilience amid global trade turbulence, defying expectations of decline following sweeping US tariffs and persistent geopolitical uncertainty. Data from UNECA, it says, reveals that several countries in…
Washington — THE African Development Bank (AfDB) has pledged to provide a total of 60m US dollars to the Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank (TADB) in 2026 to enhance its capital base further. This was disclosed by the Managing Director of TADB, Frank Nyabundege, at the Embassy of Tanzania on the sidelines of the Annual Meetings…
