South Africa’s offshore allowance South Africa limit is set to double for the first time in over a decade, marking a significant shift in exchange control policy. The amount South Africans can send offshore without SARS clearance hasn’t budged since 2011. That’s about to change. On 25 February, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced that the Single…
West Africa as a region has long had one of the most mobile populations in the world. Since 1979, the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) has allowed citizens of its member states to travel freely across borders without visas. This freedom of movement has helped support regional trade, labour mobility and social ties….
The lesson from every Middle East crisis is clear: global energy shocks will continue to occur, and their effects will continue to reverberate across the world. For Africa’s oil-rich but refining-poor economies, the real challenge is not merely surviving these shocks but using them as catalysts for structural transformation…Until that transformation occurs, events thousands of…
A general view of the Port of Kharg Island Oil Terminal, 25 km from the Iranian coast in the Persian Gulf and 483 km northwest of the Strait of Hormuz, in Iran on March 12, 2017. Fatemeh Bahrami | Anadolu | Getty Images President Donald Trump’s order to strike Iranian military assets on Kharg Island…
A woman holds an illustration depicting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as others wave Iranian national flags during a demonstration in support of the government and against US and Israeli strikes outside a mosque in Tehran on February 28, 2026. Atta Kenare | Afp | Getty Images The death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah…
Alastair Otter, co-founder of The Outlier. People have access to enough quality data and relevant insight, but this is of little benefit unless it leads to decision-making and action. This is according to Alastair Otter, co-founder of The Outlier, an independent publication that specialises in using data to create public service stories and visualisations. Speaking…
The world is now using so much fresh water amid the consequences of climate change that it has entered an era of water bankruptcy, with many regions no longer able to bounce back from frequent water shortages. About 4 billion people – nearly half the global population – live with severe water scarcity for at…
OpenAI recently made its foray into the health and wellness sector with the launch of ChatGPT Health, a special health tab that allows users to input EMR data, Apple Health metrics, and MyFitnessPal logs. Giving rise to a new era of personalisation, as consumers can now use an AI tool to synthesise decades of medical…
The global development conversation is stuck in a loop. Advanced economies preach open markets while quietly erecting trade barriers. Institutions created to promote growth increasingly struggle to command legitimacy. For developing countries, the promise of modernisation now feels conditional, delayed, or selectively applied. It is within this context that China’s approach to modernisation — anchored…
South Africa faces serious water, energy and food problems. Drought, overuse and ageing infrastructure strain water supplies. Coal-fired electricity is not sustainable in the long term and causes high greenhouse gas emissions. Tens of millions of people can’t afford enough food because of rising prices. These crises are interconnected: water is needed to grow food…
