Africa in Focus

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA-Janitorial workers perform disinfection tasks at a school in Cape Town, South Africa on June 25, 2020. The "Covid-19 Disinfect" group launched a pilot program to disinfect the city, starting with schools , ensuring the slowdown of coronavirus transmission in these institutions. The machinery used for disinfection can disperse disinfectant up to a range of 2,500 meters through 365 degrees, ensuring disinfection in schools, taxi stands and other public spaces in the city. (NO RESALE)

Africa in the news: COVID-19, financial assistance, and political updates from Malawi, Burundi, and Rwanda

Christina Golubski, David Kanos, and Mary Treacy

Saturday, June 27, 2020

A customer at a money transfer point that offers money transfer services through Wari and other transfer companies in Dakar, Senegal March 15, 2017. Picture taken March 15, 2017. REUTERS/Nellie Peyton

Figure of the week: Remittance flows to sub-Saharan Africa expected to slow after years of growth

Thursday, June 25, 2020

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA- Community leaders closed Sophumelela High School, sending all students home after 4 teachers tested positive for COVID-19 and one of them died in Cape Town, South Africa on June 18 2020. Health Minister Dr. Zweli Mkhize admitted that, according to the World Health Organization, South Africa did not qualify to go to level 3 reopening, thus increasing the number of Covid-19 infected in the country, with 83,890 positive cases. (NO RESALE)

Africa in the news: COVID-19, debt relief, and political updates

Payce Madden and Mary Treacy

Saturday, June 20, 2020

A worker holds a hoe as they remove weed at a farm amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Eikenhof, South Africa, April 16, 2020. Picture taken April 16, 2020. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

Economic impact of COVID-19: Protecting Africa’s food systems from farm to fork

Jennifer Blanke

Friday, June 19, 2020

FILE PHOTO: Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza talks to the media after casting his ballot at a voting station during the presidential, legislative and communal council elections, under the simmering political violence and the growing threat of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Ngozi, Burundi May 20, 2020. REUTERS/Clovis Guy Siboniyo/File Photo

Africa in the news: African economic growth, Nigeria, and Burundi updates

Christina Golubski and Mary Treacy

Saturday, June 13, 2020

Optician shop, Addis Ababa Region, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.NO USE FRANCE

Figures of the week: Effects of COVID-19 on Ethiopian firms

Thursday, June 11, 2020

A Chinese clerk counts RMB (renminbi) yuan banknotes at a bank in Nantong city, east China's Jiangsu province, 24 July 2018.China's yuan weakened against the dollar on Friday (27 July 2018), breaching the key 6.8 per dollar level, dragged lower by a weaker midpoint and fears of further depreciation amid Sino-U.S. trade tensions. Large state-run banks offering dollars in the yuan forwards market, however, helped the renminbi pare some of its earlier losses by midday, although the yuan is set for its seventh week of losses - its longest losing streak since November 2015. Major Chinese state banks were seen swapping dollars for yuan in the forwards markets as they had the previous day, two traders said. Their operations dragged one-year tenor dollar/yuan swap points down into negative territory. No Use China. No Use France.

China’s debt relief for Africa: Emerging deliberations

Tuesday, June 9, 2020

Pigeons fly past parked trucks at the Namanga one stop border crossing point between Kenya and Tanzania, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Namanga, Kenya May 12, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

Africa in the news: Kenyan trade, Sudan, and COVID-19 updates

Saturday, June 6, 2020

Biniam Nigussie, 21, a Deliver Addis motorbike rider picks up lunch boxes from La Morena restaurant to be delivered to clients working from home due to the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in central Addis Ababa, Ethiopia June 3, 2020. REUTERS/Kumera Gemechu NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

Figures of the week: Coronavirus will push African businesses toward innovation and digitization

Thursday, June 4, 2020

DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA- Cleaning workers perform disinfection tasks in schools in Durban, South Africa on May 29, 2020. The South African government announced the reopening of the schools on June 1 after being closed for 3 months due to the pandemic of the coronavirus. (NO RESALE)

Africa in the news: COVID-19, DRC, and African Development Bank updates

Saturday, May 30, 2020

An employee closes coffee bags at the Central Kenya Coffee Mill near Nyeri, Kenya, March 15, 2018. Picture taken March 15, 2018. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

Industries without smokestacks: Constraints to growth

Thursday, May 28, 2020

Trucks queue as their drivers undergo health screening, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak at the Namanga one stop border crossing point between Kenya and Tanzania in Namanga, Kenya, May 12, 2020. Picture taken May 12, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

Figures of the week: Regional integration in Africa

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

A vegetables seller waits for customers at Bara taxi rank, during a nationwide lockdown, aimed at limiting the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Soweto, South Africa, April 23,2020. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

COVID-19 and the future of work in Africa: How to shore up incomes for informal sector workers

Louise Fox and Landry Signé

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Members of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) lift empty ballot boxes at a voting station during the Presidential, Legislative and Communal council elections, under the simmering political violence and the growing threat of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spread, in Gitega, Burundi May 20, 2020. REUTERS/Evrard Ngendakumana

Africa in the news: Burundi, Benin, South Sudan, and COVID-19 updates

Christina Golubski

Saturday, May 23, 2020

A worker is seen sampling packaged phosphate at a packing warehouse at the Dorowa mine in Hwedza, Zimbabwe October 22, 2019. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo

The African Continental Free Trade Area and measures to facilitate trade could significantly mitigate COVID-19’s economic impact in Africa

Nassim Oulmane, Mustapha Sadni Jallab, and Patrice Rélouendé Zidouemba

Friday, May 22, 2020