Africa Growth Initiative

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

A child walks along the street at the start of the lockdown restrictions set by the government to prevent the rampant spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Eastleigh district of Nairobi, Kenya May 6, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

A COVID-19 response for the world’s poor

Erik Berglöf, Gordon Brown, Helen Clark, and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Monday, June 8, 2020

A child wearing protective face mask is carried across the border between Colombia and Venezuela at Simon Bolivar international bridge in Cucuta, Colombia March 12, 2020. REUTERS/Carlos Eduardo Ramirez TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

What the G-20 should do now

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Erik Berglöf, Helen Clark, and Gordon Brown

Monday, June 8, 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