Tag Archives: economy

Moscow, Russia | AFP |  Moscow was set for fresh protests Saturday, the latest in a wave of demonstrations that has seen tens of thousands take to the streets after opposition figures were banned from local elections a month ago. The rallies, which have taken place every Saturday since the ruling, …

Uganda slams report Huawei helped spy on opposition leaders Kampala, Uganda | AFP |  Uganda on Friday denied a report that employees of Chinese telecom giant Huawei had aided a domestic spying operation targeting pop star turned opposition icon Bobi Wine. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Huawei …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP |  Langton Chiwocha chose Emmerson Mnangagwa among 23 candidates in Zimbabwe’s presidential elections a year ago. Today he says he deeply regrets his choice. “We had high expectations as many promises were made, but things have turned worse since the elections,” Chiwocha told AFP. “I wish I …

Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP |  Ivory Coast, the world’s largest cocoa producer, earns just a fraction of the crop’s potential value and must process it domestically and develop its distribution to fully reap the benefits, a World Bank report said Thursday. Cocoa accounts for 40 percent of the West African …

Mantasoa, Madagascar | AFP |  Madagascar, renowned for its unique wildlife and vanilla production, has a new claim to fame — the island nation is Africa’s first and only source of caviar. The business is an unlikely project in a country beset by grinding poverty, but its owners are determined …

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP |  A cradle of mankind, modern-day Ethiopia is riven by ethnic tensions, with the latest unrest flaring in the region of Amhara in what the government called a regional “coup” bid. Here are some key facts about Africa’s second most populous nation: – People and …

Cape Town, South Africa | AFP | South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday described the country’s economic outlook as “extremely weak” as he vowed to speed up emergency funding for the debt-laden Eskom state power supplier. Ramaphosa delivered a downbeat economic assessment in his first state-of-the-nation address since the ruling …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP |  The Democratic Republic of Congo’s new leadership is under mounting pressure to diversify the country’s economy from its dependence on raw materials following the plunge in the price of cobalt. Economic experts currently visiting the country have a sobering figure on which to base …

Monrovia, Liberia | AFP |   Liberian President George Weah faces a key test on Friday when demonstrators take to the streets of Monrovia to protest at inflation and corruption. The nation’s football icon is being challenged over the same issues on which he campaigned in his historic ascent to the …

  Blantyre, Malawi | AFP |  Malawi’s President Peter Mutharika, 78, is a former Washington law professor with two successive election victories to his name and a political career clouded by claims of corruption, even treason. He won his first term in a closely-contested poll in 2014 — two years after …