NKC African Economics

The Ivorian economy performed relatively well in 2020: real GDP growth is estimated at 1.8%. This economic expansion is largely attributable to the country’s robust agricultural sector, a strong perfo...

The lockdown restrictions implemented in Lesotho during Q1 2021 coincided with another contraction, highlighting the economy’s vulnerability to pandemic-related shocks. Further movement and consumptio...

The Bank of Botswana’s (BoB) latest business expectations survey reveals that firms are upbeat about economic activity over the next year compared with the previous survey’s results. Firms now expect...

Consumer price inflation plateaued in July, and we estimate that the nearly two-decade high reading (24.6% y-o-y) also presents the current year peak. Food price inflation held steady at 31.2% y-o-y;...

The Absa purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell markedly to 43.5 pts in July, from 57.4 pts in June. The supplier deliveries subcomponent, due to its inverted nature, was the only indicator in positive...

The Moroccan dirham weakened by 0.9% m-o-m to an average of MAD8.9/$ in July, marking the second-consecutive month of depreciation. The dirham is now 6.5% stronger than the dollar compared with the sa...

Jihadist terrorists attacked an army checkpoint south of Sheikh Zuweid at dawn on Saturday, July 31. The assailants killed five soldiers, and three of their number also died before the others retreate...

The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (Ubos) reports that consumer price index (CPI) inflation rose to 2.1% y-o-y in July compared with the 2.0% y-o-y logged in the previous month. The slight increase of 0....

Trade surplus record beaten again in June Rand trades on the backfoot The US economy has more room to run The UK has some hopeful straws in the wind

Uganda - Our latest growth revision points towards a softer expansion of 4.9% this year, well below the 7.0% growth expected earlier this year.

Africa – Weekly Covid-19 update, July 30. Angola – Prodesi reaping some rewards after three years. Cameroon – IMF board approves new three-year programme. Egypt – Moody’s: credit profile reflects impr...

On Monday, July 26, Botswana deployed 296 troops to Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province as part of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) action to fight the Islamist insurgency in...

As of July 29, the official number of active Covid-19 cases in Mozambique has surged to 29,179 – an increase of 670% since the end of June. The majority (about 70%) of new confirmed cases are being re...

Goods exports rose by 1.8% m-o-m in June to reach R166.5bn, while imports declined marginally by 0.1% on the month, which resulted in South Africa recording a R57.7bn merchandise trade surplus. This i...