NAIROBI – The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has kicked off the Prosper Africa Build Together initiative by requesting $80 million from Congress to build trade and investment between the U.S. and Africa.Dana Banks, U.S. senior director for …
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World Bank Pauses Mali Payments After Coup as Leader Warns Against Sanctions
The World Bank said on Friday it had temporarily paused payments to operations in Mali following a military coup, while the man expected to become the new prime minister warned sanctions would only complicate the country’s crisis.The World Bank’s actio…
Read MoreInside Africa’s drive to boost medicines and vaccine manufacturing
Addis Ababa – With COVID-19 vaccine supplies to Africa slowing down, the continent is working to boost its own manufacturing capacities for vaccines, medicines and vital health technologies. Mrs Biruk Abate Halallo, Health Attaché at Ethiopia’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations Offices in Geneva, is the driving force behind a resolution on the local manufacturing of medicines, medical technologies and vaccines that is being presented at the World Health Assembly, WHO’s leading decision-making body, this week. What is the resolution for? Africa suffers more than its fair share of…
Read MoreAfrican Development Bank Board approves water policy
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has approved a new policy on water, prioritizing water security and the transformation of water assets to foster sustainable, green and inclusive economic growth in regional member countries. “This new policy on water provides a general framework for the African Development Bank Group to expand its role as the continent’s partner promoting the integrated development and management of Africa’s water sector for inclusive and sustainable growth in Africa,” said Atsuko Toda, the Bank’s Acting Vice President for Agriculture, Human and…
Read MoreSummit on the Financing of African Economies, Paris, 18 May 2021: Declaration
The Covid-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented economic crisis worldwide, with disastrous social consequences. After 25 years of continuous growth, Africa is severely hit and has suffered a recession in 2020. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that additional financing of up to $285 billion would be needed during 2021-25 for African countries to step up the spending response to the pandemic, with about half of it for African low-income countries. The middle-income countries also require special attention. Absent a collective action, the financing and objectives of the 2030…
Read MoreFrance Announces Support to Sudan during Africa Financing Talks
PARIS – France said it will cancel $5 billion in debt Sudan owes it, and Germany also offered assistance, during back-to-back Paris financing summits targeting Khartoum’s democratic transition and Africa’s economic rebound from the coronavirus pandemic. The two days of high-level talks near the Eiffel Tower in Paris gather more than a dozen African leaders, along with top representatives of multilateral institutions, the European Union and China. Sudan was on Monday’s agenda. Two years after overthrowing longtime leader Omar al-Bashir, the country faces a raft of challenges — as Sudanese…
Read MoreWest Africa Price Bulletin, April 2021
The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) monitors trends in staple food prices in countries vulnerable to food insecurity. For each FEWS NET country and region, the Price Bulletin provides a set of charts showing monthly prices in the current marketing year in selected urban centers and allowing users to compare current trends with both five-year average prices, indicative of seasonal trends, and prices in the previous year. West Africa can be divided into three agro-ecological zones or three different trade basins (West Basin, Central Basin and East Basin).…
Read MoreCovid-19 pandemic impetus for greater regional integration, African countries told at presentation of regional integration index report
As countries rebuild their economies following COVID-19, Africa needs to step up productive and infrastructural integration, participants heard at a regional presentation of the African Regional Integration Index (ARII) held virtually last week. The index, a joint publication of the Economic Commission for Africa, the African Development Bank and the African Union Commission, provides up-to-date data on the status of regional integration in Africa and assesses the level of integration for every regional economic community and its member countries. The Index report underlines the need for a renewed commitment to…
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