First Independent Mena Newspaper
The IMF urged African and other emerging economies to develop domestic financial markets to reduce reliance on volatile external borrowing. In its April 2025 Global Financial Stability Report, the IMF warns that high real interest rates globally have made external financing more expensive and less accessible, especially for frontier markets in Africa. Tunisia was identified […]
The Central African Republic has joined 33 African nations in adopting the Enhanced General Data Dissemination System (e-GDDS), the IMF’s intermediate standard for harmonizing macroeconomic data publication. This move highlights a critical challenge facing African economies: balancing international transparency requirements with local political constraints. The IMF classifies 52 African countries into three statistical tiers. At […]
Morocco has established a new civil engineering benchmark for Africa with the groundbreaking perforation of the Al Massira dam, addressing increasing water stress in the Marrakech region, according to the African Development Bank (AfDB). Engineers successfully drilled through Morocco’s second-largest water reservoir, with a capacity of approximately 2.6 billion cubic meters, to create a new […]
The U.S. State Department’s top official for Africa indicated Tuesday that any renewal of a major U.S.-Africa trade deal would likely require greater “reciprocity” from African nations. The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which allows many African products duty-free access to the American market, expires in September 2025. Its future remains uncertain amid protectionist […]
The US has scaled down its aid to Africa but kept supporting and funding for the Lobito corridor which will give its industry access to rare minerals, key to the energy transition. The Lobito Corridor is a major trans-African infrastructure project designed to connect the mineral-rich regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and […]
Severe austerity measures imposed by international financial institutions on some of the poorest African countries led to public spending cuts, which affected the wages of teachers and health workers in particular, ActionAid said. Teachers across Africa are bearing the brunt of austerity, losing up to 50% of their real income over five years, while nearly […]
The African Organization for Intellectual Property (OAPI) and the African Guarantee Fund (AGF) have launched a €60.9 million partnership to finance 1,000 innovative projects across 17 African countries by 2030. The agreement, signed this week, aims to transform patents into viable commercial ventures in countries including Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Mauritania, and Senegal. […]
Morocco, under the leadership of King Mohammed VI, has placed inter-parliamentary dialogue and south-south cooperation among its top national priorities to address shared global economic, security, and climate challenges. To foster unity of the South and mobilize its MPs for shared peace, growth development, Morocco hosted (Apr.28-29) the South–South Parliamentary Dialogue Forum to give new […]
As Africa mourns the death of Pope Francis, worshippers and leaders across the continent are reflecting on the profound legacy he leaves behind — and speculating about the future leadership of the Catholic Church. Pope Francis, who died Monday (21 April), is remembered for his unwavering advocacy for the poor, peace in conflict zones, and […]
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has issued a stark warning about the rapid global expansion of Asian cybercrime syndicates, whose scam operations are now reaching as far as Africa, South America, and the Pacific Islands. Originally concentrated in Southeast Asia — particularly Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos — these networks have evolved […]