In October 2024, a Financial Times article highlighted the transformative role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Africa, focusing on its positive impact across the continent. In Ghana, for instance, a 22-year-old with a cleft palate, Oscar Darko-Sarfo, has leveraged AI
The 9th Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), held in Beijing from September 4-6, 2024, resulted in many new plans to enhance China-Africa cooperation, especially on trade. At the Summit, the most attention-grabbing trade-related announcement was China’s pledge to remove 100%
Almost 30 years ago, South Africa became the first African country to issue a Eurobond – a bond issued in a currency different from the currency of the country it was issued. As of August 2023, Africa had 91 outstanding
The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) is the lending arm of the World Bank Group for middle-income and “credit-worthy” low-income countries – meaning that not all countries can access it. It provides loans to countries at market-access rates,
The International Development Association (IDA) is the concessional lending arm of the World Bank Group. IDA has the potential to be a key financing instrument for many African countries, as it provides concessional finance and can leverage this finance by
Counting down to the 9th FOCAC and the 3rd year since China and Africa’s Declarations on Combating Climate Change were agreed upon, actions to further unlock the clean energy potentials are expected. China’s renewable energy installed capacity has reached around
Two years after its own accession into the World Trade Organisation (WTO), China initiated a scheme to allow 190 products from 30 African Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to enter China duty free. The announcement for the scheme was made at
The High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) was held from Monday, 8 July, to Wednesday, 17 July 2024, at the United Nations headquarters in New York. It’s easy to dismiss the HLPF as just another useless meeting – but
Although the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is known as a “lender of last resort”, according to its own statements it is much more. It works to achieve sustainable growth and prosperity by supporting economic policies that promote financial stability and
Released in January 2024, the World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects (GEP) echoes sentiment from the tail-end of 2023 – that global economic growth remains fragile and constrained by coordinated price stability policies put in place by Central Banks around
It might sound a little boring, but the word “procurement” is actually a very important one in development. It is so important that since 2022, there has been an annual “World Sustainable Procurement Day” – today, the 21st of March.
In November 2023, news of a company operating “power” ships that send electricity to African and other countries hit the headlines – as the firm had cut lines to Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau due to missed payments. Although we
COP28 brought the world together to take joint actions to address the risk of global climate change, promote the global energy transition, and ensure energy security. For the past two weeks, energy issues such as formulating emission reduction programmes and
As the world converges at COP28 to address the pressing challenges of climate change, it is imperative to underscore the untapped renewable energy potential within the African continent. According to a study in 2020 for the International Finance Corporation, continental
The 2023 theme of World AIDS Day, celebrated annually on 1st December, is “Let the Communities Lead”. This is a great theme, however, at Development Reimagined we have an additional theme “Africa’s Ascent.” Why? Usually, on most World AIDS days,
November 2023 – Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to the present, there has been an abundance of reporting on a slowdown in Chinese lending to Africa and projections of this into the future. But with a closer examination of the data,
As the world accelerates actions against climate change, embedding environmental and climate perspectives in industrialisation is becoming increasingly crucial – and this extends to Africa. The promotion of the Environmental Goods (EGs) value chain plays a vital role in the
The latest IMF World Economic Outlook (WEO) was released in October 2023, during the IMF and World Bank’s Annual Meetings – which were held on the African continent in Marrakesh for the first time in 50 years. The WEO underscored
On Friday 27th October 2023, the UN General Assembly approved a non-binding resolution calling for a humanitarian truce in Gaza. The 193-member global body adopted the resolution by a vote of 120-14 with 45 abstentions. Our latest infographic breaks down
Amidst a backdrop of global challenges, almost 60% of African member states gathered for the 2023 United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York City, USA. The global challenges they and others have raised included reform of the UN itself,
Over the past year, Development Reimagined has been leading the call for the African Union (AU) to join the G20 as a permanent member to form the “G21”. The continent’s inclusion into the G20 will not only provide a platform
The BRICS Summit has kicked off this week in South Africa, including a new announcement by President Cyril Ramphosa that South Africa will export beef to China. But what is the context for this announcement? Our latest infographic on Comparing
In May 2023, the WHO announced that COVID-19 was no longer a global health emergency. But does this ring true for the African continent, especially given that the WHO’s announcement seemed to be premised on not just herd immunity but
A few months ago, the Paris Summit for a “New Global Financial Pact” was announced to be held in June 2023. So far, the Summit has been met with mixed reviews, with the aim to deliver innovative approaches to the
IMF released a new Africa-focused report In a recent address to the 3rd Pan-African Parliament Summit, the President of Kenya William Ruto remarked: “The discursive profile of the continent has too often been focused on the challenges and difficulties we
At a recent conference the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat’s Secretary General Wamkele Mene remarked “I see milk from New Zealand in an African country when we have milk in Uganda”. His comment highlighted the need for African countries
It has been almost a year and half since the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced its largest global allocation of SDRs, US $650 billion (or SDR 456.5 billion), to member countries to boost global liquidity and address the global need
In the past year, cholera has returned to the fore as a public health disease of concern, with current outbreaks being battled in 22 countries across three continents, more than half of which are African countries. What is cholera, and
Following on from a turbulent half a decade – with the China-US trade war, the COVID-19 pandemic itself plus supply chain disruptions accompanied by inequitable vaccine access, the Russia-Ukraine War and, now, subsequent inflation crisis – many countries across the
There have been four key instances in the United Nations where African countries have had the opportunity to express their views on the Russia-Ukraine war and how it relates to international law. This post provides relevant infographics which can help
October 2023- Does the IMF expect Economic Growth in African Countries in 2023? Over the past 4 years, the world has endured the economic fallout from the China-US trade war, the COVID-19 pandemic itself plus supply chain disruptions accompanied
As 2022 has drawn to a close, there has been much coverage about China’s challenges with COVID-19 vaccinations as the country eased social distancing restrictions. But completely missing from front pages is the fact that across the Indian Ocean, an
Nearly ten years after the Sudan Ebola virus (SUDV) was first discovered in Uganda in 2012, the deadly Ebola virus disease (EVD), also known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, has resurfaced in a new outbreak. Following the confirmation of the first
Almost two years from the first reported cases of COVID-19 in December 2019, the world continues to vaccinate against the virus as a key prevention measure. With multiple variants in circulation, and different vaccines now in use, vaccination and booster
Prior to and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, civil society, governments and media outlets have issued constant warnings of a ‘African debt crisis’. While our infographics to date have shown that these concerns are overblown for various reasons, and have been proved
Named for its first detection in 1958 in lab primates, monkeypox had previously been considered as a pathogen of high priority by the WHO. Perhaps due to its low fatality rate and/or its typical detection in a few West African
Updated Every Month As COVID-19 social distancing interventions continue to be relaxed in many countries and the world approaches a possible endemic stage of the pandemic, vaccination continues to be pushed as an effective strategy as new variants of COVID-19
On 24th February 2022 Russia announced a “special military operation” in Ukraine. Since then, not only has the war led to loss of life, destruction of property and business, it has immensely affected global trade in of which Russia and
Updated Every Month As COVID-19 social distancing interventions continue to be relaxed in many countries in favour of vaccine-led strategies, while new variants of COVID-19 continue to emerge, the way forward for global COVID-19 management seems very unclear. Our infographics
Updated Every Month March 1st marks one year since COVID-19 vaccines were first distributed by an African country. Since then, African countries have only been able to procure 633 million vaccines with over 60% of these doses already administered. To
Our infographic series has demonstrated that in a number of ways, African countries are continuing to act in a globally responsible manner to manage COVID-19 despite constrained circumstances. This month, we uncover the finance that is still being spent to
Updated Every Month During November 2021, the WHO announced a new COVID-19 variant of concern – B.1.1.529 – now known commonly as Omicron. First detected by South Africa and sequenced by Sikhulile Moyo, a researcher based in Botswana, over 11,000
Updated Every Month African Statistics Day is celebrated on the 18 November every year and the use of good reliable data has never been more important. Our research on COVID-19 – utilising public data on case numbers, deaths, social distancing,
Updated Every Month To date, African countries have been able to secure just 121 million vaccine doses in order to minimise the effects of COVID-19. Of these, 72% have already been jabbed into arms, equating to just 1.8% of all
Updated Every Month Over the last three months, we have consistently shared the data that so far, Africa has received less than 2% of global vaccines. We’ve had people share our data and graphics, and call out how inequitable this
Updated Every Month Nearly 1.33 billion vaccine doses have been ordered by African countries and the African Union – that’s enough to fully vaccinate half of the population, getting close to herd immunity levels, but as of early June, African
Updated Every Month Ever since the development of COVID-19 vaccines began, much ado has been made about the acquisition and distribution of vaccines to vulnerable African populations. But as our monthly report demonstrates with alarming clarity, the reality is very
Updated Every Month Nearly 1.7 billion vaccine doses have been ordered by African countries and the African Union, but as of early April, only 5.7% of these have arrived, and of those, only 37% have actually been administered. While many
Updated Every Month 1 billion vaccine doses have been ordered by African countries and the African Union, but only 1.5% of these have been delivered so far. That’s not a headline you will read anywhere else. The news elsewhere is
Updated Every Month As analysts focused on African countries, we often see narratives that underplay and imply skepticism of the capacity of Africans to respond to COVID19. Most of this is simply unwarranted. When you look at the data –
Updated Every Month Last year, in 2020, we were the first to comprehensively track the impact of COVID19 across Africa with this regular infographics series. We not only published these week after week – a total 23 editions in both
We have been tracking African governments actions since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, and calculate that currently, African countries are spending around 2.5% of GDP to combat Covid-19’s impacts. While this is this is significantly below spending by other
Over the last two weeks, news of potential new vaccines to stop the spread of #COVID19 have dominated headlines. Moderna, Pfizer and Astra-Zeneca have all made press-releases about their effectiveness in trials. Chinese firms – such as Sinovac and Sinopharm
Updated Every Two Weeks This week, we saw a major dispute unfold between Zambia and private sector lenders, who rejected the government’s request for a 6 month payment holiday, due to Zambia’s needs to spend on COVID19 management. The private
This week, alongside our usual examination of COVID19 cases across Africa as well as support that other development partners are providing to African countries, we take an in-depth look at the recently published World Economic Outlook by the International Monetary
NOW Updated Every Two Weeks We believe there is an intrinsic relationship between the rigorous COVID19 testing done and the vaccine rollout. The ability to detect the number of active cases through testing will determine how extensive the vaccine rollout
In order to mitigate the ongoing impact of COVID-19, it will be essential to reignite growth – in particular trade, finance and people flows to, from and between African countries. Much of these flows rely on increased infrastructure and connectivity, as well
NOW Updated Every Two Weeks As we analysed two weeks ago, the “good news” appearing from the continent in relation to COVID19 cases is continuing. Africa as a whole is making up a decreasing percentage of the world’s COVID19 cases
It’s that time of the year when university students move around the world in pursuit of their dreams, including over a quarter of a million African students. But 2020/2021 could be very different because of COVID19. Students are the world’s
NOW Updated Every Two Weeks We’ve been taking a bit of a break from our infographics covering COVID19 developments in African countries, and as we resumed this week we noticed some “good news” appearing from the continent. For example, yesterday,
Updated Weekly This week, African countries recorded more recoveries relative to the rest of the world than recorded new COVID19 cases. That said, Africa now, as a whole, makes up almost 5% of the world’s COVID19 cases. Over 6 days,
Updated Weekly Do you want to know how your country is coping with COVID19? And how your African neighbours are coping in comparison? Is your government doing all it can to learn the best lessons and provide the best guidelines
Updated Weekly 84% of Africa’s #COVID19 cases have occurred – so far in just 10 countries. This is important. For the other 45 African countries, #COVID19 has been a huge economic shock, but it has not – at least so far
Updated Weekly It’s been 5 months since the 1st COVID19 case was detected on the African continent. How are African countries coping? Our weekly update provides a great, unique snapshot of the progress so far and the challenges building up…
Updated Weekly We have been tracking the spread of COVID19 in African countries for over 4 months now, soon after the first case was recorded in Egypt on 14th February 2020. We have also been tracking the response of African
Updated Weekly What is the latest update on #COVID19 cases and responses across #African countries? As usual, our weekly infographic is here to help you digest the key headlines quickly, with additional analysis to bring out information you won’t find
Updated Weekly This week could mark an important shift for African citizens health-wise. This week saw the African Union launch the African procurement platform, which is aimed at making sure African governments can get easier and faster access to the
Updated Weekly There is one word this week that we have been hearing a great deal. Debt. Concerns are being expressed by many international development organisations about the potential for a debt crisis, especially given the World Bank’s gloomy update
Updated Weekly Over the past few months, as we have scored through and collated the data from a huge number of sources, to share our weekly updates on what African countries are doing to tackle COVID19, we have noticed that
Updated Weekly Last week, our regular infographic update highlighted the actions and challenges African countries are facing in directly managing the COVID19 health crisis. This week, prompted by a concern that economic woes on the continent appear to be being
Updated Weekly As world leaders meet virtually for the World Health Assembly this week, is it premature to be talking about winning the COVID19 fight? Over the past few months, as we have provided our weekly updates on what African
Updated Weekly It’s been close to three months since the first COVID19 case was detected on the African continent. Over those three months we have seen some fairly unprecedented changes in global markets – for instance negative oil prices –
As COVID-19 spreads across the African continent, an African Union report has suggested that the outbreak could lead to a serious food security crisis in Africa, with as estimated 2.6% to 7% decline in agricultural production predicted for 2020. The
Updated Weekly As part of our now regular series of infographics on how COVID19 is affecting the African continent, and how governments in the 55 countries are responding, this week we provide an update on what preventive measures African countries
Updated Weekly COVID19 first entered the African continent on 14th February 2020, and since then many African governments have been responding with both speed and determination. Last week, we explored what governments are doing to “flatten the COVID19 curve”. This
Updated Weekly For the last two weeks we have been publishing infographics on how COVID19 is affecting the African continent, and how governments in the 55 countries are responding. Last week, we explored what measures are being introduced to support
Updated Weekly Last week, out of a frustration with the lack of coverage and understanding by our clients as well as the public on how COVID19 is affecting the African continent, we published an infographic that showed how the 55
Updated Weekly Over the last few weeks, we have seen many think-tanks, consultancies and experts sharing information around COVID19 cases in Asia, Europe and the United States. But what about the African continent? How are the 55 countries in Africa
This week, the United Kingdom held the UK-Africa Investment Summit, whereby the country committed to strengthening its economic partnerships with African nations and announced commitments to support job creation, trade and investment across Africa, including a £20 million programme that
The Development Reimagined Infographic series explores which countries are and aren’t signed up to China’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative Announced in 2013 by Chinese President Xi Jinping, The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has promised new business and development
Development Reimagined’s infographic series Trade is always changing. It’s a fact of life. According to economic theory, there will always be some countries or areas that have advantages – cost and efficiency wise – in producing certain goods over others.
Development Reimagined’s infographic series With the second Belt and Road Forum (BRF) kicking off, all eyes are on China to understand more about the far- reaching Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the potential impacts and opportunities for developing countries.
The African continent is home to 16% of the world’s population and 19% of its youth. We often hear the negative side of this – with young people making up 60% of unemployed Africans, with youth unemployment over 30% in North
When we advise Chinese companies going abroad, especially to African countries, one of the first questions they ask is: “Is the country stable?”. We in Development Reimagined know that by “stability” many companies are not necessarily referring to what other
