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Nigeria’s digital lending boom is widening credit access and fuelling growth, but weak regulation, high defaults and tax gaps threaten fiscal stability across Africa’s fintech surge.
Absa maintains that while the country’s recent financial market reforms are encouraging, it will only consider entry once the rules are less restrictive.
Banks in Egypt and Nigeria are likely to see profits drop in 2026 as central banks accelerate interest rate cuts following a sharp slowdown in inflation and increasingly favorable macroeconomic conditions, S&P Global said in its latest Africa banking outlook.
South Africa has joined Afreximbank, completing the lender’s continental membership and strengthening its institutional standing as it faces rating pressure and tighter global funding conditions.
Overall, business momentum eased across most of the reviewed markets in January, with seven of the eight economies registering a softer PMI reading compared with December, except South Africa.
The projected slowdown comes even as macroeconomic conditions stabilise and investor sentiment improves amid ongoing reforms in West Africa’s largest economies.
First HoldCo’s earnings per share collapsed in 2025 after heavy loan-loss provisions and divestment losses wiped out profits, even as interest income hit record levels.
The tool, developed by the Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions (AAMFI), is intended to help regions lenders coordinate support for countries under strain and reduce the risk of protracted disputes during debt restructurings.
On the news and on paper, the country’s economy is recovering and stabilising, but it appears that people’s bellies and traders’ inventories are yet to see this in reality.
Nigeria’s 2026 fiscal strategy hinges on tighter cash control, selective divestments and PPPs. Global precedents offer hope, but execution risks could test credibility and growth.
January’s disbursements, which includes a record $500 million auction, represents 82% of the $780 million sold throughout 2025, highlighting a significant acceleration in the scale of market operations.
Official data show Zimbabwe’s annual inflation slowed sharply to 4.1% in January, from 15% in December and 10.1% a year earlier, as the country’s gold-backed currency strengthened on the back of record bullion prices.
The European Union has lifted its high-risk designation for six African countries, after years in which the listing reshaped how capital moved in and out of their economies.
Over the past decade, China’s lending to Africa has plummeted, with annual commitments falling below $5 billion since 2020, after consistently exceeding $10 billion between 2012 and 2018, as the world’s No. 2 economy increasingly prioritises strategic engagements.
Central bank data shows Uganda’s gold exports reached $5.8 billion in 2025, representing a 75.8% increase from $3.3 billion in 2024 as record global prices attracted new traders
South Africa’s Nedbank Group has submitted a strategic investment proposal and notice of intention to acquire a controlling stake in NCBA Group PLC, signalling a significant push into East Africa’s banking market.
Fresh data from the World Federation Exchange (WFE) indicates that the GSE’s equity market value surged by 117%% year-on-year to $16.4 billion, extending a three-month run.
For businesses and households, the shift means higher tax burdens as policymakers return to a more aggressive revenue mobilisation push.
From South Africa to Ghana, Africa’s top ten economies introduced debt securities to finance the economy, balance fiscal deficit, and settle maturing debts amid leading macro economy indicators.
For a long time, Africa’s investment landscape has been framed as a market-size problem. Over time, it appeared that the solution was simply to scale up: bigger populations, faster urbanisation, rising consumption. Yet capital inflows remained uneven.