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Africa heads into 2026 with sovereign credit assessments that reflect a continent moving at different speeds. Ratings from Moody’s, S&P Global Ratings, and Fitch Ratings now show a wider gap between countries
The figure reflects the combined value of 10 FX auctions held by the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) between February and the second week of December 2025, aimed at deepening liquidity and strengthening the Birr
Standard Bank has agreed to provide a $138m facility to Safaricom Ethiopia, backing network expansion as the operator scales in Africa’s second-most populous market.
Many low-income countries had been struggling with mounting debt distress before COVID-19, but the pandemic worsened the problem. In the shadow of soaring Eurobond maturities and post-COVID economic scars, Africa’s low-income countries (LICs) have been facing a debt crisis.
Egypt’s inflation cooled more than expected in November, easing pressure on the central bank and strengthening the case for resuming rate cuts at its 25 December meeting.
Telcos, fintechs and open-finance platforms are exposing APIs that let African developers move money, verify identity and offer credit with just a few lines of code.
Kenya cuts its benchmark rate to 9% in a ninth straight easing move, bringing borrowing costs to their lowest since early 2023 as credit conditions and FX reserves strengthen.
An analysis by Finance in Africa revealed that US-bound exports grew from $674 million in January to $982 million in October, reflecting a 37% increase.
For decades, cross-border trade in Africa has depended on the U.S. dollar, an expensive middleman that small businesses can barely afford. Every time goods moved across a border, traders lost time and money converting local currencies through foreign banks.
South Africa was the only country to remain in contraction, with a PMI of 49, underscoring the economy’s continued divergence from an otherwise strengthening regional trend.
When Nigeria ratified the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in 2020, it was sold as a once-in-a-generation opportunity, a chance to plug Africa’s largest economy into a single market of 1.3 billion people…
The CBN’s new APP fraud draft rules shift liability across Nigeria’s payment system, introducing mandatory refunds, stricter timelines and Board-level oversight.
Nigeria’s fraud problem is deeper and more systemic than most admit. This analysis explores the loopholes, collusion networks and infrastructure gaps enabling financial crime.
The latest GDP figures arrive as Nigeria faces growing US pressure to tackle its security crisis, which continues to disrupt key sectors, including agriculture.
The group’s half-year financials shows that while Access Nigeria’s profits plunged, its African peers—from Ghana to Rwanda and Mozambique—posted robust growth, helping rebalance the group’s earnings base.
The proposed levy may reshape Senegal’s fast-growing payments ecosystem, with experts warning of lower digital usage, weaker agent activity and a potential return to cash.
The BoG’s latest decision aligns strongly with market expectations and reflects the bank’s confidence that price growth will remain contained in the near term.
Despite recording six transactions, the island nation attracted the highest deal value on the continent (excluding South Africa), with private equity inflows surging by 311.3% to $1.25bn in the first nine months of this year—the highest in three years—from $38.9m.
Ten months ago, Ethiopia’s first stock exchange opened to applause. Today, the applause has softened into calculation. Only three listings stand where nine were promised for 2025, raising a bigger question than timing: why isn’t the pipeline filling?
Investec says uneven Basel III rules raise capital costs for African banks. Strong ratios show its concern is not its balance sheet but how global reforms could limit credit and growth.