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To avoid an artificial spike in December’s headline inflation, the NBS replaced the single-month reference point, set as December 2024 during last year’s rebasing, to a 12-month index reference period averaging all months of 2024.
When Musa, a food commodities trader in southwest Nigeria, secured a buyer in Accra, the distance looked manageable. The route hugged the Atlantic coastline, demand was strong, and the margins worked on paper. Then came the borders.
Zambia’s external debt rose to $16bn in Q3 2025, driven by growing reliance on multilateral loans as market access stayed limited after its 2020 default.
For most investors and exporters, trade agreements matter only when they start changing costs, timelines, and risk. Until then, they remain political documents. Nigeria’s engagement with the African Continental Free Trade Area largely fell into the second category for years.
The sustained slowdown marks a sharp turnaround for the West African nation, which was grappling with inflation of 23.8% as recently as December 2024 amid currency pressures.
With businesses and households still recovering from recent aftershocks of elevated inflation and the removal of fuel subsidies, CPPE argues that full and simultaneous compliance across all sectors of the economy is unlikely.
According to Stanbic’s latest PMI survey, nearly 59% of respondents projected sustained improvement in business activity over the next 12 months, supported by plans to boost expansion spending and product exports.
The projection follows a sharp moderation in consumer prices in 2025, with headline inflation easing from 24.4% in January to 14.5% in November, reflecting a sharp turnaround from the highs of 2024.
Egypt and Afreximbank are studying a pan-African Gold Bank to anchor gold refining, vaulting and trading on the continent and reduce reliance on offshore hubs.
Inflation eased across much of Sub-Saharan Africa in 2025, helped by stable currencies and lower food prices, giving several central banks room to cut rates as price pressures receded.
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 slowdown in overall inflation in Africa’s most industrialised nation mirrors a larger regional trend seen in other major economies in November including Nigeria and Ghana.
The warning comes weeks before the conflict-affected nation heads into a presidential election scheduled for December 28, with President Faustin-Archange Touadéra seeking a third term in office.
With the exception of a brief uptick in March, Nigeria’s inflation has trended downwards through most of 2025, pointing to easing price pressures and early signs of macroeconomic stabilisation.
The gap threatens the latest replenishment of the African Development Fund, the concessional financing arm of the AfDB, as donors gather in London this week for a two-day pledging conference aimed at raising $25 billion.
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.
The review marks a notable turnaround for Ethiopia, which only regained access to IMF financing last year after a long suspension triggered by stalled reforms and a conflict that erupted in 2020.
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.
The successful auction comes on the back of fiscal consolidation, improved power supply and early signs of recovery in logistics as authorities push to revive South Africa’s struggling economy.
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.