Category: Business

Standard Bank Becomes First African Bank to Offer China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System

China's alternative to the SWIFT international payment network is now available in Africa, following the announcement by Standard Bank, the continent's largest bank in terms of assets, as the first institution to offer the Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS). This is ...

Startup in Malawi Bets on Chinese Tech to Power an EV Shift

For years, Malawi, the world’s fourth-poorest country, has suffered from chronic fuel shortages. However, in a sunbaked workshop on the outskirts of the capital, Lilongwe, a team of local electric vehicle (EV) technicians is working to overcome this anomaly. Huddled around ...

Africa EV Digest: Tesla Opens Africa Office, Upping Competition For Chinese Brands

This is a free preview of the upcoming Africa EV Weekly Digest, part of the new CGSP Intelligence service launching in Summer 2025. Topline Insight Tesla’s Africa expansion through its new Morocco office ...

From Phones to E-Bikes: China’s Transsion Targets Africa’s Mobility Sector

For almost two decades, the Chinese smartphone giant behind Africa’s most popular mobile brands -Tecno, Infinix, and Itel- has grown to dominate the continent’s handset market. Now, it is making a bold move into Africa’s booming electric mobility sector with its TankVolt e-bikes, which have already become ...

How China’s EV Price War Is Reshaping Africa’s Electric Vehicle Market

Vehicle buyers in various African countries are turning to affordable electric vehicles (EVs) from Chinese manufacturers for compact EVs, which are well-suited for taxi services and short-distance travel, as practical replacements for traditional internal combustion engine vehicles.

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

China-Led Study Proposes Global Energy Network

A globally connected network of solar and wind energy could provide three times the global energy demand by 2050 at a lower cost than independent national power systems. This is the finding of a study led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in collaboration with researchers from the United States and Denmark.

The study focused on how areas with high solar and wind capacity (such as deserts) can be linked to ...

Critical Minerals Weekly: China’s Rare Earth Curbs, EV Delays, and Global Supply Chain Scramble

This is a free preview edition of the new Critical Minerals Weekly Digest that will be available to subscribers of the new CGSP Intelligence service that will launch during the Summer of 2025. Topline Insight

Troubled Chinese EV Maker Casts Shadow Over Africa’s Affordable Electric Car Market

Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers are increasingly shipping their products to African countries, where first-time car owners are turning to more affordable models from lesser-known Chinese manufacturers, such as Neta and Xiaohu. While the small manufacturers have struck a ...

Kenya or Tanzania? Chinese Investors in Africa Face a Clear Choice

For Chinese entrepreneurs eyeing East Africa, one question looms large: Tanzania or Kenya? Longtime Africa WeChat commentator Xiao Nie (小聂说事儿), who spent 3 years in Tanzania and 11 years in Kenya, cuts through the debate with a vivid analogy: “Tanzania is East Africa’s factory floor; Kenya ...

Indonesia, China Firms to Invest in EVs, Batteries, Data Centers

Indonesia's sovereign fund Danantara is coordinating with three to four unnamed Chinese companies to invest in EVs, batteries, and data centers, signaling a deepening of bilateral industrial alignment and an attempt to position Indonesia as a critical node in Asia's clean-tech value chain. ...

China–Indonesia Launch Investment Fund Plan

China and Indonesia launch a sovereign investment alliance, proposing a China–ASEAN fund that may reshape the capital architecture of Southeast Asia, signaling a shift from infrastructure-led debt diplomacy to equity-driven economic realignment. Indonesia’s newly established sovereign wealth fund, Danantara, has ...

Syria and Chinese Company Sign Memorandum on Investment

Syria said Thursday it had signed a memorandum of understanding with a Chinese company to invest in free zones for 20 years. The General Authority for Land and Maritime Ports said on X that it had signed a "strategic agreement" with ...

Iraq Signs Mega-Energy Deal With Chinese Oil Firm

Iraq signed a major energy deal Wednesday with a Chinese petrol company in the southern province of Basra, aiming to boost oil production and build a refinery and electricity plants. China has gained a major foothold in oil-rich Iraq in recent ...
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