COVID Lockdowns Scrambling Strategic Metals Sector

Disruptions caused by COVID-19 lockdowns in China, the Ukraine war and the ongoing crisis at the South African port of Durban are roiling the strategic battery sector, used for e-vehicles. While prices are falling in the short term due to pandemic restrictions, stocks for battery companies show that in the ...

Mounting Public Anger in Nairobi Over the Perception of Infrastructure “Apartheid”

While there's palpable excitement in Kenyan capital about the imminent opening of the new 27-kilometer Nairobi Expressway there's an equal amount of "anger, resentment, despair, and frustration" about the impact the new highway is having on the road below. People are ...

Nairobi Expressway Tolls Increase Before It’s Even Opened

Kenya’s new Chinese-built Nairobi Expressway is hiking its toll prices, even though it hasn’t opened yet. The government announced that motorists using the motorway will pay 350 Kenyan shillings ($3.03) more than previously announced, bringing the total toll to between 120 and 1,800 shillings ($1.04-$12.54), depending on the ...

Excitement Rising in Nairobi for Expressway Launch

Excitement is mounting in Nairobi in the runup to the formal commissioning of the Kenyan capital's new Chinese-built Nairobi Expressway. The online reaction ranges from praise for the highway as an expression of democracy, to angry refusals to participate in its automatic tolling system. ...

APSONIC Is Another Chinese Company That You’ve Probably Never Heard but That’s Absolutely Crushing It in Africa

A Chinese maker of motorcycles is quietly cornering the African market. While Apsonic isn’t famous, the Guangzhou company has built up an impressive presence in West Africa, after setting up shop in Togo in 2003. Now its products are buzzing through ...

Chinese Companies are Transforming the African Business Environment: Economist

While discussions of Africa-China engagement tend to focus on the government-to-government level, Chinese private companies are quietly transforming the African business landscape. So writes the noted Kenyan economist Anzetse Were, in a recent article for SupChina. She argues that the Chinese ...

All That is Solid Melts into Air

The last few years’ conversations about China’s global rise ran on a few assumptions: that China’s outward trajectory through initiatives like the Belt and Road will continue uninterrupted, that China’s capacity for overseas lending won’t diminish, and that its role as an export economy serving the Amazons ...

World Bank Surpasses China as Kenya’s Largest External Lender, Says New Government Report

The World Bank has replaced China as Kenya's largest external creditor according to a new Treasury report submitted to parliament this week. Kenya now owes the multilateral lender $10.4 billion compared to $6.9 billion due to Chinese creditors, namely the China ...

Russia Presses BRICS to Allow Payment Routes Around Sanctions

As Russia is being squeezed by Western sanctions, it is reaching out to its partners in the BRICS bloc (Brazil, India, China, and South Africa) to allow transactions in their local currencies and to integrate payment systems. This follows the move ...

Language Barriers Make their Expected Appearance in Zim-China Fight

As the battle between Chinese companies and civil society groups in Zimbabwe drags on, spokespeople for the Chinese side are drawing on some evergreen classics of Africa-China discourse: language barriers and unfair press coverage. Speaking at a panel discussion on the toxic relations ...

Chinese-Made Electric Buses Launch in Nairobi

The Kenyan mobility startup BasiGo has assembled its first electric buses, using components from the Chinese automaker Build Your Dream (BYD). BasiGo closed a $4.3 million seed funding round in February to assemble and sell electric-powered buses. The company plans to supply more ...

Transsion Financial Disclosure Provides Rare Insights Into Its Booming Mobile Phone Business in Africa

Shenzhen-based African mobile phone giant Transsion provided a rare glimpse into its financial performance in a disclosure document that went out to 244 Chinese institutional investors. Even though Transsion is a publicly-traded company on the Shanghai Star Exchange, it nonetheless behaves like a lot of Chinese firms by ...
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