Category: Economy

The Economist brought out a special report on Africa-China relations. It is rare for the magazine to dedicate so much attention to Africa-China relations. However, its geopolitical framing: “To counter China’s growing role in Africa the West must first understand it” is already drawing criticism from African development experts.

The Biden administration’s decision to return U.S. troops to Somalia has sparked reaction from one of China’s foremost Africa experts. From her position at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, He Wenping played a key role in building Chinese knowledge about Africa, and she’s one of the ...

U.S. President Joe Biden is in Asia for his first official presidential visit to South Korea and Japan. One of the main goals of the trip, which kicked off on Friday, is to promote the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) to Asian governments. 

Until a few years ago, before the pandemic, most African economies were among the world's best performing in terms of debt. Revenues were sufficient and debt-to-GDP levels were largely well below the IMF's 50% threshold. ...

The Zimbabwean government is once again accusing the U.S. of paying local journalists to write negative stories about Chinese investment in the country. The state-run Herald newspaper reported on Tuesday that the U.S. embassy in Harare is working with the opposition MDC party to foment opposition to Chinese ...

Philippines President-elect Ferdinand Marcos said he plans to expand ties with China when he assumes office on June 30th. The incoming president told his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in a phone call on Wednesday that he hopes relations between the two countries will "shift to a higher gear."

International companies are by no means alone in looking to move their supply chains out of China. A growing number of Chinese manufacturers are doing the same, albeit for very different reasons. While U.S., European and Japanese companies have been frustrated ...

Radio702, a prominent news and talk radio station in South Africa, this week discussed whether China might be able to help the country out of its ongoing electricity crisis. The power issue is back in the headlines as the country’s beleaguered power utility Eskom is again instituting rolling blackouts ...

The Kenyan government's years-long effort to export fresh avocados to China ran into yet another obstacle this week when Chinese authorities informed Nairobi that another round of audits will be required before shipments can begin. “We have received communication from China ...

The current pull-back in infrastructure financing from Chinese policy banks is scrambling the funding options for African infrastructure. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that the reduction in lending is permanent or that Chinese policy banks have lost their interest in the continent. This tweet from Ethiopia's embassy ...

Cargo vessels loaded with Congolese cobalt are once again making their way to China now that port operations in Durban are beginning to recover. The port was shut for weeks after severe floods last month blocked the roads and railways that transport the tons of raw materials that depart from southern ...

In a rare display of bipartisanship, a group of U.S. Senators this week sent letters to four cabinet members expressing their frustration over the administration's lack of progress in using funds allocated by Congress in the Energy Act of 2020 to build a domestic critical mineral supply chain.