Category: Economy

The management at the embattled Sino-Congolese mining company Sicomines reached out to local labor activists for a dialogue about the working conditions at the Chinese-run joint venture.  They got an earful last week, particularly from labor advocate Don ...

A lively debate is underway in the United States now over whether Trade Representative Katherine Tai should remove Ethiopia's duty-free access to the U.S. market as part of the African Growth and Opportunity Act or AGOA. The White House is threatening ...

Kenya's Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani provided parliament with an upbeat forecast of the country's economic recovery in the post-pandemic era. Yatani reaffirmed on Wednesday his earlier projection that economic growth would remain at a healthy 6% next year and the country's ballooning fiscal deficit ...

There's been mounting criticism of Chinese development projects in Africa by both political and civil society actors in response to rising debt levels, environmental degradation, and the maltreatment of local workers by Chinese managers. While many put the burden of responsibility ...

It's still relatively rare that Chinese ambassadors in Africa do interviews with the international media and even it's more notable that a relatively new envoy makes himself available to publications like the Paris-based magazine and website Jeune Afrique (JA). Hu Bin, ...

Electronics retailers in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's southern commercial hub, are reporting acute shortages of laptops, mobile phones, and other electronic devices imported from China. Logistics experts there say the disruptions are due to what's described as a "perfect storm" of supply chain disruption that could ...

Chinese lending to developing countries has come under sharp focus since the release of several reports that have reshaped the debate. Unsurprisingly, many news reports, like the BBC’s “China: Big spender or loan shark” are ringing the alarm bells. However, I’d argue that the reports should rather prompt new ...

Borrowing among the world's poorest countries jumped 12% last year pushing up the total amount owed to a record $860 billion, according to a new report released on Tuesday by the World Bank.  Not surprisingly, World Bank economists ...

One of the key discussions in the run-up to the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit is whether China is stepping away from funding large-scale infrastructure projects like roads and ports.  So it was particularly interesting to see the announcement this week of ...

Zambia owes at least 18 Chinese creditors $6.6 billion, nearly twice as much as previously stated, according to a new report published by the China-Africa Research Initiative (CARI) at Johns Hopkins University. And that figure may be even higher as it ...

Chongqing is a massive industrial city in China's heartland that many outsiders are unfamiliar with despite its enormous size. The city alone has a GDP of $386 billion, larger than both South Africa ($310 billion) and Egypt ($363 billion).

China is scouring the globe for new sources of coal in an effort to stem the blackouts that have afflicted millions of residents and businesses in at least nine provinces over the past several weeks. While the ongoing crisis is now threatening China's post-pandemic ...