Africa Chart Pack South Africa: President Zuma goes for the nuclear option President Jacob Zuma reshuffled his cabinet on 30th March, sacking Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and replacing some of his many critics with loyalists. The removal of Mr. Gordhan – who was seen as a... 31st March 2017 · 2 mins read
Africa Chart Pack Africa: New data spring nasty surprises in Angola & Ghana New official economic data have revealed that the economies of Angola and Ghana are in much worse shape than we had previously believed. The revisions should draw attention to the weak statistical... 21st February 2017 · 1 min read
Africa Chart Pack Africa: latest data confirm very weak growth in late 2016 Data published over the past month provided further evidence that economic growth in the region was very sluggish towards the end of last year. Q3 GDP figures did, admittedly, show that growth picked... 26th January 2017 · 1 min read
Africa Chart Pack Africa: Disappointing end to a painful year The latest figures from across Africa suggest that most economies in the region continued to perform poorly at the end of 2016. Activity data from South Africa suggest that the region’s most... 15th December 2016 · 1 min read
Africa Chart Pack Africa: Recovery yet to gain traction While we still expect that most African economies will pick up steam in 2017, the latest figures suggest that the region’s economic downturn has still yet to bottom out. Major economies across Africa... 29th November 2016 · 1 min read
Africa Chart Pack Africa: Political risk takes centre stage Political developments across Africa have raised risk perceptions in several key economies. Allies of South Africa’s president made yet another attempt to force the resignation of Pravin Gordhan, the... 27th October 2016 · 1 min read
Africa Chart Pack Is Africa’s economic downturn finally bottoming out? The latest GDP figures all support our view that economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole will be even worse in 2016 than it was in 2015, when it hit a 16-year low. The key question now is... 28th September 2016 · 1 min read
Africa Chart Pack Africa: Policy risks cast shadow over fragile economies Official data released over the past month mostly suggested that African economies improved a touch, but a series of political shocks has hit investor confidence. The most high-profile of these as... 30th August 2016 · 1 min read
Africa Chart Pack Nigeria: Central Bank puts its money where its mouth is Nigeria’s self-proclaimed move to a more “flexible” exchange rate last month was initially a disappointment, with the Central Bank of Nigeria reasserting its grip at N282/US$. Over the last week... 29th July 2016 · 1 min read
Africa Chart Pack Africa: Economic giants now contracting Both the Nigerian and South African economies contracted in Q1, and the latest activity figures suggest that things remained very grim going into Q2. In Nigeria, disruptions to oil output in Q2 have... 16th June 2016 · 1 min read
Africa Chart Pack Nigeria: Crisis escalates The situation in Nigeria has deteriorated significantly over the past month. The latest national accounts figures show that the economy contracted by 0.4% y/y in Q1, a much worse outcome than had been... 30th May 2016 · 1 min read
Africa Chart Pack Africa: IMF takes centre stage Events this month have underlined the continuing importance of the IMF for many economies across Africa. On 6 th April the government of Angola requested an IMF bailout to help stabilise an economy... 28th April 2016 · 1 min read
Africa Chart Pack Nigeria reverses course? The biggest policy change over the past month came from Nigeria, where the Central Bank unexpectedly hiked its key interest rate from 11.00% to 12.00%. This move partially reversed the Bank’s rate cut... 30th March 2016 · 1 min read
Africa Chart Pack Nigeria: Balance of payments problems escalating The strains in Nigeria's balance of payments are growing, threatening to push Sub-Saharan Africa's largest economy into a full-blown crisis. The Nigerian economy has been battered by the falling price... 23rd February 2016 · 1 min read
Africa Chart Pack Headwinds strengthen in key African economies Recent figures have only strengthened our belief that the challenges facing Africa’s three largest economies are growing. Nigeria’s botched response to low oil prices has caused the currency to plunge... 28th January 2016 · 1 min read
Africa Chart Pack South Africa battered by self-induced crisis A recent series of unexpected cabinet reshuffles – in which South Africa had three finance ministers in four days – has dented the political and economic credibility of President Jacob Zuma. The rand... 14th December 2015 · 1 min read