Africa

The number of jabs being given to children in Africa in the continent’s first ever mass malaria vaccination campaign. The vaccination campaign supported by the World Health Organization (WHO) began on Monday, Jan. 22, in Cameroon. The vaccine, developed by British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), will initially be rolled out in up to 12 countries, while a second vaccine developed by the Serum Institute of India is to be distributed to seven countries in May or June. Up to 95% of the 608,000 deaths recorded globally from malaria were in Africa.

Foreign direct investment into Africa stayed flat at $48 billion in 2022 and 2023, fairing slightly better than the 9% drop across developing economies, according to the UN’s trade and development agency (UNCTAD). FDI inflows into sub-Saharan Africa increased 8% to $36 billion, while net cross-border merger and acquisition sales increased 38% to $7 billion. The number of proposed greenfield projects also increased 12% to 574, but most of that was due to Kenya and Nigeria. The number of international project finance deals announced fell by 30% in the sub-region, “weakening prospects for infrastructure finance flows,” the report said.

Why Nigeria has embraced crypto regulation

THE SCENE

LAGOS — Three years ago, when the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) barred commercial banks from carrying out cryptocurrency transactions, the then-governor Godwin Emefiele gave a definitive reason in an appearance before Nigeria’s Senate. “We know enough at this stage to decide that a continuation of these opaque activities significantly threatens the safety and soundness of our financial system,” he declared.

But last month, Emefiele’s successor went in a different direction.

Citing “current global trends,” the CBN said it now wants to regulate providers of virtual assets. It lifted the February 2021 ban, permitting banks to resume relationships with crypto trading platforms. Certain conditions, including valid licensing by Nigeria’s securities and exchange commission, are now required for banks to operate accounts for crypto providers. Banks must set “prudent” transaction limits and not allow cash withdrawals from such accounts.

Crypto executives and analysts have broadly welcomed the reversal. Regulators have not set a timeline for issuing licenses and industry insiders are cautious about how many will be issued.

KNOW MORE

The restrictions imposed by the central bank during Emefiele’s tenure failed to prevent crypto use. Nigerians used peer-to-peer transaction features offered by local and international trading platforms as workarounds to bypass the ban.

Sub-Saharan Africa received only 2.3% of the value of global crypto transactions between July 2022 and June 2023, according to blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis. But that share was worth $117 billion, most from Nigeria, which Chainalysis ranked second on its global crypto adoption index. Nigeria’s 9% annual growth in crypto transaction volume by mid 2023 was only surpassed by Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.

ALEXANDER’S VIEW

The CBN’s new rules reflect public opinion and crypto industry demand for clarity and consumer protection. The shift also seems to mark the regulator’s acceptance that a prohibitive approach towards crypto was costly both in terms of financial benefit for banks and effective regulation. This comes as the bank moves to expand licensing and anti-fraud measures in fintech broadly while trying not to stifle innovation.

While lifting the ban suggests an updated capacity to manage crypto-related risks, it “feels like the CBN and government on the whole are wanting to take a cut on the lucrative crypto business that is being done too,” David Omojomolo, emerging markets economist at London-based firm Capital Economics, told me.

Nigeria’s new tone “is also an attempt to be removed from the FATF gray list,” says Gwera Kiwana, who heads crypto at Onafriq, the pan-African payments company formerly called MFS Africa. The Financial Action Task Force, which requires countries to license and supervise virtual asset providers, uses its “gray list” to track countries with deficiencies in their anti-fraud frameworks. Nigeria was added last February.

Being graylisted correlates with declines in capital inflows by 7.6% of GDP, a 2021 IMF working paper suggests, and reduced development financing receipts, another study last year said.

Beyond fraud prevention, Kiwana expects Nigeria’s new rules to produce “a surge in partnerships” between crypto-native companies and other institutions to increase crypto use cases.

Liberia’s new president

→ What’s happening? Liberia has a new president. Joseph Boakai was sworn in yesterday (Monday). Boakai, a former vice president, narrowly defeated outgoing president George Weah in November’s run-off election. The latter’s administration was dogged by complaints of endemic corruption and a decrease in the standard of living.

→ How did his inauguration go? Well, he nearly passed out in the 90-degree Fahrenheit heat in Monrovia and had to be led off the podium.

→ What?! How come? Well, President Boakai is 79 and even his own supporters blamed the intense heat. “At his age, the exhaustion happened. But it is okay now,” said a spokesman for Boakai’s Unity Party, Reuters reported.

→ What are his top targets in office? Boakai has said he will prioritize raising the standard of living for Liberia’s 5.4 million people. To this end, he has promised to focus on combating exploitation in the mining sector, expressing a willingness to review mining contracts if needed. He has also vowed to fight corruption and said he is prepared to permit an audit of the outgoing government using an internationally recognized auditing firm which he said will be chosen through a transparent process.

→ What else has he said? Boakai, who served as minister of agriculture from 1983 to 1985, is expected to focus on bolstering the agricultural sector by ramping up investment in the sector. Boakai, in his manifesto, promised to build three agricultural manufacturing hubs in the country. He also said he would pave the highways connecting county capitals and neighboring countries to enhance cross-border trade.

→ So this should all be straightforward? Not quite. President Boakai will have to pass his legislative agenda through a parliament in which his party doesn’t hold the majority. Most importantly, the legislature will decide whether to pass the proposed third mineral development agreement for ArcelorMittal, Liberia’s biggest concession that mines iron ore. Boakai will also need to work with the legislature to implement his plans to establish a specialized court to fast-track cases of corruption and economic crimes.

— Dounard Bondo in Monrovia

Meet Flagship Asia Morning, a new edition of our Flagship newsletter. Timed for the Asian morning and North American afternoon, the new edition’s mission remains the same — to keep readers informed without overwhelming them, ensuring they are aware of the world yet still able to go about their day — while offering a deeper look at the changes underway in the world’s most populous continent.

Calls to overhaul global finance grow louder

Leaders of developing countries demanded reforms of global governance institutions and financial structures including the United Nations (UN) and Bretton Woods institutions at the G77+China Third South Summit in Kampala, Uganda, this week.

The event brought together representatives of more than 130 countries including several heads of state over two days. The G77+China is a grouping of 134 developing countries alongside China, which was established in 1964.

With the summit themed ‘Leaving no one behind’, various leaders said global structures needed to be more responsive to the needs of developing countries. “Far from leaving no one behind, we are leaving half the world behind,” UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres told the summit, highlighting developing countries’ challenges with poverty, debt, unemployment and the cost of living. He said the Bretton Woods institutions — the World Bank, IMF, and World Trade Organization — have “failed to provide a global safety net for developing countries in distress.” He further described the lack of a single permanent African member of the UN Security Council as “a flagrant injustice.”

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who took up chairmanship of the summit, urged developing countries to work together to achieve an international economic order that is “just and equitable”. Museveni said his country’s leadership of the group would promote the interests of developing countries including on financing for development.

— Martin K.N Siele

🇰🇪 Motorcycle ride hailing company SafeBoda is resuming operations in Kenya, three years after exiting the market. SafeBoda disclosed that operations in Nairobi would resume in February. The company will offer competition to Bolt and Uber, which are the two most used ride hailing apps in Kenya and have grown their motorcycle ride hailing businesses in recent years. SafeBoda pulled out of Kenya and Nigeria in 2020 and 2022 respectively to focus on its home market of Uganda due to the harsh economic environment driven by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

🇸🇳 Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko was excluded from the final list of candidates for February’s presidential election. Authorities who released the list on Saturday said Sonko, widely considered to be the leading opposition candidate, was ineligible due to a six-month suspended sentence for defamation. The council also excluded Karim Wade, son of former president Abdoulaye Wade, due to his dual citizenship. Those approved included President Macky Sall’s hand-picked successor Prime Minister Amadou Ba, former Dakar mayor Khalifa Sall, and ex-prime minister Idrissa Seck.

🇹🇿 Tanzanian firm Memnon Project Management Services said it had received regulatory approval to invest up to $50 million in prospecting for niobium — a rare metal used to improve the strength of alloys. The company entered into a partnership with Canadian hard rock mining resource company Anibesa Energy Metals for prospecting in the southwestern Mbozi District. Tanzania is ramping up investments in its mining sector to contribute up to 10% of GDP by 2025.

🇪🇬 🇸🇴 Egypt’s president said he would stand in solidarity with Somalia following Ethiopia’s agreement with Somaliland to obtain access to the Red Sea and establish a marine force base. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, addressing a news conference with Somalia’s visiting President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, said he would “not allow anyone to threaten Somalia or affect its security.” Ethiopia on Sunday rejected Egypt’s criticism. Relations between Egypt and Ethiopia have soured in recent years due to disagreements over the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam which Ethiopia has built on the Blue Nile.

🇳🇬 Nigeria’s central bank will resume its monetary policy committee meetings on the last Monday and Tuesday in February, according to tentative dates published on its website. The committee uses the meetings to set lending rates and discuss policies. The gatherings, usually held every two months, became the subject of scrutiny last year when two consecutive meetings were scrapped after central bank governor Yemi Cardoso took office in September. The published calendar proposes six meetings this year, the last of which is slated for November.

Germany and France will jointly spend €2.1 million ($2.3 million) over the next three years on analyzing African heritage objects in their national museums. The research fund will pay for research on objects from sub-Saharan Africa but prioritize former colonies of the two countries. The research could pave the way for the eventual repatriation of the objects. Germany’s culture commissioner said the program reflects cross-border cooperation even as the debate on repatriation of African objects continues.

• Global Election Hot List: A court decision creates electoral chaos in Pakistan, Turkey’s opposition prepares for local elections, and Finland’s far-right gets a lift.
• Media executives are beginning to reckon with the reality that the 2024 U.S. election won’t bring a “Trump bump.”
• The U.S. Supreme Court is about to unleash a major weapon against climate action.

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— Yinka, Alexis, Alexander Onukwue, Martin Siele, and Muchira Gachenge