Africa Can Grow Faster With AI-If It Moves Now
you are currently viewing::Africa Can Grow Faster With AI-If It Moves NowJuly 21, 2026--Artificial intelligence can boost productivity, create better jobs, and improve public services in sub-Saharan Africa, but realizing these gains will require reliable power, affordable internet, stronger skills, and rules people trust
They are early signs of the broader transformation that artificial intelligence (AI) could bring to sub-Saharan Africa. AI will reshape the global economy. The question for Africa is whether it rides the wave or gets left behind. Transformative potential Our research shows AI's promise, but it also points to significant risks and challenges. Source: imf.org |
August 10, 2026---Câte d'Ivoire remains largest economy in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), expected to grow by 6.5% in 2025
West Africa demonstrated economic resilience in 2025, recording growth of 4.8%, above the continental average of 4.4%, amid geopolitical tensions, insecurity in parts of the region, increasing fragmentation of the global economy and heightened volatility in international financial markets.
August 10, 2026---Chairman of the House Committee on Insurance and Actuarial Matters, Ahamadu Usman Jaha, has said Nigeria's fintech ecosystem has become one of the largest in Africa, noting that the country's growing payment ecosystem continues to attract significant investment.
August 6, 2026--Zimbabwe ended last month as Africa's best-performing equity market, overtaking Nigeria, the continent's most populous nation, after months of sustained gains driven by easing inflation, a more stable domestic currency, and renewed investor appetite for local equities.
August 5, 2026--The Nairobi Securities Exchange is building East Africa's first exchange traded fund focused on AI stocks, with plans to offer it to investors before year-end- though its chief executive says the launch could be delayed if the global AI rally starts to look overdone.
July 29, 2026--Southern Africa must urgently mobilise development financing at scale to turn a gradual and uneven economic recovery into real gains in living standards, according to the African Development Bank's 2026 Regional Economic Outlook for Southern Africa: Mobilising Southern Africa's Development Financing at Scale in a Fragmented World, released on Tuesday.
July 29, 2026--Africa's private capital market posted a mixed first half in 2026. Deal volume fell 16% year on year to 211 transactions, the first H1 drop since 2023. Investment value rose 65% to $3.7 billion, the second highest first-half total in five years. The gap between average deal size, $32 million, and median deal size, $5 million, points to a market driven by a few large transactions rather than broad growth.
July 22, 2026--The African Union (AU)'s Director of Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment, Hersen Nyambe, stated on Wednesday (22,) in Luanda, that the continent's blue economy currently generates over 298 billion dollars in annual value, with projections pointing to USD 405 billion output by 2063.
June 23, 2026--Chaka Technologies Ltd has launched Hisa, a new investment application that replaces the company's existing Chaka trading platform and introduces a range of new features aimed at making investing more accessible for retail users.
June 16, 2026- U.S. dollar-pegged digital tokens reduce payment frictions but raise new policy trade-offs
Nigerian households and small firms are moving money across borders in a new way: via smartphones, digital wallets, and U.S. dollar-pegged crypto assets known as stablecoins.
June 9, 2026- The rand strengthened on Tuesday after South Africa's economy expanded more than expected in the first quarter of 2026, though the impact of the Iran war was likely to be reflected in the next release.
At 1415 GMT, the rand traded at 16.4325 against the U.S. dollar, up about 0.6%.