Author: Emmanuel Mbemba

Pointe-Noire’s Aspirations Meet Continental Capital By inviting financiers from a dozen African states, Crédit du Congo and the Club Afrique Développement placed Pointe-Noire under a diplomatic spotlight usually reserved for larger capitals. The coastal city already handles close to a million containers yearly, and its deep-water expansion plan, modelled on similar projects in Tanger Med and Durban, formed the leitmotif of opening remarks. Hicham Fadili, the bank’s managing director, described the port as “a geometric centre of future Gulf of Guinea trade,” arguing that logistics capacity is now a currency in its own right. Recent data from the Central African…

A Timely Plea from the United Nations Speaking from New York in the run-up to the 27 June International Day of Micro-, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, António Guterres urged capitals to “invest in the success” of the planet’s smallest firms. The Secretary-General’s appeal, though ritual in its cadence, is laden with economic urgency. According to UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs data, MSMEs account for more than 90 per cent of global business entities and generate roughly 60 per cent of employment. In many fragile or commodity-dependent economies, they are not merely a statistical majority; they are a social…

A Calculated Advance into Africa’s Newest Nation When Joshua Oigara assumed the helm of Stanbic Bank Kenya & South Sudan late in 2022, he inherited what insiders describe as “the Group’s most complex market.” A decade after independence, South Sudan remains a frontier economy where 90 percent of public revenue is tethered to crude exports, security remains brittle, and the domestic currency gyrates between official and parallel‐market rates. Yet, buoyed by Standard Bank Group’s pan-African mandate and a pick-up in peace-building momentum, Oigara has quietly doubled down on Juba. The strategic intent, he told private investors in Nairobi this spring,…

A ribbon-cutting that echoes far beyond Nkayi When the red ribbon is finally severed in Nkayi on 27 June, the gesture will resonate well beyond the vast cane fields of the Bouenza valley. Somdia, the agro-industrial arm of France’s Castel Group, is inaugurating the Republic of Congo’s very first ethanol distillery: a €23 million facility capable of producing 6 million litres per year, nominally outstripping the nation’s current demand. To local officials the plant represents a tangible break with chronic dependency on imported alcohol; to regional observers it illustrates a wider contest for industrial self-reliance in Central Africa. Vertical integration…

Abuja as a Diplomatic Showcase of Continental Finance The Nigerian capital has seldom lacked grand geopolitical theatre, yet the influx of more than six thousand delegates for Afreximbank’s thirty-second annual meetings transforms Abuja into a veritable agora of pan-African finance. A procession of ten heads of state, senior ministers and corporate heavyweights underscores the bank’s newfound centrality to the continent’s growth narrative. The selected theme, “Building the Future on Decades of Resilience”, resonates with a diplomatic audience acutely aware that resilience without structural transformation offers only rhetorical comfort. A Decade of Exponential Balance-Sheet Growth When Professor Benedict Oramah assumed the…

From Colonial Artery to Strategic Liability Stretched between Brazzaville on the Congo River and Pointe-Noire on the Atlantic coast, the Congo-Ocean Railway once embodied the colonial ambition to pierce the equatorial barrier and secure maritime access for French Equatorial Africa. Nearly a century later, the 512-kilometre track retains its geopolitical relevance: it remains the sole rail corridor linking the deep-water port of Pointe-Noire to the country’s administrative capital, a lifeline for manganese from Gabon and timber from the northern basin. Yet locomotives today often idle in overgrown sidings, and the once-elegant stations—some modelled on provincial French prototypes—stand chipped, leaking and…

Viennese overture to Brazzaville’s post-oil ambitions The arrival of Jean-Marc Thystère-Tchicaya and Rosalie Matondo in Vienna on 22 June 2025 placed the Republic of Congo’s diversification gamble squarely under Europe’s chandeliered diplomatic spotlight. The Ministers for Special Economic Zones and Forestry, respectively, are spearheading Brazzaville’s pivot away from hydrocarbon dependence, which still accounts for roughly 60 percent of state revenue according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF, 2024). The invitation came from ASC Impact, an Austrian-based investment vehicle positioning itself at the confluence of climate finance and industrial processing. The underlying wager is clear: that Congo’s 22 million-hectare rainforest belt,…

A Financial Lifeline for a Stalled Economy Amidst an economic downturn compounded by aging infrastructure, South Africa has secured a $1.5 billion loan from the World Bank. Signed on June 23, 2025, this financial infusion aims to jolt an economy stifled by persistent power outages and a crumbling transport system. Over the past decade, South Africa—Africa’s most developed economy—has struggled to grow, with regular electricity interruptions throttling productivity. Additionally, deteriorating rail networks and perpetually congested ports have hindered major industries, such as mining and automotive. Economic Gloom: Unemployment and Stalled Growth With an unemployment rate exceeding 31% and an average…

Interest Rates Remain Unchanged Amidst Falling Inflation In a crucial decision reflecting economic stability, Morocco’s Central Bank, known as Bank Al-Maghrib, has opted to maintain its key interest rate at 2.25%. This decision follows noticeable deceleration in food prices and an overall slowdown in inflation, which dropped from an average of 2% in the first quarter to 0.4% by May. During the recent board meeting in Rabat, comprehensive analyses of both national and international economic developments resulted in this conclusion, signifying a stable monetary environment. Projections Indicate Moderate Inflation in Coming Years Future economic forecasts provided by Bank Al-Maghrib suggest…

World Bank Steps in to Boost South Africa’s Faltering Economy On June 23, South Africa announced securing a substantial $1.5 billion loan from the World Bank, with the target of rejuvenating its deteriorating transportation and energy sectors. This ambitious financial intervention by the global financial institution marks a critical attempt to reinvigorate an economy that was once considered the continent’s powerhouse. For over a decade, South Africa’s economic engine has been struggling, characterized by stagnant growth and chronic infrastructure challenges. Now, with an ambitious plan in hand, the nation appears poised to tackle its infrastructural inadequacies, which have broadly handicapped…