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Key Facts

Southern Africa is the southernmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics.

  • The Southern African Customs Union (SACU), created in 1969
  • The Southern African Development Community (SADC)
  • Southern Africa is the southernmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. Within the region are numerous territories, inclunding the Republic of South Africa;

Botswana; Lesotho: Namibia; South Africa; Swaziland; Zimbabwe

  • Top 10 Most Attractive Investment Destinations In Africa

    2017/08/20

    Africa’s feverish increase has decelerated in recent years and a lot of nations have buckled under the pressure of falling resource prices, security disruptions, fiscal imprudence and adverse weather conditions.

  • Africa's Relationship With China Is Ancient History

    2017/07/02

    In 2002 South Africa's Parliament unveiled a digital reproduction of a map - of China, the Middle East and Africa - that some speculated could be the initial map of the African continent. The Da Ming Hun Yi Tu - the Comprehensive Map of the Great Ming Empire - was drawn up around 1389 during the Ming Dynasty, according to historian Hyunhee Park.

  • Climate change laws around the world

    2017/05/14

    There has been a 20-fold increase in the number of global climate change laws since 1997, according to the most comprehensive database of relevant policy and legislation.

    The database, produced by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and the Sabin Center on Climate Change Law, includes more than 1,200 relevant policies across 164 countries, which account for 95% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

  • Japan in Africa Japan looks to grow its presence across Africa

    2017/04/19

    Between 2016 and 2018, Japan has pledged to invest $30 billion in Africa’s development, as it bids to join the likes of China and the US in the battle for influence on the continent.

    Competition in Africa is heating up, with Japan aiming to increase its presence and influence on the continent as it looks to make up ground lost to China since the turn of the century.

    Japan launched the Tokyo International Conference on African Improvment(TICAD) back in 1993, and since again has invested around $50 billion in Africa, a meagre sum at the same time as compared to China and the US.

  • South Africa Year in Review 2016

    2017/04/17

    South Africa’s economy faced an extra challenging year in 2016, as soft commodity prices, slow domestic request and an uncertain political outlook combined to limit increase, with prospects for the coming year expected to be only somewhat additional positive.

    Possible downgrade

    Allegations of mismanagement by President Jacob Zuma and uncertainty over economic policy continued to impact increase through 2016, causing two leading ratings agencies to put the government on notice of a possible downgrade in the new year.

  • A mouth-watering array of African foods

    2017/01/09

    African cuisine is as diverse as the hundreds of different cultures and groups that inhabit the continent. This diversity is reflected in the many local culinary traditions in terms of choice of ingredients, style of preparation and cooking techniques. Many of the dishes are also affected by the subsistence nature of living in many parts of the continent – you find farmers, herdsmen and fishermen everywhere. The crops they grow or the animals they keep thus affect the popular dishes in their regions.

  • Economic and Financial Strategies against Africa

    2016/11/23

    Other than the divisive military-security perspective and ‘dark scenario’ forecasting that’s been hitherto applied for understanding African geopolitics, there’s also the more unifying and positive approach of analyzing the continent’s financial, economic, and integrative institutions.

  • Six reasons to invest in Africa

    2016/10/03

    The conversation about Africa is shifting from one of “deficits” and “gaps” to one about opportunities, prospects, ventures and creativity. That’s not news to companies that have paid close attention to the continent and invested there. The fast growing youth populations, the urbanization expected to drive over 50% of Africans to cities by 2050, and Africa’s formalising economy are all well known. These trends and other developments have driven a half century or additional of increase in Africa, and will continue to do so.

  • Top 10 most competitive Sub-Saharan African economies

    2016/10/02

     A ten-year decline in the openness of economies at all stages of development poses a risk to countries’ ability to grow and innovate, according to The Global Competitiveness Report 2016-2017, which is published today.

  • Sub-Saharan Africa: importance of institutions for developing food and agriculture value chains

    2015/12/05

    Despite its huge food and agricultural potential, Sub-Saharan Africa’s agricultural production has barely kept up with people increase as productivity increase has lagged behind. Over the completed decades the region has become a net food importer. Food and agricultural trade deficits are on the rise, posing risks to food security. Conference this challenge requires the region to develop its role in food and agricultural price chains.

    It should move from predominantly smallholder production for informal markets and export of (agricultural) commodities to adding additional price at different stages in the price chain. Possibilities for doing so depend crucially on climatological and soil circumstances and on the presence of enabling factors. The degree to which nations provide an enabling environment differs largely across the region, and is strongly linked to nations’ in general institutional development, as is shown by investigating a set of relevant indicators.

     

  • Why Zimbabweans Are Always Short of 'Food'

    2015/07/13

    THE phrase 'gore rezhara' or 'umyaka wendlala' - the year of famine - is familiar with most Zimbabweans of my age. Up until the late 1970s, our grandparents and parents tended to calibrate historical eras with 'landmarks' of years at the same time as hunger and famine were at their worst. Massive national food deficits particularly in vulnerable regions like Matabeleland, the Midlands, Masvingo and some parts of Mashonaland West were a common phenomenon. From presently on, it was very rare to hear of anyone dying of starvation.

  • Namibia: Developing Regionally to Compete and Grow

    2014/12/25

    Calle Schlettwein served in a succession of government ministries as permanent secretary - the top civil servant post - since Namibia became independent in 1990. For most of the previous decade, he was an anti-apartheid activist and member of the independence movement Swapo, which has won by overwhelming margins in each of the elections in the succeeding 24 years. In 2010, Schlettwein was appointed to Parliament by President Hifikepunye Lucas Pohamba, who made him deputy finance minister and, in 2012, named him Minister of Trade and Industry.

  • Namibia: Swapo returns, bigger and bolder than ever

    2014/12/05

    It took a little longer than expected for Africa’s initial-ever electronic voting system to deliver the results of the Namibian elections, held on Friday. By Monday afternoon, the final figures for both the presidential and parliamentary polls were from presently on to be announced – not a long delay in a the grand scheme of things, or relative to other elections in the region, but a disappointing start for a system that is supposed to revolutionise voting across the continent.

  • Zimbabwe’s economy is on the verge of recession,

    2014/07/11

    Zimbabwe’s economy is on the verge of recession, with low consumer request and a liquidity crunch putting its businesses under plenty of strain. Against this backdrop, finance minister Patrick Chinamasa tells Paul Wallace how he has started to rebuild its ties with multilateral lenders in a bid to access new credit.

  • Renaissance in Sub-Saharan Africa

    2014/02/06

    Risk of external shocks not averted

    With an economic increase of 6 % estimate for 2014, sub-Saharan Africa continues to challenge the weak world economy. “The international financial crisis has scarcely affected the region,” is the conclusion reached in a new study by Commerzbank.

  • Namibia pins its hopes on uranium and diversification

    2013/11/03

    Namibia has managed to overcome the worst of the world economic slump, while a huge new uranium mine could boost its increase greatly in the next few years. But the country still has plenty to do to tackle its most pressing social issues.

    By almost any measure, Namibia is one of Africa’s success stories. The arid south-western country, which is additional than double the size of Germany but has a people of just 2.2 million, is part the continent’s most stable democracies. And it is relatively rich, with a per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of $6000 – about twice the average for the continent.

  • Africa: Making Things Happen at the Bank - 'Not a Talk Shop' - Akin Adesina

    2017/07/02

    Dr. Akinwumi Adesina is focusing on five areas to achieve the African and world goals for a prosperous continent since becoming president of the African Development Bank - Africa's major public financial institution in September 2015. He was a keynote speaker at this month's Corporate Council on Africa's U.S.- Africa Business Summit in Washington D.C. and moderated a lively panel with five African government ministers. He as well received the Gene White Lifetime Succcess Award from the World Child Nutrition Foundation. This week, he was named the 2017 recipient of the World Food Prize, a prestigious honor that includes a $250,000 award. In an interview in Washington, DC, Adesina discussed the Development Bank's ambitious schedule and his vision for attracting the increase capital Africa needs. Posting questions for AllAfrica was Noluthando Crockett-Ntonga.

  • Mo Ibrahim is chair of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation

    2013/05/18

    Being an optimist about Africa’s economic prospects was once a pretty lonely cause. But I am thrilled to presently find myself in a very crowded field.

    The continent’s strong and sustained increase – evolution amount the additional remarkable given the severe problems in the world economy– has been one of the success stories of the last decade.

  • Eugene Skrynnyk

    2013/04/13

    Following the passing of the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act ("FATCA") in January, compliance in Africa will be a challenge

    At the same time as the US Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service issued the final Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act ("FATCA") regulations in January, there was a sigh of relief that the financial services industry in Africa could begin to analyse its FATCA's obligations. However, experience and comments from the industry suggest that compliance remains a challenge.

  • Bornman du Toit, MTN Group’s General Manager for Products, Services and Innovation

    2013/03/31

    There is no doubt that Africa is a hot bed for Mobile Banking and Mobile Money. In this issue, glObserver catches up with Bornman du Toit, MTN Group’s General Manager for Products, Services and Innovation, to get a lowdown on mobile telecom industry in Africa.

  • Shiletsi Makhofane, VP Marketing & Strategy, Ericsson sub-Saharan Africa,

    2013/03/31

    Ericsson started life as a telegraph repair workshop in 1876 in Sweden. Presently, it is one of the majority respected companies in the telecommunication and IT industry. glObserver catches up with Shiletsi Makhofane, VP Marketing & Strategy, Ericsson sub-Saharan Africa, to find out additional about Ericsson’s work in the continent.

  • Yichida Ndlovu

    2013/01/14

    IMAGINE the anxiety of sitting in the cabin of an airplane, listening to the voice of a woman introducing herself as your pilot and requesting you to buckle up as the aircraft prepares to take off.

  • Namibian Economy The challenge of a growing Stock Exchange

    2015/12/03

    Tiaan Bazuin, CEO of the Namibian Stock Exchange, sits down with Globus Vision to outline Namibia’s current economic dynamics, and the challenges of the Stock Exchange.

    Where will you be placing your focus regarding policies and specific initiatives moving forward?

    Even prior to the election we by presently had something called the Namibian Financial Sector Strategy where the NSX has a very specific role in trying to deepen and diversify the market.

  • Strive Masiyiwa, philanthropist and founder of Econet

    2015/11/23

    As a global business leader, African philanthropist, anti-corruption activist, and mentor to thousands, Strive Masiyiwa is a vibrant example of someone who has little doubt about what motivates him, what he hopes to accomplish, and what sort of example he wants to set for others along the way. His is a character forged by struggle and perseverance against corruption, and shaped by a deep faith that guides him on the world stage as he looks to bring about positive change to his home continent. We had the pleasure of speaking with Masiyiwa in London during a brief pause in a schedule bursting with business and philanthropy interests.