With inflation growing higher than seen in several decades, global economic growth is projected to be weak in 2023, ranging between 2.7% and 3.2%, given the broad-based and sharper-than-expected slowdown in global economic activity, according to figures released in October 2022 by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
A new biannual report released by the African Development Bank Group (ADB) revealed that economic growth in Africa is expected to exceed global forecasts in 2023 and 2024, with real gross domestic product (GDP) averaging around 4% in the said period.
The ADB pointed out that the expected figures for the region’s economic growth would outperform the rest of the world, which is projected to grow from 2.7% to 3.2% on average.
The report forecast the growth average in the five African regions in 2024 as follows: North Africa (3.4%), Central Africa (4.2%), East Africa (5.4%), West Africa (4.3%), and Southern Africa (2.8%).
“With 54 countries at different stages of growth, different economic structures, and diverse resource endowments, the pass-through effects of global shocks always differ by region and by country. Slowing global demand, tighter financial conditions, and disrupted supply chains therefore had differentiated impacts on African economies,” African Development Bank Group President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina said during the launch ceremony of the ADB report titled "Africa’s Macroeconomic Performance and Outlook."
Adesina pointed out that growth across all five African regions was positive in 2022, despite the “confluence of multiple shocks,” adding that the “outlook for 2023–24 is projected to be stable.”
The ADB's "Africa’s Macroeconomic Performance and Outlook" report revealed that Africa’s real GDP slowed to 3.8% in 2022, from 4.8% in 2021, due to a number of “significant” domestic and external challenges that faced the continent in recent years, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.
With a comprehensive regional growth analysis, the publication revealed that 53 out of Africa’s 54 states had posted positive growth during the last year.
The report listed the top 10 African nations expected to grow by more than 5.5% on average in 2023-2024, including Rwanda (7.9%), Ivory Coast (7.1%), Benin (6.4%), Ethiopia (6.0%), and Tanzania (5.6%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (6.8%), Gambia (6.4%), Mozambique (6.5%), Niger (9.6%), Senegal (9.4%), and Togo (6.3%).
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ Advocate for Sustainable Development Goals, who attended the report launch event at the ADB headquarters in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, said that the figure listed in the report proved that Africa is currently “the place to invest.”
“Africa can and will rise to growth of 7 percent or more per year consistently in the coming decades. What we’ll see, building on the resiliency we see in this report, is a real acceleration of Africa’s sustainable development so that Africa will be the fast-growing part of the world economy.”
US President Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday the upcoming start of ground strikes against drug cartel targets in Latin America.
He made the remarks during Christmas greetings to the military.
Trump said the United States was "now going after the land" in its fight against drug cartel targets, noting that drug trafficking by sea was down 96 percent.
The U.S. president also extended special congratulations to the crew of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, currently deployed in the Caribbean.
BEIJING (Sputnik) - China has begun operating the world's first intelligent ultra-large oil tanker powered by methanol, the China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Monday.
The tanker, designed to transport crude oil, was successfully put into operation in the city of Dalian in China's northeastern coastal province of Liaoning, the report said. State-owned company Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co Ltd independently designed and built the vessel, it added.
The tanker is approximately 333 meters (1,092 feet) long and can carry around 2.1 million barrels of crude oil, the CCTV reported. Designed to produce low emissions and having intelligent control capabilities, the tanker will serve the route to the Middle East, among others, according to the report.
The vessel is powered by a dual-fuel methanol engine, which reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 92% compared to conventional fuel, the CCTV reported. It is equipped with an intelligent ship platform, an intelligent liquid cargo ...
A car bomb has killed a senior General Staff member, officials have confirmed
Source: The Investigative Committee
A Russian general has been killed in a car bomb blast in Moscow, the Investigative Committee has reported.
Officials identified the victim as Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of operational training at the General Staff. According to the statement, an explosive device had been planted beneath the vehicle he was traveling in, and detonated on Monday morning in the southern part of the Russian capital.
The blast also damaged several other vehicles and seriously injured Sarvarov’s driver, media reports stated.
Russian officials said one line of investigation is an assassination carried out by Ukrainian intelligence services, noting that Kiev has previously used explosive devices in targeted killings of officials and public figures.
Last December, a bomb hidden in an e-scooter killed Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, commander of Russia’s Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense ...
