The United States\u2019 decision to suspend South Africa and Rwanda<\/a> from its preferential trade programme for African countries marks a further deterioration in relations between Washington and two governments whose foreign and domestic policies have increasingly clashed with President Donald Trump\u2019s administration.\n<\/p>\n Announced on Monday by Jamieson Greer, US Trade Representative, the move will take effect on January 1, 2027, removing both countries from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which provides eligible sub-Saharan African countries with duty-free access to thousands of products entering the US market.\n<\/p>\n Why it matters<\/strong>: Losing AGOA benefits could raise the cost of exporting to the US, weaken the competitiveness of South African and Rwandan products and threaten export earnings, jobs and investment in affected industries.\n<\/p>\n Ethiopia holds interest rate at 16% despite rising money supply<\/strong><\/p>\n Ethiopia\u2019s central bank has maintained its benchmark interest rate at 16 percent despite a sharp acceleration in money supply growth, warning that inflation could remain in double digits for at least another six months.\n<\/p>\n The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) retained its policy rate following its eighth Monetary Policy Committee meeting on Monday, keeping the interest rate corridor 300 basis points above and below the benchmark. Annual inflation stood at 14.9 percent in September, while non-food inflation reached 15.1 percent, reflecting higher electricity tariffs, fuel costs and other household expenses.\n<\/p>\n Why it matters:<\/strong> Persistent inflation and accelerating money supply growth could complicate Ethiopia\u2019s monetary tightening efforts, putting pressure on household purchasing power and the central bank\u2019s ability to stabilise prices.\n<\/p>\n African peers expose gaps in Nigeria\u2019s $21.7bn borrowing plan<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n Nigeria\u2019s proposed $21.7 billion external borrowing plan<\/a> has renewed concerns about weak scrutiny of public debt, particularly the absence of detailed information on the projects to be financed, their expected economic returns and repayment obligations.<\/p>\n The proposal presents an opportunity for Africa\u2019s most populous economy to strengthen its borrowing framework by adopting practices from countries with clearer procedures for parliamentary approval, public disclosure of loan terms and monitoring of government financial obligations.\n<\/p>\n Why it matters:<\/strong> Without greater transparency on how borrowed funds are deployed and repaid, Nigeria risks accumulating debt without corresponding economic returns. Stronger disclosure requirements could improve public accountability, investor confidence and the productive use of borrowed capital.\n<\/p>\n Eight African countries exit global financial crime watchlist in one year<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n Eight African countries have exited the global financial crime watchlist<\/a> in the past year, marking significant progress in the continent\u2019s efforts to strengthen anti-money laundering controls and restore confidence among international investors and financial institutions.\n<\/p>\n The latest removals came on Friday, when the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the world\u2019s leading financial crime watchdog, removed C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from its grey list, bringing the number of African countries cleared since October 2025 to eight.<\/p>\n Why it matters:<\/strong> Exiting the FATF grey list can reduce compliance burdens, improve correspondent banking relationships and strengthen access to international financial networks. The progress also signals improvements in Africa\u2019s financial governance, although four countries \u2014 Angola, Cameroon, Kenya and South Sudan \u2014 remain under increased monitoring.\n<\/p>\n Dangote-linked deal puts Nairobi bourse on track for first foreign inflows since 2019<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n Kenya\u2019s stock market is heading for its first annual net foreign investor inflows<\/a> since 2019 after a multibillion-shilling transaction involving Aliko Dangote\u2019s investment in Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) reversed months of foreign capital withdrawals.\n<\/p>\n Foreign investors recorded net purchases of KSh38.3 billion in October, ending nine consecutive months of net selling on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). A block trade involving KPC on October 19 drove the turnaround, accounting for KSh42.47 billion in reported net foreign purchases, according to The Kenyan Wall Street.\n<\/p>\n Why it matters:<\/strong> The reversal could signal renewed foreign investor appetite for Kenyan equities after years of capital outflows. However, the extent to which the market can sustain the recovery will depend on whether foreign buying broadens beyond the KPC transaction.<\/p>\n Bunmi holds a degree in Economics from the University of Lagos and has over eight years of experience in content writing and journalism.
Source: <\/p>\n Africa\u2019s financial landscape is facing a fresh mix of trade uncertainty, monetary policy challenges, debt scrutiny, and shifting investment flows. From Washington\u2019s decision to withdraw trade benefits from South Africa… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7824,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Financial-outlook-tested-by-trade-tensions-debt-and-monetary-pressures-\u2013-Businessday-NG.jpg\")
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\nHer career spans roles as a financial and business journalist at BusinessDay Media and TechCabal, and as Head of Research at SBM Intelligence, an Africa-focused market intelligence and strategic consulting firm.
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\nShe also served as Editor at Finance in Africa, a subsidiary of Businessfront and is currently Assistant Editor, Finance (Africa), at BusinessDay.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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