Finally, something that I can agree with. If we want to fetishise numbers we should at least try to get them right. Morten Jerven at FP: Today, due to the uneven application of methods and poor availability of data, any ranking of countries by GDP is misleading. The basic problem is that many countries have… Read More »
Thoughts are with Ghana at the passing of President Atta Mills, who many described as being slow but steady. The vice president was sworn in last evening as the new president. The video of the swearing-in ceremony is here. The new President John Dramani Mahama was a minister for communication between 1998 and 2001. Shortly… Read More »
From Bloomberg: Energy companies operating in Senegal will drill three offshore wells next year as the West African nation vies to join a growing group of regional crude producers, according to the state-owned oil company,Petrosen. Senegalese officials held talks with more than 10 oil companies this year in attempts to lure investors to its energy industry, said Joseph Medou, Petrosen’s geologist,… Read More »
Fund managers should consider African markets such as Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania rather than chasing crowded emerging market trades elsewhere, economist Nouriel Roubini said. “It (Africa) is risky because there is less liquidity and the governance is not ideal. But in comparison to 10 years ago when there was civil strife and unstable governments,… Read More »
The Economist talks to China Europe Business School’s Africa Programme Director, Kwaku Atuahene-Gima, about the reason the Chinese business school decided to establish a branch in Ghana: CEIBS has been instrumental in developing the business talent that has helped China develop,…. The Europeans and Americans were the colonisers of Africa, but there was not much… Read More »
From a policy brief from the United Nations University: We have already witnessed over the past year brave and even imaginative efforts by many developing countries in order to cope. Developing countries with the largest and strongest economies, such as China, India and Brazil, have shown encouraging early signs of recovery after implementing timely countercyclical policies.… Read More »
Financial Times: Africa governance prize finds no winners: Mo Ibrahim, the Sudanese telecoms magnate, will not award his $5m African leadership prize this year, a decision seen as a rebuke to the former presidents of Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana, among others. The prize, now in its third year, is given to heads of state… Read More »
1. The financial crisis, a view from a Brazilian barrio 2. The British Social Science Research Council‘s African Argument’s blog has a Citizenship Debate series 3. Shitting on Hope: Obama and the Peace Controversy 4. A really interesting episode of This American Life, in which the producers try to understand the healthcare debate and the… Read More »
The bottom billion blog says Africa is open for business. Didn’t know it was ever closed, but…. Paul Krugman: China is in a dollar trap. The IMF is still busy cleaning up its image. Dominique Strauss-Kahn writes about a lending overhaul. On Obama’s Special Olympics gaffe . And, Nigeria records first all-female crew flight.
After 10 months in West Africa (Nigeria, Bénin, Togo), I am back in Germany. I did not have much time for blogging during the 10 months cos I was moving around a lot, cos I did not have very reliable internet connection, and cos my work did not allow me to spend so much time… Read More »