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Annual Meetings 2026 (AM2026): African Development Bank Group and World Economic Forum Partner to Unlock Investments in Africa’s Frontier Markets

Source: APO

The African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) and the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Wednesday launched the Humanitarian and Resilience Investing (HRI) Roadmap for Africa to channel private investment into Africa’s most fragile economies.  

The HRI Roadmap for Africa sets out a coordinated, country-led approach to mobilising commercial and catalytic capital in underserved frontier markets and transition states, regions where the investment gap is most acute and the enabling conditions for private investment have historically been weakest.

The roadmap’s development responds to a structural paradox at the heart of Africa’s financing challenge: the continent faces an annual development financing gap of about $400 billion. Despite having 17 percent of the world’s population, Africa attracts only 3.5 percent of global foreign direct investment and less than 2 percent of global venture capital. Shifting geopolitical dynamics and contracting official development assistance environment have further intensified the urgency. Pilots are already underway in Liberia, Somalia, Mozambique, and Djibouti.

In keynote remarks, African Development Bank Group Senior Vice President Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, speaking on behalf of President Dr Sidi Ould Tah, underscored the urgency of the moment. “The time for a paradigm shift, from aid dependency to investment-led development, is now. The HRI Roadmap creates that foundation. It clarifies roles. It sequences interventions. It positions public and development finance where it belongs: as a catalyst, not a substitute.”

Ms. Sheba Crocker, Managing Director of the World Economic Forum; said: “The world’s most vulnerable communities deserve more than relief — they deserve investment in the businesses and economies that allow them to thrive on their own terms. Built on the global HRI initiative and backed by more than 100 partners, this Roadmap reflects our determination to move beyond fragmentation and toward the coordinated, investment-led approaches that Africa’s frontier markets urgently require.”

Acting Vice President for Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery, Dr Abdul Kamara, moderated a panel discussion on Catalysing Investment in Africa’s Frontier Markets that followed the high-level remarks. The panellists were WEF MD Sheba Crocker; Bihi Iman Egeh, Minister of Finance of Somalia; Chris Bold, Director, International Financial Institutions Department at the U.K’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO); and Sara Mbago-Bhunu, Director, East and Southern Africa Division, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Minister Egeh argued that Somalia does not lack entrepreneurship but suffers from de-risking gaps and exclusion from correspondent banking. Mbago-Bhunu drew on examples from IFAD’s work with smallholder farmers– including a digital-voucher scheme with Kenyan commercial banks– to make the case that rural and peri-urban implementation will require integrated financial, digital and infrastructure tools, not isolated interventions. Bold explained that FCDO is steering its development finance institutions toward fragile states that rely on concessional capital. He pointed to Kenya’s M-Pesa mobile money system as proof that creating new markets depends as much on regulatory reform as on capital.

Mr. Bumi Camara, African Development Bank Chief Fragility and Resilience Economist, made a presentation on the roadmap.https://apo-opa.co/3PM4dKI

The Roadmap, which embeds climate resilience and gender inclusion as core pillars, aligns with the African Development Bank’s Four Cardinal Points strategic compass as well as the New African Financial Architecture for Development (NAFAD), endorsed through the Abidjan Consensus in April 2026. It also aligns with the Bank’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) — which to date has disbursed $1.33 billion to women-led businesses across 45 countries.

 Click to download a copy of the HRI Roadmap (https://apo-opa.co/4veVCz4)

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

Media Contacts:
African Development Bank Group:
Olufemi Terry
Communication and External Relations Department
media@afdb.org

World Economic Forum:
communications@weforum.org
​public.affairs@weforum.org

About the World Economic Forum:
The World Economic Forum is the leading international platform for public-private partnerships. It engages leaders from business, government, academia and civil society to advance dialogue around global, regional and industry agendas. (www.WEForum.org)

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2026 Annual Meetings: African development finance institutions unite in support of Mission 300

Source: APO


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Senior African finance leaders attending the African Development Bank Group’s Annual Meetings (www.AfDB.org) in Brazzaville have called for coordinated action to unlock an estimated $250 billion in assets held by the continent’s development finance institutions to support Mission 300 (https://apo-opa.co/4uCkocy), a joint initiative by the African Development Bank and the World Bank Group to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030.

They made the call on Tuesday at a high-level side event moderated by Dr Daniel Schroth, the Bank’s Director for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, on Mobilising African DFIs and Capital in Support of Mission 300, held at the Kintele International Conference Centre.

“On behalf of the President of BOAD, I am pleased to announce a commitment of BOAD in support of Mission 300 of 1,1 billion FCFA (approximately €1.7 million),” said Oumar Tembely, BOAD’s Director of Energy and Natural Resources. He spoke alongside senior officials from the Trade and Development Bank, Africa50, the African Guarantee Fund (AGF), Cygnum Capital, and the African Development Bank, who had gathered to examine proposals for a dedicated Mission 300 African DFI coalition.

Opening the session, African Development Bank Vice President Kevin Kariuki stressed the scale of the challenge. “No single institution can deliver the Mission 300 goal alone,” he said. “We need African capital to work more systematically for African development. That is why we are bringing together a Mission 300 African DFI Coalition.”

Mission 300 requires approximately $238 billion across the 30 countries in its first two implementation cohorts, with roughly half of that financing expected to come from the private sector. Speakers highlighted blended finance mechanisms, including the African Development Bank’s Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa, as essential tools for attracting private and institutional capital to energy projects.  The event also underscored the wider financing potential within African markets.

“There is $2.5 trillion sitting in the balance sheets of African commercial banks,” said Constant N’zi, Chief Executive Officer of the African Guarantee Fund. “The mandate of AGF is to unlock that capital to finance the economy.”

Panellists argued that development finance institutions possess strong local market knowledge, long-term financing capabilities and development mandates aligned with national priorities, yet face persistent barriers, including fragmented coordination, limited institutional capacity, and insufficient access to risk-mitigation instruments.

The proposed Mission 300 coalition aims to address those structural constraints while operating as a light coordination mechanism within the existing Development Partner Coordination Group, which already includes 35 bilateral and multilateral institutions. The initiative also aligns with the New African Financial Architecture for Development (NAFAD), championed by the African Development Bank.

Admassu Tadesse, Group President and Managing Director of the Trade and Development Bank, reaffirmed his institution’s support for the initiative. “Mission 300 is an initiative that we have been subscribed to from day one,” he said.

The discussion in Brazzaville reflected a growing momentum among African development finance institutions to play a more central role in financing the continent’s infrastructure and energy priorities, including the Mission 300 initiative.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

Contact:
Frederica Lourenço
Communication and External Relations
media@afdb.org

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Annual Meetings 2026 (AM2026): African Development Bank (AfDB) 2025 Trade Finance Report Highlights Resilience of African Financial Institutions After Covid-19

Source: APO – Report:

The fifth edition of the African Development Bank’s (www.AfDB.org) Trade Finance Report paints a picture of resilient African financial institutions in the post Covid-19 years, despite a challenging global environment.

Download Report: https://apo-opa.co/4uNLXj6

The 2025 Trade Finance Report, which provides an updated assessment of Africa’s trade finance landscape over the 2020–2024 period following the COVID-19 pandemic, was released on Wednesday, during the Bank Group’s 2026 Annual Meetings, taking place in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.

The report examines trade finance from a bank-intermediation perspective, filling important knowledge gaps while introducing new dimensions such as digitalization and environmental sustainability. It also, for the first time, quantifies the contribution of Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) to trade finance on the continent.

Presenting the report, Anthony Simpasa, Director of the Macroeconomic Policy, Forecasting and Research Department at the African Development Bank, said unmet demand for trade finance declined by nearly 10% between 2019 and 2024, supported by strong interventions from multilateral development banks, governments, export credit agencies, and global banks. These interventions were critical in sustaining trade flows, with estimates suggesting that, in the absence of DFI support, the annual trade finance gap could have exceeded $100 billion during the 2020-2024 period.

“Renewed geopolitical tensions and disruptions to global supply chains and trade flows could reverse post-pandemic progress in narrowing the trade finance gap. For instance, tighter correspondent risk appetite could widen the trade finance gap to $86.6-$102.6 billion by 2027 under a moderate to severe scenario. This is at least 17.7 % above the 2024 level, potentially erasing a decade of gains,” Simpasa cautioned.

The report launch event was attended by policymakers, private-sector leaders, Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), Financial Institutions, and trade finance experts from across the continent.

Some highlights of the report:

  • The unmet demand for trade finance in Africa ranged from $74 billion to $92 billion in 2024. The estimated gap of $ 74 billion represents 5.4% of the region’s total merchandise trade value in 2024.
  • African trade remains underserved by commercial banks. Over the five years of the study, commercial banks intermediated an average of 23% of Africa’s total trade, down from 40% during 2011-19.
  • Between 2020 and 2024, intra-African trade accounted for 34% of total bank-intermediated trade, representing an 89 percent increase above pre-pandemic levels (2011-2019).
  • Foreign exchange liquidity shortages have become the primary barrier limiting banks’ growth in trade finance. About 36% of banks cited limited foreign exchange liquidity as the primary constraint to their trade finance growth between 2020 and 2024, compared with 18% in the 2015-2019 period.
  • The adoption of digital trade finance solutions by banks remains low, primarily due to high implementation costs and inadequate technological infrastructure. Only 28% of the banks surveyed reported having adopted digital tools or platforms for their trade finance operations.

In a short panel discussion following the launch, Didier Acouetey, Senior Advisor to African Development Bank President Sidi Ould Tah for the Private Sector, Francisca Tatchouop Belobe, Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals for the  African Union Commission, Admassu Tadesse, Group President and Managing Director, Trade and Development Bank; and Mehdi Tanani, Regional Director for Central Africa, Proparco, discussed the report’s findings, noting opportunities and challenges to unlocking sustainable bank-intermediated trade finance in Africa.

Although trade finance remains a major constraint for most of Africa, exciting innovations are gaining ground, such as digitization, guarantees and asset management initiatives to expand the trade finance asset class and related offerings to the market, Tadesse said. “This should be advanced further by new systemic initiatives such as New African Financial Architecture for Development (NAFAD) and related thrusts such as derisking and smart partnerships that should multiply the impact of African capital and unlock more global capital,” he added.

“NAFAD gives us, for the first time, a coherent continental framework to close the trade finance gap — not project by project, but systemically. That is the shift that changes everything for African SMEs,” Acouetey noted.

Commissioner Belobe called for eliminating the ‘missing middle’ in African banking. “SMEs are too large for microfinance, too small for corporate banking, but far too commercially important to be left outside the trade finance system. It is time for commercial banks to treat SME trade finance as a deliberate, core business line, not a residual activity,” he said.

“Africa will not close its trade finance gap by adding constraints, but by building a more resilient, more digital, and more sustainable trade finance ecosystem — one that protects SMEs against global shocks while accelerating the continent’s economic integration,” Tanani said.

The African Development Bank and other DFIs have played a significant role in reducing the trade finance gap in Africa. Development finance institutions facilitated about $32 billion in trade finance annually between 2020 and 2024, accounting for about 3% of Africa’s total merchandise trade on average over the same period.

The African Development Bank’s Trade Finance Program was established in 2013, with an inaugural survey conducted in 2014. Since 2014, AfDB has produced 4 periodic surveys, including two country-specific reports on Kenya and Tanzania.

Read the full report here https://apo-opa.co/4uNLXj6.

– on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

Contact:
Amba Mpoke-Bigg
Communication and External Relations Department
Email: media@afdb.org.

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Turtles finally have a place in the tree of life: X-ray study of South African fossils was a decider

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Valentin Buffa, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Palaeontology, University of Zurich

The origin of turtles has always been a bit of a puzzle for scientists who study the evolution of animals. To this day, where they fit in the tree of life remains a highly debated topic.

The evolutionary relationships of most vertebrate groups are well understood. Thanks to genetic and morphological (anatomical, body shape) data, even animals with highly specialised skeletons can be clearly placed on the animal family tree. Examples include whales or birds.

Turtles, however, have long remained an exception. Genetic studies identify them as relatives of the so-called archosaurs. This is a group that includes modern birds and crocodiles as well as extinct reptiles like dinosaurs and pterosaurs. But the fossil record seemed to tell a different story. Living turtles and their fossil relatives were so specialised that they offered few clues that would link even the oldest turtle fossils to other reptile groups. Or so scientists thought.

Our international team of palaeontologists has now provided a comprehensive reassessment of the turtle’s place in the animal world. Our analysis sheds new light on the relationships among primitive turtles. It confirms that Eunotosaurus africanus, a fossil from South Africa and Malawi, which was presumed to be a “proto-turtle”, is not a direct ancestor of modern turtles. Instead, this animal is very distantly related to modern reptiles, finding its deep root among much older reptilian ancestors that have no modern representatives.

Based on anatomy, the phylogenetic analysis also provides the first robust support from fossil studies for the close relationship between turtles and the archosaur (bird-crocodilian) lineage.

For more than 20 years, genetic data and anatomical data reached different conclusions about the relationships of turtles. Now they agree.

Comparing reptile anatomy

Fifteen researchers from South Africa, the US, UK, France and Germany participated in the study. Their combined expertise included:

  • computed tomography (CT) technology (advanced x-rays)

  • reptilian anatomy and phylogenetics

  • Permo-Triassic stratigraphy (the study of rock layers where fossils are found).

The combination was critical to obtain these groundbreaking results. Collection staff from the Evolutionary Studies Institute, Iziko South African Museum, National Museum, Albany Museum and Council for Geoscience in South Africa were also instrumental in enabling access to the specimens.

The team painstakingly compiled anatomical comparisons across more than 200 fossil reptile species. We hoped to find previously overlooked similarities between early shelled turtles, their shell-less predecessors, and other early reptiles. Comparisons of the bones that frame the brain cavity were particularly important. These couldn’t previously be seen by scientists, but with powerful CT scanning methods their anatomy was laid bare.

Paleoartistic reconstruction of a pair of Eunotosaurus africanus. Artist: Gabriel Ugueto, Author provided (no reuse)

Particularly surprising was what we learned about Eunotosaurus africanus, a 30cm-long burrowing reptile that lived in southern Africa some 260 million years ago. Previous studies considered it as the oldest known member of the turtle family, or a “proto-turtle”. Its broadened trunk and wide ribs looked something like a turtle shell. We studied almost all of the material of Eunotosaurus available in South African collections to address this idea once again.

Our working group at the Evolutionary Studies Institute studies some of the oldest rock layers from the Karoo Basin of South Africa, where Eunotosaurus is found. If Eunotosaurus was indeed a “proto-turtle”, we’d expect to find the forerunners of living lizards, crocodiles or birds (that is, reptiles) in these same layers. Paradoxically, we’ve found no other close relatives of modern reptiles at all. This made us suspect that even if turtles are ancient relatives of living birds and crocodilians, perhaps Eunotosaurus was no “proto-turtle” at all.

One breakthrough was reconstructing the bones of the braincase (housing the brain and ear) from high-resolution x-ray images of fossil and living reptiles. By peering inside the skull of Eunotosaurus, and comparing its bones with those of undisputed fossil turtles, we could see previously out-of-reach aspects of their anatomy for the first time.

These x-ray scans revealed the very primitive anatomy of Eunotosaurus. For example, it has bones in the back of the skull that were lost in turtles and all living reptiles. Features like a slender ear bone (the stapes) and the hooked fifth toe that are present in many living reptiles and other fossil turtles were completely lacking in Eunotosaurus. In contrast, the braincase of unambiguous fossil turtles, such as Proganochelys quenstedti, shared a suite of characteristics that are found in the ancestors of crocodilians and birds, but absent in Eunotosaurus.

These lines of evidence provides firm anatomical support that turtles are the closest living relatives of archosaurs. When Eunotosaurus was considered a “proto-turtle”, many of these features were considered to have evolved independently in the turtle lineage. Now, we show that turtles share these features with their archosaur relatives because they inherited them from a common ancestor.

Eunotosaurus fossil. Author provided (no reuse)

These new results now place the origin of turtles where it fits better with both fossil and genetic data. When geneticists study living turtles, they compare their DNA to modern birds, crocodiles and lizards to infer evolutionary relationships. Our fossil findings now align with what those genetic comparisons have been suggesting all along: turtles branched off from the same ancestor that gave rise to crocodiles and birds.

Instead of being a living group of relics with ancestors present in the Middle Permian, turtles, like other modern reptiles, diversified and evolved their shell in the Triassic Period, approximately 20 million years after Eunotosaurus was already extinct.

With turtles now firmly placed among their closest living relatives, palaeontologists will need to reassess other long-standing questions about reptile evolution. Advanced imaging techniques like computed tomography should now be applied to other enigmatic fossil groups, potentially clarifying their evolutionary relationships.

Our work highlights the fact that overlooked early reptile fossils, particularly those found in the South African fossil record, may hold the key to understanding reptile relationships.

– Turtles finally have a place in the tree of life: X-ray study of South African fossils was a decider
– https://theconversation.com/turtles-finally-have-a-place-in-the-tree-of-life-x-ray-study-of-south-african-fossils-was-a-decider-282871

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Africa’s growth holds firm amid global turbulence, says 2026 African Economic Outlook

Source: APO

  • The continent recorded an estimated average GDP growth of 4.4 percent in 2025, with 22 economies posting rates above 5 percent.
  • In 2026, Africa is projected to grow at 4.2 percent, despite heightened geopolitical tensions and global supply shocks.
  • Central Africa is expected to see growth rising to 3.8 percent in 2026 from 3.6 percent in 2025, buoyed by sustained high oil prices

Africa’s economies are projected to grow at 4.2 percent in 2026, moderating slightly from 4.4 percent in 2025, before rebounding to 4.4 percent in 2027. The findings of the 2026 African Economic Outlook, released Tuesday at the African Development Bank Group Annual Meetings in Brazzaville (www.AfDB.org), underscore the continent’s continued resilience in the face of geopolitical tensions, tighter global financial conditions, and supply chain disruptions. 

According to the Bank’s flagship report, Africa’s growth in 2025 was supported by improved macroeconomic management, stronger agricultural output, elevated commodity prices, and ongoing structural reforms. The continent remains among the world’s fastest-growing regions, with 22 countries projected to grow above 5 percent in 2025. 

Published under the theme, Mobilizing Africa’s Development Financing at Scale in a Fragmented World, the report notes that sustaining faster, inclusive and more resilient growth would require a decisive shift towards mobilising and deploying capital at scale. This includes strengthening domestic resource mobilisation, deepening and integrating financial systems, expanding capital markets, and enhancing African agency in global finance. 

Mixed Regional Outlook 

  • East Africa is expected to remain the continent’s fastest-growing region, though growth is projected to ease from 6.6 percent in 2025 to 5.9 percent in 2026, as rising energy and import costs linked to Middle East disruptions take their toll. A rebound to 6.4 percent is anticipated in 2027.  
  • West Africa is forecast to remain relatively stable, with growth projected at 4.7 percent in 2026, broadly in line with the estimated 4.8 percent for 2025, supported by strong agricultural production and continued infrastructure investment. 
  • North Africa is expected to grow at 4.0 percent in 2026 compared to 4.4 percent in 2025, reflecting weaker tourism demand from Gulf states, and the broader effects of global supply chain disruptions. 
  • Central Africa is one of the few regions projected to see an uptick, with growth rising marginally to 3.8 percent in 2026 from 3.6 percent in 2025, buoyed by sustained high oil prices. 
  • Growth in Southern Africa is expected to remain subdued at 2.1 percent in 2026, from 2.3 percent in 2025, weighed down by weaker mining and agricultural output and higher energy costs. 

Downside risks to the outlook remain significant. Inflation is projected to stay elevated at 10.4 percent in 2026, posing continued challenges to macroeconomic stability and growth prospects. Persistent geopolitical tensions, alongside prolonged global supply chain and energy disruptions, could further strain fiscal and external balances through higher energy and fertilizer prices. In addition, financial market volatility and exchange rate depreciations risk amplifying debt and fiscal vulnerabilities, while rising global fragmentation may intensify pressures on external financing flows, including official development assistance. 

Closing Africa’s Financing Gap  

At the heart of the 2026 AEO report is a stark assessment of Africa’s development financing shortfall: the continent faces an annual gap exceeding $1.3 trillion to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. The African Development Bank attributes the deficit to low domestic resource mobilisation, weak financial intermediation and tightening external financing conditions. 

However, it argues, the issue is not only about a lack of resources but also about effectively deploying capital. 

With appropriate reforms, Africa could unlock up to $1.43 trillion annually through improved revenue collection, more efficient public investment, staunching illicit financial flows and corruption, deeper capital markets, expanded public-private partnerships, diaspora financing, and better use of natural capital. 

Among the key opportunities identified are an estimated $469 billion in additional annual revenues from stronger tax and non-tax mobilisation, alongside roughly $299 billion in potential savings from improved public investment efficiency. Public-private partnerships are highlighted as a powerful lever, with each additional dollar of public investment associated with approximately $1.40 in private investment. 

Institutional investors, including pension funds, insurers and sovereign wealth funds, manage around $4 trillion in assets; yet less than 2.7 percent is allocated to infrastructure and productive sectors in Africa, underscoring significant untapped potential. 

The report calls for accelerated efforts to strengthen Africa’s financial systems through pan-African banks, integrated capital markets, and innovative instruments such as climate and Islamic finance. A central pillar to this is the New African Financial Architecture for Development (NAFAD) (https://apo-opa.co/4uIta9c), which aims to leverage over $4 trillion in assets within Africa’s financial ecosystem. 

The report also highlights the role of the African Credit Rating Agency, launched in January 2026, as an important tool for addressing perceived biases in sovereign risk assessments. While Africa’s stock market capitalisation reached $1.2 trillion in 2024 — nearly sixfold growth over two decades — activity remains concentrated in South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, and Morocco, pointing to the need for broader market integration. 

The report further underscores the importance of advancing continental initiatives, such as the African Financing Stability Mechanism (https://apo-opa.co/4nTP7iR), to ease liquidity pressures, strengthen financial stability, and help African countries manage debt refinancing risks at lower cost. 

Click here (https://apo-opa.co/4uAYM06) to read the full report 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

Contact:
Communication and External Relations
media@afdb.org  

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Petroli Energy Names Silver Sponsor at African Energy Week (AEW) 2026 as PPL 269 Development Advances in Nigeria

Source: APO


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Nigerian oil and gas company Petroli Energy will participate as a Silver Sponsor at African Energy Week (AEW) 2026, scheduled for October 12–16 in Cape Town. Their sponsorship underscores the firm’s expanding regional footprint across upstream exploration, trading and transitional energy services, alongside growing engagement with African investment platforms in line with its long-term growth strategy.

AEW 2026 is Africa’s premier upstream investment platform, convening policymakers, operators and financiers to accelerate oil, gas and power development across the continent. The 2026 edition is set to delve deep into gas-to-power expansion, data infrastructure energy demand and transaction-oriented dealmaking, positioning Cape Town as a key hub for energy capital flows.

Petroli Energy is currently advancing its upstream strategy amid accelerating divestments by international oil companies across West Africa, with independents capturing mature onshore assets and production gaps. The company is scaling joint operations and deploying geophysical technologies to reduce exploration risk while strengthening regional supply resilience in structurally underinvested markets.

In December 2024, Petroli Energy completed contracting for its PPL 269 license following its December 2024 bid win under the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission’s licensing round. The block, secured after competitive bidding against oil and gas explorer Afagaf Company, is now entering seismic interpretation and early-stage technical development phases.

Through its international trading arm, Petroli Energy (BVI), and a strategic partnership with the Emirates National Oil Company, the group maintains a ship-to-ship logistics network across the Gulf of Guinea. This infrastructure supports large-scale distribution of gasoline, jet fuel, diesel and LPG, reinforcing its downstream trading and storage capabilities.

“Participation at African Energy Week 2026 is where capital meets opportunity across Africa’s energy future. Companies like Petroli Energy are essential in turning licensing rounds into real production and real infrastructure. Their presence signals confidence in African-led development and the continent’s ability to monetize its resources responsibly,” says NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber.

Looking ahead, Petroli Energy is prioritizing natural gas and LPG as transitional fuels to support industrial demand across sub-Saharan Africa while preparing for longer-term integration into cleaner energy systems. The company is also evaluating regional expansion opportunities tied to infrastructure development, including pipelines, ports and cross-border energy corridors over the coming years.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Energy Chamber.

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Interpol tracks down rape suspect in Eastern Cape

Source: Government of South Africa

Interpol tracks down rape suspect in Eastern Cape

A 56-year-old wanted fugitive was arrested on Wednesday at his home in Kabega Park, Gqeberha, in the Eastern Cape for the alleged sexual abuse of his daughter. 

The suspect is expected to appear before the Gqeberha Magistrate’s Court on Friday facing an extradition application by the government of the United States of America to the Republic of South Africa.

The suspect, a USA citizen, is wanted by Interpol on charges of rape and sexual assault reported by the victim’s mother to the San Antonio Police Department in 2017. 

“According to a report, the suspect allegedly raped his daughter and shared explicit text messages with her over a period of time. The victim was 12 years old at the time,” the police said in a statement. 

Upon completion of the investigation, the suspect had fled the United States of America and was traced to the Eastern Cape, South Africa. 

“Interpol National Central Bureau (NCB) Pretoria traced the suspect and executed a Section 5(1)(b) warrant upon receipt of the USA’s extradition request with support from the Nelson Mandela Bay District Intervention Task Team, Crime Combating Unit and Mount Road Crime Intelligence,” the police said. – SAnews.gov.za

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South Africa’s fuel supply and the Iran war: data black holes and low strategic stock put the country at risk

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Rod Crompton, Visiting Adjunct Professor, African Energy Leadership Centre, Wits Business School, University of the Witwatersrand

The supply of crude oil to the world had been reduced by about 7.5% to 10.1% by March 2026 in what the World Bank described as the largest oil market disruption in history. The fall was a result of the attacks on Iran by Israel and the US and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

No country was spared the impact. For some the economic fallout has been dramatic. In the case of South Africa, which imports all its oil and 81% of its petrol, diesel and paraffin consumption, the effects have so far been felt mainly in the price. This has caused the government to subsidise petrol and diesel.

In this article we explore the problems with official data, the mismanagement of strategic stock and the possibility of developing domestic oil and gas supplies.

Read more: Iran war is exposing South Africa’s dependency on diesel: what went wrong

Both of us have been closely involved in the energy sector for some decades. Rod Crompton teaches and researches the topic. Prior to that he was responsible for fuel price regulation and strategic stocks at the Department of Minerals and Energy before serving 11 years on the board of the National Energy Regulator of South Africa. Bruce Young spent 30 years at the petrochemical giant Sasol before joining academia.

Our analysis of the current situation is that South Africans should be concerned about the fact that the quality of fuel data is very poor and the country only has a rough idea of where it stands in relation to fuel stocks. Based on our reading of the situation it appears that the government doesn’t have much idea of how much trouble it’s in.

As a small player in a large global market, not really knowing how much fuel your country needs is a problem. And not having adequate strategic stocks leaves the country vulnerable to global shortages caused by the Iran war.

The gaps

There are huge challenges in the data about fuel stocks and needs. For example, the Fuels Industry Association of South Africa 2024 annual report data shows that net imports of petrol, diesel and kerosene were 81% of consumption, based on data claiming that diesel imports were 118% of consumption. According to this data set, LPG imports were a staggering 1,685% of consumption. These are obviously highly improbable numbers. The fuels industry data is based on official sources (South African Revenue Service and Department of Mineral Resources and Energy).

In addition, National Treasury is concerned about the discrepancies between actual and reported imports. It is also concerned about illegal “spiking” of diesel with paraffin, which carries a lower tax rate, with cases reaching 68%.

According to the South African Revenue Service, organised criminal networks smuggle and illegally adulterate fuel and many of the fuel-storage and distribution depots are involved in the adulteration of all fuel products. Fuel adulteration costs the fiscus approximately R3.6 billion (US$220.5 million) per year, according to the International Trade Administration Commission.

There are also concerns around stocks of crude oil.

Many countries hold strategic stocks of crude oil for events like the Iran war. The International Energy Agency mandates its member countries to hold 90 days of oil imports. South African policy requires “at least three months total consumption”, taking into account the production of synthetic fuels from coal by Sasol.

South Africa’s strategic crude oil storage capacity is substantial and could meet 88 days of consumption. But tank capacity is not the same as stock.

Strategic stock is kept secret. The country’s Strategic Fuel Fund accounts to Parliament through the portfolio committee on mineral and petroleum resources. Although the quantity of stocks was not disclosed, in its March 2025 report the committee raised concern about “insufficient” strategic fuel reserves.

It seems that South Africa currently holds only about 7.7 million to 8 million barrels. In May 2025 the international news agency Reuters reported that South Africa had strategic crude stocks of about 7.7 million barrels. Local reports have referred to approximately 8 million barrels.

The 8 million barrels would last only about 13 days against total liquid-fuels demand of about 600,000 barrels a day, or about 18 days if output from Sasol’s coal-based output of 150,000 barrels a day was taken into account. Sasol’s coal-to-liquids plants were built in the 1970s and 1980s by the apartheid regime in the face of anti-apartheid oil sanctions. Sasol was gradually privatised from 1979 with substantial state guarantees.

Beyond what’s actually being held in stock there’s an additional problem. Storage is concentrated on the west coast at Saldanha Bay and there’s no readily available means of transporting crude oil across the country to the oil refinery in Sasolburg, which is 1,400km away.

South Africa’s other weak spot when it comes to fuel is a lack of inland storage capacity for refined products. The country imports most of its refined products. Storage capacity is concentrated at the country’s major ports, far away from its industrial heartland.

The need for more strategically placed storage capacity was identified in the Moerane Investigation Panel into Fuel Supply Shortages more than 20 years ago. The panel was established in response to the 2005 fuel supply crisis. The panel recommended that South Africa review its strategic stock policy and strengthen refined product stockholding requirements.

It also noted that the country lacked strategic refined fuel inventories despite increasing dependence on imported petroleum products.

But these recommendations were never acted on.

What role, if any, can the private sector play?

There is provision in the fuel price regulations for oil companies to hold stocks. Producers and importers are paid through the pricing regulations to hold 25 days’ stock and wholesalers 14 days’ stock. But we don’t know if they actually do so as the commercial imperative is to hold as little as possible and the government seems to lack the capacity to police this.

Nor is private-sector storage a substitute. Oil companies and large fuel users do have tanks at refineries, import terminals, depots, airports, mines, farms, factories and logistics sites. But this is mostly operational storage. It is product-specific, commercially committed and designed to keep fuel moving through the supply chain. It is not designed to provide long-duration national cover.

Governance of strategic stocks

The governance of strategic stocks is a sore point.

South Africa has already experienced a major governance failure involving its strategic crude oil reserves. In 2015/16 the state-owned Strategic Fuel Fund sold about 10 million barrels of strategic crude oil to commodity traders including Vitol, Taleveras and Venus Rays. The Western Cape High Court later set the transaction aside, finding that it had been conducted unlawfully and without proper approval or oversight.

Critics argued that the transaction effectively depleted South Africa’s emergency reserves through a secretive and poorly governed process that primarily benefited oil traders and intermediaries.

The episode exposed serious weaknesses in the governance of South Africa’s strategic fuel stocks. These concerns have never fully disappeared. Parliamentary oversight processes in 2025 continued to raise concerns about reserve adequacy, underutilisation of storage infrastructure, fragmented governance arrangements, and unresolved oversight and accountability issues.

Funding strategic stocks involves difficult trade-offs. Given South Africa’s constrained fiscal position, it is not obvious that the state can simply fund a R78 billion (USS$4.7 billion) to R79 billion stock-rebuilding programme from the fiscus. But a purely private solution is also unrealistic. Private firms do not generally have spare strategic-scale storage and will not voluntarily hold large volumes of idle stock.

The likely solution is a hybrid model: better data, a credible state reserve, mandatory and incentivised industry stockholding and policing thereof, levy-funded procurement over time, clear emergency-access rules, transparent reporting and independent oversight.

New finds

The oil crisis makes exploration for oil and gas in the offshore Orange Basin more attractive for the country. The basin lies off South Africa’s west coast. Geologically, it extends into Namibian waters, where oil companies have recently made massive oil and gas finds. There are high hopes in the oil industry that oil will also be found in South African waters.

But it won’t be quick; it will take about 10 years, if successful. There is regulatory uncertainty, ultra-deepwater technical challenges, no existing oil infrastructure, and other countries which oil companies find more attractive.

Despite these difficulties, South Africa will need petrol and diesel for a long time to come. Those concerned about the security of supply of oil and gas should be giving serious thought to removing the obstacles to oil and gas exploration that are holding South Africa back. Namibia has shown that it can be done.

– South Africa’s fuel supply and the Iran war: data black holes and low strategic stock put the country at risk
– https://theconversation.com/south-africas-fuel-supply-and-the-iran-war-data-black-holes-and-low-strategic-stock-put-the-country-at-risk-283913

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Rating agency Fitch changes its criteria on pausing debt repayments: why it matters

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Nicole Goldin, Head of Equitable Development, United Nations University

A recent development in the credit rating space could signal important progress in one of the more intractable challenges in global development finance. The challenge is how countries can manage periods of acute debt stress without being pushed prematurely towards default.

The current system can discourage countries facing acute financial stress from seeking temporary liquidity relief, because doing so may trigger market reactions that worsen borrowing conditions. Delays in seeking support can, in turn, deepen financial instability.

But Fitch Ratings, one of the world’s three major credit rating agencies, has revised its sovereign rating criteria. This is the analytical framework for assessing country creditworthiness.

At first glance, the change concerns a narrow technical issue: when countries can temporarily pause bond repayments without being treated as being in “default”.

But the implications may be more significant. This is particularly true for emerging markets and developing economies that are highly exposed to external shocks, constrained fiscal space and heavy debt burdens.

At the heart of the revision is a longstanding problem in sovereign debt markets: the tendency of ratings frameworks to treat temporary payment difficulties as signs of deeper inability to repay debt over time.

In practice, this has often discouraged countries from seeking timely relief during periods of external disruption. This has been true even when the underlying problem is short-term financing pressure rather than an inability to repay debt over time.

That disincentive became particularly visible during the pandemic. Although the G20’s Debt Service Suspension Initiative offered temporary liquidity relief to eligible countries, few sought comparable treatment from private creditors. One reason was concern that doing so could have a number of negative consequences. These included:

  • triggering sovereign downgrades, which can signal increased financial risk to investors

  • increasing borrowing costs

  • being excluded from some international lending and investment markets.

These fears overrode the intentions of the measures: to provide short-term breathing space.

Fitch’s revision signals a cautious shift in that logic. The agency now clarifies the circumstances under which bounded, rules-based payment deferrals may not be treated as defaults. The change reflects growing recognition that temporary liquidity relief, when tightly structured and transparently governed, need not automatically constitute a negative credit event.

What is changing remains modest. It nevertheless suggests that sovereign debt markets are beginning to develop ways to distinguish temporary financial stress from deeper solvency problems. This will allow countries to manage shocks before they escalate into full debt restructuring episodes.

This matters because disorderly defaults and prolonged restructurings can impose major economic and social costs. In turn these can hinder investment and halt development and growth, especially in emerging and developing economies.

Structured flexibility is key to temporary relief

Fitch’s revision was prompted in part by proposals advanced by the London Coalition. This is an informal group of private creditors and official actors convened by the UK government in 2025. It has advocated for broader adoption of debt pause clauses. The idea is to provide temporary relief during clearly defined external shocks such as climate disasters.

Crucially, the proposed architecture is heavily constrained. Creditor safeguards are embedded throughout the design.

The message from Fitch’s revision is therefore not that flexibility itself is a problem. But that unstructured flexibility is. The analytical barrier has been uncertainty, opaque triggers and broad borrower discretion.

Grenada’s experience during the COVID-19 pandemic illustrates the dilemma these mechanisms seek to address. In 2020, Grenada requested an eight-month suspension on payments due under a restructured sovereign bond from private creditors, despite the bond already containing a hurricane-linked debt pause clause. Because the clause was tied to a narrowly defined natural disaster trigger, it could not be activated for a pandemic shock.

The request was ultimately unsuccessful.

The episode showed that contractual mechanisms are often too narrow to address the range of shocks countries face. Climate events, commodity price volatility, pandemics and global financial tightening can all generate acute liquidity stress without necessarily implying insolvency.

Yet sovereign debt frameworks have not allowed countries to absorb shocks like these without setting off a default or restructuring.

Signalling a new direction

That challenge is becoming increasingly urgent, as more countries face the prospect of debt restructuring. This is a process governments go through to renegotiate debt repayments with creditors when debt repayments become unsustainable.

The International Monetary Fund’s recent stocktake of private sector sovereign debt restructuring noted that the number of restructurings since 2020 has been relatively limited. But, it noted, they were often more economically damaging and prolonged than in earlier debt cycles.

This is where Fitch’s revision may prove significant. It suggests that financial tools designed to help countries manage short-term crises may be able to operate within existing market rules, rather than automatically being treated as as signs of default or financial collapse.

This has broader relevance in the context of the UN Financing for Development agenda, including the Seville Commitment, agreed in July 2025. This calls for earlier, more orderly responses to sovereign financial stress. Such approaches depend on mechanisms that allow countries facing exogenous shocks to:

  • pause payments temporarily

  • stabilise their finances

  • recover without automatically facing sharp increases in borrowing costs or loss of market access.

Fitch’s revision does not go as far as broader market reform ambitions reflected in the Seville Agenda. But it does signal that tightly governed, rules-based payment suspensions need not be automatically treated as credit negative.

Importantly, this shift is procedural rather than ideological. It does not rewrite the basic rules of sovereign debt markets. Instead, it clarifies the conditions under which temporary payment suspensions can be used without automatically being treated as signs of default.

That gives investors, governments, and credit rating agencies greater clarity about how such mechanisms operate and how they should be assessed.

Distinguishing stress from insolvency

The revision itself remains narrow. The proposed clauses are voluntary, largely untested at scale and do not address situations of fundamentally unsustainable debt. Nor does the change produce immediate rating adjustments.

Reform in sovereign debt governance rarely arrives through sweeping overhaul. More often, it proceeds through cautious accommodation: incremental changes that gradually become embedded within market practice. Fitch’s revision may prove to be one small but revealing step in that direction.

This is an edited version of the post first published by UNU-CPR, Fitch’s Recent Revision Signals a Notable Shift in Sovereign Debt Governance.

– Rating agency Fitch changes its criteria on pausing debt repayments: why it matters
– https://theconversation.com/rating-agency-fitch-changes-its-criteria-on-pausing-debt-repayments-why-it-matters-283098

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Annual Meetings (AM) 2026: Congo’s President Announces Visa-Free Access for Africans as Continent Celebrates Africa Day

Source: APO

  • Announcement made on first day of African Development Bank’s Annual Meetings in Brazzaville
  • “The generation of 1963 gave us political agency; our responsibility now is to strengthen Africa’s collective agency,” Sidi Ould Tah

African leaders attending the African Development Bank Group’s (www.AfDB.org) 2026 Annual Meetings in Brazzaville on Monday marked Africa Day with the host, President Denis Sassou-Nguesso, announcing that the Republic of the Congo would waive visa requirements for all African nationals from next year.

The announcement, marking another significant step towards continental integration, drew prolonged applause from thousands of delegates attending the meetings taking place at the Kintele Conference Centre.

“As from the first of January 2027, nationals of all African countries will have visa-free access and will no longer need a visa to come to Congo,” he said, urging countries to move beyond “selfishness and nationalism” and deepen regional integration through practical implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area.

The commemoration brought together African heads of state and government, ministers, diplomats, investors, development partners, civil society representatives, youth leaders, and private-sector stakeholders united around Africa’s regional integration and transformation agenda.

Observed annually on 25 May, Africa Day commemorates the founding of the Organisation of African Unity in Addis Ababa in 1963, which later evolved into the African Union. This year’s celebration is aligned with the African Union’s 2026 theme, “Assuring Sustainable Water Availability and Safe Sanitation Systems to Achieve the Goals of Agenda 2063.”

President Sassou-Nguesso called for increased investments to ensure sustainable development, and accelerated action to improve water security and access to sanitation across Africa.

The Congolese leader stressed that no African state could independently finance the infrastructure needed to transform the continent, highlighting the need for collective investment in roads, railways, airports, ports, and energy systems.

President Sassou-Nguesso also renewed calls for global mobilisation around ecosystem restoration and reforestation, describing Africa’s forests as “a second green lung of humanity” and underscoring the continent’s role in addressing climate change.

In his statement, the President of the African Development Bank Group, Dr Sidi Ould Tah, stressed the need for deeper continental integration, stronger African institutions, and renewed confidence in Africa’s ability to shape its own future amid mounting global uncertainty.

Describing Africa Day as “a dialogue of peace, solidarity and resilience,” Dr Ould Tah reiterated that Africa’s future depended on transforming its abundant natural resources into drivers of dignity and prosperity.

“Too often Africa is described in terms of what it lacks,” he said. “But if we focus only on what Africa does not have, we fail to see what it already possesses.”

He said Africa must strengthen its “collective agency” through deeper regional integration, stronger continental institutions, and a new African financing architecture capable of supporting long-term development ambitions.

“The generation of 1963 gave us political agency,” Ould Tah said. “Our responsibility now is to strengthen Africa’s collective agency through deeper integration, stronger institutions, and inward confidence in our ability to build our future together.”

In remarks delivered via video link, African Union Chairperson and President of Burundi, Évariste Ndayishimiye, called for greater African solidarity, accelerated continental integration, and reforms to global governance systems to better reflect Africa’s growing role in world affairs.

Representing the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Selma Malika Haddadi, Deputy Chairperson of the Commission said the celebration of Africa Day provided an opportunity to pay tribute to the African Development Bank Group for its critical role as the continent’s premier development financier.

“For decades, the African Development Bank has demonstrated that an Africa that invests in itself is an Africa that strengthens its economic sovereignty, its resilience, and its ability to take control of its own development,” she stated.

The programme, moderated by veteran Cameroonian journalist Denise Epoté, also showcased the grandeur of African art and culture brought to life by Congolese dancers and the evocative poetic recitations of Mariusca and Maître Muleck.

The 2026 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank Group are being held in Brazzaville under the theme “Mobilising Africa’s Development Financing at Scale in a Fragmented World.”

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

Click for more photos from the event (https://apo-opa.co/3PtT8hn)

Click here (https://AM.AfDB.org) to follow the 2026 Annual Meetings

Contact: 
Kwasi Kpodo
Communication and External Relations  
media@afdb.org

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