Africa

1. South Africa’s US strategy
2. Africa’s growth projections
3. Nigeria rebases inflation
4. Boosting Nigerian cocoa
5. South Sudan payments

The hand-painted Ghanaian movie posters reimagining Hollywood blockbusters.

African governments often have to battle for attention from the White House. But if you’d been in South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s shoes over recent months you’d welcome being ignored.

His government is fully in the sights of US President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress. Elon Musk, Trump’s South Africa-born adviser, has accused Ramaphosa of introducing “racist” land laws against white minorities, triggering Trump into freezing all aid funding to South Africa. On Capitol Hill, some conservatives have been furious since Pretoria filed a case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. This was on top of Washington’s concerns that South Africa was getting too close to Russia and China (its top trading partner). Now, as Sam Mkokeli reports below, Pretoria is scrambling to smooth ties as its eligibility for the US’ AGOA free-trade agreement comes under threat.

Ramaphosa is in a difficult spot. He could insist his country won’t be forced to pick who its friends or foes are. But billions of dollars and up to 200,000 jobs are at stake if the US Congress pulls preferential trading terms. With unemployment still very high and the South African economy’s sluggish recovery still fragile, this is not an easy choice.

S. Africa plans emergency US visit

South Africa plans to dispatch government and business leaders to Washington, officials told Semafor, in an attempt to retain preferential access to the world’s largest economy — but only after similar trips to China and Europe.

Last week, a group of four Republican congressmen in Washington called for South Africa to be excluded from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which allows thousands of products from eligible sub-Saharan countries to enter the US duty-free. Such a move would deal a huge blow to firms ranging from car manufacturers to fruit exporters.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa discussed the trips last week with business groups as part of efforts to dial down tensions with Washington, two business leaders told Semafor, speaking on condition of anonymity. The exact dates for the trips are not yet clear.

AfDB projects 4.1% growth

Africa’s economy is expected to grow by 4.1% this year, the African Development Bank projected, a 0.9-percentage-point rise from 2024. The improvement will be driven by economic reforms in several countries, AfDB wrote, predicting improvements in inflationary pressures as well as fiscal and debt positions. The World Bank has projected an average of 4.2% growth in sub-Saharan Africa this year and next. South Sudan is projected to record the highest growth this year with an estimated rise of 34.4%, AfDB said, while Rwanda, Senegal, and Uganda are each expected to grow more than 7%. The bank expects Equatorial Guinea and Sudan will be the only nations with contracting economies in 2025. Twelve of the world’s 20 fastest-growing economies this year will be in Africa, AfDB said.

Nigeria inflation rate after overhaul

Nigeria’s annual inflation rate stood at 24.5% in January, newly rebased official figures showed. Prior to the change — the first in more than a decade — December inflation was recorded at 34.8%. Under the rebasing, the goods basket used to calculate price rises was adjusted and the base year changed from 2009 to 2024, part of efforts to reflect altered consumption patterns. Solar panels and insurance services have been included in the basket, whereas early models of mobile phones have been removed. The weighting of the food category has also reduced.

The latest data will likely lead Nigeria’s central bank — which meets on Thursday to determine interest rates — to declare its tightening cycle over, David Omojomolo, Africa economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note. It will nevertheless likely deliver one last rate hike, given Governor Yemi Cardoso’s “long-running proclamations about his seriousness regarding the inflation fight.”

— Alexis Akwagyiram

UK invests in Nigerian cocoa

The amount the UK is investing in Nigerian agribusiness company Johnvents Group to boost cocoa production. The funding from British International Investment, the UK government’s development finance institution, aims to double the firm’s cocoa processing capacity to 30,000 metric tons per year. Nigeria is the world’s fourth-largest cocoa producer after Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Indonesia. It is eyeing new export markets amid growing demand for the crop from Europe and North America, which together consume almost 50% of the world’s cocoa. Prices for the commodity are soaring to record levels due to supply-chain challenges caused by factors including climate change-related disruptions to production.

South Sudan’s instant payments push

South Sudan will fully roll out an instant payments system by December, after an initial pilot, to enable faster money transactions.

The system, built by the country’s central bank and nonprofit AfricaNenda, is designed to connect local mobile money providers, including MTN and Zain, with banks, aiming to expand the population’s access to financial services. South Sudan’s target for full functionality by December is “realistic,” Robert Ochola, CEO of AfricaNenda, told Semafor, saying it gave time for more financial service providers to integrate into the network.

South Sudan follows in the footsteps of countries like Ghana and Nigeria whose instant payments frameworks are among the continent’s best, Ochola said. Last year, Lesotho became the latest entrant to the space, bringing the number of African countries with such systems to 20, according to AfricaNenda.

— Alexander Onukwue

Business & Macro

🇿🇦 South African miner Sibanye-Stillwater struck a deal with Swiss miner Glencore’s local Merafe Venture to boost chrome production.

🌍 AngloGold Ashanti, the UK-based miner with multiple African operations, reported a profit of $954 million last year, rebounding from a $46 million loss in 2023.

Climate & Energy

🇿🇼 JinAn Group, a Chinese ferrochrome manufacturer in Zimbabwe, plans to invest up to $75 million to set up two solar power plants to provide electricity for its operations.

Geopolitics & Policy

🇸🇩 🇰🇪 Sudan accused Kenya of endorsing the activities of the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary force, following a symbolic meeting the group held at a government-owned facility in Nairobi toward forming a parallel government in Sudan.

🇪🇹 Ethiopia’s elections board suspended the Tigray People’s Liberation Front party for three months, accusing it of failing to hold elections for leadership positions and breaking other governance rules.

Tech & Deals

🇳🇬 Nigeria’s securities regulator is considering offering licenses to cryptocurrency exchanges this year to allow the government to tax crypto transactions and boost revenue generation, Bloomberg reported.

🇬🇭 🇳🇬 The International Finance Corporation is providing a loan of $37 million to Ghana-based Mohinani Group for its subsidiaries to establish plastic recycling plants in Ghana and Nigeria.

Hand-painted movie posters from Ghana that reimagine Hollywood blockbusters were displayed at a Los Angeles gallery. The posters hark back to the mobile cinemas that thrived in Ghana during the 1980s and 1990s, with entrepreneurs traveling across the country to screen bootlegged American films in public squares using a TV and VCR. Local artists often had little information about the titles they were illustrating, creating wildly imaginative interpretations in their promotional posters. “Fancy seeing Mrs Doubt Fire’s Robin Williams impaling Pierce Brosnan’s character through the eye with a Broom? Or Michael Jackson appearing as a cameo in E.T.,” wrote Deadline. These are among the posters collected by the Chicago-based Deadly Prey Gallery, which collaborates with artists in Ghana to keep this unique art form alive.

Lori Chavez-DeRemer is going to need help from Rand Paul, Democrats, or both if she wants to become Donald Trump’s labor secretary, reports Semafor’s Burgess Everett.

Paul has called for Chavez-DeRemer to publicly renounce her past support for the pro-Union PRO Act, while Democrats, in response to Trump’s aggressive first weeks, are increasingly holding a harder line against any and all parts of his agenda: “I’m not supporting nominees as long as the lawlessness continues,” Sen. Andy Kim, told Semafor.

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— Alexis Akwagyiram, Preeti Jha, Alexander Onukwue, and Yinka Adegoke.