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Eastern Africa outpaces continent in growth, but economic divergence clouds integration

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The UN Economic Commission for Africa, office for Eastern Africa convened Ambassadors and High Commissioners accredited to Rwanda for an in‑depth briefing on the region’s economic outlook. A clear takeaway emerged: Eastern Africa is progressing—but not yet progressing together. Speaking at the briefing, Ozonnia Ojielo; UN Resident Coordinator in Rwanda emphasized how African economies are deeply and inextricably interconnected. “What affects one of us inevitably affects us all. A shift in one market is felt in the next. A disruption in a single trade corridor sends tremors through the entire region” he said. Andrew Mold, Director of ECA in Eastern Africa, presented an analysis of the region’s economic performance, highlighting strong growth across key economies but warning of widening disparities, rising social pressures, and increasing dependence on mineral exports. He noted that the region is currently seeing growth rates of close to 6% %,  comfortably exceeding the African avera...
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ENSO neutral conditions expected as La Niña fades, but El Niño chances rise

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  The recent weak La Niña event is expected to fade into ENSO-neutral conditions which may swing to a warming El Niño episode later this year, according to the latest Update from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).   El Niño refers to the periodic large-scale warming of the ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, coupled with changes in the tropical atmospheric circulation, including changes in winds, pressure and rainfall patterns. It usually has the opposite effects of La Niña on weather and rainfall patterns.   WMO Global Producing Centres forecasts indicate a 60% chance of ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) neutral conditions – neither El Niño or La Niña during March–May 2026, rising to a 70% chance during April-June.   During May-July, the chance of neutral conditions is 60%, whilst the chance of an El Niño increases steadily to around 40%.   However, forecast uncertainty increases at longer lead times. Pred...
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AI Will Transform Business, Not Just Jobs

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Diane Coyle CAMBRIDGE – Many people fear that AI could cause a “job-pocalypse.” This year’s Davos gathering  sounded the alarm  over the technology’s implications for employment, while  recent announcements  about job cuts in white-collar industries are widely viewed as straws in the wind. But AI’s broader effects on businesses have not received nearly enough attention. While a majority of firms have so far not adopted AI, according to the most  reliable   surveys , continued uptake will likely be accompanied by significant corporate reorganization. That is because AI is an information technology, affecting decision-making processes. Prior waves of digital technology from the 1990s onwards transformed businesses in several ways. Computational and communications advances underpinned the internet, which became mobile with the arrival of smartphones and wireless network technologies.  They enabled the shift from vertically integrated production to globall...
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Genetec outlines data privacy best practices for physical security teams

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  Genetec Inc . (“Genetec”), the global leader in enterprise physical security software, has shared best practices to help organizations protect sensitive physical security data while maintaining effective security operations.   Physical security systems generate large volumes of information from video footage, access control records, and license plate information. As this data plays a growing role in daily operations and investigations, organizations are under increasing pressure to manage it responsibly amid evolving privacy regulations, rising cyber threats, and heightened expectations around transparency.  “Physical security data can be highly sensitive, and protecting it requires more than basic safeguards or vague assurances,” said Mathieu Chevalier, principal security architect, Genetec Inc . “Some approaches in the market treat data as an asset to be exploited or shared beyond its original purpose. That creates real privacy risks. Organiza...
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The Global Green Financial Divide Is Growing

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Howard Davies LONDON – Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump’s administration drew a flurry of condemnations for its decision to repeal the Environmental Protection Agency’s “endangerment finding”: a formal, evidence-based acknowledgement that greenhouse-gas emissions pose a threat to public health.  Although the change may seem minor, it is anything but. Since 2009, the endangerment finding has underpinned much of the climate-related policymaking at the EPA and other agencies. For the financial world, the implications are more significant than they may initially seem. True, the change does not directly affect the US Federal Reserve’s policymaking. But as Trump suggests, it could reduce short-term cost pressures in high-emissions industries, which may in turn lower inflation by some very small amount. Moreover, the repeal could make the Fed even more cautious in how it weighs the impact of climate change on the economy and the financial sector. Although Fed Chair Jerome Pow...
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Africa Must Achieve Health Sovereignty Before the Next Pandemic

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John Nkengasong TORONTO – The first reports of an unknown respiratory infection spreading in Wuhan, China, came during the quiet days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve in 2019.  At the time, I was director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control, the African Union’s public-health agency, and was trying to recharge after months spent fighting a deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). But, recognizing the severity and urgency of this new virus, I summoned the Africa CDC team back to headquarters in Addis Ababa. The Africa CDC had never confronted a crisis of this scale. Early worst-case projections from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa suggested that up to  1.2 billion Africans  could be infected and over  three million  could die from the disease now known as COVID-19. Coordinating a response for 55 AU member states, with a population of more than one billion people, required using all the expertise and skills at...
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Can fashion deliver jobs and cultural confidence in Africa?

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In a garment studio in Addis Ababa, hundreds of young women work behind rows of sewing machines, cutting fabric for local and export markets. Some enrolled after years working as domestic labourers abroad. Others came seeking work in a city where formal jobs are scarce. A number are former sex workers rebuilding their lives through training and paid work. For Sara Mohammed, the school’s founder, the studio addresses a gap she saw while traveling internationally as a fashion model. On major runways, she rarely encountered Ethiopian garments. What she did see was how branding translated into contracts, factory orders and jobs - a link she felt was missing at home. In 2004, she founded  Next Fashion Design College  in Addis Ababa to connect training directly to employment. Over time, the programme expanded to support returnee migrants and women seeking re-entry into the formal economy. Sara said since its launch, the college has trained more than 5,800 women, about 30 per cent on...
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