East African Business Notifier

  Silvia Sgherri Twice in the last century, the foundations of global finance shifted, because the burden placed on the machinery of money became unsustainable.  Today, we are witnessing another shift, driven by the rise of stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). But, this time, change is not unfolding through treaties or exchange-rate policies. The question is no longer which central bank issues the global monetary system’s “anchor” asset, but on whose infrastructure value circulates. When Allied countries agreed in 1944 to establish a post-World War II global monetary architecture based on US economic might and a gold-backed dollar, governments accepted limits on their monetary sovereignty in exchange for stable exchange rates and a reliable supply of global liquidity, provided by the United States.  As capital markets deepened, however, the Bretton Woods system became untenable. In 1971, the US abandoned dollar convertibility to go...

  Dubai’s Digital Insurance MENA conference is opening today, a key platform for cross-regional knowledge exchange this January, with EIRS  actively participating, bringing local  insights about African markets to the fore front . The Africa-headquartered insurance and reinsurance brokerage, which operates with hubs in the UAE and the UK, will be represented by two of its senior executives, Nolwenn Allano, chief commercial officer and Manu Ram, chief product officer, who will contribute to high-level discussions on digital transformation, reinsurance and customer trust. “Digital Insurance MENA provides a powerful platform to exchange ideas that have the potential to shape the future of insurance across high-growth markets,” said Abhishek Jain, chief executive officer, EIRS  Digital Insurance Ecosystem . “Our goal is to share practical, need-driven insights from the field and contribute to building more resilient, inclusive insurance ecosystems.” Showcasing reinsuranc...

Anas Alhajji DALLAS – Nearly two weeks after US special forces invaded Venezuela to capture and extract Nicolás Maduro, many people believe that President Donald Trump was motivated to act by a desire to control the country’s vast oil reserves.  But to what end? Does Trump want to boost profits for the US Gulf Coast refineries equipped to process Venezuela’s heavy crude? Or is the aim to flood the global market, lower oil prices for American consumers, and, as a bonus, break up OPEC? Whatever the goal of commandeering Venezuela’s oil, achieving it depends on whether the country can significantly increase output. Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, at an estimated  300 billion barrels , and has long been at the  center of global energy geopolitics .  Its heavy crude, especially from the Orinoco Belt, has historically played a critical role in supplying refineries optimized for such feedstock, including those along the US Gulf Coast. As a result, man...

Julie McCarthy WARWICK, NEW YORK – The latest United Nations Climate Change Conference ended in a political deadlock. COP30 in Belém produced no agreement to phase out fossil fuels, no binding plan to halt deforestation, and no meaningful increase in support for the countries already drowning – sometimes literally – in climate and ecological losses. For a summit held in the world’s largest rainforest, the symbolism was brutal. But the real story was not the political paralysis on the negotiating floor. It was the unmistakable signal that the economics of climate change have already moved on.  To see the developments that really matter, we can look to corporate balance sheets, sovereign credit ratings, supply chains, and risk pricing. These show that the transition to carbon-neutrality is happening despite the dysfunctional politics surrounding the issue. When it comes to addressing major global risks, politics often fail until the economic math works out. In the case of climate cha...

Jayati Ghosh NEW DELHI – There is a method behind the apparent madness of US President Donald Trump’s transactional, spheres-of-influence approach to geopolitics and the global economy.  Nowhere has this logic been clearer than in his administration’s illegal abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and its ongoing efforts to secure control of the country’s oil reserves by installing a client regime. At the core of Trump’s revival of the Monroe Doctrine – or the “ Donroe Doctrine ,” as he has rebranded it – lies the belief that the United States can act with impunity within its self-defined “backyard,” and that other major powers, particularly China, can do the same in theirs. At the same time, the US reserves the right to advance its strategic interests wherever it sees fit, including Greenland. This approach – aptly described by Indian economist Prabhat Patnaik as “ gangster imperialism ” – harks back to capitalism’s colonial roots, when overt hierarchies among peoples an...

                                        Courtesy PICTURE Next week’s elections in Uganda will take place in an environment marked by widespread repression and intimidation against the political opposition, human rights defenders, journalists and those with dissenting views, says a  report  from the UN Human Rights Office. The report highlights how the authorities have used a series of laws enacted or amended since the last election in 2021, entrenching repression and impunity, particularly against the opposition ,  and restricting the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly ahead of the 15 January polls.   UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called on the Ugandan authorities to uphold the rights of all Ugandans to take part in the public affairs of their country.   “The Ugandan authorities must ensure all Ugandans can parti...

  BY PAUL TENTENA Africa’s quest to trade with itself has never been more urgent.  With the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) gaining momentum, governments are working to deepen intra-African commerce. The idea of “One African Market” is no longer aspirational; it is emerging as a strategic pathway for economic growth, job creation, and industrial competitiveness. Yet even as infrastructure and regulatory reforms advance, one fundamental question remains; how will Africa finance its cross-border trade, across markets with diverse currencies, regulations, and standards? According to Cyprian Rono, the Director, Corporate and Investment Banking for Ecobank in East Africa markets , today ,  only 15  to  18  percent  of Africa’s internal trade happens within the continent, compared to 68  percent  in Europe and 59  percent  in Asia .  Closing this gap  is essential  if  Af...