Africa - 25 March 2024

25 Mar 2024

AFRICA

• Namibia’s first gigawatt scale green hydrogen project – the $10-billion Hyphen development scheme received a major boost from Germany. The boost came in the form of the German government presenting a letter of intent to Enertrag, confirming the suitability of the project to be designated as a strategic foreign project. Hyphen and the Namibian government aim to begin construction in January 2025, with commissioning of the first phase by the end of 2026. Moreover, the Namibian government confirmed in June that it would take up a 24% equity stake in the project, which is targeting yearly production of one-million tonnes of green ammonia by 2027, and then the two-million tonnes by 2029, mostly for export. (Source)

• The Zimbabwean dollar has breached another significant threshold In less than two months, , dropping below 20 000 against the US dollar after its decline past the 10 000 level in late January, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The local unit’s slide has not drawn a sharp response from authorities, other than saying they are working on creating a “structured currency.” Such a structure may be backed by gold, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has previously said. The central bank has delayed the release of its monetary policy statement while the currency plans are being drafted. The postponement has caused anxiety locally, but most outside investors have already abandoned Zimbabwe’s currency, said Michael Ashley Schulman, chief investment officer and partner at Running Point Capital Advisors. Having a gold backed currency won’t necessarily stop future devaluations from occurring, Schulman added. “The government can still print money and change its currency ratios.” (Source)

• Mega solar plant for Nigeria. Nigeria has signed a deal to build a 20MW hybrid hydro-solar power generating plant, the first instalment in a 300MW project. The project is part of the country's plan to transition to clean and renewable energy solutions. The project will be built in Shiroro in the central Niger state and will be a collaboration between the privately owned North South Power Company and the state-run Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority. (Source)

• Under the African Continental FreeTrade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement by the end of the year, 31 countries are expected to start trading , South Africa’s Department of Trade, Industry and Competition Trade Branch Africa bilateral economic relations chief director John Rocha said during a March 14 Transport Forum webinar. To this end, 54 out of 55 African Union member States have signed the AfCFTA, while 43 have deposited their instruments of ratification. The AfCFTA is aimed at creating a single market for goods and services facilitated by the movement of persons to deepen economic integration of the African continent. Rocha added that the AfCFTA provided significant opportunities for investment in the transport sector. He highlighted that the estimated costs of trucks required because of the AfCFTA implementation was about $345-billion, which would enable the industry to provide about two-million trucks to transport goods across Africa by 2045. He said the agreement was aimed at doubling intra-Africa trade within the first ten years of operation. Supply chain advisory company Sincpoint CEO Lebo Letoalo highlighted that the AfCFTA is the largest free trade area globally connecting 1.3-billion people across Africa. She noted that the agreement had the potential to lift 30-million people out of extreme poverty and that it was expected to boost Africa’s income by $450-billlion by 2035, while adding about $76-billion to the income of the rest of the world. However, Letoalo pointed out that a lack of efficient transport and logistics infrastructure added about 30% to 40% to intra-African trade costs, thereby stifling growth and hindering progress. (Source)