Latest news with #SubSaharanAfrica
Reuters
7 hours ago
- Automotive
- Reuters
Stellantis to debut Leapmotor's EVs in South Africa this year
JOHANNESBURG, July 22 (Reuters) - Stellantis ( opens new tab plans to sell Chinese-branded electric vehicles developed by its partner Leapmotor ( opens new tab in South Africa starting with the C10 from September, the company said on Tuesday. The C10 is an electric SUV with a petrol engine used purely to charge the battery. More Leapmotor models are expected to be launched next year, including fully electric models, Mike Whitfield, managing director of Stellantis South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, said in a statement. Leapmotor created waves with its recent rollout of the all-electric B10 SUV equipped with smart-driving features and lidar sensing technology for less than $18,000. In 2023, Stellantis bought a 21% stake in Leapmotor for $1.6 billion. The two automakers also formed the joint venture Leapmotor International, in which Stellantis holds a 51% stake. Leapmotor will help the world's fourth-largest automaker widen its range of affordable EVs, as it presses ahead with electrification at a time when other Chinese automakers including BYD ( opens new tab and Chery Auto are aggressively expanding into Africa. "South Africa is a critical market for Stellantis, and we are fully committed to unlocking its potential through product, innovation and meaningful partnerships," Whitfield said. Stellantis, which entered the South African market four years ago, is building a new plant in the country, with a maximum capacity of 100,000 vehicles by 2030. It plans to become the No.1 player in the Middle East and Africa region with one million vehicles sold by 2030, with 35% expected to be electric. In 2024, it sold 500,000 cars in the Middle East and Africa. With over 60% of the South African market concentrated below the 400,000 rand ($22,755) price point, Stellantis' Citroën C3 range is gaining strong traction, with the upcoming C3 Basalt set to complete a competitive lineup in the accessible B-hatch and SUV segments early next year, Whitfield said. Stellantis will also launch the Citroën C3 Hola panel van, its entry into the growing commercial vehicle sector aimed at small business owners. ($1 = 17.5780 rand)
Arab News
3 days ago
- Business
- Arab News
North Africa must look south to boost trade
Rising tariffs, geopolitical fragmentation, and persistent supply chain disruptions are roiling international trade. The World Trade Organization projects a 0.2 percent contraction in the global goods trade during 2025, which could deepen to 1.5 percent if tensions escalate. UN Trade and Development warns that policy uncertainty is eroding business confidence and will slow global growth to 2.3 percent in 2025. Against this backdrop, developing economies are under mounting pressure to diversify partnerships and reduce external dependencies. The pressure is particularly acute in North Africa. The region, comprising Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, and Tunisia, has long been tethered to European economic cycles. In 2023, the EU accounted for 45.2 percent of North Africa's trade, making the region vulnerable to any slowdown in European demand. At the same time, North Africa has played a marginal role in international commerce, accounting for only 3.7 percent of global trade in 2023. But this moment of uncertainty also represents a strategic opportunity for North Africa to look southward toward the fast-growing markets of Sub-Saharan Africa, which currently account for just 2.4 percent of North Africa's total trade. As I, and others, argued nearly a decade ago, stronger economic ties within the continent could reshape regional growth trajectories. That continues to be true today. With economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa estimated at 3.7 percent in 2024 and projected to rise to 4 percent in 2025, the rest of the continent offers many opportunities to North African businesses as an emerging market for manufactured exports, and as a region for the expansion of value chains. North African products, particularly from the automotive, fisheries, food processing, pharmaceuticals, and textiles sectors, would likely be well received in Sub-Saharan Africa, owing to their higher quality and competitive prices. The region's full integration with Sub-Saharan Africa would bring the largest gains in trade. Audrey Verdier-Chouchane Some progress has been made toward increasing intra-African trade and North Africa's role in it. Morocco recently became the continent's leading automobile exporter, for example, with sales of $6.4 billion in 2023. Many of these cars went to West Africa, in part as a result of regional free-trade agreements. Some North African countries belong to economic communities in other regions, including the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, and the Community of Sahel-Saharan States. But it is the ambitious African Continental Free Trade Area, or AfCFTA, that offers the best chance for deeper continental integration. It came into effect in 2021 and has 54 active members, making it the world's largest free-trade area in terms of membership. North Africa could play an important role in driving growth and enhancing trade within this area. The region has about 200 million consumers and occupies a strategic geographical position between Europe, the Middle East, and Sub-Saharan Africa. It also possesses significant natural resources, a diversified industrial base, and relatively well-developed human capital, and economic infrastructure. AfCFTA is widely expected to boost economic growth, private-sector development, investment, and capital flows across the continent. A forthcoming study by the African Development Bank to assess the effect of the free trade area on regional economies, using the Global Trade Analysis Project model, suggests that this is especially true for North Africa. Under every scenario, North Africa's gross domestic product, and its components, are projected to increase by 2031. The region's full integration with Sub-Saharan Africa would bring the largest gains in trade (5.5 percent) and GDP (0.77 percent). The study also predicts that implementing AfCFTA will lead to a decline in poverty and an increase in wages for both skilled and unskilled workers in the region. The main downside of AfCFTA is in the fiscal domain. The African Development Bank study anticipates a reduction of customs revenues in North African countries; the least affected will be those that have already entered into bilateral free-trade agreements, or have relatively high levels of economic diversification and strong productive capacities. There are also major barriers to realizing the potential of intracontinental trade, including inadequate infrastructure, tariff-harmonization challenges, and limited institutional coordination across Africa's regional economic communities. But given the overall potential benefits, North African economies should make implementation of AfCFTA a high priority. Enhanced intra-African trade flows would promote further economic diversification, job creation, investment, and GDP growth, generating long-term prosperity and private sector development in North Africa. In a fracturing global economy, regional solidarity has taken on new importance. By fully committing to AfCFTA and strengthening ties with partners in Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa can chart a new path toward inclusive, resilient, and sustainable growth. • Audrey Verdier-Chouchane is lead economist for the North Africa region at the African Development Bank. ©Project Syndicate
Zawya
6 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
Mobile-phone technology powers saving surge in developing economies
WASHINGTON: More adults than ever in low- and middle-income countries now have bank or other financial accounts, leading to a rise in formal saving, according to the World Bank Group's Global Findex 2025 report. This momentum in financial inclusion is creating new economic opportunities. Mobile-phone technology played a key role in the surge, with 10 percent of adults in developing economies using a mobile-money account to save—a 5-percentage point increase from 2021. In 2024, 40 percent of adults in developing economies saved in a financial account in 2024—a 16-percentage-point increase since 2021 and the fastest rise in more than a decade. Higher personal saving—through banks or other formal institutions—fuels national financial systems, making more funds available for investment, innovation, and economic growth. In Sub-Saharan Africa, formal savings increased by 12-percentage points to 35 percent of adults. World Bank Group President Ajay Banga said, 'Financial inclusion has the potential to improve lives and transform entire economies. Digital finance can convert this potential into reality, but several ingredients need to be in place. At the World Bank Group, we're working on all of them. We're helping countries get their people access to new or improved digital IDs. We're constructing social protection programs with digital cash-transfer systems that deliver resources directly to those in need. We're modernizing payment systems and helping to remove regulatory roadblocks—so that people and businesses have the financing they need to innovate and create jobs.' Bill Gates, Chair of the Gates Foundation, one of the supporters of the Global Findex, added, 'More people than ever have the financial tools to invest in their futures and build economic resilience, including women and others previously left behind. This is real progress. The case for investing in inclusive financial systems, digital public infrastructure, and connectivity is clear—it's a proven path to unlocking opportunity for everyone.' The Global Findex is the definitive source of data on global access to financial services—from payments to saving and borrowing. It highlights a major milestone in financial inclusion: nearly 80 percent of adults worldwide now have a financial account, up from 50 percent in 2011. But 1.3 billion adults still lack access to financial services. Mobile phones could help close this gap: about 900 million adults without financial accounts have a mobile phone, including 530 million with smartphones. Meanwhile, in the Middle East and North Africa, account ownership rose to 53 percent from 45 percent in 2021. In 2024, 17 percent of adults save formally, up from 11 percent in 2021.
Bloomberg
6 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Mobile Money Lifts Africa Savings to Decade High: World Bank
Sub-Saharan Africans boosted their savings at the fastest pace in more than a decade, driven by the growing impact of mobile money accounts across the continent. The share of adults in sub-Saharan Africa who saved through formal channels surged by 12 percentage points to 35% in 2024, the second-highest regional rate after East Asia and the Pacific, according to the World Bank's Global Findex Database 2025.
France 24
6 days ago
- Health
- France 24
Global health aid sinks to 15-year low in 'era of austerity'
Money that provides healthcare to some of the poorest and most in-need people across the world has been dramatically slashed this year, led by the administration of US President Donald Trump. The new study published in the prestigious Lancet journal also pointed to recent steep aid cuts announced by the UK, France and Germany. After reaching an all-time high of $80 billion in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic, the total amount of global health aid will sink to $39 billion this year, the US-led team of researchers estimated. That would be the lowest level since 2009. Such a dramatic change will result in the world entering a new "era of global health austerity", the authors of the study warned. Sub-Saharan African countries such as Somalia, the war-torn Democratic of Congo and Malawi will be hit worst because most of their health funding currently comes from international aid, according to the study. The funding cuts will have a major impact on the treatment and prevention of a range of diseases, including HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, it added The US slashed its global health funding by at least 67 percent in 2025 compared to last year, according to the research. The UK cut its funding by nearly 40 percent, following by France with 33 percent and Germany with 12 percent. The researchers at the US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation called for the world to urgently ramp up health aid. They also warned that nations would likely need find other sources of funding. The study was released as AIDS experts meet in Rwanda's capital Kigali for an international conference on HIV science. The US foreign aid cuts alone are estimated to result in the preventable deaths of more than 14 million people by 2030, according to a different Lancet study published earlier this month.
