The most important developments in sub-Saharan Africa. Six days a week.
Oil above $100 a barrel is now reaching households across southern Africa as governments run out of room to cushion it. Brent crude traded at about $108 on 12 October, and Namibia's September inflation, published on 8 October, rose to 5.4%, a two-year high, with pump prices up 30.4% on a year earlier. Botswana resumed collecting fuel and road levies on 8 October after a six-month tax holiday, Eswatini's Senate approved a 25% rise in short-distance bus and taxi fares on 12 October, and Malawi entered a second week of fuel shortages. Higher transport costs will push up food and wage pressures, while countries short of foreign currency, such as Malawi, face rationing rather than just higher prices.
Rating agencies keep upgrading West Africa's two largest economies after their debt crises. Moody's raised Ghana's rating from Caa1 to B3 on 9 October, citing lower borrowing costs, fiscal discipline and higher gold export earnings, while Fitch moved Nigeria's B rating to a positive outlook the same day. Nigeria's foreign reserves reached $55.07 billion on 8 October, central bank data show, above the bank's year-end projection of $51 billion and up from $32 billion in April 2024. Better ratings cut the cost of new Eurobond issues and draw portfolio money back into local debt, although Fitch warned that Nigeria's federal government spends more than half its revenue on interest.
Egypt's army said on 12 October that it had launched the third phase of an operation against illegal gold mining near the Sudanese border, its first official statement after air strikes on artisanal mining sites on 10 October. The Emergency Lawyers group counted at least 72 dead at Jabal Al-Uqaydat, while survivors quoted by Sudan Tribune put the toll above 200. Egypt said it targeted "criminal elements" after dropping warning leaflets, and Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan ordered a judicial and military inquiry the same day. The strikes strain Burhan's ties with his main regional backer and could push thousands of Sudanese miners away from one of the few income sources left in the war.
Electricity demand from Zimbabwe's mines is rising faster than supply: the sector expects to need more than 1,500 megawatts (MW) within 12 months, up from about 1,000 MW now and 750 MW in 2023–24. Deputy Mines Minister Caleb Makwiranzou gave the figures on 12 October, adding that the country's generation of 1,200–1,600 MW falls about 600 MW short of a 2,200 MW peak. Zimbabwe spent $881.7 million on imported power between January 2021 and March 2026, and miners lose about a tenth of potential output to cuts. Without new plants, lithium, gold and platinum projects will depend on costly imports and their own generators, and the ministry plans terms for independent power producers by mid-2027.
Gridworks and Mozambique's state utility Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) opened pre-qualification for contractors on the Chimuara–Nacala transmission project, Lusa reported on 12 October. The €386 million ($450 million) scheme covers about 460 kilometres of 400 and 220 kilovolt lines between Alto Molócuè, Namialo, Nampula and Nacala-a-Velha, plus new substations; bids close on 24 November. The government announced the project in 2024 with a United Kingdom guarantee, and Gridworks, owned by British International Investment, calls it the country's first privately funded transmission line. The line would unlock about 600 megawatts for the north, where Nacala port and mining projects lack reliable supply, and prepare a future link to Tanzania.
President Daniel Chapo launched dredging works on 12 October to deepen the access channel of Maputo port so it can take container ships of up to 14,000 twenty-foot units (TEU) and about 366 metres long. The channel will handle drafts close to 15 metres and widen from about 110 to 210 metres on straight sections and to 295 metres at bends. The works form part of the investment plan tied to extending the concession of Maputo Port Development Company to 2058. Deeper access lets Maputo compete with Durban for South African, Zimbabwean and Eswatini mineral and container traffic and cut freight costs for the corridor.
