🔅 A 50km bridge connecting two African countries?
Plus: 🇨🇩 DR Congo's Devastating Floods, 💻 Is AI Taking Away Freelance Writing Jobs in Africa? 🇳🇬 Senators Sentenced for Organ Trafficking Scheme, ☕ And much more...
Photo of the day: Lamu, Kenya
Markets:
🔺 Nigerian SE: 52,579.52 (+0.22%)
🔺 Johannesburg SE: 78,572.33 (+0.56%)
🔺 Ghana SE: 2,670.80 (+1.47%)
🔺 Nairobi SE: 103.60 (+0.53%)
🔺 US S&P 500: 4,138.62 (+0.06%)
🔺 Shanghai Composite: 3,395.00 (+1.81%)
Global Markets: “What recession?” That’s what US employers seem to be saying, as job creation remained robust last month despite higher borrowing costs and turbulence in the banking sector. Employers added 253,000 jobs and the unemployment rate dropped to a multi-decade low. Meanwhile, wages rose 4.4%. All of this is despite the Federal Reserve’s efforts to cool the economy by raising interest rates from near zero to between 5-5.25% over the past year. Generally speaking, higher US interest rates tend to slow economic growth in African countries by making it more expensive to borrow money for businesses and individuals. Despite the warning signs, some economists think the US economy can dodge a recession this time around. However, the past few weeks have seen a flurry of job cuts from major companies like Facebook, Amazon, Disney, and banks.
*Data accurate as of the close of markets across the continent
INFRASTRUCTURE
A 50km bridge connecting two African countries?
Tanzania is setting an example of how to do intra-African trade right.
The country has recently been in talks to build a 50km bridge connecting the mainland to the Zanzibar Islands.
Geofrey Kasekenya, the deputy minister of Works and Transport, said in Parliament that negotiations have started and that investors from China Overseas Engineering Group Company (COVEC) have expressed interest in helping to build the bridge.
It's an ambitious project that was initially proposed in 2020, and some thought it was impossible.
However, science has since shown that the project is feasible — if funds are available.
What else is Tanzania doing to improve trade relations?
The Tanzanian president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, is all about improving trade relations between Tanzania and other East African countries and even West Africa.
Recently, the Tanzanian and Kenyan governments got into talks to build a railway linking both countries, and Tanzania is in partnership with Burundi to build an electrified railway that will initially connect the two nations and pass through the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
President Hassan’s business-focused approach has seen the country experience a massive boost in its foreign direct investments and economic partnerships, making it the fastest-growing economy in Africa.
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OTHER HEADLINES
Across the Continent
🇨🇩 DR Congo's Devastating Floods | Torrential downpours have caused rivers to burst their banks, resulting in at least 401 deaths in DR Congo and 131 in Rwanda. DRC President Felix Tshisekedi has declared a day of national mourning and a team of ministers is headed to the region to coordinate humanitarian aid and disaster management. Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is offering his condolences, calling the floods “catastrophic” and saying it’s “yet another illustration of accelerating climate change.”
💻 Is AI Taking Away Freelance Writing Jobs in Africa? | Collins is a 27-year-old freelancer in Kenya who has been making money writing college essays and assignments for students in the US—but lately, he's noticed his earnings have dropped from around $900-1200 a month to $500-800. He blames it on the rise of AI-generated content tools like ChatGPT, which US students are increasingly using. Collins worries that AI could reduce students’ reliance on freelancers like him in the long run. You can look at this article to learn more about how AI may impact our livelihoods.
🇳🇬 Senators Sentenced for Organ Trafficking Scheme | Ike Ekweremadu, former deputy president of the Nigerian Senate, and his wife Beatrice were sentenced to nine years and four and a half years, respectively, in the UK after being convicted of arranging a kidney transplant for their daughter. A medical “middleman” involved in the scheme was sentenced to 10 years. The organ-harvesting plot was uncovered when the victim—recruited at a Lagos street market and flown to the UK for the procedure—fled and went to the police after discovering the truth. Judge Jeremy Johnson, passing sentence, said that “people-trafficking across international borders for the harvesting of human organs is a form of slavery”.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Proverb of the Day
“Don't call the forest that shelters you a jungle.”
— Ghanaian Proverb.