🔅 The World's Most Crowded City & Africa's Climate Challenge
Plus, A Cash Transfer Experiment in Kenya: A Story of Transformation and Disparity
Photo of the Day
🔴 Johannesburg SE: 3,175.37 (-4.13%)
🟢 Ghana SE: 211.65 (+6.76%)
🟢 Nairobi SE: 2.79 (+3.03%)
🟢 US S&P 500: 5,123.69 (+8.03%)
🟢 Nigerian SE: 26,557.08 (+35.52%)
🟢 Shanghai Composite: 3,046.02 (+2.83%)
South Africa's economy flirted with disaster but avoided recession by a whisker. Thanks to a break in power cuts, industries could breathe, stretch, and churn out a 0.1% growth in Q4.
IMF has advised Nigeria to fix food insecurity as the country's inflation rate skyrocketed to a 30-year high.
In Uganda, the central bank is playing its own game of financial whack-a-mole. The Ugandan shilling decided to play dead, hitting an all-time low. This prompted the bank to respond quickly with a 50 basis point rate hike as inflation crept closer to the central bank's maximum 5% target.
*Data accurate as of the close of markets across the continent
Spotlight Stories
Which City is The World's Most Populated? Hint: It's in Africa
In the latest edition of "Who's Who in Urban Squeeze," the world has been on a doubling spree, with the global population ballooning over the last 50 years. More people are ditching the countryside for city life, cranking up the population density in urban areas to levels that make sardines in a tin look like they've booked a suite.
Now, where's this human Tetris most tightly packed? If you're thinking of taking a leisurely stroll in any of these cities without bumping into a few dozen people, think again. Except for a lone ranger in South America, the 50 most densely packed urban sprawls are staking their claims in Africa and Asia.
India takes the crown with 16 cities. Not too far behind, Pakistan boasts eight towns where you're never alone, and Bangladesh and China throw their hats into the ring with four and three cities, respectively. Egypt waves its flag with five cities on the list, while the Democratic Republic of the Congo makes a showing with four.
But who's the sardine king? Mogadishu, Somalia, has 4.2 million people packed into 49 square miles. That's 86,102 people per square mile.
RCTs and Cash Transfers in Kenya: A Story of Transformation and Disparity
In western Kenya, a financial experiment by GiveDirectly paints a vivid picture of transformation and disparity among villagers. Peter Otedo, a diligent father of six, transformed his living standards by upgrading from a cramped, leaky hut to a robust concrete home, all thanks to a $1,000 windfall. On the other hand, his neighbour, Maurice Marendi, continues to navigate life in a basic clay hut and dreams of educating his son but is untouched by the cash infusion that changed lives around him.
This tale of two realities emerged from a randomized controlled trial (RCT), a method that's basically the research world's way of flipping a coin to decide who gets a financial leg-up, who gets to watch from the sidelines, and comparing the outcome of the two. In this case, while Otedo's family reaps the benefits of random luck, Marendi represents the "what could have been," part of the control group that watches the transformation from the fringes.
Although celebrated for bringing scientific rigour to evaluating poverty alleviation strategies, RCTs have also cast a spotlight on the ethical quandaries and social divides they can exacerbate. This story is a microcosm of these broader debates, illustrating not just the life-changing potential of direct cash transfers but also the lingering questions about fairness, consent, and the true cost of knowledge.
Africa's Climate Cash Crunch: A $2.5 Trillion Dilemma
Africa faces a huge $2.5 trillion shortfall in the funds needed to battle climate change by 2030. This comes from the lips of UN officials, who've crunched the numbers and found the continent at the short end of the global green money stick. Despite having the carbon footprint of a tiptoeing leopard, Africa bears the brunt of climate change's heavyweight punch, with impacts far outweighing its contribution to the global greenhouse gas emissions gala.
The continent pulls in a measly 2% of global investments in clean energy. That's like throwing a couple of coins into a wishing well and hoping for a miracle. Hanan Morsy, the chief economist from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, dropped this bombshell at a conference in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, painting a picture of a continent in dire need of a financial deluge to the tune of $2.8 trillion for clean energy investments by the end of this decade.
Africa's Vanishing Glaciers: An Icy Warning of Climate Change
Hold onto your snow caps because Africa's iconic icy peaks are on a fast track to becoming the stuff of the past. A recent study reveals that Africa's glaciers are putting on their disappearing act, predicting that they could be gone by mid-century. These tropical glaciers in East Africa, frosty anomalies near the equator, have been losing their cool—quite literally.
The Rwenzori Mountains, Mount Kenya, and Kilimanjaro are shedding ice faster than a snowman in the Sahara. Since the dawn of the 21st century, these icy giants have more than halved their size. Kilimanjaro is clinging to only 8.6% of its glacier area, Mount Kenya at a mere 4.2%, and the Rwenzori Range at 5.8%.
The recent study, published on February 12, 2024, in Environmental Research, unveils that the combined glacier area in East Africa has dwindled to a meagre 1.36 square kilometres.
These tropical glaciers are crucial indicators of climate variability and change. Their retreat paints a bleak picture of our warming world, serving as a frosty reminder of the impacts of climate change.
Food for Thought
“He who is unable to dance says that the yard is stony."
— Maasai Proverb