Africa’s Growth Prospects in 2024: Niger Forecast To Be Fastest Growing Economy
January 11th, 2024
Courtesy of Semafor, an article on Africa’s growth prospects in 2024: Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy is expected to grow by 3.8% in 2024, the World Bank said in a new report. Growth in the region slowed to 2.9% in 2023, from 3.7% and 4.4% in 2022 and 2021, respectively. All but two of the 48 economies in […]
Read more »Scramble for the Sahel – Why France, Russia, China and the U.S. Are Interested in the Region
January 9th, 2024
Via The Conversation, a look at geopolitical and investment interest in the Sahel: The Sahel, a region 3,860km wide located south of the Sahara Desert and stretching east-west across the African continent, has been a focus of attention around the world recently. In the last decade, issues such as terrorism, insecurity and trafficking have characterised the region. Military takeovers have been a […]
Read more »How Gold From The Sahel Finances Africa’s Armed Groups
December 18th, 2023
Courtesy of The Africa Report, a detailed look at how gold from the Sahel finances Africa’s armed groups: The map of small-scale mines from which gold is extracted in the Sahel region notably overlaps with that of areas of activity of various armed groups, putting this precious mineral at the heart of an intense territorial […]
Read more »How Russia’s Big Africa Ambitions Look On The Streets Of Niger
December 13th, 2023
Via WorldCrunch, a report on how – since the West has largely abandoned the fight against terror in the region – Russia’s hour in Africa seems to have come: On our way to meet the man singing Russia’s praises in Niger, a street seller knocks on the car window. He is holding a bunch of […]
Read more »Niger’s Colonial-Style Resource Curse
November 6th, 2023
Via Project Syndicate, an article on how the colonial model of resource extraction persists in Africa’s troubled Sahel region and, unless countries like Niger broaden the distributional gains from the exploitation of their natural wealth, democracy on the continent will remain fragile: Since the ouster of President Mohamed Bazoum in July, Niger, a landlocked West African […]
Read more »Africa’s Longest Oil Pipeline Takes Shape in Niger
November 3rd, 2023
Via France 24, a report on an ongoing oil pipeline project in Niger: At Gaya in southwest Niger, near the border with Benin, the longest oil pipeline in Africa is being built. With a projected length of nearly 2,000 kilometres (1,240 miles) — including 1,250 km in Niger itself — the pipeline will connect oil […]
Read more »Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.