A recent report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), says Africa will not get out of its poverty trap if the continent remains dependent on exports of primary products, mainly in the agricultural, mining, and extractive industries. The report showed commodities still account for more than 60 per cent of total merchandise exports in 45 of the 54 countries on the continent.
UNCTAD reveals that knowledge-intensive services, such as information and communication technology, ICT, and financial services, could be a game-changer for Africa. However, they note the sector currently accounts for only 20 per cent of the continent’s services exports.
Below is the Weekly Economic Index from Ventures Africa for the week ending 15th of July, 2022. This economic index gives you a glimpse into recent activities in Africa’s economy as well as changes in prices that could affect it:
Stock markets
Here is how stocks performed in key African markets (Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, and Kenya) at the end of the week:
- Nigeria
The NGX All-Share Index increased by 1.27 per cent to close the week at 52,215.12 basis points.
Top 5 gainers
Academy press PLC – +16.93%
CWG PLC – +12.50%
Caverton offshore support grp PLC – +12.30%
Wema Bank PLC – + 10.00%
Airtel Africa PLC – + 10.00%
Top 5 decliners
Fidson Healthcare PLC – -21.58%
Cornerstone Insurance PLC – – 17.39%
Multiverse Mining and Exploration PLC – – 13.33%
Ikeja Hotel PLC – – 11.36%
N Nig. Flour Mills PLC. – – 9.95%
- Egypt
The EGX 30 closed the week at 8,772.93 points gaining 0.1 per cent from last Friday’s 8,764.25 points.
Top 5 gainers.
Sharm Dreams Co. for Tourism Investment – + 6.30
Dice Sport & Casual Wear– + 5.97
International Co For Investment & Development – + 5.95
Remco for Touristic Villages Construction – + 5.70
Alexandria Spinning & Weaving (SPINALEX) – +5.16
Top 5 decliners
Rights Issue Of Dice Sport and Casual wear – -80.00
Rights issue Of Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank-Egypt – -65.19
Reacap Financial Investments – -5.38
Obour Land For Food Industries – -4.33
El Wadi For International and Investment Development – -4.09
- South Africa
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange closed at 65,088.90 representing a 3.19 per cent decline week-on-week.
Top 5 gainers.
Telkom SA SOC Ltd – +26.08%
Kibo Energy Plc – +25.00%
Alphamin Resources Corp – +12.22%
Grindrod Shipping Hldg Ltd – +10.54%
Tongaat Hulett Ltd – +10.23%
Top 5 decliners
Trustco Group Holdings Ltd – -36.25%
Chrometco Ltd – -14.29%
Jasco Electronics Holdings Ltd – -10.71%
4Sight Holdings Limited – -9.52%
Cloud Atlas AMI Big50 ex-SA ETF – -9.35%
- Kenya
The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index rallied 3.9 per cent from 138.45 to 142.33 points.
Top 5 gainers
Olympia Capital Holdings – +8.00%
Everready East Africa – +4.00%
Nairobi Business Ventures – +3.78%
CIC Insurance Group – +2.97%
Nairobi Securities Exchange – +2.93%
Top 5 decliners
Stanbic Holdings – -10.00%
Standard Group – -9.92%
BK Group – -8.47%
Jubilee Holdings – -4.33%
ABSA Bank Kenya – -3.56%
Currency markets
Here is how Nigeria, Egypt and South Africa’s currencies performed against the US Dollar at the official markets.
- The Nigerian naira started the week at N424.62/$ and closed at N430.33/$1.
- The Egyptian pound started the week at 18.886 EGP/$1 and closed at 18.8825 EGP/$1.
- The South African rand started the week at 17.0857 ZAR/$1 and closed at 17.0766 ZAR/$1
Oil prices
Brent oil started the week at $105.59 and closed at $101.61 on Friday 15th of July.
Crypto markets
The global cryptocurrency market cap stood at $971.72B as of 2 pm WAT on the 17th of July. Here’s how the top three cryptocurrencies performed:
- Bitcoin (BTC) gained 0.38 per cent over the week to reach $21,374.43
- Ethereum (ETH) gained 14.42 per cent over the week to reach $1,353.71
- Binance Coin (BNB) gained 6.52 per cent over the week to $252.18
Tech funding
- Nigerian fintech startup Swipe – a credit-focused tech company powering businesses in Africa by providing credit solutions to enable business growth and expansion through credit purchases has raised USD 500 K in pre-seed funding this year to expand access to its various credit services.
- Zazuu, a cross-border remittance service has recently completed a USD 2 Mn raise from Launch Africa, Founders Factory Africa, Hoaq Club, Tinie Tempah, Jason Njoku CEO IrokoTV, Babs Ogundeyi, CEO Kuda Bank, and other angel investors to build one of the world’s first unbiased remittance payments services for Africans in Diaspora.
- Persistent Energy has raised USD 10 Mn Series C funding to grow its climate venture building business in Africa, in a round led by Kyuden International Corporation.
From the experts
Ibukunoluwa Akinride, an Economist at Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) echoes the United Nation’s sentiment, albeit it is for an export that is not in any way beneficial to Nigeria. He called for the discontinuation of crude exportation – a dominant extractive product in Nigeria for refining on foreign shores. He emphasizes that the whole enigmatic and shady process of exporting and importing crude costs the country in many ways.
“The government is paying heavily and dragging conversations around subsidy has made the pricing around petrol unsustainable. Nigeria does not refine the petrol it consumes, because the refineries are moribund. If you refine within your country you save the extra cost. Saudi Aramco, the most profitable oil company in the world owned by Saudi Arabia produces and refines oil itself. Nigeria should be deliberate about replicating this feat on the African continent and the world at large,” he said.
