Trump Turns Gaze to Africa | 06.24.2025
Your curated selection of weekly Africa business and investment headlines.
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Headlines
Zimbabwe Says Gold-Backed Currency Stable but Investor Doubts Persist
Dangote Refinery to Export First Gasoline Cargo to Asia
Nigeria’s Inflation Falls For a Second Month in May
🎦 Lobito Corridor Documentary [Trailer]
Musk Opens First African Subsidiary for Tesla in Morocco
China’s BYD to Nearly Triple South Africa Dealer’s Network
Nigeria-Born Remittance Startup LemFi Buys UK Card Issuer
🎦 Mugabe-Evicted Zimbabwe Farmers Thriving in Zambia (VOANews)
Africa
📰 Trump Turns Gaze to Africa
In May, the White House announced that President Donald Trump will host strategic African leaders across Africa to meet, likely in NYC, later this year. Obama’s and Biden’s Africa summits invited government leaders and focused on political issues. In contrast, Trump plans to invite business leaders and focus the discussion on deepening commercial ties… Read More
📰 Zimbabwe Says Gold-Backed Currency Stable but Investor Doubts Persist
Zimbabwe's gold-backed currency now has more than 100% reserve cover and is stable, according to the central bank which also reported total reserves of $701 million. The bank said the portion of transactions carried out using the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) currency surged to 43% in May from 26% in April 2024, the month it was introduced. Although the exchange rate with the USD has been stable lately, it still trades at a 20% to the world’s reserve currency on the parallel market… Read More
📰 Dangote Refinery to Export First Gasoline Cargo to Asia
A 90,000 metric ton of gasoline from Dangote refinery is set to be exported out of the West African region for the first time, with the shipment bound for Asia. The Dangote refinery might end the decades-long gasoline trade from Europe to Africa, which is valued at $17 billion per year. Last April, the refinery was ranked above Europe's ten largest refineries in capacity… Read More
📰 Nigeria’s Inflation Falls For a Second Month in May
Nigeria's headline inflation rate fell slightly for the second month in May, to 22.97% year-on-year from 23.71% in April, data from its statistics agency showed on Monday. Africa's most populous country has been battling high inflation which soared to repeated 28-year peaks last year. The country experienced six interest rate hikes in 2024… Read More
🎦 Lobito Corridor Documentary [Trailer]
Lobito Bound is the name of the documentary and is scheduled to launch later this year. Watch the trailer:
📰 Musk Opens First African Subsidiary for Tesla in Morocco
Operations will include vehicle importation, sales, servicing, distribution of clean-energy solutions, and management of charging infrastructure. The South African-born billionaire previously attempted to launch in South Africa but was unsuccessful… Read More
📰 China’s BYD to Nearly Triple South Africa Dealer’s Network
The automaker presently has around 13 dealerships in South Africa, with aims to expand that to 30-35 next year. Ford and VW each have over 100 dealerships in the country, and Tesla has zero… Read More
📰 Nigeria-Born Remittance Startup LemFi Buys UK Card Issuer
The acquisition, completed in May, will enable the UK-headquartered LemFi to roll out a credit card product within its app. LemFi raised $53 million in January in a round led by London-based venture capital firm Highland Europe, while Pillar raised $16.9 million in 2022 in a round led by German investor Global Founders Capital, also an investor in LemFi… Read More
📰 DRC Sovereign Wealth Fund in the Works
At the 46th meeting of the Council of Ministers, President Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi instructed the members of the government to draft a bill establishing, organizing and operating a sovereign fund of the Republic to finance major national projects and support the entrepreneurial sector… Read More
