UAE is Africa's Top Investor | 07.08.2025
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Headlines
📷 UAE Has Emerged as Africa’s Top Investor
Singapore’s Wilmar Investing Additional $70 Million in Nigeria’s Palm Oil
Kenya’s Economic Growth Shifts Lower as Tourism Sector Suffers
South Africa Seeks Extension of Trump Tariff Deadline to Pursue Trade Deal
U.S. Issues Demands to ANC to Normalize Trade Relations
Guinea Ships Record 48.6 Million Tons of Bauxite as China Demand Rises
Nigeria Should Seize the Opportunity in ‘Non-Consumption’
🎦 Trump Confirms Mineral Rights Part of DRC-Rwanda Peace Accord
First Trump-Africa Summit to be Held Next Week
Africa
📷 UAE Has Emerged as Africa’s Top Investor
Over the past decade, and especially in 2024, the UAE has emerged as Africa’s top foreign investor. It has poured billions in port infrastructure, agriculture, and mining projects. Unlike China and Western trading partners, the UAE doesn’t interfere in domestic politics, instead it buys access, influence and leverage aimed at generating stable financial returns.
🚜 One of the most striking aspects of the new imperial model is the nearly million hectares of farmland the Emirati sovereign wealth fund has acquired or leased in Africa and Asia.
🚢 UAE’s DP World has over 100,000 employees of over 160 nationalities, and handles more than 10% of global trade. Africa is in focus for the ports and logistics giant.
⛏️ Moving beyond dominating Africa’s illicit gold trades, the UAE is making large investments across Africa to secure mineral access.
🚀 The UAE is leading the charge from the GCC across Africa, but it’s not alone:
📰 Singapore’s Wilmar Investing Additional $70 Million in Nigeria’s Palm Oil
Wilmar is buying out its UK JV partner in the existing palm business. The $70 million share purchase will give Wilmar a controlling stake as it aims to close the 1.25 tons palm oil supply gap in the West African nation with a population of more than 200 million people. Wilmar has also acquired 8,500 hectares of old rubber plantations in Nigeria to grow crops to produce edible oils… Read More
📰 Kenya’s Economic Growth Shifts Lower as Tourism Sector Suffers
Q1 2025 growth slightly lagged forecasts partially due to halved growth in Kenya’s accommodation and food services sector from 10.9% to 4.1%. The manufacturing sector slowed to 2.1% growth from 3.9% in the previous quarter. Agriculture exceed predictions growing by 6% compared to 4.3% in the previous quarter… Read More
📰 South Africa Seeks Extension of Trump Tariff Deadline to Pursue Trade Deal
U.S. tariffs on South African goods will begin 9 July 2025, unless Trump intervenes. The previously imposed tariffs on exports from South Africa were paused for 90 days to permit time for negotiations. South Africa stands to loose 35,000 citrus workers alone if the ANC can not figure out how to give Trump enough of what he wants to continue to enjoy preferential access to the largest consumer market in the world… Read More
📰 U.S. Issues Demands to ANC to Normalize Trade Relations
In February 2025, Washington DC suspended all U.S. foreign aid to South Africa which totaled nearly $440 million in 2023. The Executive Order also imposed 25–30% tariffs on South African exports, including vehicles and agricultural products. The move threatens the $2 billion auto export sector and undermines tariff-free access under AGOA… Read More
For a country already grappling with 30%+ unemployment, the timing could not be worse. To normalize bilateral relations, the U.S. has set out four preconditions for South Africa to meet:
📰 Guinea Ships Record 48.6 Million Tons of Bauxite as China Demand Rises
Guinea’s bauxite exports, the key raw material for aluminum, jumped 39% to a record 48.6 million metric tons, with most of the shipment bound for China. As the world’s second-largest bauxite producer, Guinea now supplies 70% of China’s bauxite imports.… Read More
📰 Nigeria Should Seize the Opportunity in ‘Non-Consumption’
The average Nigerian household spends more than 50% of its income on food. The Nigerian economy is so structurally and fundamentally unproductive that fixing it would require a deliberate, long-term effort. But if Nigeria’s economy and society can be repaired, the scale of consumption currently unable to take place would be staggering… Read More
🎦 Trump Confirms Mineral Rights Part of DRC-Rwanda Peace Accord
…the US is getting "a lot of the mineral rights from the Congo."
📰 First Trump-Africa Summit to be Held Next Week
The first African leaders’ summit of U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term will be held next week in Washington, bringing together heads of state from Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal — a lineup that has surprised many, including the leaders of Nigeria and Ivory Coast. A broader Africa business summit is scheduled to take place in New York City this September… Read More