Sub-Saharan Africa has been abuzz with business news this week. Kenya’s President William Ruto met with U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington, where they announced new U.S.-backed investments in green energy and health manufacturing. The two leaders also discussed a plan to reduce Kenya’s high debt load, much of which is owed to China. In other developments, Microsoft has partnered with UAE-based AI firm G42 to invest $1 billion in a data center in Kenya as part of their efforts to expand cloud-computing services in East Africa.
Meanwhile, Ghana has reached a memorandum of understanding with its bilateral creditors, including China and France, to restructure $5.4 billion of debt. This development clears the way for the IMF to approve the disbursement of $360 million under Ghana’s bailout program. A Nigerian court has adjourned a money laundering trial against cryptocurrency exchange Binance and two of its executives due to the illness of one of the defendants. Despite pleading not guilty, Nigeria has blamed Binance for contributing to its currency woes. Finally, shares in BHP Group fell 3% after a takeover proposal from smaller rival Anglo American was rejected by BHP Group. The offer was conditional on Anglo unbundling its platinum and iron ore assets in South Africa, where Anglo holds national significance and general elections are taking place soon.
