veri blog

Pension funds don’t chase ideas.They follow frameworks. For long-term capital to move meaningfully into Africa, it must fit within how institutions actually operate. That means benchmarks. Clear references. Rules that investment committees can understand, approve, and monitor. This is where continental benchmarks matter. Most pension funds — whether African or global — allocate capital relative to an index. Without a credible benchmark, Africa becomes difficult to size, justi

Kenya has just placed a big bet on keeping the lights on – without blowing up its public balance sheet. On Monday, the finance ministry signed a $311 million agreement with Africa50 , the Morocco-based pan-African infrastructure fund, and PowerGrid Corporation of India to design, finance, build and operate two new high-voltage electricity transmission lines and associated substations. The deal will be structured as a public-private partnership (PPP) . A project company led

For more than a decade, African governments surfed a global wave of cheap money. From 2007 to 2024, annual sovereign bond issuance in Africa jumped from about US$70 billion to US$350 billion , while the stock of marketable bond debt ballooned from US$160 billion to US$730 billion . Add in domestic borrowing and loans from multilaterals, China and private lenders, and total public debt on the continent has risen more than fourfold to around US$2 trillion . In 2025, the bill is

In a year when African headlines have been dominated by debt restructurings, currency slumps and rating downgrades, Tanzania has done something unfashionable. It has quietly… behaved. Growth has been robust, inflation low, and its relationship with the IMF not defined by crisis talks, but by steady reviews of a reform programme that is, broadly, on track. At the end of June, the IMF Executive Board signed off on Tanzania’s 2025 Article IV consultation , completed the fifth re

On paper, Zimbabwe’s story in late 2025 looks almost unrecognisable from the crisis headlines of just a few years ago. The World Bank’s latest Zimbabwe Economic Update projects 6.6% GDP growth in 2025 , outpacing most of Sub-Saharan Africa, driven by a rebound in agriculture, services, and renewed investment in mining and steel. Inflation, which has been triple-digit more often than not over the past decade, is now falling sharply : industry data show ZiG-based annual inflat

Kenya is cashing in its crown jewel. In the biggest privatisation move in nearly 20 years, the government has agreed to sell a 15% stake in Safaricom – East Africa’s most valuable company – to Vodacom/Vodafone for roughly $1.6 billion , cutting the state’s holding from 35% to 20% and handing majority control to the South African group. The deal is priced at KES 34 per share , a hefty premium to recent market levels, and includes an upfront payment of about KES 40.2 billion

For years, Senegal was held up as one of West Africa’s “good news” macro stories: steady growth, big infrastructure, a reputation for political stability and reform. Then the numbers changed. In 2024–2025, the new administration revealed billions of dollars in previously undisclosed public borrowing. The IMF now estimates Senegal’s total public sector debt at around 132% of GDP at end-2024 , versus roughly 80% just two years earlier – a jump driven largely by hidden liabiliti

Three years ago, Ghana was the cautionary tale of African finance. After years of heavy borrowing and external shocks, the country defaulted on its international debt in 2022 and scrambled into a $3 billion IMF programme in 2023. Eurobond coupons went unpaid, inflation blew out, the cedi plunged and confidence evaporated. Fast-forward to late 2025 and the headlines look very different. Ghana has: Completed the restructuring of its Eurobonds (around $13 billion) in October 202

Uganda has suddenly become the place where yield-hungry investors go to “squeeze the last drop” out of frontier markets. Offshore holdings of Uganda’s shilling government bonds have surged to around $2.7 billion , about 12% of total domestic government debt – a record high, driven largely by global funds rotating back into high-yield local currency paper. At the same time, the government has pushed out the curve with a 25-year bond , which in its latest auction cleared at a

Kenya is rewriting its debt story in real time. In the space of a few weeks, Nairobi has: Agreed a $1 billion debt-for-food security swap with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC); and Launched a $1.5 billion Chinese-backed highway expansion , with Kenya’s own National Social Security Fund (NSSF) taking equity risk in a 28-year toll concession.() Two very different deals. One goal: create breathing room on the public balance sheet while still funding

For decades, African finance ministers flew to Washington, London or Beijing when they needed capital. Today, a quiet reversal is underway. According to new data from state-owned investor tracker GlobalSWF, African public institutions now manage close to $1 trillion in assets  – a historic high. That pool sits not in foreign aid budgets, but in: Public pension funds Central bank reserve portfolios Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) Public development banks and social security inst

When global investors start talking about “squeezing the last drop out of the lemon,” they’re talking about places like Uganda. In late November, Uganda’s shilling government bond market has quietly become one of the hottest frontier trades in the world. More than $2 billion of Uganda’s domestic government bonds are now held offshore – a record – with S&P Global estimating non-resident holdings at roughly $2.7 billion, about 12% of total domestic government debt . For a coun

On paper, Tanzania is one of Africa’s steadier macro stories. Growth is holding around 6% , inflation sits comfortably inside target, and the IMF has just signed off on another review of a twin financing package that blends classic balance-of-payments support with climate-focused funding. But as 2025 closes, a different narrative is creeping in. In late November, President Samia Suluhu Hassan warned publicly that “financiers are starting to shut the taps” on Tanzania, days

On paper, Kenya’s macro story in late 2025 looks surprisingly calm. Inflation is 4.6% , right in the middle of the government’s 2.5–7.5% target range.   The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK)  has cut its policy rate eight meetings in a row, from 13% in early 2024 to 9.25% today, arguing there is still room to ease. The World Bank  this week nudged its 2025 growth forecast up to 4.9% , citing a rebound in construction and still-solid agriculture. Yet scratch the surface and a more c