Middle East crisis tests African economies [Business Africa]

After a strong 2025, African economies are facing a new threat: the war in the Middle East. The African Development Bank warns it could cost the continent up to 1.5 percentage points of growth this year.

Fuel-importing countries like Malawi, Sierra Leone, and Ethiopia are especially vulnerable—higher living costs, weaker trade balances, and tighter financing all at once, according to the IMF.

What’s different this time is that planners have tool kits. Lessons learned from Covid and the war in Ukraine mean Africa is better prepared than it was for previous shocks.

Amadou Sy, Assistant Director in the IMF's Africa Department, joins us with insights from the Fund's latest economic outlook for the region.

South Africa's energy dilemma

South Africa has bet big on renewables for its energy future. But the Iran war could force a rethink.

Africa's most industrialized economy still relies on coal for more than half its power.

With global energy markets rattled, analysts say Pretoria will likely slow its transition to cleaner energy—to protect its industrial edge.

Benin's industrial bet

Benin is now Africa's top cotton producer, harvesting over 720,000 tons annually since 2021.

For years, most of that crop was shipped raw to Bangladesh. Not anymore.

Benin is making finished garments at home—putting the textile sector at the center of a new industrialization drive.