Category: Economy
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Famine looms in Southern Africa: El Niño-driven drought has caused maize shortages
In Southern Africa, maize makes up about 20% of the average diet, consumed as pap, sadza and nshima. The recent decline in production across the region because of the dry and hot weather caused by El Niño is having devastating implications for the people who live in the region. Three countries have already declared a…
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How South Africans are changing their banking habits
South Africans are moving away from traditional banking halls and physical cards to banking on smart devices and cellphones. Standard Bank clients spent R9.3-billion using digital wallets in the past year. It sounds incredible, until you compare it with FNB clients, who spent R31-billion using their smart devices in the six months between July and…
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Mobile money: Sub-Saharan Africa leads banking revolution with nearly half the world’s accounts
Sub-Saharan Africa has dominated the global mobile money landscape since 2013, and now boasts twice as many registered accounts as South and East Asia and the Pacific. According to the GSMA’s 2024 state of the industry report, the region has 835-million registered mobile money accounts, nearly half of the world’s 1.75-billion accounts. Last year, 62-billion transactions worth $912-billion were processed in Sub-Saharan…