The UK’s Barclays is investing close to £3bn in South Africa to get control of that country’s biggest retail bank, Absa – the biggest foreign purchase ever by the British group. The deal has been approved by regulators and has the support of sufficient shareholders to be successful, after almost a year of behind-the-scenes talks.

The UK is charging hard on debt and there are signs that July’s summit of G8 leaders in Gleneagles might produce a deal on further relief for the world’s poorest countries, writes Paul Melly.

Regional integration and better cohesion with the world economy are desirable aims but the path towards them is long, hard and littered with a plethora of trade agreements, writes François Misser in Mali’s capital, Bamako.

The impasse in elections for the presidency of the African Development Bank has far-reaching implications, reports Patrick Smith.
It was the outcome nobody wanted: a deadlock in the elections for the new president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) after five rounds of voting on May 18 at the annual meetings in Abuja, Nigeria.

Sub-Saharan Africa remains dogged by problems but in many countries there are signs of a real upturn, marked by the emergence of domestic capital markets, write Jon Marks in Cape Town, Thalia Griffiths in Nairobi, Kevin Godier and Paul Melly.
No wonder Africa has been placed so high on the Gleneagles G8 agenda by a UK government anxious to show that its concern for a more just international order goes beyond military intervention in the Balkans, Africa and the Middle East.

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development is a fine blueprint for progress and needs support from everyone, says Baroness Lynda Chalker.

Tito Mboweni details the South African Development Community’s little-known macroeconomic and monetary convergence programme.

Baledzi Gaolathe remains committed to privatisation and has the state telephone firm and banks in his sights.

Polycarpe Abah Abah knows that he will not enjoy the political capital of strong election results forever.

Joseph Kabila has the world community on his side with debt relief and sustained aidflows in the pipeline.