Ethiopia is deepening its shift from a tightly controlled foreign-exchange regime toward a more market-oriented model, with significant implications for businesses, investors, and households.

African economies are increasingly judged not only by growth rates, but by how easy it is to start, operate, and scale a business. The 2025 World Bank business environment rankings evaluate countries across 10 domains covering a firm’s life cycle—from entry to exit.

Ghana has unveiled its first locally refined gold bars, marking a historic shift from exporting raw gold to processing it at home. For decades, nearly all of Ghana’s gold was shipped abroad unprocessed, leaving much of the value addition in Switzerland, the UAE, and South Africa.