The International Growth Centre (IGC) aims to promote sustainable growth in developing countries by providing demand-led policy advice based on frontier research. The IGC directs a global network of world-leading researchers and in-country teams in Africa and South Asia and works closely with partner governments to generate high quality research and policy advice on key growth challenges. Based at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and in partnership with the University of Oxford, the IGC is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID).
These results emphasise the high significance of the transport sector in Kigali’s air pollution levels and the need for further action to address air pollution from the sector.
Kenyan flower exports to Europe fell 50%, affecting about 1 million people.
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Restricting trade to control the pandemic damages livelihoods, especially those of the urban poor. The control of future pandemics must strike a balance between health and economic activity.
African urban dwellers pay 55% more in rentals than their counterparts in other cities in the world.
The demon is not density but rather that African countries have not planned and made the investments necessary to manage the downsides of the type of density found in informal settlements.
Sudanese protesters gather to mark the first anniversary of a raid on an anti-government sit-in, in the Riyadh district in the east of the capital Khartoum on June 3, 2020.
(Photo by Ashraf Shazly/AFP via Getty Images)
Africa’s industries are not growing at the same pace as its cities, leaving the informal economy as the main source of income for many. COVID-19 lockdowns have cut this umbilical cord.
Urban areas are a fertile ground for contagion
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Densely populated urban areas are great drivers of economic development and innovation, but that also makes them a fertile ground for the spread of pandemics.
For Africa’s urban populations, new cities might not be the surest solution.
Tayvay/Shutterstock
Africa is home to the world’s fastest growing cities. However, poor governance has robbed the continent of the benefits of people and firms clustering together.
Constraints to growth and productivity remain notable, particularly in agriculture and manufacturing in Uganda.
EPA/Dai Kurokawa
Metropolitan areas are key to economic prosperity of countries. But this is affected when the population grows too fast like in Uganda’s Kampala, where growth has outpaced infrastructure development.
Uganda’s small and medium sized enterprises would facilitate firm growth.
REUTERS/James Akena
With frequent irregularities, it’s easy to become cynical about elections in Africa. But polls are an essential component of the continent’s growing democracy.
Ugandan worker picking tea as exports in the country grows.
Reuters/James Akena
In the 1980’s Uganda was one of the largest coffee exporters in the world, far ahead of Vietnam which hardly exported any. Now the tables have turned raising interesting comparative questions.
People who fled fighting in South Sudan arrive on the border with Uganda.
Reuters/James Akena
The risk factors at the heart of vulnerability to conflict can be resolved. But the first step is a ceasefire founded on an inclusive and credible agreement underwritten by the international community
An M-Pesa agent and mobile phone shop in Nairobi. A decade after it was introduced economic benefits are being felt.
EPA/Boniface Mwangi
M-PESA was launched nearly a decade ago in Kenya. New evidence suggests that the mobile money banking system has helped reduced poverty levels, particularly in households headed by women.
African trade and economic integration is set for growth.
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The African trade and integration spaces are seeing significant improvements and gathering even more momentum in the face of Brexit. Sarah Logan looks at the driving factors.
US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Reuters/Carlos Barria
To date, neither Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump nor Democratic contender Hillary Clinton have paid significant attention to Africa as part of their campaign efforts.