• Tunisia held the top spot with the strongest African currency, trading at 3.11 TND per USD in 2024.
• Libya followed as the second-strongest, with an exchange rate of 4.83 LYD per USD.
• Morocco maintained a strong regional position, with its dirham trading at 9.94 MAD per USD.
• Botswana’s pula was relatively stable, exchanging at 13.56 per USD, highlighting Southern Africa’s economic steadiness.
• Ghana and Seychelles had closely matched exchange rates, trading at 14.48 and 14.53 to the dollar, respectively.
• South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, and Eswatini all shared almost identical exchange rates of around 18.32–18.33 per USD, showing tight regional monetary coordination.

• Eastern Africa is the continent's fastest-growing region in 2024 with a GDP growth rate of 5.39%, but it also faces the highest inflation at 17.76%.
• Southern Africa has the lowest inflation (3.48%) but also the highest unemployment by far, at 28.64%.
• Western Africa combines growth (3.57%) with low unemployment (4.53%), positioning it as a relatively stable economic zone.
• Central Africa and Northern Africa both lag in GDP growth, at 1.40% and 2.90% respectively, with Central Africa also experiencing moderate inflation and interest rates.
• Interest rates are highest in Western (10.84%) and Eastern Africa (10.12%), reflecting tighter monetary policies likely aimed at controlling inflation.
• Northern Africa’s 11.15% unemployment rate suggests underlying labour market issues despite moderate inflation and interest rates.
• Southern Africa's low interest rate (6.29%) hasn't translated into job creation, indicating that monetary easing alone isn't resolving unemployment challenges.

• Chat and Messaging apps lead globally, engaging 94.5% of internet users as of Q3 2024.
• Social Networks follow closely behind at 94.4%, nearly matching messaging apps in global user engagement.
• Search Engines and Web Portals still see high use, engaging 82.3% of users.
• Email services remain highly relevant, used by 75% of internet users globally.
• Shopping, Auctions, and Classifieds apps are also prominent, used by 74.9% of users.
• Location-based services like maps and ride-sharing apps engage 55.3%, indicating a strong but more practical use case.
• Games remain a niche category, with only 32.6% of users engaging with gaming apps compared to much higher engagement with communication or shopping platforms.

Key takeaways:

• The United States holds the largest national gold reserves in 2024, totalling 8,133.46 tonnes.
• Western European countries in the top ten list collectively hold 9,892.76 tonnes of gold reserves.
• China, India, and Japan are the only Asian countries in the top 10, together holding 4,001.71 tonnes.
• The Russian Federation is the leading gold reserve holder in Central and Eastern Europe, with 2,332.74 tonnes.
• All countries in the top ten list maintain at least 600 tonnes of gold reserves.
• The total gold reserve held by the top ten countries amounted to 24,360.67 tonnes.

Key takeaways:

• China leads all nations with total reserves of $3.46 trillion while holding 5.53% of its share in gold reserves.
• The top 15 countries collectively hold a total reserve of $10.78 trillion.
• Despite being the global leader in gold reserves, the United States ranks third in total reserves.
• The largest share of the United States' total reserves is from its gold reserve holdings of 74.97%.
• Countries in the top fifteen list hold at least $236.9 billion each in total reserves.
• The United States, France, and Italy have more than 70% of their total reserve holdings in gold.

Key Takeaways:

• Ghana led the continent in gold production in 2023, producing 135.11 tonnes, 13.5% of Africa’s total.
• Four countries (Ghana, Mali, South Africa, and Burkina Faso) each produced over 95 tonnes, together accounting for 443 tonnes or 44.1% of the continent’s output.
• West African countries dominated the rankings, with eight nations from the region among the top 15 producers.
• The West African countries in the top 15 combined contributed 525.55 tonnes, more than half (52.3%) of Africa's total gold production.
• South Africa ranked third in Africa with 104.29 tonnes.
• Burkina Faso ranked fourth while contributing almost 10% of Africa’s gold production.

Key Takeaways:

• In 2023, Africa was the world’s leading gold-producing region, with a total output of 1,003.98 tonnes.
• Asia followed with 661.30 tonnes, representing 18.1% of the world’s gold output.
• The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) produced 570.90 tonnes, making up 15.7% of the global total.
• North America and Central & South America contributed 485.17 tonnes and 542.13 tonnes, respectively.
• Oceania was a key producer with 343.29 tonnes, or 9.4% of global output.
• Europe contributed the least, producing only 39.30 tonnes, which is about 1.1% of the total.
• Altogether, global gold production reached 3,646.07 tonnes in 2023.

• The Tunisian dinar stood at TND 2.15 per US$ in 2016 and has since depreciated to TND 3.11 per US$ in 2024.
• Between 2016 and 2019, the dinar saw a strong depreciation.
• 2020 marked a turning point with a 4.16% appreciation, the first notable currency strengthening in the period observed.
• From 2022 onward, the exchange rate has stabilised closely around TND 3.10 to TND 3.11 per US$, with minimal yearly changes of 0.08% and 0.04%.
• The largest year-on-year depreciation occurred in 2017 with a 12.63% change.
• Despite the earlier years of high volatility, Tunisia’s currency performance in the last three years suggests better monetary management and external stability.

• Somalia has the lowest AIDI score in Africa at 7.10, reflecting extremely poor infrastructure across all sectors.
• South Sudan (7.38) and Niger (8.12) rank slightly higher, showing similarly weak infrastructure profiles.
• Ethiopia (13.09) and the Central African Republic (13.23), though more advanced than others on the list, still score under 15.
• Nigeria's AIDI score of 25.70, while not high by global standards, is more than three times higher than Somalia’s, indicating major disparities in infrastructure across the continent.

• An average of ~38,000 RSA accounts use the 25% withdrawal option each year.
• Total amounts tapped rose from ₦19.1B (2019) to ₦35.5B (2023) as balances grew.
• Total amount withdrawn from 2017 through Q3 2024 was ₦198.3B.
• Despite rising amounts, the count of withdrawals fell from ~57,000 in 2017–18 to ~38,000 since 2019.
• Amount withdrawn jumped by 32% in 2023.

• Global cotton production grew by over 160%, from about 9.5 million tonnes in 1961 to 24.8 million tonnes in 2022.
• China’s Reign: 41 years at number one. Biggest output: 7.62M tonnes in 2007.
• USA’s Era: 13 years at the top. Peak production: 5.20M tonnes in 2005.
• USSR’s Legacy: 5 years crowned. Best year: 2.89M tonnes in 1981.
• India’s Late Charge: Only 3 years at number one, but a huge 6.13M tonnes in 2020.
• Shift to Asia: In the early decades, USA dominated; now, it’s mostly China and India running the game.

• Egypt dominated African cotton production for decades, from the 1960s to the early 2000s, standing far ahead of other African countries in both volume and quality.
• The early 2000s marked a major turning point, as West African countries — especially Burkina Faso and Mali — began to overtake Egypt in total production.
• Burkina Faso emerged as the new cotton leader between 2005 and 2015, topping production in key years like 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2012–2015, and later reclaiming the top spot in 2020 and 2022.
• Mali built its cotton strength after 2015, becoming Africa’s number one producer multiple times, peaking at over 334,000 tonnes in 2019.
• Benin and Côte d’Ivoire quietly closed the gap throughout the 2010s, consistently ranking in the top three, even though they didn’t dominate the number one spot.