Navigating Africa's Cybersecurity Landscape

Good day,

Welcome to Africa Finance Today. 

Ministers of trade from across the world are meeting in Abu Dhabi, UAE for the Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The Ministerial is the most important decision-making body of the WTO.

On the agenda, delegations negotiate trade agreements which if members agree to them then these agreements come into force and the entire world will have to follow them. It is a process that begins in Geneva where WTO has its secretariat that very rarely results into tangible results.

It is very rare because it is closer to impossible to get 166 countries of the WTO in one room to agree to one agreement in only two days. That is why some agreements have taken as much as more than two decades to negotiate.

This year, key on the agenda was discussions and negotiations about the reforms of the global trade rules body, disciplining agriculture subsidies, preventing harmful fisheries subsidies, and rules around electronic commerce, among others.

The conference in Abu Dhabi was initially supposed to be held for two days, but it was extended by one day to allow delegations to continue engaging in what the WTO spokesperson described as “intensive and difficult discussions on a package of agreements for adoption” at the Ministerial.

The World Trade Organisation as an intergovernmental organization that promotes global rules of trade has played an important role in setting rules that have promoted globalization and allowed countries to participate in international trade.

However, there are many countries that think the organization is no longer relevant, especially low and lower middle-income countries that believe they have had unfair advantage participating in the WTO and that the rules always favor the most advanced nations.

As a result, members have been demanding to reform the global trade rules body to serve everybody’s interests. This process has been complex, that for many years it has not achieved anything. This has been the case for many other agreements.

This year members adopted a new approach that somehow show optimism to fast-track negotiations. In a typical scenario, each diplomat come up with their proposal then argue whose should be adopted. This time, members first listen to each other’s interests and goals then they come up with a set of rules together – the approach is called “interest-based negotiation.”

This sort of approach has enabled members to achieve more in a short span of period than they did previously. Whether this approach will make it possible for members to achieve tangible results at the Ministerial Conference remains to be seen.

Let’s get down to business!

IT’S A WRAP 🎁 
First, Navigating Cybersecurity Landscape in Africa Proves Hard.

• 🌍️Africa’s battle against cyber threats is raging on. The rapid pace of digitalization on the continent and integration into the global economy demands that Africa takes this battle more serious.

• 📱As more people in Africa adopt the internet, smartphones and other digital tools, cyber criminals increase their targets too. This is even more apparent in industries where hackers target large-scale industrial complexes.

• 🖥️Take for instance, in the second half of 2023, a staggering 36.8% of industrial control systems (ICS) computers in Africa fell victim to malware attacks, with alarming figures of exposure to USB threats, worms, and spyware.

• 💻️Industrial computers are those intended to automate industrial tasks such as production processes or used in commercial processes such as managing transportation tasks and key logistic processes.

• 🇰🇪🇳🇬🇿🇦🇬🇭 In Kenya, 34.55% of industrial computers fell victim of malware targets. In Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa, this rate was 28.8%, 33.17%, and 7.5%, respectively. These revelations paint a sobering picture. And this vulnerability, magnified by a scarcity of cyber defense resources, poses a formidable threat to Africa's industrial prowess.

• 🖱️The proliferation of ransomware, the rise of cosmopolitical hacktivism, and the intricacies of offensive cybersecurity paint a complex tapestry of challenges that demand urgent attention especially in 2024 and the years ahead when cybersecurity firms predict an increase in attacks.

DEEP DIVE
Tanzania is Building Largest Road Infrastructure Network.

• 🇹🇿🛣️Tanzania is undergoing a profound metamorphosis. The emergence of new flyovers, a bus rapid transit line, and an array of road construction projects are what characterizes Tanzania’s commercial capital Dar Es Salaam.

• 🚌🚍️These activities and projects underscore Tanzania's commitment to modernizing its transportation networks, and signals a significant stride towards efficient mobility for both people and goods.

• 🤑🏢The driving force behind this monumental endeavor lies in the vision of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who has steered the nation towards a path of progress since assuming office. President Samia's administration has prioritized streamlining administrative procedures and implementing investment reforms to foster a conducive business environment.

• 🏦Recent collaborations with international partners, such as the World Bank, underscore Tanzania's commitment to modernization. A trillion Tanzanian Shillings financing agreement signed with the World Bank for the development of a 250-kilometer road network in Dar Es Salaam represents a significant milestone in the country's infrastructure agenda.

• 🚃Central to Tanzania's modernization vision is the ambitious Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project, set to revolutionize the nation's rail transport system. With the inauguration of the inaugural trial journey of the electric SGR train from Dar Es Salaam to Morogoro, Tanzania marks a significant leap forward in its connectivity ambitions.

• 🚆🛤️The SGR is also a big deal as it is poised to connect Tanzania’s neighbors such as Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda who rely on Dar Es Salaam port as a major international trade port for the region.

BONUS 💸 
Tanzania Capital Markets Value Rises 31%.

• 🇹🇿The total investment value of Tanzania’s capital markets increased by 31.2 per cent at the end of January this year, thanks to the government initiatives in driving economic growth and development in the country.

• 💹This resulted in an increase in value to the tune of 37.3 trillion Tanzanian shillings at the end of January this year from 28.4 trillion Tanzanian shillings registered at the end of January 2021, according to the Capital Markets Authority’s Chief Executive Nicodemus Mkama.

• 💸Tanzania also saw a 61.6 per cent increase in trading turnover on the Stock Exchange to 9.3 trillion Tanzanian shillings during the three years ended January 31 this year from 5.8 trillion Tanzanian shillings recorded during the corresponding period.

• 🪙The country has introduced several initiatives to grow its capital market, ranging from the development of innovative capital market products and services, promotion of technology-enabled financial service distribution channels, and increasing the number of certified capital market professionals. These efforts seem to be paying off.

• 🇹🇿Tanzania issued the first green bond, first gender Bond in Africa, and celebrated the issuance of a multicurrency Social Bond dubbed “Jamii Bond” raising a tune of 212.94 billion Tanzanian shillings.

What we know

• Rwanda posted its instruments of acceptance of the Fisheries Subsidies agreement at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi, UAE. It is one of the 8 countries to do so. Others are Brunei Darussalam, Chad, Malaysia, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Togo and Türkiye.

• The Fisheries Subsidies Agreement seeks to remove harmful subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing in overseas waters. It is important to note that harmful fisheries subsidies cost countries $22 billion per year. Once into force, the agreement would free up these resources and be directed somewhere else.