https://africaacrossborders.com/How agreements change the way Africa trades and travelshttps://africaacrossborders.com/stories/cost-of-sending-two-hundred-dollars/https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/cost-of-sending-two-hundred-dollars/In the World Bank’s 2023 destination averages, sending $200 cost 3.30% to Egypt and 5.76% to Rwanda. Those rates equate to about $6.60 and $11.52 on a $200 transfer.https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/cross-border-intellectual-property-charges/https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/cross-border-intellectual-property-charges/South Africa recorded USD 1.66 billion in cross-border intellectual property payments and USD 218.09 million in receipts in 2024. Kenya and Rwanda were closer to balance. The IMF accounts track payments for qualifying rights to use, reproduce or distribute intellectual property.https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/current-account-balances-and-gdp/https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/current-account-balances-and-gdp/Nigeria moved from a current account deficit of 2.05% of GDP in 2019 to a surplus of 7.54% in 2024. Rwanda’s deficit reached 11.96% in 2024. The data show how trade and income flows add up relative to the size of each economy.https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/direct-international-postal-partners/https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/direct-international-postal-partners/Egypt recorded the broadest direct postal reach for business-to-business parcels among seven African economies in 2024. South Africa recorded the second-highest reach for business-to-consumer postal items and gained on Egypt from 2023.https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/export-container-port-dwell/https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/export-container-port-dwell/In a World Bank tracking sample from May to October 2022, the median export container spent 3.0 days at port in Tunisia, 5.3 days in Kenya and South Africa, and 11.0 days in Nigeria.https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/foreign-direct-investment-relative-to-gdp/https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/foreign-direct-investment-relative-to-gdp/Rwanda’s net foreign direct investment inflows rose from 3.79% of GDP in 2024 to 5.91% in 2025. Egypt fell from 11.97% to 4.23%, while South Africa’s 2025 value was negative.https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/fuel-share-of-merchandise-imports/https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/fuel-share-of-merchandise-imports/Fuel made up 39.56% of Nigeria’s merchandise imports in 2022, the highest share among seven African economies tracked here. Kenya followed at 26.45%. Compare the 2022 trade basket with the same countries in 2019 and inspect later national figures where available.https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/goods-exports-to-high-income-markets/https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/goods-exports-to-high-income-markets/In 2023, high-income economies accounted for 78.15% of Morocco’s merchandise exports and 39.61% of Kenya’s. Nigeria’s share rose from 50.28% in 2022 to 64.15% in 2023.https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/ict-service-exports-shares-and-values/https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/ict-service-exports-shares-and-values/Kenya had the highest share of ICT services in total service exports among seven African economies in 2024. Morocco recorded the largest value of ICT service exports in the group, at about USD 2.65 billion. The same trade category produces different rankings depending on the measure.https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/international-migrant-population-share/https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/international-migrant-population-share/In 2024, people counted as international migrants made up 4.1% of South Africa’s population and 3.6% of Rwanda’s. Kenya was at 1.8%, above its 1990 estimate of 1.3% and below its 2015 estimate of 2.4%.https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/intra-african-merchandise-trade/https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/intra-african-merchandise-trade/Afreximbank estimates trade in goods within Africa reached US$213.8 billion in 2025. South Africa accounted for 19.24% of the total, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo at 6.74% and Côte d’Ivoire at 4.83%.https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/liner-shipping-connectivity-quarterly/https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/liner-shipping-connectivity-quarterly/Egypt and Morocco were less than two index points apart in the third quarter of 2026 after starting a year earlier almost 30 points apart. Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana had the next highest scores among the 12 African economies tracked here. The table follows their access to scheduled container shipping from the first quarter of 2021.https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/net-development-assistance-relative-to-income/https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/net-development-assistance-relative-to-income/Net official development assistance received was equivalent to 9.55% of gross national income in Rwanda, 3.99% in Ethiopia and 2.46% in Kenya in 2023. Four other countries in the comparison were below 1%.https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/net-energy-imports-relative-to-use/https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/net-energy-imports-relative-to-use/Morocco’s net energy imports were equivalent to 93.89% of domestic energy use in 2024, while Nigeria remained a net exporter. Egypt crossed into net imports in 2021 in the same series and reached 26.37% of energy use in 2024.https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/pan-african-payment-system-rollout/https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/pan-african-payment-system-rollout/The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System started with a West African pilot and launched commercially in 2022. Its operator reported a 28-country network reach in July 2026 after the Bank of Central African States joined.https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/portfolio-equity-net-inflows/https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/portfolio-equity-net-inflows/Nigeria recorded USD 1.92 billion in net portfolio equity inflows in 2024. South Africa’s recorded balance was negative USD 3.93 billion. This balance-of-payments series tracks a class of cross-border equity investment that sits outside direct investment.https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/refugee-and-asylum-populations/https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/refugee-and-asylum-populations/UNHCR recorded just over one million refugees in Ethiopia at the end of 2025 and 617,125 in Kenya. Egypt recorded 220,033 refugees and 878,268 asylum seekers, two separate categories.https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/registered-airline-passengers/https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/registered-airline-passengers/By 2023, carriers registered in Egypt and Ethiopia had moved above their 2019 passenger totals. Those registered in South Africa and Kenya remained below. The ICAO series assigns traffic to the airline’s country of registration.https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/reserve-assets-in-months-of-imports/https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/reserve-assets-in-months-of-imports/Nigeria’s reserve assets were equivalent to 7.21 months of imports in 2024, compared with 5.67 in South Africa and 1.78 in Ethiopia. The indicator compares reserves at the reporting date with the value of imports during the year.https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/trade-weighted-applied-import-tariffs/https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/trade-weighted-applied-import-tariffs/The published 2022 trade-weighted rates were 11.70% in Kenya, 11.11% in Rwanda, 9.34% in Nigeria and 4.66% in South Africa. The seven-country series has different end years.https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/transport-share-of-service-imports/https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/transport-share-of-service-imports/Transport represented 58.00% of Ethiopia’s service imports in 2024 and 46.89% of Rwanda’s. Kenya’s share was 32.69%. The indicator includes freight and passenger services.https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/visa-openness-index-2025/https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/visa-openness-index-2025/The Gambia and Rwanda tied at 1.000 in the 2025 Africa Visa Openness Index. Kenya was third at 0.962. Across the continent, the report counted visa-free access in 814 country-to-country travel scenarios.https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/wto-trade-facilitation-acceptance-timeline/https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/wto-trade-facilitation-acceptance-timeline/Mauritius accepted the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement protocol on 5 March 2015. Chad and Rwanda accepted it on 22 February 2017, the day it entered into force. The WTO database records later acceptances through DR Congo on 11 July 2025.https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/afcfta-milestones/https://africaacrossborders.com/stories/afcfta-milestones/The African Union adopted the AfCFTA agreement in March 2018. It entered into force in May 2019, trading began under its provisions in January 2021, and a guided trade pilot followed in 2022.