What's happening: Africa’s “registry gap” stalls business verification despite instant payments

Cross‑border payments across Africa now settle in seconds, yet confirming a counterpart’s legitimacy can take weeks. The slowdown is traced to fragmented, offline national registries and a lack of cross‑border data harmonisation, creating a “registry gap” that threatens the African Continental Free Trade Area. Recent FATF pressure has prompted South Africa and Nigeria to tighten ultimate beneficiary checks.

Also developing:

• •Saudi Arabia pre‑qualifies eight firms and seven consortia for gas transmission grid projects
• •India and the United States target an interim trade pact by April
• •Vietnam plans up to 350,000 public EV chargers to support a million‑vehicle target by 2030