E-Business
The Hanke’s Misery Index: How Africa’s Economic Challenges Are Holding Back the Continent
By Evans Woherem, Ph.D
Introduction
Unleashing the economic potential of any nation requires unwavering commitment and a clear vision. However, Africa, a diverse continent abundant in resources and human capital, faces numerous challenges that impede its development and progress. Political unrest, corruption, poverty, human rights violations, and economic instability cast a dark shadow over many African nations, intertwining to create pervasive challenges that foster instability, hamper development efforts, and uproot countless lives.
These claims are supported by numerous studies, reports, and data. Indices such as the Ibrahim Index of African Governance and the Global Corruption Barometer by Transparency International shed light on governance and corruption levels, revealing systemic issues that contribute to overall distress. Reports from esteemed international organizations like the United Nations and the World Bank offer in-depth analysis, highlighting the multidimensional nature of the problems, including the impact of political instability and human rights violations on societal well-being.
To gain a clearer understanding of the economic challenges faced by African nations, we can look at the 2022 Hanke’s Annual Misery Index. This index provides insight into the economic hardships experienced by countries by considering various indicators. It is a composite measure that takes into account the year-end unemployment rate (multiplied by two), inflation rate, bank-lending rates, and the annual percentage change in real GDP per capita. The index combines these elements to yield the Hanke’s Annual Misery Index (HAMI) score, with higher scores indicating greater economic misery.
According to the 2022 HAMI scores, several African countries ranked among the 50 most severely afflicted nations. Zimbabwe claimed the unfortunate title of the world’s most miserable country with a score of 414.7, followed by Sudan (176.1) and Angola (93.518). Other countries on the list included Ghana (86.8), South Africa (83.492), Rwanda (69.192), Botswana (64.023), Madagascar (63.6), Malawi (63.5), Eswatini (63.1), Gabon (62.4), Sao Tome and Principe (62.3), Congo (Brazzaville) (61.5), Ethiopia (61), Libya (60.3), Namibia (55.7), Lesotho (51.6), Algeria (50.2), Nigeria (47.2), Tunisia (46.905), and Mauritania (45.4).
These nations confront profound challenges and overwhelming hardships, with their misery index scores reflecting the weight of inflation, unemployment, and burdensome lending rates.
The consequences of these elevated misery index scores extend widely within the affected countries. Scarce resources that could otherwise be invested in infrastructure, education, and healthcare are diverted towards addressing immediate needs, impeding long-term development efforts.
Additionally, political instability and human rights abuses erode social cohesion, intensify societal divisions, and constrain opportunities for dialogue and progress. Also, the displacement of millions of people places added strain on already fragile systems, burdening host communities and affecting regional stability.
Furthermore, these consequences transcend national boundaries. The high misery index scores contribute to a negative portrayal of the continent, potentially dissuading foreign investment and impeding economic cooperation. Consequently, the perpetuation of stagnation and economic hardships fosters a cycle of poverty, constraining opportunities for future generations and impeding the achievement of sustainable development goals.
Addressing the complex challenges facing Africa necessitates a comprehensive approach involving good governance, anti-corruption measures, poverty reduction strategies, human rights protection, economic stability, regional cooperation, and technological innovation.
By confronting political unrest, corruption, poverty, and economic instability while drawing inspiration from successful models, African nations can pave the path toward sustainable economic development, social stability, and improved livelihoods.
The following sections will delve deeper into each challenge, exploring their root causes, examining their implications, and discussing potential strategies and solutions.
By recognizing and understanding the hurdles faced by African nations, we can foster informed discussions and contribute to the formulation of effective policies that foster inclusive growth, shared prosperity, and the safeguarding of human rights, thereby transforming Africa’s economic landscape.
Economic Challenges in African Countries
The economic challenges faced by African countries are a matter of concern, with various nations experiencing significant difficulties. This section explores the economic struggles of Zimbabwe, Sudan, Angola, Ghana, and other African nations, shedding light on their specific challenges and rankings on the Misery Index.
This index, developed by Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University, takes into account both the economic performance and the socioeconomic conditions of countries’ populations. Additionally, it highlights the contrast between countries facing misery and those achieving greater happiness, underscoring the uneven progress across the continent.
- Zimbabwe’s economic challenges and unfortunate ranking
Zimbabwe’s economic challenges have led to an unfortunate ranking as the most miserable country in the world for the second consecutive year, according to the 2022 Hanke’s Annual Misery Index. Several factors contribute to this ranking, notably the country’s staggering inflation rate, which reached 243.8% in 2022. Such high inflation erodes the value of the local currency, making it increasingly challenging for individuals to afford basic necessities and maintain a stable standard of living.
Moreover, Zimbabwe faces the hurdle of high lending rates, standing at 131.8%. These elevated borrowing costs make it difficult for businesses and individuals to access affordable credit, hindering investment and impeding economic growth. The lack of adequate financing opportunities stunts the economy’s expansion, resulting in stagnant development.
Trade integration, or rather the lack thereof, is another critical aspect impacting Zimbabwe’s economic situation. The decline in trade integration has restricted the country’s ability to acquire new technologies and attract investment. Trade integration plays a vital role in facilitating the sharing of knowledge, resources, and innovation among countries, which significantly contributes to economic growth. Without this avenue for collaboration and access to new opportunities, Zimbabwe finds it challenging to develop and improve its economic prospects.
The burden of debt and arrears to international financial institutions (IFIs) further exacerbates Zimbabwe’s challenges. The country’s substantial level of debt, coupled with its inability to make timely payments to IFIs, hampers its capacity for investment and development.
Instead of directing resources towards productive sectors and infrastructure, Zimbabwe must allocate a significant portion of its income to debt repayments. Furthermore, the accumulation of arrears makes it increasingly difficult for the country to obtain new loans, thereby limiting its potential for growth.
Consequently, a considerable portion of the Zimbabwean population is grappling with severe financial difficulties, struggling to meet their basic needs. The combination of high inflation, exorbitant lending rates, limited trade integration, and a significant debt burden has created a challenging environment for individuals and businesses alike. Addressing these issues through effective economic policies and reforms becomes crucial to alleviate the financial hardships faced by Zimbabweans and foster sustainable development.
- Sudan’s Economic Challenges and Political Instability
Sudan has been grappling with a range of significant economic challenges that have had a substantial impact on the country. One of the primary concerns is the soaring inflation rate, which reached a peak of 220.71% in April 2022.
However, according to projections by the African Development Bank, there is hope for improvement, with inflation expected to moderate to 83.2% in 2023 and further decrease to 75.5% in 2024.
Simultaneously, Sudan has witnessed a rise in the poverty rate, which reached 66.1% in 2022. This increase is partly attributed to the high unemployment rate of 20.6% during the same year. The economic hardships faced by the Sudanese population are further exacerbated by political instability.
In addition to these challenges, Sudan has been grappling with an ongoing armed conflict since 2011. This protracted conflict has resulted in significant human casualties, with over 500 lives lost, and has displaced more than 1 million individuals.
Furthermore, Sudan is confronted with environmental challenges, including land degradation, temperature increases, droughts, floods, erratic rainfall, and locust invasions. These environmental factors have had a detrimental impact on agricultural output, impeded GDP growth, and destroyed livelihoods.
Despite these formidable challenges, Sudan boasts abundant natural resources, such as arable land, livestock, and minerals. However, the full utilization of these resources has been hindered by financing deficiencies.
Effectively addressing the economic challenges faced by Sudan and overcoming political instability are pivotal steps towards improving the country’s economic prospects and enhancing the well-being of its citizens.
To be Continued …….
Kaspersky has released a report about a phishing campaign where attackers abuse Microsoft’s authentication mechanism. The campaign spanned from early April to mid-May 2026 and was styled as a notice from a law firm.
The goal was to steal victims’ credentials and access their data. Previously Kaspersky warned about phishing exploiting Google Tasks, Google Forms, Bubble and Amazon Simple Email Service.
Microsoft’s authentication mechanism – the OAuth 2.0 Device Authorisation Grant – allows users to log into their Microsoft accounts on devices with limited input capabilities, such as smart TVs, by pasting a code or scanning a QR code on another device, like a smartphone or a PC. This convenience also creates an opportunity for attackers to abuse the flow, potentially hijacking accounts and maintaining control through stolen refresh tokens.
Attackers sent victims emails disguised as communication from a law firm, with a password-protected PDF file attached. After opening the PDF and entering the password, they were presented with a webpage that listed several documents.
Viewing these documents required clicking a provided link, which led to a legitimate Microsoft address. However, the URL parameters were configured to redirect the user to a phishing resource after they opened the Microsoft page.
The phishing page featured multiple CAPTCHAs, presumably deployed to filter out security bots which are used to check websites for threats. Once past the CAPTCHAs, the user was routed to a final page that instructed them to copy a one-time code. This code was the one that the attackers had already fetched by starting the login process on their side.
Clicking the displayed one-time code automatically copied it to the clipboard while simultaneously redirecting the user to Microsoft’s actual, legitimate authentication page where they were prompted to paste and enter the code.
After the user entered the code, the multifactor authentication process completed and the attackers got hold of the session’s tokens. This enabled them to read and send emails from the victim’s mailbox, exfiltrate files from OneDrive and access Teams conversations.
“Threat actors don’t always rely on harvesting credentials or deploying malware to access sensitive data – they can weaponise legitimate tools. Therefore, users must exercise vigilance not only when visiting suspicious sites, but also when navigating official platforms.
“We advise enterprise teams to evaluate the business necessity of the Device Code Flow within their corporate infrastructure. If this authentication mechanism is not required for daily operations, it should be disabled,” commented Roman Dedenok, Anti-Spam Expert at Kaspersky.
To establish a comprehensive defence against Device Code Phishing attacks, organisations should deploy robust email security solutions. For corporate users, Kaspersky Security for Mail Server with its multi-layered defence mechanisms powered by machine learning algorithms provides robust protection against a wide range of evolving threats and offers peace of mind to businesses in the face of evolving cyber risks. For individual users, Kaspersky Premium offers AI-powered anti-phishing features designed to help avoid phishing attacks and improve overall cybersecurity.
Against the backdrop of struggles by small and medium enterprises in Africa to scale their businesses because of lack of formal processes, Ovaloop Technologies has unveiled an inventory solution aimed at supporting retailers across Nigeria and Africa to formalise their businesses.
Combining inventory management, payment processing, accounting and business intelligence, the platform enables retailers to generate accurate financial records, improve operational efficiency, reduce internal fraud and strengthen their ability to access credit.
The company said the expansion of Nigeria’s digital payment ecosystem has created the need for solutions that go beyond processing transactions to helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) manage their day-to-day operations.
Speaking during the company’s launch event in Lagos on Monday, Princewill Mba, CEO and co-founder of Ovaloop Technologies described the platform as an indigenous technology designed to grow and formalize Africa’s retail economy
“Ovaloop is an inventory management system, but we like to always define it as a retail operating system, so think about it as your Microsoft Office. For us, the whole idea is to manage how businesses are being run. So Ovaloop manages your business operation end-to-end, from how you’re taking stock, to how you manage your stock, how you make sales, and how you collect payments,” Mba said.
Mba further noted that the company aims to change the conversation from building products that simply process payments to developing technology that helps retailers manage their entire business operations.
According to him, the formalisation of retail operations will also bring onboard unbanked SMEs, unlocking access to credit facilities which remain one of the major challenges facing SMEs in Nigeria and Africa.
“Most of these retailers are not bankable. They make a lot of money but when they come to collect loans from financial institutions, they struggle, because their cash flow statement is not very accurate, the data they provide to the banks or other financial institutions is not very accurate, and then they can’t work with that data.
“But with Ovaloop, we can generate useful data for them that they circulate to these institutions to help them access funding, and you can’t shy away from the fact that funding is very imperative for businesses to operate smoothly,” he said.
Acknowledging the gap in the inventory space, the CEO disclosed that the company took time to understand business operations across Africa and has built a solution that manages business operations end-to-end.
Mba said there is a huge gap in inventory management solutions across Africa, noting that many businesses still rely on manual record-keeping or disconnected software.
“What we’ve built and why we took this long was for us to understand how Africans operate business, because whether you would like it or not, most businesses are still taking inventory and stock using basic books while others use fragmented tools.
“So there’s a tool that collects your payment. There’s a tool that runs your business and another tool that runs your accounting. But when we talk about Ovaloop, it’s taking all these activities into cognisance. So, from end to end, we can manage your inventory.”
Daniel Kilanko, co-founder and CTO of Ovaloop Technologies commenting on the platform noted that it is easily accessible with strong security software that verifies payments and detects fraud.
“Our Ovaloop Pay Protect will tie every sales transaction to verified payments. So with that, you don’t have to deal with fragmented tools. The tools you are using for your inventory, payments and everything synchronise properly.
“So no transaction can be completed unless a verified payment is linked to that transaction. And with this, we also hope that we will be connecting with other local technology so that you just have one central system that does everything for you end-to-end.”
Kilanko said Ovaloop can be accessed through the web, Android and iOS mobile phones which gives users a complete business overview from anywhere in the world.
The platform will also be linked to various supply chains, enabling users to access products within and outside the country.
Also speaking, Titilope Ejimagwa, chairperson, Ovaloop Technologies, inventory losses and employee theft remain major operational challenges for many entrepreneurs
Ejimagwa recalled losing inventory to trusted employees despite maintaining close oversight of her business, citing nearly four decades of experience in marketing and entrepreneurship.
She noted that technology such as the Ovaloop platform, which can track inventory, verify payments and improve operational transparency, could significantly reduce such losses for SMEs.
“As entrepreneurs, one of our biggest challenges is fraud and inventory losses. Having one platform that helps monitor operations and reduce those risks is a major advantage for businesses,” she said.
Jumia Nigeria, the country’s e-commerce platform, has introduced a new instalment payment option on its marketplace through a partnership with Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) provider Klump, giving customers another way to pay for purchases without bearing the full cost upfront.
The new option allows eligible customers to spread payments for selected purchases over a period of up to 12 months after making an initial deposit of between 20 and 30 percent. The partnership is expected to widen access to products such as smartphones, electronics, home appliances, and other everyday essentials for consumers who may prefer structured repayment plans over one-time payments.
Customers selecting the option at checkout can compare financing offers from participating financial institutions, complete a digital credit assessment, and, once approved, begin repayment through fixed monthly instalments. The introduction of instalment payments comes as digital commerce continues to evolve in Nigeria, with retailers exploring payment options that respond to changing consumer spending patterns and the growing demand for financial flexibility.
Commenting on the partnership, Chief Executive Officer of Jumia Nigeria, Temidayo Ojo, said the initiative reflects the company’s commitment to making online shopping more accessible to a wider range of consumers.
“We are constantly looking at practical ways to remove barriers to online shopping. For many customers, affordability is not always about the price of a product but about having payment options that fit their financial reality. By introducing instalment payments with Klump, we are giving customers greater flexibility while making quality products more accessible.”
He added that expanding payment choices forms part of Jumia’s wider effort to improve the overall customer experience and support the company’s ambition of becoming Nigeria’s everyday retail destination.
“Whether we are strengthening our logistics network, expanding product selection, or introducing new payment solutions, the goal remains the same: to make shopping on Jumia simpler, more convenient, and more accessible for customers wherever they are,” Ojo said.
Founded to simplify access to goods across Africa, Jumia has continued to invest in technology, logistics, and payment solutions to make digital commerce easier for consumers in both major cities and emerging markets across Nigeria.
The addition of instalment payments complements the range of payment methods already available on the platform and comes at a time when consumer demand for flexible financing options is increasing across the retail sector.
Celestine Omin, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Klump, said the partnership aligns with Klump’s objective of expanding access to responsible consumer credit.
“When we started Klump, our mission was simple: to give Nigerians access to affordable credit wherever they shop. Today, we’re pleased to partner with Jumia to bring flexible instalment payments to one of Africa’s largest e-commerce marketplaces, making it easier for more customers to access the products they need,” Omin said.
Under the arrangement, Klump will provide the financing infrastructure while customers complete the application process digitally during checkout. Financing offers are provided through participating financial institutions, subject to approval.
For Jumia, the partnership represents another step in expanding the range of services available on its marketplace while supporting broader efforts to deepen digital commerce and financial inclusion. As more Nigerians turn to online shopping, the availability of flexible payment options is expected to lower one of the barriers to e-commerce adoption, particularly for higher-value purchases.
Customers can access the instalment payment option by selecting Klump at checkout on eligible products available on the Jumia platform.
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