There is no disputing that global markets are changing rapidly in real time. Bloomberg subscription holders probably get more notifications from the cellular app than they get from family and loved ones. The market has always been and probably always will be an ever-changing splatter painting of colours and patterns and just now, Africa has started adding their own hues to the canvas in a big way.

At the New Global Financing Pact summit in Paris, France on Friday the 23rd of June, President Cyril Ramaphosa quite pointedly told a frosty faced Emmanuel Macron that Africans are not “beggars”.

The South African president additionally touched on times in recent history in which Africa has had to come cap in hand to Western states. Relating the difficulties, the African continent faced when trying to obtain vaccines during the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. “We felt we needed access to vaccines and the northern hemisphere countries had bought all the vaccines in the world and they were hogging them, and they didn’t want to release them at the time when we needed them most” the Sowetan born president bemoaned.

Now, questions have arisen at various media agencies as to why President Ramaphosa as well as other African leaders at the Summit chose this line of direct expression during the gathering.

Many analysts have touted the “BRICS” alliance between the developing countries within the coalition as a new backbone for African countries and their alliances to voice their concerns against the West more pointedly. This emerging coalition is being predicted by some to alter the financial system as we know it, in a big way.

Is this true? Only time will tell.

However, what can be said for sure is that during times of market volatility, there are opportunities to capitalise on. ICAP Africa Direct aids market players in this effort. With the use of a holistic range of risk and execution services such as financial derivatives broking, market intelligence and consultancy based on market analytics and data.

The market painting (to labour the introductions analogy) may look very complicated at the moment as all abstract pieces of art do. ICAP Africa Direct can help you make sense of it all.

If you would like to get in touch with us, please email: elizabeth.haskins@icapafrica.org or jason.ramberose@icapafrica.org

We look forward to hearing from you!