Malawi is facing a period of heightened fiscal and economic uncertainty, with rising debt pressures coinciding with a politically significant moment following the return of President Lazarus Mutharika. On the 4th of October 2025, President Mutharika was sworn in as Malawi’s 7th President, taking over from ex-President Lazarus Chakwera. This debt update examines Malawi’s current political and economic landscape, and the fiscal and debt sustainability challenges President Mutharika has inherited. Further, the update highlights perspectives from the IMF and analysts, as well as the evolving role of China in Malawi’s borrowing framework. Drawing solely from recent reporting and analysis, the update highlights both the opportunities and risks that the country faces as it navigates this complex macroeconomic environment.

Kenya’s proposed debt-for-food swap represents a strategic convergence of fiscal reform and humanitarian need, offering a potentially transformative pathway to ease macroeconomic pressure while addressing food insecurity. However, the promise of such innovative instruments cannot be realized without robust transparency and public accountability. The government’s vague references to “advanced stages” of negotiation, coupled with the absence of clear details on the structure, costs, and stakeholders involved, undermine public trust and violate the principles of good governance. As Afronomicslaw’s case before the EACJ highlights, transparency is not a procedural formality, it is a democratic imperative. Without full disclosure and meaningful public participation, the true benefits of debt swaps cannot be assessed, and the risk of mismanagement or corruption remains high. Sustainable financing must be matched by sustainable governance where citizens are informed, engaged, and empowered to shape the decisions that affect their future.

The News and Events category publishes the latest News and Events relating to International Economic Law relating to Africa and the Global South. Every week, Afronomicslaw.org receive the News and Events in their e-mail accounts. The News and Events published every week include conferences, major developments in the field of International Economic Law in Africa at the national, sub-regional and regional levels as well as relevant case law. News and Events with a Global South focus are also often included.

The News and Events category publishes the latest News and Events relating to International Economic Law relating to Africa and the Global South. Every week, Afronomicslaw.org receive the News and Events in their e-mail accounts. The News and Events published every week include conferences, major developments in the field of International Economic Law in Africa at the national, sub-regional and regional levels as well as relevant case law. News and Events with a Global South focus are also often included.

The AfronomicsLaw Academic Forum (West Africa) hosted the second edition of the AfronomicsLaw Lab Series on the 23rd of October 2025. This particular session was led by Sâ Benjamin Traoré, who is an Associate Professor at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University. The topic was: "The Imperative of an Africa-focused Approach to Business and Human Rights in Africa".

Ajibo’s The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement: Legal and Policy Frameworks offers a comprehensive analysis of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement, its challenges, prospects, and recommendations for future directions. The book equally explores the AfCFTA Agreement’s expected impact on economic growth, regional integration, and legal harmonisation, together with its Protocols, thereby serving as the go-to text for students, researchers, and legal practitioners interested in the ambitious goals of the AfCFTA Agreement. Although other textbooks have been written about the AfCFTA, Ajibo painstakingly adds some twists to this text as he examines the AfCFTA Agreement together with its protocols, such as the Protocols on Trade in Services, Trade in Goods, Investment, Intellectual Property, Rules on Dispute Settlement, and Competition Policy.

Collins C Ajibo’s important book, The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement: Legal and Policy Frameworks (Routledge, 2024), accomplishes an impressive systematization of the AfCFTA and its protocols, offering critical insights into the policy decisions which inform this international law regime. The AfCFTA is transforming international law, and Ajibo discusses with expertise its most salient innovations, including its extensive interlinkage to sustainable development goals and other regimes, along with concrete proposals for its successful implementation.

The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement: Legal and Policy Frameworks provides a comprehensive assessment of the African economic integration through the prism and principles of international economic law. The analysis is contextualized within the prevailing regional economic integrations, the WTO and the peculiarity of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Similarly, legal analysis is bolstered by the political economy of the AfCFTA, illustrating the complex interplay of diverse factors that shape the AfCFTA.

The News and Events category publishes the latest News and Events relating to International Economic Law relating to Africa and the Global South. Every week, Afronomicslaw.org receive the News and Events in their e-mail accounts. The News and Events published every week include conferences, major developments in the field of International Economic Law in Africa at the national, sub-regional and regional levels as well as relevant case law. News and Events with a Global South focus are also often included.

The African Sovereign Debt Justice Network, (AfSDJN), is a coalition of citizens, scholars, civil society actors and church groups committed to exposing the adverse impact of unsustainable levels of African sovereign debt on the lives of ordinary citizens. Convened by Afronomicslaw.org with the support of Open Society for Southern Africa, (OSISA), the AfSDJN's activities are tailored around addressing the threats that sovereign debt poses for economic development, social cohesion and human rights in Africa. It advocates for debt cancellation, rescheduling and restructuring as well as increasing the accountability and responsibility of lenders and African governments about how sovereign debt is procured, spent and repaid. Focusing in particular on Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Nigeria and Senegal, the AfSDJN will also amplify African voices and decolonize narratives on African sovereign debt . Its activities include producing research outputs to enhance the network’s advocacy interventions. It also seeks to create awareness on and elevate the priority given to sovereign debt and other economic justice issues on the African continent and beyond throughout 2021.