Crypto News: Next Africa: Reimagining Egypt

Welcome to Next Africa, a daily newsletter on where the continent stands now — and where it’s headed. Sign up here to have it delivered to your email. In today’s edition, we look at plans to build a futuristic new city in Egypt. And:

South Africa’s leader wants the UN to reassert itself
Africa’s richest person eyes a lucrative new market
Kenya’s shilling is vulnerable to the energy price shock

Egypt’s Building Bonanza

Egypt, which saw its first building boom more than 4,000 years ago, is seeing a fresh flurry of construction.

The North African nation that’s home to the Pyramids of Giza saw the announcement of another megaproject at the weekend: a $27 billion futuristic city from the Talaat Moustafa Group, Egypt’s largest listed real-estate developer.

Dubbed The Spine and planned for the eastern outskirts of Cairo, it’s set to span 2.4 square kilometers. It will sport green car-free avenues and some 165 tower blocks for residential and business use.

A digital illustration of The Spine. Source: TMG — A digital illustration of *The Spine*.

TMG’s plan is only the latest bid to extend and reimagine greater Cairo, which was founded some 1,000 years ago and is home to more than 20 million people.

Over the past decade, an infrastructure spending spree has delivered a vast network of roads and bridges that’s partly eased notorious traffic jams, and added public transport options including a monorail.

A new administrative capital costing around $58 billion and boasting the continent’s tallest tower has been built in the desert some 45 kilometers east of Cairo’s city center.

Private developers have recently taken the lead.

Last summer, Palm Hills, Mountain View and other companies announced plans to set up a $29 billion residential and commercial project known as Jirian that will use water rerouted from the Nile.

The reshaping goes beyond Cairo. The nation’s tourist-friendly coastlines have been transformed too, most prominently in Ras El-Hekma, a vast Mediterranean headland that helped draw in $35 billion of United Arab Emirates investment in early 2024.

Egypt has been hard hit by the Iran war, setting back efforts to revamp the economy.

Construction of the new Dubai-style developments should help bolster economic growth and limit the fallout. — Tarek El-Tablawy

Tourists take photos in front of the Giza pyramids in Giza, Egypt, on Thursday, May 29, 2025. Orascom Pyramids Entertainment, a company owned by Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, invested 1.5 billion Egyptian pounds to develop the Giza Plateau and will operate it for 15 years through a public-private partnership agreement signed in 2018. Photographer: Islam Safwat/Bloomberg — The Pyramids of Giza.

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What Everyone’s Reading

US President Donald Trump signaled he’s unlikely to extend a two-week ceasefire with Iran that’s set to expire soon, while Iran has yet to confirm it will participate in talks to end a war that’s engulfed the Middle East, upended global trade and killed thousands. The pause in hostilities has mostly held, but Trump has threatened strikes on the Islamic Republic’s power plants if diplomacy fails.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa urged the United Nations to reassert itself in global affairs to safeguard democracy under threat from resurgent nationalism, conflict and widening inequality. His remarks highlight a broader push by emerging economies to challenge what they see as selective enforcement of global rules by major powers.

Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa's president, arrives for a meeting with Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil's president, not pictured, at Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, on Monday, March 9, 2026. Ramaphosa's visit to Brazil will focus on enhancing diplomatic and political relations, as well as economic and commercial relations between the two countries. Photographer: Ton Molina/Bloomberg — Cyril Ramaphosa.

Aliko Dangote wants to expand his Lagos refinery to start producing high-margin chemicals used in cleaning products, targeting Nigerian consumers who currently rely on imports. That will help Africa’s richest person tap a global market that Grand View Research expects to be worth $11.5 billion by 2030. Meanwhile, sources say his fertilizer business is preparing to sell bonds to a small group of investors to raise about $750 million.

Kenya’s shilling is among the most vulnerable currencies in Africa, according to some analysts, who predict the central bank will allow it to weaken over coming months. Strategists at Citigroup, Standard Chartered and Société Générale have flagged the currency’s frailty as high oil prices increase balance-of-payments stress.

The Democratic Republic of Congo will use the proceeds of its debut bond sale to invest in infrastructure, Finance Minister Doudou Fwamba Likunde said. Congo raised $1.25 billion from its sale of dollar debt this month. Also, the central bank will restrict cash transactions in US dollars starting next April to curb money laundering and boost confidence in its currency.

The International Monetary Fund’s mission chief for Senegal met investors in Washington last week, offering fresh details on the country’s economic outlook but stopping short of signaling a breakthrough in talks on a new funding program, sources said.

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Last Word

The $29 billion sale of a cash-and-carry wholesaler that services restaurants and grocery stores across the US marks the culmination of a tumultuous, seven-decade career for Nathan “Natie” Kirsh. With the disposal of Jetro Restaurant Depot to listed food-service giant Sysco, the South African billionaire is monetizing the biggest asset in his family’s global empire. The deal boosted his net worth by about 50% to $15.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.