Nigeria falls into recession and caterpillars attack Ivory Coast's cocoa crop

Nigeria in recession

We start this week’s show with a look at the faltering financial fortunes of Nigeria – Africa’s largest economy. For some time now, the International Monetary Fund has been warning that storm clouds gathering will result in a contraction later this year; a gloomy outlook made more bleak, it recently said, by the Brexit vote. Nonetheless, it was still a bit of a surprise last week when Nigeria’s Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun admitted that the country is now, technically, in recession. Michael Dibie and William Bayiha report.

Illicit financing

854-billion dollars. That’s the enormous sum Africa has lost over the past four decades because of illicit financial flows, according to the United Nations conference on Trade and Development. In a new report it says public finances have too often performed badly as governments have borrowed heavily on domestic markets instead of looking to make big savings within the diaspora. Jean-David Mihamle and Ken Karuri have more.

Caterpillar invasion

Many people believe that things have to get worse before they can get better. That old adage may perhaps provide some comfort to Ivory Coast cocoa farmers who have already been suffering this season due to a drought. Now, plantations are under threat in some regions because caterpillars are wreaking havoc by eating through leaves; destroying thousands of hectares of crops in the world’s largest cocoa producer. Elvis Boh and Ruth Lago consider the impact.