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South Africa’s most dangerous criminal networks no longer operate only outside the state. They have pushed into legal industries, public contracts, police forces and political organizations, turning ordinary corruption into a threat to democratic government. The Economist argues that the country can still reverse this process, but only if it treats organised crime as a political system rather than a collection of street-level offences.

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India’s economy grew by 7.8% in the three months to June, defying an oil shock, fuel rationing elsewhere in Asia and forecasts of a much weaker result. The figure appears broadly credible: car sales, lending and electricity use all point to genuine expansion. Yet the government’s celebration has provoked suspicion rather than enthusiasm.

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Ricardo Reis nearly became the IMF’s chief economist. The London School of Economics professor was reportedly passed over after blunt public criticism of Donald Trump, including the argument that tariffs raise prices, reduce efficiency and create opportunities for political favouritism. Those views may have made him awkward for an institution whose largest shareholder is America, but they also fit the IMF’s need for economists willing to tell governments uncomfortable truths.

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Economic stagnation is no longer confined to a few obvious laggards. Around 3.3bn people now live in countries where GDP per person grew at no more than half its pace in the previous decade. That is more than two people in five, up from roughly one in six a decade earlier. For more than 730m people, the measure is actually falling.

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Aliko Dangote’s plan to list his giant Nigerian oil refinery is more than a corporate milestone. It is a test of whether African stockmarkets can turn a recent surge in retail enthusiasm into lasting financial depth.

Dangote, Africa’s richest businessman, launched the continent’s largest-ever initial public offering on September 14th. The refinery hopes to raise at least \$1.6bn at a valuation approaching \$50bn. If that valuation holds when trading begins in November, the company will immediately rank among Africa’s most valuable listed firms. Demand has been intense: one popular trading app crashed when the offer opened, and even rural investors can buy shares through point-of-sale terminals.

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America’s treasury secretary has a diagnosis for the country’s rising borrowing costs: the bond market has a “fever” caused by speculators, and official buy-backs can help restore equilibrium. The article argues that this gets the problem backwards. Treasury yields are high not because the market is broken, but because it is responding rationally to a government that is borrowing heavily while pursuing policies that add to inflation risk.

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Rich countries spent years treating debt as cheap and forgiving. That era is ending just as their borrowing needs are reaching historic highs. In “Bonds-and-chain”, The Economist argues that rising bond yields, persistent deficits and shorter debt maturities are combining into a dangerous feedback loop: higher interest bills enlarge deficits, which require more borrowing, which can push yields higher still.

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China is trying to make its banks finance the next phase of growth while they are still absorbing the last phase’s losses. In “Drip feed”, The Economist argues that a fresh capital injection will help the country’s largest lenders recognise some bad debts and keep extending credit, but is too small to resolve the financial system’s deeper problems.

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The post-pandemic inflation shock seemed to be fading into a soft landing. In “Last mile”, The Economist argues that the descent has stalled: price growth across rich countries is edging upward again, and central banks are beginning to raise interest rates before a temporary energy shock can spread into wages and expectations.

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Artificial intelligence can replace tasks while increasing demand for workers elsewhere. In “Help wanted”, The Economist argues that this second effect is already substantial: its estimate puts American jobs created by AI at roughly one million, compared with about 200,000 announced AI-related layoffs since mid-2023. The article describes an uneven employment expansion, with losses in routine office work alongside demand for people who build, deploy and use the technology.