• IFC reviewing €7.5M loan for Catramp’s regional logistics expansion in Central Africa
• Project to boost warehouse capacity in Cameroon, Chad, and CAR; €10.1M total cost
• Catramp commits to environmental, social safeguards ahead of IFC board review

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, is reviewing a €7.5 million loan request from Camerounaise de Transactions Maritimes et Portuaires (Catramp), a leading logistics and transport operator in Cameroon.

The financing would help Catramp expand regionally into Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR) while upgrading its existing sites in Douala and Kribi.

Expansion to Address Warehouse Deficit

The expansion is part of a broader regional effort to tackle the shortage of modern warehousing infrastructure in Chad and the CAR. The plan is expected to boost Category A warehousing capacity in Cameroon and neighboring countries, improving storage conditions for local businesses and port operators. The project should also create jobs, use local suppliers, and strengthen workforce training in the logistics industry.

It is valued at about €10.1 million, with €2.6 million to be contributed by the company’s shareholders. Justin Talom holds 85% (including 15% through his holding company, T’s Corporation), while Jean Kuate owns the remaining 15%. The plan will also benefit from the International Development Association’s (IDA) Private Sector Window hybrid finance mechanism, which provides a first-loss guarantee to mitigate risk for investments in low-income countries.

Environmental and Social Commitment

Ahead of the Board’s Dec. 15 review of the loan, the IFC confirmed it had conducted a full environmental and social assessment, including site visits to Catramp’s facilities in Cameroon and meetings with local partners such as Dino & Fils, a wood processing firm. Catramp has committed to a Stakeholder Engagement Plan involving community mapping and a grievance mechanism to prevent adverse impacts and improve project transparency.

 Sandrine Gaingne

• Biovac opens mRNA-capable vaccine lab in Cape Town, backed by global donors
• Facility enables full vaccine production, supporting Africa’s health sovereignty goals
• Project aligns with AU plan to boost local vaccine output to 60% by 2040

The facility will support full vaccine and therapeutic manufacturing for diseases prevalent in Africa. The Cape Town facility is funded by the Gates Foundation, the European Union, and the German government.

Biovac said the lab will allow it to produce vaccines from early development through final formulation using advanced technologies such as messenger RNA (mRNA). It is also expected to make other treatments while fostering innovation and developing homegrown intellectual property.

Advancing African Vaccine Self-Sufficiency

The laboratory includes infrastructure for developing, screening, evaluating, and producing mRNA drug substances. It also houses a specialized suite for nanoparticle formulation, which encapsulates and protects mRNA, as well as dedicated spaces for bacterial and cell culture, cell bank storage, and handling sensitive biological materials.

“The establishment of our new product development laboratory is a major milestone for Biovac and for African vaccines and vaccine innovation. It gives us the capability to develop and test next-generation vaccines using the most advanced technology available, ensuring that Africa is not left behind in responding to current and future vaccine-preventable diseases,” said Biovac CEO Morena Makhoana.

Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation, said the lab “brings the promise of faster, more reliable access to lifesaving vaccines – developed and produced in Africa, for Africa.”

Aligning with Continental Goals

The project supports the African Union’s plan to raise Africa’s share of locally produced vaccines from 1% to 60% by 2040 to strengthen health security. The AU aims to reach that target with support from member states, donors, multilateral lenders, and private-sector initiatives like Biovac’s.

Biovac, 47.5% owned by two South African government agencies, supplies vaccines for the country’s childhood immunization program. It was founded to distribute imported vaccines for the Department of Health before gradually building capacity for final-stage manufacturing, or “fill and finish.”

The company provides vaccines in South Africa for tuberculosis, tetanus, diphtheria, polio, Haemophilus influenzae, and hepatitis B. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Biovac partnered with Pfizer and BioNTech to produce vaccines for the African Union.

Walid Kéfi

• Egypt signs deals for 1,200 MW solar, 720 MWh storage projects

• Projects in Benban, Minya to start operations by 2027

• Part of plan to reach 42% renewables in power mix by 2030

Egypt signed deals on November 5, 2025, with a joint venture to develop two solar power projects totaling 1,200 MW and 720 MWh of battery storage. The agreements involve the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) and the Ministry of Electricity. The projects will be developed by Infinity Power and the Hassan Allam Utilities Energy Platform, a venture that includes Hassan Allam Utilities, the EBRD, and Meridiam.

The first project, rated at 200 MW with 120 MWh of storage, will be built in Benban and is scheduled to begin commercial operations in the third quarter of 2026. The second, larger facility in Minya will provide 1,000 MW and 600 MWh of storage, with commissioning expected in the third quarter of 2027.

“These projects reaffirm our commitment to supporting Egypt’s energy transition and expanding access to sustainable electricity across Africa,” said Ahmed Mulla, Deputy CEO of Infinity Power.

Established to spur investment in energy infrastructure, the Hassan Allam Utilities Energy Platform has 2.3 GW of projects under development worth about $2 billion, plus a pipeline of 1.65 GW valued at $1.5 billion.

The new agreements support Egypt’s target of lifting renewable energy to 42% of the national power mix by 2030 and 65% by 2040, under the country’s Vision 2030 strategy. The projects further strengthen Egypt’s position as a regional leader in sustainable energy and the green transition.

Abdoullah Diop

After several delays, the Association of African Petroleum Producers (APPO) has set a new deadline to make the African Energy Bank operational. A summit of African leaders is planned to mobilize significant contributions toward the bank, which aims for a total capital of $5 billion.

The African Petroleum Producers’ Organization (APPO) plans to hold a summit of Heads of State in the first half of 2026 to raise $500 million for the launch of the African Energy Bank.

The announcement was made on November 5, 2025, by Côte d’Ivoire’s Minister of Mines, Petroleum and Energy, Mamadou Sangafowa-Coulibaly, who recently assumed the APPO presidency for 2026, succeeding Congo’s Minister of Hydrocarbons, Bruno Jean Richard Itoua. Coulibaly was appointed during the 48th APPO Council of Ministers meeting held in Brazzaville on November 4-5.

The Ivorian minister made completing the bank a top priority of his term. The planned $5 billion institution aims to help African countries finance energy projects independently , from exploration to local resource processing. “Completing the establishment of this bank is extremely important,” Sangafowa-Coulibaly said during his inauguration.

Launch Delays Continue

The new announcement follows several missed launch deadlines. In February 2025, Afreximbank Executive Vice President Denys Denya had indicated a mid-2025 start date, noting that teams were still working to raise the necessary capital. The project, first announced in May 2022, is a joint effort between Afreximbank and APPO. Nigeria was chosen to host the bank’s headquarters in July 2024. Three months later, APPO Secretary General Omar Farouk Ibrahim reported that member states had already secured 45% of the projected capital, around $2.25 billion,though detailed contributions have yet to be disclosed.

Filling a Funding Gap

The African Energy Bank is designed to fill the financing void left by international lenders’ withdrawal from fossil fuel projects in Africa, which has constrained capital for oil and gas development. The institution will serve as a pan-African energy development bank, primarily focused on oil and gas projects but also open to renewable initiatives.

Its objective is to give African nations greater financial autonomy over their energy development. The bank will operate across the entire value chain, from exploration and extraction to processing and marketing. The $500 million to be raised at the 2026 summit represents 10% of total capital and will fund start-up operations and initial projects, with the remainder to be mobilized from other partners to reach $5 billion.

Chamberline Moko

• DRC to train 100,000 youth, women for green jobs by 2030
• Plan covers 84 eco-friendly occupations across 11 sectors
• Legal framework aims to align employment with climate goals
  

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has pledged to train 100,000 young people and women over the next five years for green jobs. The initiative forms the core of the National Green Jobs Development Plan (PNDEV), a program aimed at developing skills to meet the challenges of climate change.

The plan was officially endorsed during a workshop held in Kinshasa from October 21 to 28, alongside the National Register of Green Occupations. An inter-ministerial decree signed at the event gave both documents legal force.

Green jobs encompass activities that contribute to protecting and restoring the environment. The DRC has identified 84 such occupations, grouped into 11 professional categories covering fields such as sustainable agriculture, forest management, renewable energy, waste recycling, water management, and green hydrogen production.

The PNDEV, not yet publicly released, is described by officials as a key tool to align the country’s economic transformation with efforts to tackle both unemployment and climate change. In addition to training 100,000 young people and women, the plan includes purchasing training equipment, rehabilitating centers run by the National Institute for Professional Preparation (INPP), training instructors, and establishing a Green Jobs Observatory and an Information Hub.

Employment and Labor Minister Ferdinand Massamba wa Massamba hailed the approval as a “historic step” toward structuring the DRC’s labor market. He said the country now has a legal framework to align skills supply and demand in the green jobs sector, a sign, he added, of the government’s intent to align employment policy with the ecological transition.

Environment Minister Marie Nyange Ndambo said the new framework strengthens the DRC’s position in global climate talks linked to its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). “By leveraging our natural resources through training and employment, we demonstrate that the DRC is not only the lung of the world but also a driving force in the ecological transition,” she said.

Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka urged ministries to integrate the green-jobs dimension into their sectoral programs. “The DRC wants to transition from being an ecological reservoir to becoming a global hub for green jobs,” she said, stressing the need to turn commitments into tangible results.

Boaz Kabeya, Bankable

• Djibouti, Uzbekistan agree to boost ties in education, research
• Deal includes exchanges, joint programs, and 10 student scholarships
• Partnership supports Djibouti’s STEM focus, youth employment goals
  

Djibouti and Uzbekistan discussed ways to strengthen cooperation in higher and vocational education, as well as in science and innovation. The meeting took place on November 1 in Samarkand, on the sidelines of the 43rd session of the UNESCO General Conference, between Uzbekistan’s Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Qong‘irotboy Sharipov, and Djibouti’s Education Minister, Mohamed Mahmoud Mustafa.

According to Uzbekistan’s higher education ministry, the discussions focused on launching joint programs involving student and faculty exchanges, collaborative research, and the adoption of advanced international standards in technical training. The two ministers also agreed to link universities and vocational centers in both countries and to formalize these projects through a long-term cooperation framework.

As an initial step, Uzbekistan will award ten scholarships to students from Djibouti to pursue studies at Uzbek universities and technical institutes in engineering, medicine, information technology, and artificial intelligence. Minister Mustafa described the initiative as “a strategic step toward deepening educational and professional ties between the two countries.”

For Djibouti, the partnership marks an important step toward diversifying technical training and improving youth employability in high-growth sectors. This focus is timely: fewer than 2% of African students under 18 complete school with basic STEM skills, according to a June brief by the UN Office of the Special Adviser on Africa. A 2024 UNESCO report likewise urged African governments to expand STEM education to unlock the continent’s innovation potential.

The agreement comes amid Djibouti’s ongoing education reforms. In July 2025, the country secured a $2.97 million World Bank grant to improve access to schooling and services for young people, particularly those with disabilities, highlighting the central role of human capital in Djibouti’s long-term development strategy.

Félicien Houindo Lokossou

Over the past year, oil suppliers active in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) recorded losses and shortfalls of $31.5 million, down from $288.6 million in 2023 (-89%). Daniel Mukoko Samba, Minister of the National Economy, disclosed the figures on May 6, 2025. This gap is bridged by subsidies.

Without providing specific figures, Calixte Ahokpossi, mission chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), confirmed Samba’s report: “We found that losses and revenue shortfalls have decreased significantly.” Earlier this month, the IMF began the first review of its new program with the DRC.

This sharp decline contrasts with the IMF’s January 2025 report, which estimated deficits of $77 million for the first half of 2024-more than double the annual total now announced by Daniel Mukoko Samba. According to the latest certified figures, shortfalls amounted to $16 million in the first half and $15.52 million in the second half of 2024.

While Congolese authorities have not explained this discrepancy yet, the IMF report notes that the government has pledged “to strengthen transparency in the calculation and certification of losses and shortfalls due to oil companies, by improving the operational capacities of the Strategic Products Price Regulation Committee, set up in February 2023, and by involving all the ministries concerned”. This suggests earlier assessments may have been inaccurate.

Planned improvements include revising methods for calculating revenue losses, rigorously monitoring key parameters influencing petroleum product pricing, and ending the cumulative remuneration of oil logistics companies in the tariff structure by eliminating the mutualization of their operating costs.

Roadmap

These measures are part of a roadmap adopted in November 2023, following a May 2023 audit on the price structure and an IMF technical assistance mission in July 2023. In September 2024, the government launched molecular tagging in the eastern zone to prevent subsidized fuel diversion to ineligible uses. The decision to exclude the mining sector from diesel subsidies in the southern zone also aligns with this reform effort.

The IMF’s July 2024 report acknowledged that the roadmap helped “contain the accumulation of liabilities to oil companies, which were reduced from $545 million to $122 million in 2023.” The institution encourages continued efforts to reduce revenue shortfalls. However, subsidies could rise again in 2025 due to a 13% drop in pump prices, which has increased domestic consumption of finished petroleum products to nearly 50%.

This article was initially published in French by Pierre Mukoko and Boaz Kabeya (intern)

Edited in English by Ola Schad Akinocho

Africa Global Logistics (AGL) announced an investment of CFA4 billion to expand its logistics hub in Kribi, Cameroon. The goal is to keep pace with rising container traffic at the city’s deep-sea port.

Officially opened on June 8, 2022, the Kribi Logistics Hub is now entering its second phase of development. This new stage, expected to wrap up by the end of July 2025, includes 10,000 square meters of new paved yard space and a brand-new 3,000-square-meter warehouse. The extension alone carries a price tag of about CFA3 billion.

AGL Cameroon’s managing director, Thibaut Lamé, shared these updates on May 8, 2025, during a ceremony to mark the commissioning of 10 new container trucks. These vehicles, worth about CFA1 billion, are part of the total CFA4 billion investment package and are meant to meet the growing logistics demand triggered by the launch of Kribi Port’s second container terminal.

The expansion of the Kribi Logistics Hub aligns with the increase in port activity tied to the new terminal. Operated by Kribi Conteneurs Terminal (KCT), a company in which AGL is a key shareholder, the second terminal is set to significantly boost capacity. According to port officials, Kribi’s container handling capacity is expected to jump from 300,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per year to nearly one million TEUs.

To help manage that growth, AGL is paving another 10,000 square meters of yard space in this second phase. That is on top of the 7,700 square meters already completed in the first phase. A third round of expansion is already planned for 2026, which will add similar surface area and bring the total container yard to 2.7 hectares.

The third phase will also include 9,000 square meters of new warehouses. These will be added to the 3,000 square meters under construction now and the 6,000 square meters built during phase one. According to Thibaut Lamé, the new warehouse space will allow AGL to handle a wider range of goods, including rubber and sawn wood, in addition to processed cotton and cocoa, which the Kribi hub began with.

On May 8, 2025, the Ministry of Transport, Communication Routes and Opening-up issued an official letter listing 240 unapproved river and lake ports slated for immediate closure. The document, referenced N° VPM/MTVCD/CAB/563/2025 and signed by Deputy Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Bemba, was addressed to the Ministry of the Interior, Security, Decentralization, and Customary Affairs.

The measure aligns with resolutions from the 46ᵉ and 52ᵉ meetings of the Council of Ministers held on August 28 and October 9, 2020, respectively, focusing on regulating the river sector. It also follows Ministerial Letter No. VPM/MTVCD/CAB/458/2024 dated October 15, 2024, concerning the closure of so-called "illegal" ports.

The listed sites span multiple provinces, with the document specifying the names, locations, and in some cases, the owners of the affected infrastructures.

At the 17ᵉ ordinary Council of Ministers meeting on October 11, 2024, President Félix Tshisekedi instructed the government to enhance safety in river and lake navigation after a shipwreck on Lake Kivu. He emphasized combating clandestine ports, supervising boat construction, and strengthening regular technical monitoring by Ministry of Transport experts.

Following this directive, the Ministry had already initiated an operation to close unauthorized ports in response to a series of incidents on the waterways.

Boaz Kabeya (intern)

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), state-owned Lignes Maritimes Congolaises (LMC) is about to add two vessels to its fleet, according to its Board Chairman Lambert Mende Omalanga. The executive announced the move on May 6 in Matadi, after meeting with Kongo Central Governor Grâce Bilolo. 

“I have come to announce to the governor of Kongo Central province, Grâce Bilolo, that we are about to acquire two floating units to improve working conditions for our provincial management,” Omalanga said.

Mende, a former Communications Minister, emphasized that the two ships have been ordered from shipyards in Rotterdam, Netherlands, as part of LMC’s five-year recovery plan (2023–2027). Under the latter, the firm should buy five new vessels and second-hand multipurpose ships, using state funds. 

The five-year plan aims to bolster the state-owned company’s fleet and increase its share of Congolese foreign trade shipping from 0.3% in 2021 to 2% by 2027. This would represent a growth in transported volume from 45,000 tonnes to 395,195 tonnes.

To support this expansion, LMC also plans to develop dry ports in Matadi, Boma, Lufu, and Kinshasa, reinforce storage facilities in Dar es Salaam, and build a dry port in Kolwezi (Lualaba). The company intends to acquire containers to optimize the logistics chain and improve trade flow.

LMC used to have 10 sea-going vessels, but its whole fleet was liquidated two decades ago. The public shipowner was created in 1974 to handle the international maritime transport of Congolese goods.

Lambert Mende also noted that the government has instructed LMC to collect shipping royalties, a measure intended to compensate the company for past losses.

This article was initially published in French by Ronsard Luabeya (intern)

Edited in English by Ola Schad Akinocho