On Monday, May 4, the Algerian Minister of Communications, Ammar Belhimer, announced that the fall in oil prices is expected to reduce oil and gas export revenues for the year to $20.6 billion, well below the $37.4 billion announced earlier. The country also expects a drop in foreign exchange reserves to $44.2 billion by the end of 2020, and the level of foreign exchange is...

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has announced in a statement released on Nov 2 that it has granted Tunisia a €180 million loan to regional disparities. The loan which is part of the Programme d’appui au développement regional inclusive (PADRI) will help stimulate regional development in the 16 major governorates by promoting investment, social inclusion and local governance. PADRI...

Morocco’s leading bank, Attijariwafa Bank, has announced on September 19 that it will build a giant tower with offices and apartments in Casablanca Finance City (CFC). The “Borj Attijari” as it is named will cover 54,750 m². To this end, the bank which is owned mainly by the royal family launched a call to tender to pick an architect to manage the project. All interested architects must...

UK’s recent exit from the European Union (Brexit), should impact the economy of developing countries if their free-trade agreements are not maintained. “Developing countries could lose €378 million per year if existing trade agreements with the United Kingdom are not maintained in the event of Brexit,” the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and the UK Trade Policy Observatory said....

Nigeria’s global inflation rate grew by 16.5% at the end of June, revealed indicators released by the National Statistics Office. This is the country’s highest inflation level in the past 11 years (2005), according to data published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Nigerian analysts relates the increase to the devaluation of naira, which made it more expensive to access the currency...

Zambia’s currency, the Kwacha, surged 1.3% on Wednesday March 30, 2016 traded at $11.1 after Mopani Copper Mines’s parent company, Glencore Plc, announced it will invest $1.1 billion to rehabilitate three of its mines. The Swiss miner thus scaled up $150 million the $950 million investment it announced in October 2015. The statement announced a new offer for more...

Only eight African countries have been listed among the countries with low political risks. This was revealed by global business risks consultancy Control Risks in its riskmap published December 14. These are: Morocco, Senegal, Cape-Verde, Seychelles, Namibia, Mauritius and Ghana. However, most countries in Africa exhibit a medium level of political risk. Such are: South Africa, Nigeria,...

Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal announced, on 14 October, that his country will start in 2016 the construction of a big transhipment port linked to the main highways in order to transport goods through Africa. “The construction works of the new commercial port of the central region, to be located between the cities of Cherchell (Tipaza) and Ténès (Chlef), are scheduled to start in...

A new banking establishment has just been created in the Republic of Congo. It is the Banque Sino-Congolaise pour l’Afrique (BSCA – Chinese-Congolese for Africa), which was recently inaugurated according to a communiqué published on 12th October by Sopra Banking Software, a group specialised in the software sector who built the information system of the new bank. BSCA is the result of a...

The Kenyan bank group Equity Bank announced, on 30 September, having obtained the green light from regulators to acquire 79% of the capital of ProCredit Bank Congo. The transaction announced last May, and whose amount has not been revealed, falls within the framework of Equity Bank's expansion plan in Africa. The Kenyan group indeed announced, at the end of last March, that it was...