Over the first nine months of 2017, Banque de Tunisie has recorded a net banking product of 192 million Tunisian dinars (TD), Ecofin learned from a statement of the lender. This represents a 13.7% increase compared to the performance recorded last year, over the same period, knowingly 168.8 million TD.   The improvement results from a surge in incomes from banking operations...

In Algeria, a newspaper providing news only in Tamazight, a Berber dialect added to national languages in 2016, will soon be available. This was disclosed on October 22 by Si Hachemi Assad, secretary general of the High Commission for Amazighity (HCA), on a public radio station. According to him, the project has already been elaborated and is ready to be launched in partnership with the ministry...

Since last October 22, 2017, a Belgian economic delegation is in Cote d’Ivoire, in the framework of a 5-day visit aiming to officially “strengthen cooperation” between the two countries. Led by Princess Astrid, this delegation comprises many officials but also a group of 134 Belgian heads of companies. The current mission should allow Belgian economic operators explore the various...

In 2017, the Democratic Republic of Congo will be the nation with the highest gross domestic product in Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), according to the latest report of the African Development Bank (AfDB). The pan-African institution indicates that the country, which is listed as the 12th richest African country in 2017, behind Libya ($47 billion), has tripled its GDP in 12 years,...

US firm Coca-Cola, the world’s leading beverage producer, said it plans to invest $90 million in Kenya between 2016 and 2018, Reuters reported.  The move should allow the company which actually faces rude competition from its rivals SABMiller and Pepsico, to boost its offer in the soft drinks sector, by next year. It falls under a broader strategy involving an investment...

Mining firm Robex Resources said it has launched a new drilling programme of 16,525m at its Nampala gold project, in Mali.  The campaign which will end in December 2017 will enable the firm test mineralization zones’ extensions and confirm the presence of additional mineral resources which could be directly integrated into the development plan to increase the project’s...

The President of Burkina Faso, Roch Christian Kaboré (picture), has last Saturday, launched the special rural electrification programme (PSER). The initiative will provide access to electricity to 22,000 households. Its cost is estimated at CFA25 bilion (about $44.7 million) which will be provided by the World Bank and the Power sector support project (PASEL). PSER’s overall objective is...

Akinwumi Adesina (picture), president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has revealed last Oct. 19, on the sidelines of the 2017 World Food Prize in US, the new strategy of his institution to develop Africa’s agriculture. Entitled “Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation-TAAT”, the strategy aims to modernize Africa’s agriculture through the development and large-scale...

Over the first three quarters of 2017, Algeria’s trade deficit has contracted to $8.14 billion, the country’s national centre for statistics and IT (CNIS) revealed last Sunday, quoted by Xinhua. This is close to 38% down compared to 2016, when this gap stood at $13.11 billion. According to the institution which is attached to the Algerian customs office, this slump is mainly due to...

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) claims from mobile operator Vodafone, the payment of six years of arrears of tax profits. According to the entity, this amounts to Ghc160 million (US$36,125,213). Vodafone, however contests this bill, claiming it made no profits since taking over Ghana Telecom in 2009. In an affidavit that the GRA submitted to the High Court of Justice, subsequent to the...