The Ministry of Budget and National Planning and the Sub-Regional Office for West Africa of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) have launched Nigeria’s 2016 Country Profile. Launched in Abuja, the initiative is aimed at providing analysis and recommendations vital to the country’s drive towards economic and social transformation. The new country profile highlights Nigeria’s major...

Last Friday, the national assembly of Senegal has adopted the law to legalize precarious land titles. At the occasion, the minister of economy, finance and planning, Amadou Ba, has revealed that only 122,000 land titles have been issued in the country since 1932. “It is quite difficult to secure a land title. The first deed was issued in 1932; and legislation regulating the process was...

Recent data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has shown that Nigeria’s external reserves increased by $4.18 billion to $30.3 billion at June 29, 2017 from the $26.097 billion at the beginning of the year, a 14.8% improvement from the $26.34 billion recorded in June 2016. Nigeria, Africa’s second most populous country, is currently in its second year of recession...

The Government of Plateau has earmarked N38billion ($109.8million) for the construction of 16 roads this financial year to support rural development and improve the state’s economy, according to Pam Dongs, Plateau commissioner for Works and Transport. He said measures had been taken to ensure that the contracts for the planned roads were awarded to the right contractors. “We are going to...

Randgold Resources announced last Friday that it paid in 2016 $173 million to the governments of African countries where it operates, Miningweekly reported. At the year ended on December 31, 2016, the company paid $161 million to the government of Mali where is located its Morila gold mine as well as its Loulo and Gounkoto projects. In Cote d’Ivoire where it operates the Tongon...

Yesterday, Tunisia’s government announced it has cut fuel subsidy, causing prices of petrol to raise by 6.7%, Reuters reported. This decision which falls in line with one of the reforms imposed to the country by the International monetary fund (IMF), aims at helping reduce its budget deficit. Indeed, it may be recalled that last month, IMF released to Tunisia a tranche of $320 million...

On June 16, 2017, Ecobank requested the approval of its shareholders for the issue of $400 million worth of convertible bonds. Part of the proceeds of the operation ($200 million), according to the group, will be used to pay back the bridge loan that it granted the resolution vehicle it set up to recover non-performing loans of its Nigerian subsidiary as they impair its financial results....

What if land was the answer to the protests currently taking place in Al Hoceima ? Well, it seems the government believes so, according to the minister of agriculture, Aziz Akhannouch, who made the announcement while commencing a visit in the region last Thursday. Others issues brought up by the official on that occasion include land property in rural areas which is one of the main sources of...

Last Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved an $86 million loan for Madagascar after its first review of the country’s economic performance, under a programme backed by an Extended Credit Facility. The money will be provided immediately, bringing total financing under the programme to around $129.61 million. The funding will enable Malagasy authorities pursue the...

The government of Gambia has proposed to cut its budget for 2017 by 6% to 12.24 billion dalasi ($266.8 million). This decision comes in a bid to contain public debt which exploded over the past years. According to Reuters, the country’s public debt which already represented 83.3% of its gross domestic product between 2013 and 2016, rose to 120.3% of this value, last year, under former...