The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun (photo), has announced that the Central Bank has approved a licence for the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN). Speaking on Wednesday, Adeosun said the approval for the licence was granted after the bank met the minimum capital requirement of $326 million, proceeded to the reconstitution of its board and reviewed the structure of its organization. She...

Nigerian Mortgage banks are struggling to survive as job losses and high inflation has hindered customers’ ability to pay their debts. “Over the last year-and-a-half, the recession affected key sectors such as oil and gas, financial and manufacturing. There were a lot of layoffs,” said Udo Okonjo (photo), chief executive officer of Lagos-based real estate broker Fine & Country West...

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) plans to sell N235billion ($765.99 million) short-dated treasury bills at an auction on April 6, 2017. These bills include N35 billion in three-months bill, N33.49 billion in six-month bill and N166.40 billion in one-year bill. CBN aims to sell these bills using a Dutch auction system. Payment is expected a day after the auction. Nigeria's apex bank issues...

As announced in February 2016, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has awarded a €115 million loan to Egypt. The facility is to be dedicated to the construction of a windfarm of a capacity of 200 MW in the Gulf of Suez. “The project is in line with the Bank's objective to provide more finance to renewable energy projects,” said Heinz Olbers, EIB’s director of operations in the...

Cros Agro Allied Ltd, a Nigerian agribusiness company, has announced plans to invest $65 million in Nigeria’s potato sector. In the long term, this should help create over 30,000 jobs in the potato value chain, generate up to $300 million in foreign exchange and create outgrower opportunities for 5,000 farmers. The CEO of Cros Agro Allied Ltd, Olusegun Paul Andrew, who made the...

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has revealed that an outbreak of meningitis in the country has killed 269 people in the last few weeks. Meningitis is the inflammation of tissue surrounding the brain and spinal cord which can be caused by viral or bacterial infections. The centre late on Tuesday noted that as at Monday, 1, 828 suspected cases of the disease were reported with 269...

More than N681.5 billion ($2.2 billion) has been recovered from debtors by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) in the last six years, according to the Corporation's Managing Director, Ahmed Kuru (photo). This was recovered in form of cash, properties and shares. Speaking with Judges of the Federal High Court on Tuesday, Kuru explained that the Corporation has around N1.7 trillion...

Egypt’s minister of investment and international cooperation, Sahar Nasr, signed four agreements with the head of operations of the French Development Agency (AFD), Laurence Breton-Moyet. The agreements which are valued at €259 million mainly aim to support power sector, waste water treament and healthcare. Nasr said the financing is divided in loans and subsidies. The first loan...

Daniel Ruiz, head of the office of the UN mission for stability in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO/Goma), has announced last week-end that the International Criminal Court (ICC) will initiate an investigation on illegal acquisition of lands in Northern Kivu. This was reported by l’Agence de Presse congolaise. “Given the situation of illegal acquisition of various land plots in...

French dairy group Danone plans to become the majority stakeholder in the Tanzanian subsidiary of the Kenyan dairy firm Brookside Dairy. Without disclosing the terms of the acquisition, Danone informed the Tanzanian Fair Competition Commission (FCC) of its plans. The move which is still to be approved by the FCC should see the French company acquire all the shares of the Kenyatta family in the...