The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) launched on November 21 in Abidjan, in partnership with the European Commission, a fund specially dedicated to financing African start-ups, small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The €150 million fund, named BoostAfrica, should leverage up to a billion euros of new investments, support more than 1500 innovating...

Visiting Niger, the president of the West African Development Bank (BOAD), Christian Adovelande, announced that the Bank would submit to its board two projects worth CFA27 billion to finance road and energy infrastructures in Niger. Regarding the road projects, the funding will be directed to the Bela-Gaya road and the Bela2-Nigerian border and Gaya-Nigerian border junctions. These are...

For the first 10 months of 2016, Morocco's trade deficit stood at 149.17 billion dirham ($14.87bn), up 15.8% compared to same period in 2015, statistics released on Nov 21 by the exchange office show.  From January 1 to October 31, 2016, imports in the country soared 7.5% compared to the same period the year before, to 333.7 billion dirham. The increase concerns equipment goods (+18.3...

Mobile operator Intercel+, subsidiary of Sudanese group Expresso Telecom, announced on November 16 that it signed a partnership agreement with Cambridge Broadband Networks (CBNL) under which CBNL is to deploy high-speed Wi-Fi across the country for Intercel+. The first stage of the project during which the Wi-Fi will be deployed in Conakry has started, Intercel+ revealed.  The next stage...

In Cote d'Ivoire, the local cashew processing sector which is already exempted from export taxes and benefits from fiscal exoneration, just received a new push to grow as the government decided to grant local cashew processors a premium of cfa400 for each kg of processed nuts they export.  The new measure will stand for the next five years and could extend two more years, revealed Adama...

The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG ), has said that the economic recession in the country has affected oil and gas industry as more than 3,000 workforces have been cut back while many others have been dismissed since the recession began. According to the President of NUPENG, Igwe Achese, the current wave of dismissals in the oil and gas sector has become worrisome. He...

In spite of efforts by government to reduce the trade deficit caused by the fall in oil prices, Algeria registered a trade deficit of $ 15.8 billion in 2016 against $ 13.7 billion in 2015. The country, which accounted for 95% of exports of petroleum products, posted export earnings of $ 22.7 billion in October, a decrease of 23.44% from the same period last year. This situation...

Following the approval of the financing of the Coral FLNG development by Eni’s board of directors, the company’s CEO has paid a visit to the President of Mozambique Filipe Jacinto Nyusi (photo, left) in Maputo. Claudio Descalzi (photo, right) at the meeting outlined the progress the company has made on its projects in the country, especially its work on the development of offshore, Area 4....

The independent trustee appointed by the court to manage Morocco's only oil refinery Samir has announced that buyers will be invited to submit expression of interest in the coming weeks but only bids that includes the resumption of production would be considered. Let’s be reminded that the 200,000 barrel per day refinery ran into financial difficulties in 2015 which made it halted production...

In Libya, Waha Oil Co has said that its production has reached over 75,000 barrels per day (bpd) through the Waha and Samah fields and it is expected to increase further once the Jalu field comes online. Output at the Waha field, resumed last month after several blocked ports were reopened and exports from the field, is being directed through the Ras Lanuf terminal, while renovation works are...