The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has extended an Official Development Assistance loan of up to 30 billion Japanese yen ($289 million) to support Mauritius’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic and rebuild its economy. The loan, signed on 24 February, is a parallel co-financing agreement between JICA and the African Development Bank under the Enhanced Private Sector Assistance for...

Real estate ad platform Mubawab, 51%-owned by the Emirati Emerging Markets Property Group (EMPG), is investing $10 million to strengthen its footprint in the Maghreb region. "Mubawab's vision in supporting real estate professionals reinforces our choice to consolidate its position as a major real estate player in the Maghreb," said Haider Ali Khan (pictured), EMPG's managing director for...

The Government of Benin has unveiled a plan to hire contractors for the implementation of the ePassport project. During the Council of Ministers held on February 24, the Head of State Patrice Talon gave the green light for the selection of providers to be entrusted with this task. According to the government, "completely digitalizing the processing of passport applications" is essential to...

Namibia is setting up a common plan with Botswana to find a solution to the water scarcity issue they are both facing. The information was reported yesterday by Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi on Twitter, following a meeting with his Namibian counterpart Hage Geingob. The meeting saw the two Presidents discuss the water challenges their population face and the ways to solve the problem...

Mobile operator Vodafone Egypt will acquire 20% of the capital of e-payment service providers Bee and Masary. An initial memorandum of understanding was signed yesterday between the telecom company and Ebtikar Holding for Financial Investments S.A.E (Ebtikar). The latter is an investment vehicle dedicated to the non-banking financial services sector, created in June 2017 by B Investments, MM...

Revego Africa Energy Fund, an investment fund focused on renewable energy projects in South Africa, plans to list on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange by April 2021. The plan will enable the company to raise R1.5 billion ($101 million) and will serve as a test case for the sustainable energy sector. The energy crisis that the country experienced with Eskom, the state-owned power generation and...

PANGEA-RISK https://www.pangea-risk.com/ published a special report on GHANA: EAST MEETS WEST FOR CLEANER AND MORE RELIABLE GAS SUPPLY, which examines gas’s position in the country’s energy mix. While Ghana has the ability to produce decent amounts of natural gas, the infrastructure for supplying gas produced in Ghana’s offshore blocks in the west to the industrial east is not fit for...

Last year, JSE-listed mining company Anglo American Platinum reported an increase of 38.4% in sales. They rose from R99.5 billion ($6.7 billion) in 2019 to R137.8 billion as of December 31, 2020, their best increase since 2018, even though the company's production fell. This performance was supported by a rise in the price of platinum, its main production. After declining to its 5-year lowest...

Last year, Morocco cashed out MAD42.4 billion ($4.7 billion), less than the amount recorded a year before in tourism revenues. This makes a decline by 53.8% YoY, according to a report issued on Feb. 22 by the Department of Economic Studies and Financial Forecast (DEPF). In 2019, Morocco’s tourism revenues grew by 7.8% and an upward trend was also expected for 2020 but the Coronavirus pandemic...

Axian through its subsidiary TOGOCOM signs a strategic partnership with the Industrial Platform of Adetikope in line with its commitment to the development of the e-industry on the continent. TOGOCOM was born in 2017 from the merger of the national fixed-line incumbent operator and the mobile network operator, Togo Telecom and Togocel respectively. The ambition of the Axian Group is to make...