Kindergarten teacher Fatima Zahera Hagou recalls that just a generation ago, when the sun went down over the Moroccon countryside, her rural village of Dar Laain ground to a halt and locals bedded down for the night. Nowadays, Dar Laain, about 25km southwest of Marrakech, booms with life after dark, thanks to the expansion of the electricity grid. Residents have benefited from youth clubs, a...

The African Development Bank’s Board of Directors has approved a $5 million investment in the SPARK+ Africa Fund to deliver clean cooking solutions to over two million households across Africa. The European Commission will contribute an additional €10 million. The Bank’s investment, which will come from its Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), is expected to enable the...

On November 30, the organization of the G5 Sahel countries held a video-conference summit with the European Union (EU) to discuss the problems of the region. The meeting was also attended by the UN and the African Union. On the agenda were mainly the covid-19 pandemic and its impact on the populations, the debt issue, and the eternal security problem that undermines the...

Ivanhoe Mines announced yesterday it has obtained financing from various lenders for a total of $420 million for its Kamoa-Kakula copper project in the DRC. Part of the funds ($220 million) will be used to purchase underground mining equipment and services from Swedish giants Sandvik AB and Epiroc AB, as well as Finland's Normet Oy. The rest, a credit line allocated by a subsidiary of the...

Gathered last November 28 in Tangiers, Morocco, the Members of Libya’s House of Representatives supporting divided parties in the country agreed to end division and walk together toward peace. At the end of the five days of peace talks held in the Cherifian Kingdom, the Libyan MPs announced that they would convene the country's legislative body for the first time in several years. Indeed,...

The Bank’s Board has approved a new People Strategy for the next five years, designed to enhance the Bank’s standing as the continent’s premier development institution. The strategy seeks to tap the Bank’s human capital – its most valuable resource – to deliver, through the institution’s projects, optimal development results for the people of Africa. A key management commitment...

Southern Africa is the continent's leading region in terms of the number of private equity transactions completed between 2014 and 2019, according to a report published late November by the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (Avca). The region accounts for 26% of the total investments made across the continent, with 311 deals closed for a total of $3.8 billion. South...

Yesterday, the index that measures the value of the US dollar compared to other currencies dropped to 9.75 pts, according to market data. This is the lowest level since early August 2018. This decline trend that started out by mid-May 2020 as a short-lived correction seems to have become permanent. When the coronavirus crisis first broke out, the financial world was faced with a huge challenge...

The French President, Emmanuel Macron, sent on November 30, a letter of congratulations to his counterpart in Guinea, Alpha Condé, for his victory in the presidential election of October 18, 2020. "Following the confirmation by the Constitutional Council of your re-election to the Presidency of the Republic of Guinea, I send you and the Guinean people my best wishes of success," the French...

Sudan needs $147 million to help Ethiopian refugees on its territory. The information was reported on November 28 by Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). According to him, between 500 and 600 refugees cross the border between Sudan and Ethiopia every day. They are fleeing the unrest in the Tigray region between the rebels of the Tigray People's Liberation...