Last year, Rwanda recorded economic growth of 9.4% and GDP reached 9,105 billion Rwandan francs (about $9.6 billion). Figures were provided by the country’s National Institute of Statistics (NISR). NISR says the good performance was driven by agriculture (24%), industry (18%) and services (49%) sectors. Agriculture was supported by growth in food crops (4%), while growth in export crops...

Ecobank Transactional Incorporated (ETI) has recorded a loss of 17.2% on the Nigerian Stock Exchange since its 2019 performance results came out. On March 23, the company first lost 9.18% in a volume of 2.8 million transactions, before losing another 8.9% the following day. According to Ade Ayeyemi, the Chief Executive Officer of the financial group, the 2019 results reflect the resilience of...

On the night of March 23, the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, announced a nationwide lockdown of 21 days effective midnight on Thursday 26 March, ending on April 16th, 2020, to limit the propagation of covid-19 in the country. But the Minister of Trade and Industry, Ebrahim Patel (pictured) says telecom workers are not strictly included in the decision. “We regard digital...

Due to the still ongoing coronavirus crisis which started in China last December, the country’s economy is forecasted to drop by 2.8% this year, according to the Institute of International Finance (IIF). In a note published on March 24, the Washington-based organization highlights the new external risk Africa could face in such a scenario, as China is the continent’s first trade partner and...

The President of the World Bank Group, David Malpass (pictured), has urged G-20 countries to suspend bilateral debt repayment for the poorest countries. The announcement was made on March 23 during the G20 Finance Ministers' Conference on the Covid-19. “The Coronavirus crisis will likely hit hardest against the poorest and most vulnerable countries. Many were already in a difficult debt...

The President of the Republic of Algeria, Abdelmadjid Tebboune (pictured), gave his approval to the Ministry of Microenterprise, Start-ups and the Knowledge Economy to implement the Initiative for Digital Transition. The project was presented on 22 March 2020 during the Council of Ministers. The Digital Transition Initiative will focus on the digitization of the central administration, documents...

Morocco’s national steel manufacturing company (Sonasid) ended 2019 with a net income of MAD8 million, down 84% compared with the MAD49.7 million in 2018. The leader in steel production on the Moroccan market attributed this bad performance to a deterioration of market conditions both internationally and locally. “The pressure of the international context has been accentuated by the more...

Kenya is seeking $1.1 billion from Bretton Woods institutions amid the current pandemic, according to information provided by Bloomberg. The country is negotiating $750 million in budget support from the World Bank and $350 million in emergency assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).  As a reminder, the World Bank recently announced the disbursement of more...

Konnect Africa, a subsidiary of Eutelsat Communications, announced on March 23 it has reached a deal with Flash Services and Schoolap to provide high-speed Internet to schools in DR Congo. The first phase of the project targets 3,600 private schools within the next twelve months. According to Jean-Claude Tshipama, Managing Director of Konnect Africa, “this project highlights the major benefits...

The government of Kenya has granted authorization to Loon LCC, a subsidiary of US company Alphabet (Google's sister company), to launch internet balloons in the country. The initiative was approved by the President of the Republic, Uhuru Kenyatta (pictured), as part of his strategy to ease the quarantine period for the populations by providing them with high-speed Internet. “These balloons...