In a release published on the official website of government of Benin, gouv.bj, the Presidency announced the launching of construction of Benin Smart City, the country’s first digital area. The first stone was laid by President Boni Yayi on February 11, 2016, in Cotonou. This project falls in line with the “government’s ambition to make digital economy a pool of development and a weapon to...

Nigeria is currently holding discussions with oil companies and banks in order to raise funds for new drilling as well as pay back about $4 billion in arrears that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has amassed for years of mishandling. The Minister of State for Petroleum, Emmanuel Kachikwu said that he wants to boost production to 2.5 million bpd at end of the year as it...

In Kenya, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has announced the reduction in the prices of super petrol, diesel and kerosene. The price of super petrol throughout the country was decreased by Sh2.14 per litre, diesel by Sh8.82 per litre while kerosene reduced by Sh6.51 per litre in the just released pump prices for February 15 to March 14, 2016. The Commission said the maximum retail pump...

There has been an increasing agreement amongst members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that a decision must be arrived at on ways to stop the global decline in the prices of crude oil price. As a matter of fact, the prices of crude oil have dropped by over 70 % nearing $30 per barrel in the last 18 months as OPEC have refused to reduce production in...

A release dated February 11, 2016 from the Guinean government discarded concerns regarding the future of the South Simandou project. On February 10, Rio Tinto, the major stakeholder in the project, announced a net loss of $866 million and depreciation of the Simandou project as a result of prices of iron falling. After taking note of the 2015 report the firm sent it, the government...

Last Friday, Feb.12, a block trade worth DT59.3 million was filed for 2.74 million securities of Société Frigorifique et Brasserie de Tunis (SFBT) , Tunisian leader in terms of beverage trading with 85% of its market. With a unit price of DT21.6 for each share traded, the transaction provided the seller with a plus-value of 1.3 dinar for each share, with reference to the lowest share value of...

Algeria plans to implement 4,500 MW of renewable energies by 2020. This was announced by Salah Khebri, Algeria’s Minister of Energy. This objective in the mid-term falls in line with the nation’s ambition to develop 22,000 MW of renewable energy by 2030, 25% of the overall installed capacity. In this regard, Sonagel, the state-owned company in charge of electricity and gas has already...

For the year 2015, all 13 African subsidiaries of Société Générale generated a Net Banking Revenue (NBR) of €1.1 billion, with 3.7 million customers. From these, the Moroccan subsidiary is the leading contributor with net banking revenue of €364 million, followed by Algeria with €134 million. Cote d’Ivoire is third in Africa in this regard and first in Sub Saharan...

On February 18, an IMF (International monetary Fund) delegation will be visiting Tunis to initiate negotiations with Tunisian authorities concerning a new aid scheme for a minimum funding of $1.7 billion, governor of Tunisia’s Central Bank, Chedly Ayari announced on February 13. These talks should focus on the implementation of a new program for economic reforms in return for international...

Nexans on Monday announced that it has been granted a contract to supply cabling to Samsung Heavy Industries’, turnkey contractor. Nexans said the contract was granted to Samsung Heavy Industries by Total for the latter’s Egina floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit situated offshore Nigeria. The contract which is worth $3.1billion, is the biggest FPSO contract so...