At the invitation of its majority shareholder, the royal holding company Al Mada, the board of directors of the mobile operator Wana, better known as Inwi, decided to end the legal battle initiated in March 2018 against the incumbent operator Maroc Telecom for unfair competition. Inwi's decision comes just days after the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ANRT) fined Maroc Telecom...

Tunis Stock Exchange-listed Electrostar ended the fourth quarter of 2019 on a turnover of TND2.1 million, down 85% compared to TND14.6 million the same period in 2018. The company specializing in the distribution of household and electronic equipment (vacuum cleaners, air conditioners, hi-fi products, and household equipment) explains this result to be caused by the delay in the granting of...

The World Bank will invest $7.5 billion in the countries of the Sahel region between 2020 and 2023, the Bank’s Managing Director of Operations, Axel Van Trotsenburg (pictured) reported during a press briefing held on Wednesday 19 February 2020 in Ouagadougou. According to him, these investments are mainly aimed at supporting the implementation of structural reforms and supporting the...

Côte d'Ivoire and the German development bank KfW finalized, on Thursday 20 February, the agreement relating to the increase in the country's contribution to the capital of the African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) which promotes investments on the continent. Financed by KfW, the loan agreement amounting to $6.5 million €5,859,022 was initially signed in December 2019. With this...

On February 19, Mali successfully raised CFA33 billion (about $54.3 million) on the WAEMU securities market in an issue of 3-year fungible Treasury bonds (OAT) initially targeting CAF30 billion (about $49.3 million).At the end of this operation, the country received CFA38.4 billion (about $63.2 million) in offers from investors, which corresponds to a coverage rate of 128%. This...

South African insurer Discovery has decided to propose a generous interim dividend to its shareholders, despite a mixed performance during its half-year ending December 2019. Holders of preference shares will receive just over R505 net of dividend tax for the period as long as holders of ordinary shares receive a dividend of R100 (less 20% tax). Net insurance revenues and premiums reached R31.5...

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) yesterday announced $8 million in aid for the locust control operations in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia.   According to the latest update by FAO on 17 February, the situation remains critical and could lead to food insecurity in the region. The new funding brings the U.S. government's total contribution to the humanitarian...

Africell announced it has purchased $6 million of equipment in plans to modernize its Internet network across Gambia. In an interview with The Point on February 16, Musa Ceesay, Africell’s Head of Corporate Affairs, said “the materials are currently in China and we will be shipping them into the country soon. I can assure you that if the materials arrive in the country we will never have...

In an interview with New Times, the British High Commissioner to Rwanda, Jo Lomas (pictured) said the United Kingdom is seeking to sign with the East African Community (EAC) a deal somewhat similar to EAC’s Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union. “We are looking to have a trade deal with the EAC, along the lines of what was agreed upon by the EU. Ultimately, we would like to...

Estimates by the UN Fund for Children (Unicef) show that a total of 2.9 million people need humanitarian assistance in Niger, with 1.6 million of them being children. Malnutrition, recurrent epidemics, cyclical floods, drought seasons, people displacements and insecurity are the factors leading to the current situation, Unicef said. “Insecurity is escalating at a worrying pace in the central...