Last year, companies operating in the private sector in Ghana obtained a total of 44.5 billion cedis (about $8.1 billion) in credit from commercial banks. This makes an increase by 18.3% compared to 2018 when growth was 10.6%, the Central Bank’s monetary policy committee reports. The good evolution is the result of growing demands for credit in the Ghanaian private sector, motivated by...

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) has suffered a drop of 8% on the Nigerian Stock Exchange over the first six days of February 2020. This is bad news after the good performance (+14.6%) in the previous month, the second strongest monthly performance since July 2018, according to market data collected by the Ecofin Agency. The Ecobank share hit peak value at 20.8 naira in July 2018, but it...

Ethiopian Airlines is not suspending flights to China, amid the coronavirus outbreak. During a press conference held last week, CEO Tewolde Gebremariam (pictured) announced that Africa’s largest airline has no plans to shut down its lines to the country. “WHO clearly stated that suspending flights to China would not end the coronavirus outbreak as victims of the virus are located in other...

Entrepreneurship has boomed with the advent of new technologies. The growth in internet penetration in the Democratic Republic of Congo has encouraged the creation of many young companies working in new technologies. According to some studies, the failure rate of Start-Ups is estimated at 90%. Therefore, Start-Up financing is always perceived as a risky bet by banks. However, most start-ups have...

Ghana cashed 43.9 billion cedis (about $8.1 billion) in tax revenues over the financial year 2018-19. According to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), this performance is higher than the initial target of 42.08 billion cedis (about $7.7 billion). The authority said tax revenue mobilization over the period was spurred by a rise in VAT collection and communication service tax. In a new...

Gabon has come up with strict security measures regarding the coronavirus currently spreading in China and other countries around the world. In a press statement on February 7, the Health Ministry announced that “the government has decided to refuse entry into the territory to any traveler coming from China, until further notice, in a move to prevent the possible spread of the virus in the...

The regional council for public savings and financial markets (CREPMF) recently received from the French Development Agency (AFD) €2 million (XOF1.3 billion). An agreement was inked last week between the two parties.  This facility should help stimulate the WAMU’s financial market, as part of the Project to Accelerate the Sustainable Development of the Regional Financial Market...

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (pictured) called for international action to combat the locust invasion in East Africa, during the 33rd Ordinary Summit of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU). The pests, which prevail in particular in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, and Djibouti represent a real threat to food security in the region with a...

Mobile Virtual Network Operator Promobile has officially kicked off operations in Senegal with the indicative 75. The operator is a sister company of Sirius Telecom SA owned by Senegalese businessman Mbackiyou Faye. This new operator is expected to help cut telecom tariffs and improve service quality. It is backed by the network of the mobile operator Free. According to Mbackiyou Faye, the...

Nigeria-based FinTech startup Aella Credit has mobilized $10 million from HQ Financial Group, a Singaporean private company specializing in blockchain financial investments, to finance its expansion across West Africa. Aella wants to develop new financial solutions and create a credit platform that will work with blockchain. “We are building a one-stop app for all transactions partnered...