Ethiopia’s export revenues reached $1.3 billion during the first half of FY2019/20, up 10% compared to the same period in the previous year. According to the Trade Ministry, the improvement was spurred by good performances in the sales of coffee, cereals, textiles, oilseeds, spices, flowers, leather, and other products exported to 137 countries. On the other hand, sales of gold,...

In 2019, the daily turnover on all African Stock Exchanges dropped compared to the previous year, except on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius (SEMDEX) where turnover grew by 57% to $15 million. According to the 2019 Bright Africa report published by the analysis firm Riscura, SEMDEX recorded the highest increase in daily turnover. “The improvement in the MUSE daily turnover is partially...

In 2019, the Antananarivo airport welcomed over 1 million passengers while the Nosy Be airport, Madagascar's second-largest airport, handled 216,000. According to Ravinala Airports, which manages Madagascar's main airports, “these figures are historic in the Malagasy aeronautical field, first time in 20 years.” By increasing the frequentation of the country's two main airports, Ravinala has...

In 2019, Senegalese startups captured the lion’s share of equity investment in Francophone Africa’s tech companies. According to a report by venture capital fund Partech Africa, they attracted a total of $16 million. However, this figure is down 27.2% ($6 million) compared to the $22 million Senegal raised in 2018. Overall on the continent, Nigerian startups were atop the list,...

US technology company Google opens its very first Digital Space, a hub for African developers, entrepreneurs, and startups, in Lagos, Nigeria. This is a move to further express the company’s readiness to support the ICT environment on the continent. “We have partnered with Impact Hub to bring the Space to life, and worked with a local company called Spacefinish, which designed it...

The South African banking group Nedbank invested R3.5 billion (about $248 million) to foster the digitalization of its services in the first half of 2019. According to the rating agency Moody’s, this represents around 22.4% of operating expenses over the period, roughly the same amount as that of rivals Absa Group, FirstRand Bank and Standard Bank. Moody’s says traditional banks like...

On January 28, 2020, Côte d'Ivoire mobilized a total of CFA60.85 billion (about $102 million) on the WAEMU securities market, through the issue of treasury bills (BATs) and fungible treasury bonds (OATs). The initial amount requested was CFA60 billion (about $100 million). Issued with a 3-month maturity, the treasury bills was oversubscribed with a total amount of CFA83.7 billion...

Measures initiated by the Rwandan government to achieve an Economic digital transformation are bearing fruits. For the first time, the country records a growth of 10.9%, the Secretary-General of the Ministry of ICT and Innovation, Irere Claudette, reported this week.  According to the official, the country has undergone a 20-year process of digital transformation in order to impact the...

The Libyan national oil corporation (NOC) reports that losses induced by the shutdown of oil fields reached $502 million over a period of 10 days. NOC says the country’s oil production slid by more than a million barrels a day. “The total value of losses since the beginning of the blockades has reached $502,289,339 as of Monday, January 27, 2020.” Average daily loss is estimated...

Following a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on January 28 in Abuja, Mcebisi Jonas, President of the MTN Group, announced plans to invest $1.6 billion to improve and strengthen the operations of the company’s Nigerian subsidiary.  Mcebisi presented the projects in which his company plans to invest in Nigeria in the long term. Welcoming the initiatives, President Buhari said:...