Chinese companies Sunda International and Kenda are planning to build ceramic production plants in several African countries, we learned. The $323 million investment targets Senegal, Cameroon, Mozambique, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Sunda International is already well represented in Africa with activities in various trade areas in some 20 countries on the continent. But for...

German development finance institution DEG has granted €2 million (about $2.2 million) to fairafric GmbH, a German company which specializes in the production and marketing of chocolate bars. The beneficiary will use the money to establish a chocolate production plant in Ghana, in response to growing demand. The loan deal is part of the AfricaConnect program, an initiative of the...

Ivorian President Alassane Dramane Ouattara (pictured) expressed his intention to modify the constitution before the end of 2020. The leader said this yesterday Jan 6 when he was presenting his New Year's greetings to the diplomatic corps. “During the first quarter of this year, I will propose to Parliament to make amendments to the Constitution to make it more coherent,” he said. While he...

Egypt's foreign reserves increased by $66 million, reaching $45.420 billion at the end of December 2019, compared to $45.354 billion at the end of November 2019, according to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE). The country's current average foreign reserves cover about 7.2 months of commodity imports, which is higher than the world average (about three months of imports). The good...

Over the year 2019, Africa attracted a total of $1.3 billion in venture capital funds, WeeTracker said in its African Venture Capital Report 2019. Figures are up 84.6% compared to the $725.6 million recorded in 2018. While the amount of investments increased, the number of transactions completed decreased from 458 in 2018 to 427 in 2019. Out of the 54 African countries covered by the...

Between April and December 2019, a total of 256 civilians died in targeted Islamist attacks in Burkina Faso, Human Rights Watch reported today Jan 6. The conflicts initially started in the country’s Northern Sahel region before spreading to the Boucle du Mouhoun, Nord, Centre-Nord, and Est regions. Since 2015, the rising attacks have killed more than 750 people and forced 560,000 people...

The South African telecoms group MTN has decided to divest its tower operations in Ghana and Uganda. The company will sell its 49% shares in Ghana Tower Interco B.V. and Uganda Tower Interco B.V. to AT Sher Netherlands Coöperatief U.A., a subsidiary of American Tower Corporation, for the sum of $523 million. MTN explained that through this strategic repositioning, which is in line with the...

The Kenyan arm of Standard Chartered Bank announced, in a recent note sent to customers, it is cutting the interest charge on loans granted before the end of 2019 by 0.5 percentage points. The measure is to comply with the latest decision of the Monetary Policy Committee of the country's Central Bank, which lowered its key rate by the same amount. In theory, a cut in the key rate (the Central...

Groupe Empire will organize, on January 11 at Novotel Hotel, a ceremony to reward the best business leaders of Benin. The first edition of Benin CEO Awards will reward 15 business leaders from various sectors of activity who contributed to the development of the country in 2019 through innovative initiatives with high economic and social impact. “These models of managers were evaluated based...

The Ghanaian government wants to raise $3 billion from its diaspora to finance development projects in agriculture, infrastructure, and tourism, the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta (pictured) announced last week. The fundraising is expected to start before the end of the current year. The official said the government plans to offer more attractive interest rates on deposits in public banks....