The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) announced it is fining five banks for not complying with the anti-money laundering procedures. BoT said the banks did not report suspicious transactions to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). The total amount of fines is 1.8 billion Tanzanian shillings ($818,314) with the heaviest fine (655 million Tanzanian shillings) imposed on I&M Bank Tanzania Limited, the local...

Air Senegal will soon open a direct line to the US. This was promised on September 19 by Alioune Sarr, the Senegalese minister of tourism and air transport, upon a meeting with the local development committee on the Island of Gorée. “I have the honor and pleasure, on behalf of the Head of State Macky Sall, to announce to you, Mr. Mayor, and to you, the people of Gorée, that Air Sénégal...

South Africa made in this week its biggest-ever Eurobond issue raising $5 billion on the international debt market, authorities announced. The operation is split into two tranches with different interest rates and maturities. The first tranche is $2 billion maturing in 10 years with a 4.85% interest rate while the second tranche is $3 billion with a 30-year maturity period and...

Solar public-private partnerships (PPPs) have been popping up all over Africa. Until recently, most of the solar PPP activity took place in South Africa in the form of utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) projects. However, now that more countries have implemented PPP policies, this type of agreement has gained much traction in the continent’s renewable energy landscape. But what exactly is a...

The consolidated tax revenues of the member states of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) reached XOF6,379.5 billion ($10.6 billion) in the first six months of 2019, according to the Central Bank’s monetary policy report published in September. This performance represents an improvement by 14.5%, compared to the same period last year, and reflects the good results in the...

Ghana’s public debt reached 59.4% of GDP at the end of July this year, against 53.1% in July 2018, the Bank of Ghana’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) revealed. The GHC205.6 billion ($38 billion) debt in July 2019 is 26.6% higher than the GHC159.7 billion ($30 billion) of July 2018. According to the Central Bank of Ghana, this debt is composed of external borrowing (31% of GDP) and domestic...

The Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), managed by the African Development Bank, has approved a $500,000 grant to support the development and launch of the Nigeria Energy Access Fund (NEAF), a new private equity fund developed by All On, a Nigerian impact investment firm financed by Shell. NEAF will make strategic investments in sustainable energy in Nigeria, particularly in the...

The Kenyan government announced September 19 it will reduce its 2019-20 budget spending by KSh46.2 billion, or about $445 million, due to revenue collection shortfalls. This announcement comes a few days after Acting Finance Minister Ukur Yatani announced strict cuts in spending on foreign travel by public servants and advertising by ministries. These new budget cuts represent 2.1% of...

South Africa’s Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) has just published the 9th edition of its “Where to invest in Africa” report which ranks the most attractive destinations for investment on the continent in 2020.While the most attractive economies remain broadly the same as in previous editions, there have been significant changes in positions. Egypt remains the most attractive African country for...

Zambian aquaculture company Yalelo received $6 million from Finnfund, a Finnish financial institution that provides fund for private companies in developing countries, to expand its activity. The financing is Finnfund’s first direct investment in Zambia. The sum will enable the company specializing in the production and marketing of fish (Tilapia) to increase its annual production...