In 2018, Morocco’s trade deficit was 8.6%, the finance ministry revealed in the February 2019 note on the economic situation published last week. This represents a rise of 2.1% compared with the 6.5% deficit recorded in 2017. However, on a year-to-year basis, this rise (2.1%) is slightly below the 2.6% increase recorded between 2016 and 2017. According to the note, this deficit is due to the...

Governors representing the African Development Bank West Africa region held consultative meetings with the institution’s President and senior management in Abidjan on Monday, where they took stock of the Bank’s accelerated engagement in the region. Three hundred and seventy transformative Bank projects valued at US $11.3 billion between 2010-2017 in the region, are changing lives and...

Standard Chartered Bank announced in a release published on February 24, 2019, the launch of its digital retail banking in Tanzania and Ghana.   The group that has already launched fully-digital banks in Côte d’Ivoire (March 2018) and in Uganda (January 2019) explained that this expansion falls within the framework of its overall digital transformation strategy in the continent. It also...

Chinese media Caixin announced the merger of China-Africa Fund for Industrial Cooperation (Cafic) and China-Latin America and Caribbean Industrial Cooperation Investment Fund (Clacicif). This operation is aimed at supporting Chinese firms investing in Latin America and Africa. The two funds will continue their respective operations without changing names but their investment decisions will be...

During the Mobile World Congress that was opened on February 25, 2019, Orange announced the launch of its $20 smartphone baptized “Sanza” in sixteen Middle East and African countries this year. The smartphone equipped with the UNISOC SC7731EF processor, manufactured by UNISOC, is powered by KaiOS operating system by KaiOS Technologies. It offers the possibility to access internet by a...

“Africa: The continent of the digital future for rail” is the theme of the first African Digital Rail Summit, organised in Cape Town, South Africa, from 25 to 27 February by the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and the International Union of Railways (IUC), based in Paris. The initiative is part of the African Union's (AU) Agenda 2063, of which the African Integrated High Speed...

A new investment is announced in the East African telecommunications sector. The International Finance Corporation is granting a $15 million credit line to Telco SA, a telecom operator based in Comoros. The interest rate and the maturity period of that loan have not been disclosed. This first investment of the IFC in Comoros will help Telco strengthen its mobile communication and internet...

For its 6th  edition of the International Africa Development Forum, Attijariwafa bank wants to bring East and West Africa, two regions that do not talk to each other that much, together. “At  Attijariwafa bank, we deemed it fit to start to think global hence the choice of this 2019 edition:  When the East meets the West”, Mohamed El Kettani, Attijiwafa bank’s CEO,...

A distribution agreement has been reached by German firm Ultimaco and British Astel for the distribution of hardware security solutions in the financial sector. The financial details of this agreement, as well as the countries where the services will be offered, have not been disclosed yet but this partnership will give Ultimaco access to the African market. Ultimaco will rely on Astel, which...

In Nigeria, the Securities and Exchange Commission has authorized Access Bank to issue its green bonds of a total value of NGN15 billion ($41.5 million). This bond will have a maturity period of five years and has an interest rate fluctuating between 14.90% and 15.10%. Investors’ subscriptions are awaited between February 21 and 28. It is worth mentioning that Moody’s rating for this bond is...