The World Bank will grant Morocco a total sum of USD 850 million during the fiscal year 2015/2016 (July 2015-June 2016). Out of this amount, a loan of USD 150 million has already been approved on 8 July to finance the Large Scale Irrigation modernisation project for the benefit of some 9300 Moroccan farmers in 4 regions: Doukkala, Gharb, Haouz and Tadla. Four other loans are under negotiation...

The credit-rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) announced, in a release published on 14 August, having downgraded the prospects of the sovereign rating of Angola from “stable” to “negative”. The rating of this country, second crude oil producer in Africa has however been maintained at “B+”. S&P explained the downgrading of Angola’s rating by the “continuous...

Cabinda Gulf Oil Company, a subsidiary of the American oil and gas group Chevron Corporation, has estimated the volume of oil extracted during the year 2015 on the blocks Zero and 14 in Angola to be 5 billion barrels, reports Angop. According to John Baltz, Managing Director of the group, the rate of oil production was sustained at a level of efficiency, despite the unfavourable situation...

Togolese Internet users have difficulties gaining access to the web since last week. The network is characterised by disruptions which make connecting to internet difficult, in some cases even impossible. For the lucky ones who nevertheless manage to get online, the speed is too slow to enable communication. Pages do not load, the cursor keeps going round, a sign that downloading the page is...

The General Manager of railways for the Bolloré group, Thierry Ballard, and the Prime Ministers of Niger and Benin respectively, Brigi Rafini and Lionel Zinsou, signed concession agreements for the operation and infrastructure construction of the Niamey-Cotonou railway on 13 August. "The purpose of signing these concession agreements is to settle definitively all the agreements which will allow...

Ali Bongo Ondimba commissioned on Friday the new production site of sustainable palm oil of Olam, in Kango, in the Estuaire province. The head of state noted that, "faced with the challenges of development, this plant brings an answer which takes into account the local communities and the environment". Moreover, he observed that 800 jobs had already been created. A further 120 signings are...

The French mortgage brokerage company Meilleurtaux will establish itself in Morocco from September to take advantage of the potential of the mortgage market in this North African country, reports the French daily economy newspaper Les Echos. A first branch will be opened in Casablanca. But Meilleurtaux is already planning to spread "later on" to other big cities. It will thus join CAFPI - the...

The Cameroonian ministry of Trade and national telecom operator, Camtel, have just signed a partnership agreement, in order to collaborate on the running of the Cameroon agro-pastoral portal (Camagro), launched a few months ago by Camtel. Thanks to Camagro, consumers and traders will be able to compare the price of foodstuffs available on the market, in order to make better choices when buying or...

The Cameroonian minister of Energy and Water, Basile Atangana Kouna, has launched an invitation to tender in two parts, for the recruitment of contractors to undertake the construction of two mini solar plants in Central and Southern Cameroon. The energy structures, equipped with production capacity respectively of 3.2 MW and 4.5 MW, will be built in the towns of Ekoumdoum, close to Yaoundé,...

The Angolan government has suspended, pending the implementation of the National Geology Plan, the issuance of new concession licences, research and operation on the mining resources of the country, reported Angola Press on 6 August. The decision follows the approval of a proposed presidential order regulating the licences which remained non-operational for years, explained Francisco Queiroz...